I am DEPRESSED!
 

We just came back last week from our annual trip to west Texas... The CBR is running STRONG, still pulls like a freight train and still fast!! I was flipping it through corners like it was 150 pounds lighter with a shorter wheelbase and making the guys behind me struggle to keep up, it was great fun!! Just in case ya'll didn't know I switched to the Continental Motion tires, and they peformed WELL!!! I prefer the Continental Roads because of their profile, but for the price I got the motions for I was impressed.

The sad part is, through the whole trip I could hear my cam chain rattling... :( The tensioner is ONLY 1.5 yrs old, and the chain constantly made noise. Come on, someone give me some positive information here!! I know what that means! Sounds like the cam chain is finally toasted... The way I am, I would split the cases and rebuild that motor for fear of the chain breaking or skipping!! Do any of you guys hear the same noise while riding down the highway?? I could hear it winding up and slowing down. It use to get quiet when it got warm, now I can hear it, not as loud but I can hear it. Throw some good info my way please.. I have put my CBR in the garage and pulled out my Gixxer 2k5 and I fear of getting another 300 dollar ticket!!!!! The dang thing is tooooooooo fast! Hehehe.. I can't stop it from doing over a 100!! HEEEEELLLP!!!

Some good news
 

Foxfire, I sing real loud in my helmet and all the noises go away! I also ride with ear plugs so my singing is even dampened. Maybe the oil hole that pumps up the tensioner is plugged. I would check the tensioner for a malfunction before getting depressed. Kind of like looking for Janet Jackson's "wardrob malfunction." Could be a good thing!:D

May be your engine balance shaft, but if you can hear the chain on the highway........EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK
Buy a DID chain and you can do the job with the motor in the bike.I did mine yesterday !

DID chain
 

Splane more Shadow. What is a "DID" chain? Does it have a master link in it? Break the old chain and hook the DID chain to it and pull it threw? Splane to me....:cool:

Yup, you just explained it Joe:D and pretty good too...

The job is pretty easy if you take your time..
I have done them like that on other 4 in lines, but am yet to do it on my CBR

I was speaking to Pete on the phone only 24 hrs ago about this job and the the re joining of the chain with the special tool (which I have used before) and he suggested to just to pean over the Master link pin with a few hand tools...
I will leave him to explain how he did his :D goooooo Pete ...!!!

Mine sounds like a bloody ball bearing factory at very low RPM , but once I get moving under load , it ain't too bad ...
and yup , I am going to do mine very soon :D the easy way by not splitting the cases... splitting the cases is NUTTS !! unless you have a few days labor to throw at it and want to buy a ton more parts ...( Gaskets ect ect)

BTW -Firefox how many miles has yours done in the year and a half with the new tensioner.?

Replacing the chain without splitting the cases huh?? Sounds like your speaking of replacing the chain like u would the chain and sprocket on your tires except inside the engine. So ur saying align the cam chains in TDC then break the old chain, tie the masterlink old chain to the new and then feed it through the engine until the new chain is all the way through right??? So why do you suggest a DID chain??? Isn't that a rear sprocket chain??? Or do they make a cam chain as well??? If that can be done, I would prefer to do that and replace the CCT.

CBR Classic - In te year and a half I have had that CCT on it, I have put a solid 17,000 miles on it.

DID make a chain with a master link - 150 links/pins is what you need. We get the DID412HD chain here which has 152 links so I grind away two pins and fit the new chain with 150 links.Any of the manufacturers like Takasago will be fine. As for the rest you are correct. I lay a cloth over the open engine space and grind away a link on the old chain (don't have a splitter) and tie off the ends so it can't fall into the engine.
If you need more let me know, as my engine is open at the moment.

Hi Shadow , have you bothered to change all the cam-chain guides as well , or is it not really worth doing them

I know i am new to the whole CBR thing, but i need to ask, is the cam chain the "weak link" of this bike?

Or am i just worrying over nothing?

Aussie Johnno

Johno...
all bikes have certain service related things about them that require that little bit of extra attention..
The CBR1000F would be without a doubt one of the strongest engined, long lived bikes that has ever existed...
The fact that we here on the CBRF have too many members to mention, that have has these CBRs for years and years attests to this.

The 20 year old engines on the earlier ones like mine , sure may have had a cam chain and tensioner replacement, but that would not be considered a weak link mate....... just a service issue to be dealt with when that time comes about..

The cam chain tensioners on these bikes were on the early models, an issue that required a little extra attention.. but now the newer model tensioners are available to replace them when needed and they improve this potential weakness in the earlier model engines with minimal cost or fuss....

Most 1000Fs will run 30,000 miles (50,000 klms+) on a cam chain and sometimes further depending on how hard they are ridden..
I have heard of only very few have ever actually failed ....and they were on bikes that were thrashed over long long periods of time and lots of miles...

So to answer your question in a few words..... no, it is not a weak link mate, just something that needs to be taken care of periodically...just like drive chains or any other regular maintenance issue that re occurs over time, with only the miles they are ridden being the determining factor 99% of the time..
:D

All due respect to Classic, I would say this is the "weak Link". With Honda's reputation for machines that go forever, this should not happen. A cam chain should live at least as long as the bores do, even in race engines. Honda built these world wide from '87 to '99 and didn't fix it. This is about my only complaint with the 1000F. I love the style, especially the RWB '90 model, the comfort, handling and power.

As Classic explained in his post - the early models had a problem - more with the tensioner than the cam chain - the plunger was too short, which allowed the chain to rattle. The newer tensioner has a much longer plunger, at least twice as long - see pic.This has directly improvement the longevity of the chain, and tensioner. I've done a few tensioners now, and I've never had one last as long as the bore...............various makes. Maybe I was lucky.............:cool:

i have a 1996 with 25000 miles when should the cam chain be checked or replaced

I would guess you may need a chain in the next few thousand miles - I did, but there's no hard and fast rule though.
I'm a fussy barstik and I don't like any rattles from the bike - I think a lot depends how hard the bike has been ridden, too.

Yer may be ....
but I would say that all of the 7 Honda's that I have owned, including 5 off road Honda's, that all of them became very rattly due to worn cam chains and tensioners to some degree, well before the engine as a whole was dead...

They did change/fix the later model tensioners..

For the pupose of this discussion -
As far as the cam chains go, why is it that even the replacements ones from non honda manufactures still seem to wear out at about the same rate as the original ones..and still well before the bores ? ?

Is it the case then that ( DID / RK ) make defective chains as well??

Or...are we suggesting that the basic design of the engine causes chain wear prematurely?

Or, is it just the case that near all OHC engines have this issue to a degree , in which case this would not really be considered a weak link, so much as an inherent maintenance issue with most 4 inline twin cam OHC bike engines due to the basic configuration of them..

Keeping in mind that the CB750 legend engines were single cam and sure , they did not need the chains swapped as frequently or necessarily , but still rattled well before the engine was dead..

HI folks

It has been a while I know but I have been to busy riding, Ichange the cam chain tnesionner a month ago and it still ratlles on start not even a minute so the time that the oil pressure buils inside the tensionner, after that nothing, Ford Escape had the same problem, has for the weak link, I consider it like changing the timing belt on a car engine, regular long maintenance.

My bike has 110000kms and not taking oil between change and oh yeah while i think about it ue 10w50 and not 10w40. thicker oil build better pressure. Me and shadow were looking into this avenue at one point.

Just to really throw the cat amongst the pigeons . Honda solved this issue when they built the VFR750 with the gear driven cams. The VFR has a great reputation for reliability but why didn't Honda use this system with any of their other bikes?

Ok , now the cats happy , but om sure the pigeons will not like that much ..LOL

The chains have been a std issue feature on near all jap bikes since the pyramids ..lol :D
This would only be a cost thing..
The gear driven VFR's are at the more expensive end of the Honda market and I am sure they are like that for reliability reasons and because of the racing design/purpose of those engines as a whole..
A chain and a few light sprockets has to be way cheaper to manufacture than gears / sharft and bearings ....hence the reason why, near all Honda's , just like other Jap manufactures, are staying with them for there high volume production bikes..

BTW- giday Dragon .. glad to see you are still in the land of the living mate ....:-)

Cam chain vs Cam gears
 

I think the cam chain is cheaper and quieter. Cam gears tend to "whine" and then need closer tolerances. Can't very well put a tensioner on a cam gear to take up any slack from a poor production run. I like the cam gears, but I don't think these CBR-F's chains are that big of a deal to deal with. As long as the tensioner keeps the chain from jumping the gears, the slack noise should not be a big problem.
Just sing to yourself while you ride. If you would like, I could cut a CD for you of my singing. Now that might cause some blisters in your ears!!!:D Cam chain noise solved....:eek: Just imagine a CD of me singing the #3 hit from 1970 here in America. Yes, "Lola by the Kinks"... Now, cam chain problems are no longer an issue as compared to listening to me over and over and over again in your sleep singing "Lola, La, La, La, La, Lola" Ouch, I think my mind just got blistered!!!:eek:

ear blisters!!
 

Whoa there Hawk, I knew there was a sorta warning there but I got a fast pc n connection and still managed to close the browsing window as quick as it opened the YouTube link.

Mo songs like that were the bane of my teenage years! Can you imagine they actually played that on the radio and then somebody heard it and thought 'that's a great record , I'm going to go to the record shop and buy it!'
Sad but true:-