Hello everyone, I recently bought a 1998 900RR with 11,000 miles on it, a beautiful machine that was completely stock with a recent carburetor cleaning done and I wanted to share my first impressions now that I have 500 miles under my belt riding my new beast. I’ve been looking to this forum for any questions I had and so I thought that all comments received could be helpful. Anyways, let me start with some quick background about myself: I’ve been riding 7 years (I’m 27) and I grew up on the back of bikes, my uncle riding a superbike-spec 91’ FZR 1000 and my dad having an old bmw we faithfully rode everywhere. At twenty I had a GS500 for about 3 months, sold it got a 98’ F3 and put 20k miles on the bike in a year. Ended up flipping it wheelieing it, being an *** and showing off, and I was out of a bike for a few months before buying a 03’ ZX6-RR. This bike was great and I put about 20k miles (mostly commuting, weekend canyons and 3 track days) on it in another year and a half before having a 250lb buck jump in front of the bike while riding in the mountains east of San Diego in July of 07’. I ran into the buck (killing it instantly) at 75mph wearing full leathers, boots, arm-length gloves and a Scorpion EXO-700, having hardly enough time to tap my brakes. Long story short, the equipment saved my life but I didn’t walk correctly for 6 months etc. Back on a bike a year later, a Katana 750 1994 doing a paid internship in France, I borrowed the bike from a friend there and had a blast for 3 months. Since then I’ve been dreaming about a bike but my encounter with the buck really hurt me financially. So this month things started looking much better bank-account wise, and so I started looking for bikes. I always loved the old 900RRs, and I was a little skeptical about hopping on a new liter bike as I was somewhat fearful of having too much power (read on before talking **** please J). The biggest bike I’d ridden was a hooked-up RC51 (PM Wheels, Full Mig Exhaust, PC, steel braided brake lines and some other mods) in the twisties near my old place in San Diego (down the 94 highway, a great ride) and the power was underwhelming as to what I expected, but still I was fearful of a 150hp thousand. Anyways, I was kind of broke still and could only afford 3.5k, and I wanted a bike with more torque so I didn’t have to rev so high as on my 600s to get moving in the street, where I do most of my riding. Therefore, a 900rr made sense and I looked for a clean one, found this one and checked it out. I fell in love with it immediately and bought it right then after a quick test ride. So now for the first impressions and the questions that come with it:

First off, the bike has been running great (typical well-kept Honda) and I’ve had no mechanical issues at all but I have a few questions. It now has about 11.5k miles on it, I think the recommended valve adjustment is at about 15-16k, but should I do it earlier and is there any other sort of other maintenance it needs? Oil change was done about 1000 miles ago, and I’ll do them myself every 2,500 miles. It has a new chain so no worries as far as that goes. And the bike looked like it had been ridden very lightly by the previous owner who gave off a very responsible vibe (believable when you see the pristine state of this 12 year old bike).
Now the good: As far as comfort I’m very impressed by the bike, even riding two up with my girl which I do often I’ve had no worries in that regard. The bike also feels extremely stable at freeway speeds and when accelerating in a straight line. It’s a beautiful bike to look at, and now that I put a Yosh RS-3 slip-on it sounds great too! Also it seems incredibly reliable as the bike sounds pretty much like new, which is crazy for such an aging bike. And let’s not forget the front brake, which is really powerful and stops the bike beautifully (front brake cylinder was rebuilt recently).
And the rest, for which I need help as I’m new to this bike: 1) first off, I feel like the bike is lacking a bit in power off the line and is geared too high in first. I can deal with the weaker power delivery off the line, but in the LA freeways which I now deal with there are often recommended speed 25mph full 360 degree entry/exit ramps to get onto other freeways or onto streets. In these turns I’ll be coming in and I’m going 35mph cause I’m behind some other car and I have the bike in 2nd gear, so when I get halfway around the turn and I want to power out I’ll be doing approx. 35mph still in 2nd with no torque and I turn then throttle and get way less power than I want. In 2nd I want more torque at this speed, so my question is this: My ZX6-RR was geared down a tooth in the front, which really woke it up and made it much more rideable in the streets. Is going down a tooth in the front the solution to the current problem I’m having with my 900RR? Please give me your thoughts

2) The bike feels unstable when I turn it into corners. It feels like there is a certain point when I’m leaning where when passed the bike just dives into the corner, which feels pretty shady. It’s currently equipped with Bridgestone BT-021 tires with 2k miles on them, and I’m thinking this may be the cause as Bridgestones are known for cupping. I hate Bridgestone from past experiences with BT-014s, , yet I have the stock 16” rim on the front and am not sure what my other options are. Any recommendations? I’m willing to do a sport or a good sport-touring tire, as my riding is 95% rode these days (still scared of the wildlife so no canyons for the moment. Maybe a track day soon though). As far as suspension setup, I’m thinking of going by RaceTech soon to get the forks revalved and the shock rebuilt. Depends on whether they’ll take the pieces off for me and do them themselves, and the price, but if they can do the work for a reasonable amount I’ll get it done within 3-4 months. Also, I ride with tire pressures of 32 front and 34 back, its what worked on my ZX6 for Metzeler M3s, my favorite tires 3 years ago. When canyon riding, down to 30 front and 32 rear. Does this work good for this bike and these tires too?

3) The windscreen feels like it directs the wind (while freeway riding at above 75mph) buffeting straight at my head when I ride sitting up, and this is very uncomfortable. I was looking at either a Double-Bubble or a Sport Touring (2 inches taller) screen from Zero Gravity, do these help at all?

I’m curious to hear what you all have to say. Apart from these three small comments I love the bike. I definitely think I could have handled any amount of power as this bike does not feel much more powerful than my ZX6-RR (the power delivery is just different, much more linear on the 900) and this surprised me, but I think the linear power of the 900RR is what fools me into thinking this bike has less power than it does. It never gives you the kick of the 600... Sometimes I’ll be riding it on the freeway and I hit it really quick just to make sure it really does have those 115-120hp (which it definitely quickly shows me it does) as the bike just feels so composed and relaxed that it fools you into complacency… But as a street bike it is exactly what I wanted (the rear shock is a little too stiff but I don’t have the tool to get to it. Wil stop by a shop soon for a quick adjustment) and the extra torque of the 900 is fun for blasting around traffic. It’s great to be back on a bike, and this will be my baby for the next year or so, so all comments on how to improve it are welcome. Thanks in advance and sorry if I rambled…

 

The bike feeling that way in the turns may be due to the 16" wheel in the front/17" wheel in the back. A friend of mine who works on bikes told me he'd recommend me getting a 17" wheel for the front because with the 16" wheel, the bike is gonna want to "Fall" into the turns which was designed for the track.

Granted, this is what he says. While I trust his take on it because he's owned numerous bikes, including 900RR's .. I cannot confirm this since I am a new rider myself and don't understand it all quite yet.

I bought this windscreen on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Black...Q5fAccessories which I believe is the Double Bubble knock off. Fitment is pretty accurate, not perfect but you can't really tell ... only thing is getting the rubber plugs in the holes for the bolts was a pain.

It definitely makes a difference though. While I don't care for the high windscreen look, I can actually lean on the gas tank and have the windscreen shield myself while my last windscreen was way too low to do such a thing.

I do love my 900RR myself. (It was actually my first bike). Very good bike, feels solid and I think it was rather easy to learn on.

 

My 99 never dove into turns with the 16" wheel, I would look at your front suspension settings and make sure your tire pressure is correct. You might try turning up your compression dampening a little and play with that, Low tire pressure on the front can cause head shake on the RR's The double bubble screen will help as well as a touring screen

 

its not the 17" that makes the difference it is changing it from 130 to a 120 tyre

 

I have the double bubble on mine and only at about 130+mph does it get bad enough to snuggle the tank. I just did the 17" front conversion and it felt more stable in the corners. I felt more confident laying her over really good.. quick response on the tight twisties. I use dunlop tires.
I agree with the other replies that I would have the suspension checked. At track days most people do it for $40 to adjust it and tell you if there are any real problems. On the track I run 29psi rear and 31 front. My street riding is limited to way out back road test runs after tuning. When I changed out the front to 17" wheel I found a hot deal on tires at the track..a full set of new dunlop sportmax tires for $100 but the rear was a 190. I love it! I wonder if the "RR" is for the only thing you can say after a high speed track run

 

I don't know why you don't feel that explosive 900rr power, you should!

You should feel like you are getting shot out of a cannon in 1st gear, with the front wheel lifting off the ground.

Maybe your bike needs a tuneup?

My bike has 27,000 miles and I don't think the valves have ever been checked.

I may get it done soon, maybe not.

And like the others have said, maybe try using a 17" front rim.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the replies. I've heard a lot about the 17" wheel conversion, but I'm skeptical. As this is a 98' the radical steering geometry was improved and this bike is not supposed to suffer from a sharp turn-in like earlier 900RRs. Plus with all the good rubber I can still find for the 16" rim (Metzeler M3s, Continental SportAttacks, Pilot Diablos) I have no real incentive to change it. I'm gonna set up the forks better and we'll see what results I get.

MT Wallet, the bike is in great condition and I feel the power but I guess I was just expecting more. I can make the front wheel come up in first, but I could with my last 600 (once it was geared down a tooth) also. I guess coming from a 03' ZX6-RR dynoing at 106 (an optimistic dnyo, i think) I guess the jump in power isn't that great since the stock 98' 900RR is pushing out an extra 15 on a very good day. And I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, maybe after all these years on bikes I can simply better handle the power and it's not as overwhelming as when I was younger. But when it comes to the power feeling, on 600s, especially my last bike, you get that top end rush that makes the bike feel incredibly powerful. Here the rush is constant, powerful but without that kick in the *** at 10k rpm. I know the power is there but I guess I just don't feel it the same... There is a kick at 5 and at 8k but not as crazy, as the 600s almost seem like an old 2-stroke with the on/off powerband. Don't get me wrong though, I think this bike is way better for the street and the added torque over a 600 is great. I just think that gearing it down a tooth will help me get in the meat of the rpm range quicker

 

At the last track run I had a pro with a 600 follow me with a camera. He showed me the video when we got back. Coming out of turn 9 going W.O.T. all you see is me going bye bye down the straight. He would catch me by turn 7. This bike has 36k miles on it. no clue if the valves have ever been done. Fuel pump removed w/direct gravity feed on the fuel. Under W.O.T. at about 7k this thing launches to the point I have to tighten my stomach muscles. I do need to add that I run a 50/50 mix of super and race fuel.

 

starting out this summer, i started to hate my 99. it wouldn't go into corners unless i really pushed, then it would fall in like you describe. all the while the front felt very unstable. turns out my air pressure was way low and my tires were cupped. got new tires and it's like a new bike. feels great, leans awesome. also went to a 120 front from the 130 since i couldn't find a 130 for a 16" rim. I've read reports that the front end on these bikes gets loose sometimes coming out of corners, a steering dampener is almost universally recommended. also the 900 will have a flatter torque curve, so it won't feel as "peaky" as a 600 will, but it should pull strong all the way through. i accidentally pulled my front about 2ft in the air a few weeks back, just from getting too aggressive on the launch. my 99 has 27K on the clock, don't think the valves have ever been checked nor has the carb seen any work, it's all stock.