Hi everyone,

I have noticed that an extremely high percentage of the threads on this board are based on the CBR929 breaking down.

I am just about to buy one so that gets me a bit worried. Typically on a bike message board the majority of threads are about customizing it and not something breaking, the bike not being able to start, dying on the highway, etc.

What I would like to identify is if this is really indicative of 929 ownership, or that the modding-type posts were already made years ago.

For you long-term owners, can you please provide the gist of how reliable your experience has been? Thank you.

 

Subscribing...

 

Can't speak for the 929 specifically. But I can say this: Start of the season, you're gonna see a lot of "Help!" threads.

Lot of these are from new owners. Either the previous owner or they themselves simply didn't store the bike properly over the off season(s). Lot of dead battery, bad gas, clogged fuel system threads. Generally speaking tho, Hondas are bulletproof when taken care of correctly. The weak spot that seem universal on the bikes are the R/R and CCTL. Especially on the older bikes.

My F3 was never properly taken care of and sat for 2-3 years with gas still in her. She fired up on the 2nd attempt. Changed the plugs and she was good to go. What was left was a bad speedo causing a flat spot (air system is tied into the speed). Not bad for a 14 year old bike whose mechanic apparently didn't understand the proper use of a wrench.

 

Okay thank you for the response. That's kind of what I was hoping for.

Simple methods to take care of it like unhooking the battery and pulling Stabil in the tank before it gets parked may not be getting followed.

 

Yup and then they lean on the starter button trying to force her to start. Fouling out the plugs and draining the battery.

Another thing you'll see if you look deeper into the threads, the owner knew about a problem or just finished digging in the bike. Forgotten vacuum hoses, kinked fuel lines or just installed some mod previous. Dunno how many "Bike won't start" threads ended with finding the short they caused putting in their new lights. Or flat spot threads cause they changed the AF mix but never tuned it for it.

If you do a good inspection of the bike and find it solid, it'll prolly remain solid so long as you take care of it. Find one that's been maintained consistently and hasn't been beaten to death, you'll be good for years to come.

 

People are more likely to speak up when something goes wrong. It's the same reason you'll see more bad restaurant reviews than good . . . if things are great, people won't go out of their way to tell someone. Nobody will jump on here and post "Hey everyone, my bike is running great." It's not that nobody cares, it's that it's just assumed that it's running great unless you post that it's not.

Now, if you find a bike forum where there ARE a ton of posts saying that their bike is running great, and people are congratulating them like it's something special, that's the bike I'd be worried about purchasing!

These are great bikes, I love my 929.

 

Scoots,

I understand that the "bike problem" posts are more common than "bike running well posts, but it's the ratio of "bike problem" posts that have me worried.

I'm also a member of the USA 2 Strokers website that only has older bikes from the 70s and I don't see as many breakdown threads as this one.

Also, the SV650 boards seem to have far more threads about customization (exhausts, paint, whatever) that anything else and the breakdown threads are rare.

I'm not expecting everyone to post how well their bike is, but it would be more confidence boosting to see this site not be all about breaking down.

 

LOL dude you gotta look deeper. This board is very popular with new owners and riders. Comes up in the top 5 on Google almost anytime you ad "CBR" in the search.

Feb was "bike wont start!" Month. Then it was "OMG!!! MY BIKE RUNS HOT!!!" at 220 degrees (aka: normal). If you want the real story behind Honda's look at the Hurricanes still on the road, the F2s & F3s still kicking chit. Or the F4i at 177k miles, took a crippling shot in a lowside and the owner that rebuilt it using most of the original engine. Because it was in near perfect condition.

Ownership is what makes or breaks a Honda. Even poorly maintained, they'll go for a while. Albeit complaining the whole way.

 

Koroshio,

Your posts I completely believed (and thank you for your efforts), what I was responding to the other poster who stated every thread was like that.

Trust me, you don't have to sell me on the reliability of the Honda brand (Civic now and adding an MDX this fall), but I didn't know if just the 929 specifically was buggy after the big engine changes from the 900-919.

 

Hey evreyone, i pulled my bike out today and it started right up! Lol. A quick cleaning, a little chrome polish on the wheels, and i was out all day! This is usually how i start every season. I've had my 929 for 4 years it has 23,000 miles still runs strong and i've never had a problem with it! Like someone else said, with the proper maintenance Hondas will last a long time.