OK, a little dramatic, perhaps. It wasn't a basket case when I bought it, but it certainly hadn't been shown the kind of care that I give my bikes. I'd like to document the rebuild of my bike in this thread as it happens...hopefully, this is of value to someone, and not an entirely selfish exercise.



I should probably introduce myself first, since I'm a new member. My name is Ben...I have been riding motorcycles for 20+ years, and I've had just about every type -- cruisers, standards, sport bikes, dual sports. I owned a 1995 CBR600F3 when it was new, and though I moved on, I always missed that bike. My initial plan was to pick up another F3, as I missed my old, errr, "vintage" bike. After lurking around for a bit, I decided an F4 would be a better choice.

The hunt began...

 

Good to see that you started this thread Ben. :-) Let the "documentation" begin!

 

So in case you couldn't tell from my screen name (got_the_bug), I am not particularly patient after I have thoroughly researched something...like, if the perfect bike had been in my garage immediately after I had made up my mind, that would have been great. However, I practiced some restraint as I scoured the local (and not so local) Craigslist offerings. What I learned from this exercise was that a number of people are truly nuts. As in, no, your '95 F3 in relatively poor shape is not worth $4500. And seriously, can you construct a sentence? What you've written in your ad looks like a text message typed by a third grader having a seizure...lol, omg, lol.

However, in between the nutzo posts, there were a few that were promising. It seemed, at least in my area, these bikes are in fairly high demand...a couple of them had sold within a day or two of being posted...it was clear I had to be quick on the draw. After losing out by being too slow on about 3 bikes, I had the good fortune to refresh the page right as a new post appeared -- '99 Honda CBR600F4, 22K miles, just serviced, perfect.*

*seller's words

The seller was about 3 hours away from me, but after talking to him on the phone, I decided I needed to check it out, or it might be gone the next day. The challenges...my wife was away visiting college friends, and I was responsible for our 1 year old and 3 year old.

Road trip, kids!

 

Yep, w/ CL ads you gotta be quick for sure!

 

After making sure that ample snacks and bribes were packed for the kids, I loaded them into the truck, and we were off on an adventure.

We showed up early, so the kids got out and got to run around for a bit. They did as well as could be expected of small children, finally melting down only when the seller arrived. Perfect.

Moral of the story...the best time to look at a used motorcycle is not while trying to deal with two screaming children that are doing their best to attract the attention of anyone from Child Protective Services who might happen to be within earshot. Some might also include that the best time to purchase another motorcycle is not when your wife is away and has no idea of your plan. Oops. I did tell her...kinda. It's her fault for going away!

What I COULD tell from looking at the bike while trying to deal with the hysterics from the back seat of the truck was that the seller and I differed on our understanding of the word "perfect". Not that it was in awful condition, but it was dirty, plastics slightly faded in spots, the stator cover was rashed, tank had a very small dent, etc. It had new sprockets and a new chain, but the tires were completely shot...in my 20 years of motorcycle experience, I've never seen a more defined flat spot than on that rear tire. Like, if I didn't see him turn into the parking lot, I would have thought maybe he'd only ever ridden it in a straight line.

The good, though, is that there were no strange engine noises...carburetion seemed perfect...smooth idle/revs, no popping or stumbling. All gauges and lights worked, electrical system worked fine. Despite its scars, I wanted it...I could save it!

$3000? Too much...we settled for $2400 (that turned out to still be too much). The cash exchanged hands, the title was signed over, and the bike strapped down in the bed of the truck. Woo Hoo!

From the back seat on the way home: "Daddy, I think Mommy will be surprised to see this motorcycle!"

You have no idea, kid.

 

Haha, great story. :-) Await your post on her response. ;-)

All joking aside, the carbs being in good shape is a real plus. F4s being the last of the carb'd CBRS, they often get dismissed by buyers these days in favor of fuel-injected. Myself, having grown up w/ carb'd bikes, it doesn't bother me to own carb'd bikes.

 

Needless to say, Mommy WAS surprised..."Why is there a red motorcycle in the garage?" By the way, it is Italian Red...or was Italian Red...or still is, kind of, but I'm getting ahead of my story.

Apparently, she didn't understand when I mentioned I was thinking about selling my snowmobile and getting another motorcycle that meant that in less that 2 weeks, there would be another motorcycle in the garage. I am a man of action! Or something...

It was late on Saturday when I got the bike home, and had to put the kids to bed, so it was really Sunday afternoon before I got a detailed look at my purchase. In addition to what I'd seen the day before, I noticed there were some stress cracks in the front cowl plastic, and that one of the cowl tips by the windshield was completely snapped off...missing about 2 inches...how did I not see that?!

I knew that I would be making a few changes, certainly starting with a deep clean, but as I started taking a closer look, I was not going to be happy with the bike until I had completely taken it apart and put it back together.

I'm glad I have a 2010 Yamaha WR250R to ride while this project is in progress!

 

Good job on purchasing the new addition to the family! Your reluctance to deal with people on CL is similar to mine. I was going to trade my AR-15 set up for a motorcycle but thought against it ( no gun registration in TX ).

I ended up meeting a guy who claimed he was a constable in Dayton, TX (turned out to be true) and sold the AR-15 (and AR-7, survival .22 rifle) to purchase a motorcycle.

Then I met up with a guy from CL to look and buy a bike (after work, around 11/12 at night). Good thing I'm super, extra cautious because everything worked out and now I have a F4! Now I just need to get a new rim and I can start riding

Good luck with fixing up your F4, I just ordered a slew of maintenance parts (brakes/mirrors/bolts/etc) and can't wait to do all the work myself. Parts can't come in fast enough.

 

Yes...waiting for parts is both maddening and part of the fun, at the same time. Having the brown truck show up at the house is exciting, but not being able to progress on whatever you're working on until you get those parts is a pain. However, since I have my bike nearly all the way apart, there's plenty to work on.

I wish I'd started this thread at the VERY beginning, because I've already made some progress, and won't have pictures to show before/after.

I only have a crappy cell phone pic to show the original, fully assembled bike right after being unloaded...the scars aren't very apparent.

 

Poor girl must have sat outside for at least some period of time in her life, and I think one of the two POs may have lived down a dirt road...or maybe in a sand pit.

A week or two later, here is what she looked like -- all plastic removed, exhaust removed. The exhaust appears to be a full Micron system...definitely not the stock headers, as they are stainless. It sounds pretty good, but unfortunately, the carbon fiber can is missing nearly all of its clear coat. Also done at this point was an oil and filter change (Honda HP4 semi-synthetic and OEM filter) and full coolant flush. The brakes were also tackled -- calipers were completely cleaned. I sanded the pins to remove the corrosion, lubed the caliper pistons, and installed new OEM brake pads. The finishing touch was ripping out the OEM brake lines -- the fitting on the rear line was actually rusty -- and installing HEL braided brake lines (black) front and rear.

I was especially pleased when taking off the left fairing that one of the mounting tabs had been broken. When I removed the bolt and fairing, said mounting tab dropped onto the ground. Great. More plastic damage. I really hadn't planned to buy new plastics, but with the cracks in the front cowl, some repaired scratches on the side fairings, the missing clear coat on the tail, the dent in the tank (circled in the picture)...ahhhhhhhhhh! How is my **** self going to ignore all of this?!

Don't worry, fellow forum members...I won't.