+1,000,000
You read my mind!! This bike has a salvaged title and you dont know the first thing about repairing a bike. SAFETY has got to be a major concern here. If something is slightly out of whack or bent it could mean your life (let alone the fact that you are a brand new rider and should NOT be on a 954!!). I would really recommend you part out this bike on ebay (could make alot of money) and then buy something with a little less horsepower (and in decent condition).
Good luck! Post some pics too!!

 

ok I got some pics and put them on my website.. check em Here

let me know what you all think.

 

do u kno how the bike went down did he low side or something kinda give use an idea to pay the most attn

 

I reviewed all of the photos fairly closely and my honest opinion is i would not part that bike out UNLESS you payed less than 2K for it. You can see from the photos that it did not go down that hard, I dropped my 954 at a standstill([:@]embarrasing) and it took almost as much damage as shown on that bike(I of course did not have the frame sliders on yet[:@])

The stator cover i think is just a real real real real ****ty gasket job, someone just had no idea how to use the sealent and got it all over the place OR it is JB repaired like mentioned before, in which case get a new stator cover and clean up the mounting area and youll be good to go, even if you did have to use some epoxy repair on the mounting surface it would be fine, JB weld can do amazing things.

Sell all the fairings(not the headlight, it looks good) and buy a whole new set, its a lot less of a hassle than trying to match used fairings to yours and a lot cheaper.

From the pictures i would also replace the clutch cover and maybe the oil pan, i cant remember if the oil pan was damaged but i do recall thinking that it looked like it had a major squished gasket in there, so at least redo the gasket there too.

Then as far as saftey goes, After you have gone through the entire manuel and checked every mechanical part of the bike that you possibly can, Leave the fairings off, Take it to a professional and have then check everything EVERYTHING! and watch them check it, watch what they do and how they do it for future reference, and then have some people that ride near you look it over, listen to it run, test suspension, throttle, brakes, make sure everything seems good to go, and then when your finally ready to take off on it, do nice slow runs around the block, wearing saftey gear, and gradually work up to higher speeds and busier areas as everything seems ok, and other experienced riders give it the ok too. I think you would be fine, Just gotta remember that your not superman, if you get cocky something will happen.

 

I'm not planning on parting it out, I plan on fixing it and making it look perty

i need to run out and get some tie downs and get my ramp prepared so I can haul it tomorrow. I'll start working on it right away and see how it goes. I'll be sure to take some more pictures as I move along. I have all the old fairings, but I'll just sell em for what i can and buy new ones like I planned on doing. I saw some decent ones on ebay. I noticed though while taking pictures that right next to the VIN it says the date and also the type of bike... however, it says 900RR on it.. wtf? is the 900RR and the 954 the same frame / style or what's the deal with that? i seem to remember seeing some fairings listed on ebay that were for 900rr 954 and 1000... can all of these use the same fairings and possibly other parts?

did anybody get a change to watch the videos yet? I started it up in one of them and I was just wondering if the idle sounds ok? to me it sounds a little sick and needs a cough drop or something. like the sound of the DD pipe though, to bad it's got damage on it.

as far as the dropping went on this bike... big nasty story that is... i'm the 4th owner on it so I have really no way of telling what happened. 1st owner supposedly drove it really nice and never did anything to it. he sold it to the second owner who used it for racing, crashed it - hence the salvage title - and sold it to the third owner (after he fixed it up a bit and got it running again. the third owner, the guy i got it from, said he didn't really get to ride it and that he was selling it because his mother came back from over seas and told him he had to or she wouldn't speak to him again... i met his mother and i believe him, she was a b_tch. don't know how much of his story i believe him, but he said he had been in and out of a few comas and as far as that goes... he's got the scars to prove it and his girl vouched for him. not sure if the crappy seal job on the stator cover was him or the guy before him. don't really know what work he did and what work the other guy did, so i'm going to be sure and check everything again and again and again. if i find something wrong with it that will make it a safety hazard i'll either dump the bike and part it out or rebuild it from the ground up. we'll have to see how it goes. for the mean time, i have a safe place to store it and work on it and lots of time. if in the end I do have to part it out or rebuild the whole thing, well at least i'll know how everything works on it and i'll be able to spot problems easier in the future. for me, it's a project bike and a learning experience.

again, thanks for the support. more pictures/videos to come.

 

Im at my moms house right nowand her computer is terrible so i couldnt watch the videos, but when i get back to my house on monday ill check them out.

My bike sounds like hell when i first start it, and after about thirty seconds it sound perfect, i have read around that these bikes are just noisy and it takes a few seconds for the oil to get circulated and will make noise at start up because of that. So... im not worrying about it, while it runs good im just going to leave it how it is.

but it sounds like your ready to rock and roll. A few suggestions..... dont get those ratchet tow straps, they are only good for very few things and way too much of a pain in the *** for loading and unloading a bike. It might be useful to have some around but just get the sliding ones for simple hauling, so much better. And as for the ramp, i looked at ramps and they were extremely expensive, so i just looked at lowes in the riding lawn mower area and found the "ramp heads" and then bought me a 2X10X12 board, cut it in half, bolted on the ramp tops and had two ramps(I needed two for quads) for half the price of one prebuilt ramp. For extra saftey i put an I-bolt through them sticking out the bottom so that when your loading you canstrapthe boards to the bottom of the truck and you dont have to worry about them falling on ya(again mainly a concern with quads but still i prefer safe over sorry). Only thing i would change is making the ramps 7 or 8 feet instead of 6 foot. I have to have a small slope to load the CBR, if i do it on flat ground it bottoms out at the top of the ramp.

good luck!

 

good ad vice thanks. I wasn't planning on buying a ramp for the same reason, the prices are ridiculous. so I'm going to be using a 3/4 inch sheet of plywood - not particle board - the stuff holds about 350-400 lbs if it's a full sheet, about 500-550 for half a sheet. I've got a couple sturdy square wooden boxes to put under neath it and the alley behind my house has a slight slope at the end of it. shouldn't be to bad. i think the sheet is 8+ feet long, so hopefully i can just roll it right up there with the help of my roommate tomorrow. I'll be sure to buy the sliding straps, forgot to today, but tomorrow morning will be fine.. all set to rock and roll

 

I just want to say that I'm gad that this thread was made, I finally found out what's wrong with my bike, thanks a bunch and I hope all goes well with your bike DJ

 

I haven't gotten to review all the photos yet, but I have a couple words of advice.

1. Invest in a few spray cans of WD-40 and 1 can of PB Blaster. These will help lubricate and get sticky / stuck bolts out.
Hopefully you already have lots of wrenches, screwdrivers, allen head / T-handle drivers etc.

2. Find a list of the torque values for each and every bolt on the bike, if that info. is not already in the manual. This is really important, because bikes are kind of wierd, there are a LOT of bolts that don't take as much torque as you think, and you'll strip / destroy them when you overtighten them, not to mention possibly destroy whatever part they go into. There are some bolts that take a lot more torque than you think, and if you don't get them torqued correctly, well, the bike could fall apart. Some things take lithium soap based grease while others take molybdenum disulfide grease. Don't mix those up. Get a decent torque wrench, you can get some from Sears that will last a lifetime, if you don't already have one.

3. When you get everything running good and go to ride it... wear all the gear all the time (ATGATT) ...and... PLEASE ... remember, this is NOT a beginner bike. I've been riding over 32 years and I can EASILYfind 954 ways for my 954 to kill me, if you get my drift, this is one mother%^&#@*& FAST bike. It has so much power, if you give it even a little too much throttle, it will flip completely over and kill you. So please be careful. They say Ferrari's are fast, well, I have news, this bike DEFINES fast, it can blur your vision by forcing your eyeballs back into your brain. It has more horsepower (say this very very quietly) than should even be street legal.

4. Welcome to our little 954 world.

 

glad we could help you even if we don't know how Mafarlou!

thanks for the advice Yam93. ever since the day I started entertaining getting a bike (which was when I was about 5) i've always told myself I would wear all of my gear all the time. I plan on getting an Ari or Shoui helmet pretty soon here - well before I start riding - along with gloves, good sturdy boots (probably steel toe) a jacket that could stop bullets and I'll make sure it has pads (elbow,shoulder,back) that can do likewise. I've been trying to decide weather I want a piece of body armor and get the extra pads to wear for my elbows and shoulders, or go with a fully equipped jacket... any advice on this one? I don't know a ton about the fit and protection of riding gear, but I intend to find out before I start moving on that sucker. Any body know which brands are realatively inexpensive yet have awesome protection? I'm willing to spend a bit more on my gear if it means better protection, but not if it just means its made out of material that will last through a nuclear explosion. i want water resistant, lightweight, semi-tight fitting, air breathing, bullet proof protection. what are some good brands to check out that don't cost me $1000+ for each individual piece? I know the helmet I am considering runs about $300 and it fits right and feels good. it has a built in sun visor that flips up out of my field of vision. i believe it's an Ari, but can't remember exactly, might be a Shoui. haven't found a jacket I like yet, but I think I found some gloves. Which is better though, the wrist ones or gauntlets? i tried on quite a few different pairs and so far I like the wrist fits better. Would it be better to go with titanium or is carbon fiber plastics enough? I don't want to drop $200 on a pair of gloves unless I know it is worth it. If a pair of $100 ones give me the same protection then why not save myself an extra $100 I could put into another piece of gear? What about boots? Should I get some from the shop that go almost up to my knees or can I get them somewhere else? I don't really know which ones would be best here, haven't tried any on, but the bike shop ones (racing boot-ish ones) look pretty stiff and I'm worried they will confine my ankles and legs to much. I want lots of movement, but also lots of protection.

I know a 954 is NOT a starter bike, but I have it. I'm going to be careful on that thing as I know a few people who have gotten into wrecks on their bikes and I've seen what can happen. I've been watching lots of accident videos online and I keep telling myself to be smart and safe or I'll end up dead - not something I am very fond of right now. The biggest thing i've ridden with 2 wheels was a 250cc moped when I was overseas, but that has no where near the power of this thing. honestly, i'm scared of my bike a bit, but i'm eager to get on it and ride around the block - waiting until I know everything is in working order though and until i've went through the safety course. I know they let you use 250 cc bikes in that, so at least I'll have a little experience and more knowledge before I get onto a rockstar bike.

Just curious... how many of you on here have had accidents and what were they like? how long have you been riding and got into an wreck? everyone always says if you own a bike it's not a matter of if you will wreck, it's a matter of how long. my girl is super worried about me having this thing, but shes only ever heard about people wrecking and screwing themselves up. I'd like to know the other end of the story. has any one ridden for 10+ years and not wrecked at all?

sorry bout the long posts, i took a 4 hour nap and now i'm going to be awake half the night.. need to find some way to entertain myself [8D]