I was told to get an old bike before I move up to a new one. I've been given a bike and am trying to get it going. ( 89 CBR600 F1 ) My uncle purchased it from a friend that ran a Honda dealership and raced it for 2 years. (removed all stickers and painted it yellow) From what I understand it's lowered and stiffened on the suspension. Has a high performance clutch, new exh, set carbs, tuned up, oil & other goodies were either on it or newly done near the time he retired it. Last time he used this bike was a few years ago. It ran perfect, but wouldn't keep the battery charged. (Regulator) Any suggestions on what to do to revive a bike that has been sitting in a garage for 3 years? How do you clean the tank and what else would need to be taken care of before starting it?
Thanks

 

How much trouble it'll be to get it going again is directly related to how it was stored. If it's been sitting for 3 years with gas in it then you're gonna have to pull the carbs and clean everything. A race bike killing a battery doesn't exactly surprise me. When you're in the throttle all the time the battery doesn't get enough juice. If it won't stay charged with normal riding then I'd check to see that the stator is charging like it should. You'll also need to change the oil and filter ... maybe even squirt a couple drops of oil in the spark plug holes and turn the crank shaft manually to get the juices going again.

3 years is such a long span to just be sitting -- could be all kinds of gremlins. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info, that is about what I was thinking. Do you know of anywhere I could get parts pretty cheap? I know I'm going to need a regulator (uncle says it smoked) (factory or only aftermarket?)? How do you adjust all 4 carbs? Is that better off left to a pro? I can completely rebuild jeeps and trucks end to end for rock crawling and for jungle use, but have no m/c engine experience......

 

I'm not sure if it has the same regulator as an F2/F3/900RR, but if it is i know they've gone from the components set in rubber to a unit with cooling fins. If it is the same, I highly recommend the new style with the cooling fins. Heat destroys electronic components. As for the carburetors, they need to be synchronized. You can buy a synchronizer or take it to a shop and have them set the carburetors. All 4 need adjusted. If you've never messed with carburetors before, I'd probably let someone else tackle it and show you how to do it. I also agree with the last post. If it has sat that long with gas in it, take them apart and clean them.

 

Under the carbs, it has one ****/cable that leads up into the middle of the carb assembly. What is this? If it's cheaper than paying someone, where can I get a syncronizer? Also I've worked on car/truck carbs over the years, and everyweek work on carbs for large and small engine driven welders. Are the honda's that much different from the rest? It looks like this is going to be a real job. I just pulled the fairings today. Everything is tight!

 

If you like working on car carbs, the CBR carbs will be a cinch. A manual is very helpful and I recommend the Haynes manual for your bike. After you clean the carbs, get a motion pro economy carb synchronizer (about $40) to sync the carbs. The **** sets the idle speed.

 

The single cable sets the idle speed. If you've tinkered around with it, make sure you have the carbs open enough prior to starting or it'll turn forever and wont hit a lick. All the motorcycle parts companies sell synchronizers so that shouldnt be hard to find. As you'll see when you buy one, there isnt much to one. Its basically 4 manometers in a row. If you have that much carburetor experience I'm sure you wouldnt have trouble getting it to start. If you take the carburetors apart make sure you put all the needle shims back, count the turns of the air mixture screws, and the float height. If the bike was kept up for that amount of time with no fuel in the carburetors, I would fire it up first and see how it runs.