'90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

Hi all... hoping someone can help me out. I havn't ridden a bike in a couple years after having a nasty slippery slide on my old GT750 3 odd years ago, which pretty much wrote it off - there was cooking oil all over the intersection, needless to say anything on 2 wheels won't stay upright for long. Bit of whiplash from the sudden fall and twisted the bike up a bit cause it literally flicked out from under me.

I've been feeling the urge to get back on 2 wheels for some time now as I've always classed myself as one of those dedicated riders (you know those ones who even ride in rain, not just in the summer sunshine). So I finally convinced my wife to allow me to part with some $ and picked up a 1990 CBR1000F from a neighbouring town last Thursday. There's not alot of bikes being sold around here so I didn't have a huge choice... My prerequisites were a big bike of atleast 1000cc (the old 750 was not up the task on some occasions), a sports tourer, and a fairing would be nice.

The CBR appears to be in good nick, although has evidence of being dropped on one side, but they're just light scratchs, so I'd say it was dropped stationary so doubtfull it would have done any structural damage.

I plucked up the courage to go for a maiden ride yesterday lunch time... you have to admit it is an intimidating bike to the uninitiated. After bout 20 minutes of riding I was even more nervous. The power was great... straight line burst were good and easily controllable with throttle management... but what's got me is the cornering. Having only ridden naked street bikes, like the kawasaki GT750, Honda Goldwing, Yamaha XS1100 etc, all of them felt fine going into and around corners but this CBR feels nasty. It handles completely different to any of the other bikes I've ridden, to initiate the corner takes a bit of effort, then feels ok at a slight lean, but once on a tighter angle it feels like the CBR wants to tip down even lower into the turn and kinda tuck/tip into it and feels like I'm struggling to keep it upright by applying heaps of pressure on the inside clip on. Mind you this is all happening at street speeds of 30-50km/h. I did notice it seems to handle slightly better at 60km/h and havn't tried highway speeds yet as I don't have a protective jacket yet.

Is it just me and a possible phobia of the bike flipping out from under me or is it a characteristic of this kind of bike?

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

Try putting new oil in the forks I went to a 15 weight and also turned back my rear suspension to about 1/3 did the trick for me, now she guides through a corner before it felt like she was digging into corners and sits straighter on the flat. Also whats the condition of your front tyre that can be a consideration as well

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

Yea I agree with waz. I would highly recommend though that you take the bike to an experience motorcycle mechanic who is also good with suspension setup. You never know what kind of 'tweaking' those who came before you performed on your ride. Have someone who knows what they are doing go over it and adjust your forks and shock back to factory settings if need be. The price you pay will be a whole lot cheaper than fixing your ride and your tail if you every dump it in a curve.

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

I actually took my forks out and took them down to be re - sealed this saved me about $ 60 or $70 and only took around 20 to take them off and as for the rear suppension wind the nut all the way anticlockwise and then take it up about 1/3 and play from there that way when you take a pillion or what everyou will know the feel of the rear, thas what I do and I am 6 feet 3 and my wiife is 6 feet 1 and we carry about 40 Kilos of luggage as well a picture from our last trip of 5,000 Kls, and the bike just loves corners.

[IMG]local://upfiles/7739/008FBF657D724589917F5813BFADBD04.jpg[/IMG]

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

Thanks guys... I'm planning on taking it over to a Honda centre next weekend for a look over by a mechanic, I'll get him to check the suspension. The tyres are fairly worn although still have a couple mm's left, but they appear to be getting fairly old, the bike has only done 2,500kms over the past year so they'd probably be atleast 2-3 years old. Also there is a flat spot in the centre of the tyre, so perhaps that could also explain the sudden dip to want to lean into the corner once it reaches to pivot point of that tyre wear.

I'm also a big lad - 140kg, whereas the previous owner would have only been 80-90kg by the looks... so a little suspension tweaking might do the trick.

Photo's of the tyres - if you can see them:
http://users.tpg.com.au/cgboehm/front.JPG
http://users.tpg.com.au/cgboehm/rear.JPG

Thanks for the tips.

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

New tyres will improve the handling a lot. The tip-in behavior is highly amplified byflattened tyres and your rear tyreseems to be very flat.The Hurricane is a bit heavy, and you need to have good control of the throttle in slow turns. To little throttle will give the fall-in feeling. And in high-speed corners you need to countersteer (push right handle to turn right) harder than on a light-wheeled bike.

You can check and adjust the rear suspension by yourself to see it is in the ballpark. http://www.sportrider.com/tech/suspension/

The loaded compression (with you on the bike) should be about 30 mm's rear compared to fully extended rear. This is adjustable on the right side of the bike, above the footpeg.

Then set the rear rebound so the rear raises slightly dampedandwith no overshoot after pressing and releasing the rear of the bike. In case it has to much rebound damping the rear suspensionwill pack up in bumps and the bike understeers, in case it's to little rebound, the bike will bounce over bumps. The rebound adjustment is at the bottom of the rear shock.

It take some time to build confidence on the heavy Hurricane, but it is very rewarding when you have found out how qualified the bike really is. The biggest hinder on a Hurricane is normally the rider, the bike can be driven far quicker in turns than sport-bikers want to see.

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

My bike handle like crap until new tires, a few dollars but I wasn’t disappointed
adjusting the back shock tweak things a little, and good tire air pressure

<--- Basally repeating what the other guys have said --->

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

I checked the rear suspension loading... it was almost wound right in to High... I adjusted it out to low, then in roughly 1/3. I havn't tried it yet... a bit later if the roads dry (raining all day).

Yes new tyres are on the list for sure... I'll have the $ next week to get a decent set put on. Problem is, the nearest Honda shop is in the next town which is 20km away.. take it slow and easy getting there! Plus the joys of wearing in new tyres! I learnt that one the interesting way many years ago!

Looking at the tyres closely, I can see that it may influence the feeling I'm getting... the flat spot in the centre may be making it hard to make the initial turn, then there appears to be another flat spot about 15-20° angle to the centre one which would explain the feeling of it wanting to tip in further as I'm balancing on that spot between the two flat spots. I've never really experienced this flat wearing as on most of my bikes/tyres I've ridden a majority of highway k's with nice bends. This bike, by the sounds of it, was mainly ridden around the city with a few long distance squirts.

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

yes, the bike will feel much better and smooth alsoin curvesif the rear is not to stiff. Good luck with new tyres to. On of the secrets to maneuver this bike, and anyother bike to, is to be totally relaxed in the arms all the time and just let the bike take theturnonce it has been initiated, and to use the throttle for fine balancing the bike. If one goes to slowin a curve, the bike will start to weave and feel unstable.

RE: '90 CBR1000F handling - help a newbie
 

Also check the swing arm bearing and see if there is any play
Are the front and rear tires the same?