Well, for starters, this is my first time on this forum and first time joining a motorcycle forum. I'm happy to say it won't be my first time on a motorcycle. A little background before I ask my question.

I've rode a motorcycle for about 1.5 years, and I say rode because haven't had one for 6+ months. Since I started riding, I've had a:

1983 V45 Sabre 750cc: Roughly 1.5 months. Was stupid enough to trade it for...
1996 Suzuki Intruder 1400cc: Roughly a month. Which I was glad I traded it for...
1983 Goldwing Aspencade 1100cc: I started riding a Goldwing with less than three collective hours on the previous motorcycles. I held onto the Goldwing for about a year before it complete crapped out on me and I made another mistake and traded it for...
1996 Honda CBR600: Sold it in a week. I'm 210 lbs and 6'3". I didn't feel comfortable on this light bike. I could ride the Goldwing and take tight turns all day, but I did not feel comfortable throwing myself into a tight turn on the CBR... could be because 15 minutes into riding, vice grips fell out of it. Sold that. Went without a bike for a month or two.
1994 Goldwing, rode it three hours and then had to sell it because of financial difficulties.

Which leads me to today. The weather in Iowa/Illinois the other day was fantastic and I got the itch to get a motorcycle again (I've had it all winter, it just became unbearable this past week.) My friend has a Red/Black 1987 CBR 1000F Hurricane he wants to sell and he offered it to me for $1,500. I have little experience in sports bikes, let alone pricing of it.

I come looking for opinions on the 87 and personal experiences. As stated above, I had a CBR 600. The dislike I have towards it I can blame on my size. I think it was simply too small. The Sabre is a sport bikes and weighs about the same. It was wider and I think quite a bit higher up the the CBR and weighed about 100 lbs more. I loved the Sabre. So could I expect my experience with the Hurricane to be more similar to the Sabre or the CBR 600? If I was comfortable taking tight turns with the Sabre (claimed to be top heavy and a bike not for beginners (I don't get why, it was extremely easy to handle)), will that transfer over to the Hurricane or does the Hurricane feel more like a 600cc CBR?

Sorry for the exhausting intro and being all over the place, I just want to any future additions and thoughts to get quick response. My thought at this point is that I haven't given a bigger sport bike a try and to just go for it as long as the price is right. Can anyone give me any insight on their experiences or suggestions? Anything will be appreciated!

 

Welcome to the CBR Forum GW,

Wow, what an interesting short career on bikes you've had.

The 1987 CBR1000F was the first year of production of the model that continued for 20 years with two major updates (89 and 93).

Good, solid, dependable bikes with a lot of lazy power that will suit the taller man.

For $1,500 I'd expect a reasonable bike - what sort of mileage does it have?

Cheers, SB

 

The CBR 1K is certainly different from the long line of Goldwings (not that they should be dissed just because one crapped out on you - they are generally a quite worthy bike; personally, I can't wait to get my hands on one to make an outrageous Flat Tracker replica - but I digress)

Given your build, I think the 1K will probably work better for you. Never ridden a 600, but I get the impression that they are a snappy young person sport bike.

But the old 1K's? the Intercontinental Ballistic Sofa.

Take a test ride, see if it fits, then come back and we can talk about price (if you haven't already just pulled the trigger, and bought it after a test ride).

 

More information would be important:
* Mileage?
* Any body damage?
* Condition of:
a) Brakes
b) Tires
c) Sprockets and chain
d) Front forks \ rear shock
e) Recent oil \ change & spark plug change?
f) Last carb sync?
g) Age of battery?
h) Registration \ inspection up to date?
i) Last coolant flush?
j) Any cam-chain [tensioner] noise?

Let us know the above and we can determine if price is right.

I'd consider the Sabre a "standard" and not a sportbike.

For your stature, pretty much any 600 will be "too small" - you should ride at least a litre bike. I'm about the same structure (6/1, 220 lbs) and do fine with the Hurricane (although a Blackbird would be a better fit )

 

Don't get me wrong about the Goldwing. The bike was 20 years old and I picked it up for 2k when they usually sell for more. I jumped around to different styles of motorcycles to try everything. I broke even on every sale, so it didn't cost me anything to try everything. I originally thought I was destined for cruisers, but I didn't like the Intruder at all. Small and a 4-speed, which I despised riding in my town because of the low speed limits. If I could afford a nice Goldwing, I would choose one over any other bike (A friend of a friend is selling a 1980 for $1500, but it needs clutch work, a new seat, rear brake rebuild, and a paint job. I also have to drag it to Illinois from Louisiana.) Thanks to the 83 Goldwing and Sabre, I'm stuck loving the builds of 80's motorcycles.

Back to the CBR, I don't have more info on it at the moment. He threw out the suggestion and I was doing research, but besides this forum, I can't find much info on the Hurricane series. He relieved me from work everyday, so I will get a chance to ask him in two hours. Thanks caldercay for the list so I have something to go off of.

If the weather would allow it, I would have test driven it the other day, but we're getting temps in the 50's with clear skies one day and -5 the next with snow, so I'm waiting to get a few days of decent weather to clear out the streets. He said as long as he's home, he'll throw in the battery and I can take it out.

Also, I figured I should ask, when I am test driving it, what should I look and listen for? I also can't fix motorcycles or tinker with them because I have little mechanical experience. Will it be difficult to find people that are familiar with working on these Hurricanes? My nearby Honda dealership refused to do an oil change on my Goldwing because it was older than 1991.

All my previous bikes (except for the CBR and the 15 minutes I rode it) were shaft driven, so I don't know if there is stuff to watch out for specifically in chain driven motorcycles.

caldercay: I noticed that I wrote sportbike after I submitted it. I was thinking about my dream bike (V65 1000cc Sabre) when I wrote that in. If I could get my hands on one of those, I'd be set for life.)

 

Also, I forgot to add that during warmer weather, I tend to forget I have a car, so this will become a daily driver. How comfortable is it for long distances? And is a passenger recommended or should I tell my girlfriend to get her own bike?

 

Be sure the bike is "cold" before you start it up.

Walk around the bike and check:
* Tires - front ... is it "cupped" or wearing evenly?
* Brakes - check the pad thickness by looking between the caliper and rotor.
(front's are easier as you can position the front steering for a better view).
* Check bodywork (check for missing bolts, etc)
* Check all lights: low \high beam, turn signals, license plate light; dash lights
* Check the chain's slack - should be at an inch.
Also check "lateral" play in the chain - push it toward the rear tire (1/2 way between the sprockets, so would be pushing towards front part of rear tire)
* Check the rear sprocket - are the teeth "bent" forward (due to the "pull" of the chain).
* Check on all controls - clutch, brakes, throttle ... any binding or excessive play?

Turn the key on, set the choke, and fire up the bike.
* Any hesitation starting (such as weak battery)?
* Listen around the topside of the engine - do you hear any sort of "rattling"?
(if so, does the rattle lessen as the engine warms up?)

After the engine is warmed up, give the bike some revvs ...
* Does the engine revv up and down smoothly?
* Any misfiring?
* Any hesitation?
* Does it idle smoothly?

Look at the clutch and front brake master cylinders on the handlebars - check the sight glass ... does the fluid look clear?

That should be a good start

 

Alright, I just got done talking to him and this is what I got for you.

He couldn't remember the mileage, so when he goes home, he'll send a picture (which I'll upload) and let me know the mileage. He's owned it for two years and only rode it when his friends wanted to meet up, so not often.

Off the list you gave me, I got:
Brakes are good.
Front tire is good. Rear comes with two rims and two tires. One is I guess just a regular rim and tire that is stock. The other is a wider rim and tire with a "racing slick." He's going to give me the other rim as well, it's got the wide one on now.
Sprockets are good. He took a look at them when he was switching out the tires.
It's due for an oil and spark plug change, which doesn't bug me because I was planning on either doing my own tune up or taking it to the shop.
Last carb sync is unknown. He's owned the bike for two years and hasn't put many miles on it. If I'm mistaken, it should be done roughly every 8k miles?
Battery is newer.
Registration and title are good to go.
Coolant flush was two years ago.
No noise in the tensioner.

It's stock except for the seat (unknown brand. It is off a different motorcycle, but fits this one, so he left it on there) and aftermarket exhaust.
His buddy hooked up the exhaust pipe up, but he placed it too close to the turn signal, so the turn signal is droopy, but barely visible. If I keep riding with it without fixing it, it'll probably get worse.

This is what he told me, so until I see it, this is what I'm going by. If I get more info (when the weather clears up), I'll post it here as well as if I actually get to test drive it (thanks to caldercay for the second list.)

If you think of anything else, let me know and I'll ask him.

 

Oh, and I left out that it will need a new chain. I don't know how to do it, so I'll need how much that will cost me as well.

 

I just recently purchased a chain \ sprockets:

(BikeBandit.com - i ordered it online to get the gift card, plus it was on sale)
DID 530 Pro-Street VX Series X-Ring Motorcycle Chain $122.36
I bought a 120 link and cut it back to 114.

Bought the sprockets locally, ~$60 USD

... there's certainly less expensive sprockets\chain