In previous posts I’ve made it pretty clear that I could own a Honda sports bike if I was about to go out and buy a new bike. Either a Honda CBR600RR or the new 2009 Honda CBR1000RR would do nicely. So it may surprise you to learn the next on the list would be a Suzuki Burgman 650. Going back a few years ago when I worked at Suzuki Australia I was asked to ride a Burgman to evaluate an odd engine noise that the one on the demo fleet was making. I was only supposed to ride it for a week or so. 10 months later I finally got around to giving it back to the fleet manager and that was only because the registration had run out and it was time to move the scooter off the fleet. The Burgman really is an alternative to a car. They have ample power, are very comfortable to ride, have masses of storage space and can handle anything from a small city commute to a round Australia tour. The real fun part about this scooter is the “power” button on the handle bars. The transmission on the Burgman has 3 modes. Auto, manual and “power”. Auto is your standard ride mode. Manual lets you toggle the gears up and down by use of two buttons on the left hand switch block. But “power” mode is full auto balls out as fast off the line as it can go mode. Race boys in V8’s get hosed from the lights no worries by the Burgman in “power” mode and even top of the line sports bikes get the fright of their life when the Burgman fills their mirrors up to around the 100 kilometers per hour mark. If you’re ever next to a Burgman at the traffic lights be careful. Unless you’re very sharp on the clutch this scooter could leave you looking very embarrassed indeed.  

With 50,000k's on the clock this Honda VTR1000F was in desperate need of a service. There were lots of items on this bike that were in a state of neglected or simply worn out. The oil and filter were due a change, the brake fluid was black and well and truly in need of replacement, the clutch fluid was the same, the air filter was filthy, the rear brake shoes were down to the metal, the tyres were bald and somehow the bush in the clutch lever had managed to fall out? After a chat with the owner he decided that the only option was to do everything and bring this bike back to its former condition again. Everything was done oil, filter, air filter, brake fluid, clutch fluid, coolant, spark plugs, valve clearances, carbs balanced, brake pads and tyres. If anything was in need of attention this bike got it. One of the biggest dramas was getting the pin out of the rear caliper. Who ever put the last pair of rear brake pads in hadn't lubed the pins that the brake caliper moves on and the result was an hours worth of my time squirting WD40 onto the caliper bracket and moving the pin backwards and forward until it decided it was going to come out. To finish the service off a set of Michelin Road 2 tyres were fitted. It was a massive amount of work that we did to this bike but it was definitely worth while. I'm sure the owner will notice a masive change in how this bike goes and stops as he rides away from the shop.   

The Honda CBR600RR has been dethroned as my favorite bike of all time. And replacing it is the Honda CBR1000RR. I never really liked the previous model of CBR1000RR. With me not being the tallest person in the world I always felt over stretched and as if I was lying on top of the bike. With the latest version of the Fireblade the seating position is a lot more compact which actually made me feel more like I was riding a 600 rather than a 1000cc bike. But open the throttle and you definitely get reminded that this is no 600cc bike. This thing was a rocket. The only thing that spoils this bike is the ADR compliant rear mud guard. It really does look crap and like it was an after thought once the bike had left the factory. But not to worry, as part of the first service on this bike a Valtermoto fender eliminator was being fitted. There a little bit fiddly to fit but once on they make the rear end of the bike look sweet. A point of interest with regards to the service on the Honda is the oil that is recommended. Looking at the workshop manual Honda say the new Fireblade runs a 10/30 oil and not the more common 10/40 or 20/50 that most bikes shops stock. To play it safe I shipped in some Genuine Honda HP4 10/30 oil instead of using the Motul 10/40 that I run in the shop. The after service road test was fantastic and I instantly liked this bike from the first moment I sat on it. I see the tax department is still running the 50% small business investment allowance for small businesses who want to invest in a new vehicle. 50% back of $18,000 at the end of the tax year............perhaps it's time I bought myself a new bike?????

This has to be the worst worn motorcycle tyre that I've ever seen. When the owner of this Honda ST1100 turned up at the shop I couldn't believe my eyes as to the condition of his tyres. The front  tyre had become so worn out that the steel belting of the carcass had started to fray and actually cut the palm of my hand open as I removed the wheel from the bike due to the sharp fragments that were now sticking out of the tyre. The tread was gone and the profile of the tyre was so distorted even pushing the bike around the shop was a handfull.  I'm surprised this tyre stayed air tight while in such a bad state. The rider doesn't know how lucky he is to have not crashed riding with tyres in such a poor condition. Insane stuff!

As anyone who comes to Everything 2 Wheels for their motorcycle servicing knows were always looking for ways to improve the quality of the service you receive. And to keep the quality of the workmanship second to none I like to invest in the best tools and equipment that money can buy. One of the latest additions to my tool box is a Vacuumate carburetor and throttle body balancer. Vacuumate really are the best of the best when it comes to workshop equipment and this digital balancer ensures that your throttle bodies will be tuned with the precision that only an electronic balancer can give. At just under a $1000 for the unit there not cheap but I was more than willing to pay for such a quality item because the end result is a better quality of service to our customer's motorcycles.   

The dreaded Suzuki C46 FI failure code. It's strange, I hadn't seen a Suzuki with this FI failure code in a long time and then I see two in one week. The first one was on a GSXR750 and the second was on a GSXR600. There are two options to fix this problem. The first option is to replace the exhaust valve control unit which is pretty good a stopping working (and usually just as the bike has gone out of its warranty period) or the second option is to replace the exhaust system with an aftermarket item which does away with the need for the control unit. Either way it's not a cheap fix. The control unit costs $800+ or a replacement exhaust system can cost anything up to around $2000. The owner of the 750 wanted to keep the bike standard and went for the option of replacing the control unit. The owner of the 600 upon hearing the cost of fixing the issue decided he could live with a red flashing warning light on his dash.       

The Suzuki SV650 is now available fitted with ABS. And the one here today was in for its first 1000k service. While this bike was on the bench with its oil draining out of the engine I was walking around it just checking over a few things. As part of this check I had a squeeze of the brake levers and I have to say they felt really spongy compared to a non-ABS bike. I think it's just down to the fact that the brakes have a huge ABS brake modulator full of valves that operate them that give the brakes such a soggy feeling. On saying this once on the road the brakes felt ok and did a pretty good job of pulling the bike up. I'm still sitting on the fence about bikes with ABS and I'm not too sure if I'd be paying the extra $1000+ that it costs for the up spec ABS models of bike in the market place. But again it's a device that would only have to work once to have paid for itself.

It's been a while since we've had a VFR800 come through the shop. The one that was here this week was a 2000 model in need of a 24,000k service. As I started pulling this one apart I got a memory jog of what a pain in the *** it is to get the fuel tanks off Honda's that came out around this period. And the fuel tank had to come off in order to check the valve clearances. It could have been so easy for Honda to have fitted quick release fuel line clips but instead there was this whole procedure where you had to drain the fuel take before undoing the fuel line banjo bolt. In most cases you still managed to get yourself, the bike, the workbench and the floor covered in petrol when you popped off the return line no matter how best you tried not too. There was never an easy or clean way to take the tank off one of these. The rest of the service was pretty straight forward, valve clearances check, throttle bodies balanced, oil and filter changed plus the usual lubing of all the cables and levers. The service gave this bike the ‘new bike' feeling again.

As most of my customers know I'm not a fan of some of the junk motorcycles and scooters that are getting churned out of China at the moment. The lack of build quality is appalling on some brands. But after a recent ride on a Pitpro I can definitely say that Pitpro is not one of these cheap quality Chinese brands. I recently bought a Pitpro 140 Big Foot to go riding with my 6 year old of a weekend. Now she's not the fastest rider in the world so I didn't need some kind of rocket, latest high tech, all singing all dancing dirt bike to keep up with her and the Pitpro seemed to fit the bill. The price was right and I thought the little 140 engine would be under powered enough to safely plod along behind her Yamaha Peewee. And here was the first under estimation of the Pitpro. Kick starting this bike in the shop for the very first time gave me the shock of my life. I was expecting a sound along the lines of a Honda CT110. WRONG! This thing absolutely barked from it's Pro Circuit looking muffler and the note it gave made it sound like it had a fare bit of grunt. The next day and we were at the track. I normaly start my daughter off and let her do a few laps just to let her get her bearings. She only got half way around the track before she gave me the "come on dad" wave to let me know she was ok. I jumped on the Pitpro and I was away after her. HOLY CRAP! For a 140cc engine this thing really got up and went. First gear wheelies were easy. Second gear wheelies were easy with a bit of clutch and third and fourth gear wheelies just require you to sit towards the back of the seat and tug on the bars with a dab of the clutch. I couldn't believe how fast this thing went. The brakes and the handling were pretty good too and as a value for money package the Pitpro was worth every cent. This bike was one of the most fun bikes I've ridden in a long time.

Checkout the website for more info: www.pitpro.com.au

I'm not too sure what it is about the Honda CBF250 but they seem to loose their valve clearances really quickly between services. The past few that have come through the shop have all required shims to be replaced to get the valve clearances back within spec. And on the CBF250 they need checking every 12,000k's. The Honda CBF250 that was here today was the worst example that I've seen. In all fairness this bike had not been maintained properly right through it's 21,000 kilometer life and this has played a major factor as to why this bike had issues. The owner was complaining of the bike being hard to start and after a quick chat about the bikes lack of proper maintenance I already had an idea what was wrong. Once the bike was here I went to work on it and it wasn't long before the problem was identified. No valve clearance at all on the exhaust valves. After removing the cams and re-shimming the valves it was put back together. It actually took two attempts to get the valve clearances back into spec and a jump of 10 shim sizes to get the gap correct. A jump of 10 shim sizes is unheard of and its understandable why this one wouldn't start due to the cam holding the exhaust valves open. If you're the owner of a CBF250 and it's due a service I recommend you remind your mechanic that the valves may be in need of some attention. This reminder may be the difference between a bike that goes and a bike that doesn't.           

I've been thinking of starting a "bike of the month" section featuring some of the exceptional examples of customer's bikes that come through the shop. And to kick it off Octobers bike of the month is this 2006 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. This is one of the cleanest Fireblade's I've ever seen. For a bike that's over 3 years old it's incredible that there isn't a spec of dirt on it. This Fireblade has some really nice touches to. Everything from a carbon fiber front and rear guards, billet clutch and brake levers, aftermarket pipe and some other cool parts that make this one stand out example. 

The Michelin Pilot Power promotion where you could end up winning the bike of your dreams is in full flight. All you have to do is come in to Everything Two Wheels, buy a matching pair of Michelin Pilot Powers and you automatically go into the draw to win the bike of your dreams. Last months sales of Michelin Pilot Powers have been phenomenal and I'm nearly out of stock of the batch I bought for the promo. Have no fears though a new shipment is on its way. Prices are as follows:

120/70/17 Front $220

180/55/17 Rear $307

190/50/17 Rear $311  

My Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade is boring!!! When an owner of a Fireblade rang me and made this statement I thought to myself "this guys a nutter!" How could anyone say that the CBR1000RR is a boring bike? Great power, great handling, nice to ride, what more could you want from a bike. "It's too black". Obviously he was talking about the color scheme when he said it was boring and nothing to do with the way the bike performed. After a bit of a chat with the owner we'd worked out that a change in color of the wheels could be just enough to brake up the blackness of the paint scheme. So I whipped out the wheels and off they went to the painters. The owner wanted a nice shade of gold similar to the color on some models of Ducati. A week later the wheels were back and bolted back in. And the results, well have a look and see what you think.   

I had some excellent feedback from the owner of the Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird who's bike I put some Continental Road Attack tyres on last month. This was the bike that had totally inappropriate tyres fitted to it and we replaced them with the Continentals. The rider is very impressed with how stable the bike now holds the road and his confidence is restored in how well the Blackbird handles around corners. The rider was very keen to tell me about the damage to the lower fairing on the bike. This wasn't cause by the owner dropping the bike. It was done while the bike was banked over at around 120kph at the bend where the Westgate freeway and the Bolty Bridge meet. If you've ever been around this bend you'll know that to try and get a Honda Blackbird around there at 120kph would require a heap of confidence and a set of very grippy tyres. Click on the picture of the fairing for a closer look.  

Continental tyres are listed in our Ebay store: http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/Everything-Two-Wheels__W0QQ_armrsZ1

I can't believe how many Honda's are coming through the shop lately. Over the past couple of weeks I've seen CBR1000RR Fireblade, VTR1000F Firestorm, CBR900RR Fireblade, CBR1100XX Blackbird, CBR600RR, CBR125, VTR250, @125, Lead 100, CBR250RR.......the list goes on. It makes me feel like I'm working back at Honda Australia again. I think some of this influx of Honda motorcycles is down to the demise of Redwing Honda. When I heard the news that this dealership was closing down I was very surprised and it just goes to show how hard the economic crisis has hit the motorcycle industry with this prominent Melbourne dealer deciding to close the doors. But the closure has also meant that Honda owners in the northern suburbs have lost there local dealer for servicing and I think this is why we are seeing so many Honda's coming through the doors. I think another reason for the increase is the quality of the workmanship and the competitive pricing that Everything Two Wheels offers compared to the big chain stores. If your looking for a new workshop to get your Honda serviced give us a call. I'm sure we can be of service.