Hey guys, I just purchased it today, but it is pouring out so I am waiting till tomorrow to bring it home.

I am a new rider, been riding my friends 97 GSXR 600 for a few hours and realized I had to buy a bike. I used to ride as a passenger on my dads Harley's when I was 6 years old, to 11 years old. He's been riding his whole life, and I hope he buys another to go riding with me.

Anything I should look for with my new CBR? It is a 98' and has 30,000 miles on it. Seems to have been taken care of extremely well. The person I bought it from only had the bike for like 3 months, realized he wanted a cruiser instead and bought a Honda Shadow. He said the owner he bought it from got all the work done.

Here are some pictures. Does anyone know what tail is on the bike? Is it completely custom? Also, is the exhaust on this bike still available? I guess it is a "Blue Flame EVO"? It also has a single swingarm, a cigarette lighter adapter, LED mirrors and flushmount turn signals. That is basically all I know about the bike.

 

You've only been riding a few hours and you chose a 900RR for your first bike? WOW

If I were you, the first thing I would do is take the MSF Basic Rider's Course. That bike does not suffer fools lightly and will make you pay dearly for any mistakes. Please be careful!!!

As far as that tail, I'm not sure what it came off of but it sure does look nice! Nice find on a custom RR.

 

The tail looks like a GSXR, Around 04 maybe. Sweet bike, Be careful the 900 will surprise you and is heavier in the twisties

 

Hey guys, question ..

I know every bike is different, but besides the extra 23hp & 30ft.lb torque .. what makes the 900RR CBR so much different than the GSXR 600? They both weigh the same, so what makes the 900 so much harder to handle?

Is it the extra power that makes people so concerned to get one as a beginner bike? I bought the bike to cruise, not be stupid on.

 

Mostly it's the torque that comes from displacement.

There are alot of ways to make the 'numbers' look good. Smaller displacement bikes can make good HP but it much higher RPMs. Generally at lower RPMs , what you typically see during normal street riding , the torque and RPM is alot more gradual and almost docile. I raced 600's "back in the day" and even on the race bikes , you could almost physically hold them back at low RPMs. Up over 10K is where they really light up and you can see it coming.

The larger bikes , around 1L , make much more torque down low and in places that you see way more often during that same normal street riding. Because of that it can sneak up on you more easily. Even my 12 year old RR with minimal mods and a strong tuning will power wheelie easily at 7-8K rpm. You can pull the front wheel at 3/4k just rolling the swell crossing an intersection. Around the corners it will come on even sooner since as you lean , the radius on the tire will increase the gear ratio and lower the contact patch.

Things just happen much sooner and faster as the CCs increase. Numbers on a magazine spec sheet don't tell the whole story.

Oh yeah , definately a gixxer tail section and probably a VFR swing.

 

Thanks for the explanation. Yeah, I know the numbers look like a small difference on sheets, but make a huge difference on the road .. I was just wondering if it was something else that made these bikes so, I don't know, dangerous to learn on.

I've grasped the fact since the day I looked at the bike that if I am (and did), get a 900cc bike, I need to learn the throttle like it is my lifeline. My uncle lost his leg on a ZX10 some 21 years ago on the night I was born, so I have no 'need for speed' when on the bike, just cruise. Yeah, I know I can easily out-twist the throttle more than I want to .. that's why I'm keeping it on my street for a while, taking it slow and learning it real well.

Thanks for the help! Yep, it is a YFR Swing, I have the receipt from when the original guy did it. Didn't have a receipt for the tail section, but I looked up the 04 GSXR 1000's and yeah .. looks identical (pretty much).

 

Picked it up and rode it around for about an hour today before it rained. Absolutely love it! For some reason, the spec sheets say it sits lower than my friends 600 GSXR, however, it definitely sits much higher.

Turns differently, and the seat position is different, but I absolutely love it! Keeping it local for now just to get the hang of it .. but boy, it is such a joy!

 

Man, that is one sweet 900RR.Good job on finding a great ride for your first bike.But like the guys said above BE CAREFUL!!! These bike are very strong runners.My old 93 900RR still surprises me every now and then.

 

Yeah, I bet .. and I am not about to find out how strong these bikes are.

Me and my friend went cruising this evening for about another ~3 hours and he kept saying "Why aren't you keeping up?!" The guy just doesn't grasp the power between my legs, and how gentle I am taking it on this bike.

I have to ask, is it normal for the steering to be really stiff? It may just be because I rode 2 bikes, my friends 600 and now my 900 .. but it's like you really gotta put pressure on the handle bars to counter-steer into a turn while my friends handle bars felt more like they were "floating" and you can just throw the bike around.

Besides the difference in handling, everything else feels about the same between the two. I absolutely love my bike!!!

 

First off your bike has the VFR single sided swingarm, That may contribute the the taller ride height and the 900RR is wider than the 600GSXR and more top heavy which contributes to the handling difference, The 900 is more nose heavy than the 600. There is no reason for the steering to feel heavy unless the steering head bearings are dry or too tight, your bike should sit level. It maybe the pics but it looks a little higher in the rear which will put more weight on the steering as well, The 900 builds HP and torque at lower rpms than the 600. After 11 years mine still suprises me if I get on it hard exiting corners, You can lower the bike a little by raising the forks and dropping the rear spring preload if you like. I jacked up my rear spring preload to put more weight on the front and stop my very slight headshake, The 900RR is probably Honda's best out of the box large CC handling bike IMO anyway
FYI my power band starts hitting at about 5500 rpms, It will wheelie at 100 mph