Well I just picked up a 1991 Honda CBR 1000f in somewhat rough shape, but that runs and drives. I felt like I couldn't pass it up. I have the plastics, lights and gauges. The plastic varies from rough shape to pretty good. The lights an gauges work fine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60259529@N06/9201663380/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60259529@N06/9198881417/

However, funds are limited, and my wife wants me to just sell it.

So, the options are:

1. Bring it to my brother's place in the Metro area, sell it and make a few hundred bucks.

2. Begin the slow process of restoring the bike on a limited budget, and the wife probably isn't happy until it's gone.

3. Chop the bike into a street fighter on the cheap, and ride it.

I have an '89 Vmax already (so I can ride right now, and get there in a hurry if need be) but at some point I do want a sport bike, and this is pretty close to what I want but it needs work.

It runs and shifts through all the gears. But it's hard to start and the carbs leak.

It was supposedly run into a garage overhead door by a careless college-aged kid and taken away by the dad. It changed hands to a guy I met who wanted it gone because his kid wanted it and he felt it was potentially dangerous.

About half the fairing parts are damaged, half are serviceable. Same with the body of the bike -- the tank is in reasonable shape but the front fender needs work, etc.

Any opinions are valued. I'll answer any questions I can. I'm not a mechanic, or particularly mechanically experienced. I get the general impression that these bikes are hard to come by. I don't know if this makes me more eager to sell or keep the bike.

So you guys, who know about these bikes... what do you say?

 

I may have put this in the wrong place -- mods please move this if I did.

 

Firstly welcome to the CBR Forum Cmart,

It's a tough call. If you have no affinity with the marque, model or bike - sell it.

If however, you want to ride a bike that can tootle or startle with more pull than a speeding locomotive AND have the skills to fettle/fix - keep it and restore it as you find the parts.

They ARE a great bike.

Cheers, SB

 

Thanks SB, I do think it would make quite a keeper. Are there sources for replacement body panels? Or do some people do their own glass repairs?

 

Sell the V Max and fix the 1000F
Worlds of difference, and the 1000F will do so much more............
And there's plenty of help here on how to fix fairings and refit the gauges and stuff.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist.
Looking at your pics, the bodywork will take a couple of days to get straightened out and refitted, the carb leaks could be time consuming but not difficult.
I'd fix that bike, I really would.

Put the wife on the 1000F and she'll agree with me- the pillion seat is soooooo comfy !

And it's fine where you put it.
Welcome to the asylum !

 

Welcome to the forum cmart!

That's a nice looking bike. It's totally up to you whether you want to keep her or not. I picked a 1990 last year which had a few things to work on. I'm not a mechanic at all; however, reading the forums and the advise of many members i had been able to perform basic maintenance on this bike as well as cleaning and syncing the carbs.
As for fairings, i can't find many parts and they are a bit pricey for my pocket; however, once in a while you will find them in ebay or what not.

This bikes are a lot of fun to ride. I may had think once or twice about buying a new one and forget about fixing this one just bc i don't have too much time to work on it. But now that it runs better than when i got it, I feel like there is no better bike out there.

Hope you keep it and I'm sure you will find all the help you need from this forum and its members. I saw your bike pics and it looks nice even without the fairings.

 

Welcome to the forum, the fairings can sometimes be hard to come by. You can find some pieces on ebay for pretty cheap that are if good enough shape to do something with but then you can have days that you can't find any fairings. My '96 1000f only came with 2 pieces and thru my searching I've decided that it's gonna be easier and cheaper just to street fighter it. They also have a street fighter section in this forum, it's amazing what some people have done to their bikes. There's also a section where you can download a workshop manual for your bike so it'll make the maintenance a little easier. I was uncertain about my bike after I picked it up about a month ago but now you couldn't talk me into selling it if my life depended on it, they run strong and since it's a honda you can find mechanical parts for it pretty easy and cheap and these things will last a life time haha. Once again welcome to the forum and I hope you find the answers you're looking for man

 

Yep you'll just have to keep an eye out for them on feebay. I see that it has a newer rear section on it already. That tail piece is off of a 93 up model isn't it?

 

Hey, Welcome to the forum.

The bike looks like it has serious potential. Restored or a fighter, I'll echo the sentiments of the other members.

This was a great series of bikes made by Honda. Cam-chain tensioner is the only weak link. I'm afraid to pull the trigger on purchasing something else for fear of being disappointed by the new bike

So here's some questions.

The bike starts an runs.

Have you ridden it?

Did it make you smile?

Does your wife like to see you smile?

Keep smiling

 

I believe so, but I wanna do like Boxdgm did with his 600 F1. He took the rear fairing and seats from a newer (I believe they're from an '04) 600rr, made bolt on brackets for all of it. It looks sick and you can unbolt at any time and go back to stock if you want. Another advantage to it is you're not cutting on the subframe so there's no worry about the wrong person finding out and having to have it inspected by the dmv, dps, whatever it's called where you live because it has a "modified frame". Here's the link to his build https://cbrforum.com/forum/street-fi...ld-log-136037/