June 2009 - Posts

• Honda SH300i 1st service - second in two days

  Two Honda SH300i's in two days. Servicing a scooter from the top end of the scooter spectrum is very different to working on some of the cheaper end of town stuff. And servicing two of these in two days has been a pleasure. There is a quality in a Honda that you just don't get in a non-Japanese brand scooter. The only thing I can fault the Honda SH300i on service wise is the clips that hold on the front handle bar cover. On the two I've serviced I've been forced to go on a fishing trip down the back of the radiator for the clips that hold this panel on. The panel needs to come of to lube up the brake levers and check the fluid levels and when this panel is removed the retaining clips fall of it, go down past the handle bars and head for the back of the radiator. Most annoying! I also had a closer look at the opening mechanism of the top box and yes it does require you to use the key as a lever to pull the lid open. The SH300i I did the day before ended up with a snapped key because of this and Honda did supply a new key under warranty, but I think it's a floor in the design and I can see lots of Honda SH300i owners having issues with broken keys. Apart from that the SH300i is a superb scooter and I really look forward to the test ride on these after they are serviced. With a price tag of around $9000 there not cheap. But on saying that you really do get $9000 worth of scooter. Posted Jun 25 2009, 04:43 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Honda

• Honda SH300i 1st service

  This is a service I'd been looking forward to doing for a good few weeks and today was the day that it finally turned up at the shop. Nic's Honda SH300i had gotten to its first 1000k's and needed a service. I got the scooter up on the bench and went to work on doing the usual oil and filter change plus a check over of all the scooters moving parts and checked the fluid levels. The way the SH300i comes apart is fantastic and typical of the quality of build you find in a Honda. To gain access to the service items as required by the Honda service schedule required very little removel of bodywork. The only issue Nic's had so far with his scooter is the ignition key breaking in the lock of the top box. To open the top box lid you have to use the key as a lever in the lock and this had lead to the head of the key snapping off. But in true Honda MPE fashion this issue was covered under warranty and a new key was supplied free of charge. The only thing I had to do was code the key to the scooters ECU with the use of my Honda key coding device. This is a pretty simple process and I did it as part of the service. Once done it was time for a test ride. The SH300i has to be one of the best scooters on the market. The handling is great, the power delivery is fantastic and the quality of the build of the scooter is second to none. These really are one nice scooter.       Posted Jun 19 2009, 05:20 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Honda

• Kawasaki ER6-F

  I so, so, so wanted to like this bike but it just didn't do it for me. When the Kawasaki ER6-F was launched a few years ago I thought ‘what a superb looking bike' and had half a dreamy idea about going down to the local Kawasaki dealer for a test ride with a view to buying one. Visually these bikes look great and I still think that even after riding the one that was in the shop for a service this week. But I was so disappointed after taking this one for a test ride. Don't get me wrong, the handling was great but the vibration from the 650cc twin cylinder engine and the chug along feeling of the motor in the lower rev range just didn't do it for me at all. I also found the fairing panels of the bike tended to buzz a bit too much for my liking and again I think this was down to the vibration from the 650cc twin engine. I think if I was in the market for a bike around the 650cc mark and I really wanted a Kawasaki I'd stretch to saving a few dollars more and go the Z750. The 750 is a much, much, much nicer bike. Sorry Peter!     Posted Jun 19 2009, 05:01 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Kawasaki

• Yamaha R6 Fork seal replacment

  Rachael's Yamaha R6 is a bike that's featured on the blog once before. This was the one that had the faulty ignition coils which gave a low RPM misfire. Today her Yamaha was here to replace a blown fork seal. We started off by removing the forks from the bike. Although only one seal had blown Rachael wanted both forks serviced just for piece of mind. Once the forks were removed it was a simple case of pull the legs down to their individual components and clean them up in the de-greaser bath. A final cleaning off with Solvex and the parts were already for reassembly. I always prefer to use genuine spare parts when repairing bikes and this one was no exception. A set of Yamaha seals were used plus Motul synthetic fork oil in 5 weight. The fork oil level was set to standard which on the Yamaha R6 is 106mm from the top of the leg. Once the bike was back together I took it on a quick road test just to make sure all was right. The bike seemed to steer a bit slow and once back at the shop I had a quick look over the front end. Unfortunately the front tyre was the wrong size and a 120/70/17 had been fitted instead of a 120/60/17. When Rachael came to collect her bike I told her what I'd found. She informed me that she'd been loosing confidence in the bike and it's handling and this was one of the reasons she'd wanted both fork legs serviced instead of just the leaking one. Although when you look at the two sizes of tyre next to each other they don't look that much different replacing the 70 profile tyre with the 60 will make all the difference and I'm sure this will restore her confidence in the bikes handling once again. Posted Jun 04 2009, 10:24 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Yamaha