Alas, it has finally happened. My 2000 Honda Cbr929rr, my first real sportbike, the bike that has taught me the most about motorcycling, has perished.

Not only have I logged the most miles of my young riding career on this thing, but due to its Jekyll and Hyde personality, I have learned much about the finer side of riding through its troubles and problems.

As you may recall, this bike was sold to me through a “friend,” and I use that term loosely (I’ll tell you later). After selling my Zx-6r, and not riding for about a week, I felt like a crack fiend after a binge, and had the itch to get back on a bike ASAP.

The Fireblade had previously been used as a stunt bike, and this should have sent red flags a-waving, but I was still very naive about the mechanics of motorcycles at the time, and did not know a fraction of what I have learned since then.

I was told by this “friend” that it was fully rebuilt and ready to go. It just needed paint and new fairings. I was told this repeatedly and since he worked for a local shop that I trusted, I chose to buy the bike from him. It was a huge mistake in the end, but the amount of knowledge and lessons I have learned from buying/riding/fixing this bike is unparalleled.

The Fireblade, or The Beast as I call it, started me off with a very steep learning curve. Not only was I still very new to riding, but this bike also had a lot of quirks and issues from being so badly abused by the previous owner. I bought the bike in the winter time and soon had to learn how to handle this large excess of power on very wet and slippery roads. This took a lot of time and a lot of near misses, but I now have no problem riding in the rain, through the hills, on any bike. I have also started learning how to work on bikes because of this thing constantly breaking down.

Most people would not ride this bike, or deem me crazy for doings the things I do on it, but it is mine and I loved it no matter how bad of shape it was in. It was like having an ugly child, it’s still your kid and you love it no matter what.

A few weeks back, the fuel injection system started going haywire. It would randomly shut off. It was extremely unnerving and very dangerous. It happened many times at freeway speed and also in the middle of turns up in the mountains. When the fuel would cut out, the bike would lunge forward then back as the rear wheel began to lock.

I took it back to the “friend’s” shop to have it fixed, but they said they rode it and felt no problems. This was laughable but it seemed the only one who knew how bad it was, was me. I rode it for a few weeks in this shape which was scary to say the least.

Finally, I took it for one last ride in the mountains despite reasonable concerns for safety. I found that if I never used the brakes, thus not having to use throttle as much I was able to keep it from cutting out a bit longer. I used the brakes a handful of times on 20 miles through the mountains, kept my cornering speeds very high and used only minimal throttle. The bike only died out 4 times on the way back but one was mid turn as I decided to give it a touch more throttle than usual. It cut out then came back on hard causing the rear tire to slip then regain traction fast also known as a high-side.

The bike tried to catapult me over the side and into a mountain, but despite having one leg in the air, I managed to keep the other planted on the inside foot peg. This was the closest I have came to crashing in a long time and it turns out my excess weight might have saved me from a horrible crash in this situation.

I made it back the rest of the way without issue from the bike. The best part was coming through a high speed left hand sweeper going down hill, where a HUGE deer with a GIANT set of antlers was posing majestically in front of the backdrop overlooking the valley. As I came into the turn, I looked straight into the deer’s eyes and he looked back at me. An eerie calmness took over me, like I knew everything was going to be fine. By the time I arrived in the town of Saratoga, I hopped off my bike to take a breather. I looked over my bike and laughed when I checked the tires. The sides were shredded as if I had gone to a track day. Normally I would not brag about this, as this meant I was being completely stupid and unsafe, but not this time. This ride, I knew, was going to be my last on my bike. I knew it was never going to see a track day now, but maybe, just maybe, it got to taste a little of the track on its last mountain ride.

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What’s happening everyone? Today I installed a Remus Powercone exhaust can on my CBR. It is a slip on system we received from Remus North America. Those guys do great work over there and we appreciate all their help. Check it out!

Since it is a slip on system, we won’t have to mess with the headers, just take off the old exhaust can and attach the new one. First, we took off the rear passenger peg and loosened the exhaust bracket that attaches the muffler to the connector pipe. Then we unbolted the hanger for the muffler and gave the can a few twists and turns before it came off. Next, we slid the new Remus slip on over the connector pipe and tightened the bracket down to make sure there were no leaks.

Once that was settled, we did not have a stock muffler hanger for the Remus pipe, so we used a little ingenuity and made one from scratch. We wanted to make sure the muffler did not move around too much. Once it was secured, we put the rear passenger peg back on and started it up! It sounds great and gives that down low growl that Remus is known for. A great product all around. See you next time!

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What’s up people? Today I am adding a little bit of flair to my bike with some Rim Stripes from RatedRparts.com of Australia.

Rim stripes are an easy way to add more style to any bike and they come in a wide variety of flavors to match any taste and color. They are easy to put on. All you need is a steady hand (which I do not have) and some soap and water.

Clean your wheels off first and make sure they dry fully before trying to put the rim stripes on. If the wheels are not dry the stripes will not adhere correctly and may come off once the wheel begins to rotate. Once you have cleaned and dried off the wheels, you are ready to add the rims stripes.

These particular ones come 1/4 of the way around the wheel, which means you will use four of them for each side of each wheel. The kit comes with more than enough for one bike so if you mess up on a few, don’t worry you are covered!

It is best to put the bike on a stand before you attempt to put them on, as it makes spinning the wheels much easier. Simply peel each stripe off of it’s sticker and slowly lay it down along the side of the wheel. Try to do it slowly about one inch at a time. That way if it’s not straight or you mess up, you can pull it back off with out bunching up the tape. Once you get one stripe on, overlap about 1mm of it with the next strip that way there is no gap in between and it gives it that endless line look. It takes a little while to get the hang of it but don’t worry if it isn’t perfect, when the bike is in motion it will look like one solid circle.

Stay tuned till next time!

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What’s up everybody? I recently put a fresh set of tires on Project Fireblade and I want to talk about their characteristics and why I will never go back to a 190/50 tire again! The tires I put on are Michelin Pilot Power 2CT’s. The 2CT designation stands for 2 compound technology, meaning there is a harder rubber compound in the center of the tire to increase mileage and a softer compound around the edges for maximum grip at hard lean angles, and man do these things grip!

I also switched the profile of the rear tire from a 190/50/17 size to a 190/55/17 which is basically a higher profile tire. The difference between the two could not be more profound. The 190/55 tips into turns much faster than the 190/50, it also makes transitions and tight turning a breeze. My old tire had a bit more straight line stability as it was a lower profile tire, but took much more effort to turn into corners. With this new ratio I have a lot more confidence entering turns and that allows me to take them at higher speeds which is also an added bonus!

The Michelin’s should also give me a bit more mileage and life out of them than my previous set, due to the harder center compound. We will have to wait a few weeks to test out their rain capabilities. As you saw in the video, i had to take it easy breaking them in. Until then, ride safe!

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How’s it going everybody???? With all this nice weather out lately, I decided to get my bike in better shape with an oil change and new stator cover gasket!

The old one was worn out a bit and had developed a leak so I decided to remedy that with a new one from Honda. The first step was to drain out the old oil, so I removed the lower fairings and took off the drain plug and old oil filter. Make sure to dispose of old oil properly!!!!

After all the old oil had drained out, I put on a new K&N oil filter and re-installed the drain plug. Next, it was time to remove the stator cover, which was held on by ten 8mm bolts. It’s easy to take off but make sure you loosen the cover with a light touch or rubber hammer, as to not damage the aluminum.

Once the cover is off, I used a razor blade to remove the old gasket and cleaned off the surface. I then used red RTV high temperature gasket maker to help make a better seal. You are only supposed to put a very light film around the engine casing so it doesn’t get too messy, but this can be hard to do so make sure you wipe off excess amounts after you are finished.

Next, I carefully placed the new gasket on the engine case, making sure to carefully line up all the holes. With the new gasket in place, I attached the stator cover and tightened all the bolts back to spec in a star pattern to make sure the gasket didn’t get bunched up in one spot. After the cover was on, I put all the fairings back in their places, zip ties and all, and waited a few hours for the silicone to dry. It takes about 20 minutes for it to start to film but I recommend a full 24 hours before it fully hardens.

Once it dried, I poured in the new oil. I use AMSOIL full synthetic 10w-40, which has a long life to it that my motor seems to enjoy. Now my baby is ready for the road! Happy Riding!

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