Ah, ****. Well I made it a point today to charge the bike from one of those lower amp "emergency" batteries. Godamn I hope I didn't mess anything up. I suppose the only way to tell if there's been damage really is if my lights stop working in the middle of a trip.

 

My confidence is low after having a few years out of the saddle and a non related bike accident at work.

As a point though, my first bike was a f4i and i had only rode a bike for 5 days doing my test previous. Now ive decided to get back in the saddle, first place i looked was 600 cbrs and now have an f2.

As soon as you can, get back on it, take it slow and enjoy the freedom of two wheels once more. Also remember, Dont try and keep up with your mates. RIDE AT YOUR OWN PACE! youll soon catch them up and if their disapearing without a care for you, id prehaps find some other riding buddies.

mat

 

I don't agree at all with nothing less than a 600. I have ridden and taught people on basis with 250 Ninja's and based on building up confidence and skills with that bike. They were way better off when they bumped up to a 500 or even a 600. Practice is the key but its really feeling were the bike wants to work and how it works is the key. I beleive your setting yourself up for a crash if you don't feel comfortable with the bike. Most people haven't crashed and will say its fine. I have been through my shares. until you get knocked on your *** hard you will then understand why it is so important to have confidence and ability with your bike.


If you want it to look nice. Get a ebay set. If you want it to look like crap. Do what everyone else does and spray paint them.

Handles are pretty easy. Just examine it and take of a bolt here or there and you can figure it out.

You might of screwed your electrical. Your taking a high amp alternator that is 85 amps or more and putting it on a small electrical system. Not a good idea at all in any situation. Once you jump it and it run's fine your charging system may be ok, yet your battery probably has a shot cell. Motorcycle battery's are fragile it seems.

 

Painting is easy. I repainted my first bike myself and the results were great. You can check my album out for photos of the results. Its the blue F2.

As far as not being on a level to work on your bike i think thats a poor excuse. Youll never be on the level until you try. I knew nothing about bikes except how to ride on dirt. About 2 months into owning my first bike i started changing spark plugs, filters, brakes, rebuilt rear master cylinder and caliper, and cleaned and tuned the carbs. Youll never know if you never try. Trial and error is how the greatest things get accomplished. Youll feel great after you fix something thats wrong and your confidence in riding will be much higher. Mostly because youll know that what your riding is what YOU worked on and if it breaks YOU can fix it.


So try fixing it yourself becuase this forum is full of help. Just ask.

For tips on how to repaint just ask and ill be more than happy.

 

Lol sorry I read your post and all I could think of was those afv videos where someone gets on a bike and floor it into a fence or over onto their heads. And the only way to regain your confidence is to get back out there and ride.

As for jumping your bike, I've never found the need. I've gotten good at bump starting dirtbikes street bikes and even the occasional car.

 

Ren19,

a) Where are you located - update this on your profile, there might be forum regulars near you willing to help out both with wrenching and riding.

b) Other than this 600 - what's your background on 2 wheels? I ask this cause I've seen the same scenario over the years while working in a bicycle shop, where full grown adults, in great physical shape, will come and buy a nice mountain bike or road bike, and have zero handling skill on it cause they never did more than pedal one around the block when they were kids. Usually they get this "I can't do this, it's too hard, I dunno how you go so fast on a trail" mentality and the bike ends up hanging in a garage for the rest of its life. I think there is a lot to be learned from trail riding a mountain bike, just for the general confidence you learn in negotiating terrain upright on 2 wheels at relatively slow speeds. Road bikes relate to my CBR a lot when I'm @ speed and rounding a corner at 25+ mph - body position and counter-steer all kick in then just like on the motorcycle.

I'm not meaning to ask "can you ride a bike" - most people can get around the block. this kinda sounds like where you are with your CBR. I mean have you regularly done stuff that naturally challenges you to learn balance and recovery techniques without a high margin of danger or property damage.

I'd assume trail riding on a dirtbike would be similar if that's an option to you.

You ever snowski or snowboard? Waterski or Wakeboard?

A motorcycle generally stays up on its own and goes in a straight line at any speed just past the moment the clutch engages. Beyond that, it's the inputs you make that affect it. I'm not saying you have no skill, but you're looking for input here.

 

CBRfenatic - you've got a good point. everything i learn now by doing it myself, I can re-apply again and again. while if I let someone else fix it, i'll always have to go back and get someone else to do it. I'd like to read your process of painting your bike. If you want to post it here, or PM me, or even make a guide for it so other people can utilize it as well.

adrenaljunky - aside from put putting around the block on a bicycle as a kid, this cbr is my only experience. literally the first time i got on the bike back in october, I put it straight into a curb and spilled antifreeze all over the pavement.

My most serious drop so far was doing a U-turn back in november, losing my balance and falling into a curb, hand slipping, sending my bike WOT down the curb. I'm not even going to lie, everytime I go out on the bike, it's a battle to quiet my fears. I'm sitting here eating breakfast, in a few mins i'm going to go out on the bike for a bit. I have massive butterflies in my stomach. I seriously was thinking like last month about "downgrading" to a 250r. or even a 650r or er6n.

I feel like this - you know that saying about "motorcycling is a bag of skill and a bag of luck. You're meant to fill the bag of skill before the bag of luck runs out."

Well... I accidently spilled my back of luck on the ground and now it's just a matter of how many parts on my bike are missing before I learn.

thanks all for your comments

 

Well my ride this morning went pretty good. Conquered my worst fears, U-turns and on/off ramps.

Does anyone know how to adjust the friction zone? While fiddling with the clutch the other day I seem to have put it way far out. It's maybe 1cm from being fully released. It was kind of funny trying to go from stops today.

 

On jumping from a car, it'll be bad for your battery but fine otherwise. The current draw is limited by the starter motor, and won't be any higher than from a good moto battery. Just don't hook it up backwards or you'll fry some diodes!

You need a new battery, and maybe your charging system is shot. Get a multimeter and check the voltage of the battery at idle and 5000 rpm. If it doesn't rise to ~14.5V, your R/R or stator is faulty. Check it out before you drop a battery in it or else it'll fry itself too.

I agree with everyone talking about doing some low speed riding in a lot. Getting over in 1st or 2nd gear willl help you feel what its like to turn properly, and a little MSF like slalom course will do wonders for your confidence and dexterity on the bike. Take it easy and build up your confidence. However, of your tires are flatted out on the bottom, you wont be able to learn much.

 

There are 2 10 mm bolts on the clutch cable at the engine case and a lock screw on the clutch handle. You can adjust either, bit id suggest starting on the case side. As you adjust the cable, you can feel the clutch engagement point shift. Clutch adjustment is HUGE for comfort on the bike, I bet of you put it right you will immediately ride better.