Wheels came back from the paint shop:



as did the hugger:



so I re-assembled the bike and have done around 50 miles or so thus far, it's so much better, night and day difference. Handling is more neutral, the bike rolls into corners rather than falling and the brakes have initial bite and a good feel. The front reservoir leaked but was easily fixed with a new rubber diaphragm.

I managed to source a top fairing eventually, some time with a heat gun and all the decals were off the plastics:



Some window frame solvent cleaner removed the rest of the glue, I then sanded the lot with 400 grit. It's all with the paint shop now...

Looking forward to seeing the repainted bodywork and the scheme you've gone for. Don't know if the colour it came in is original Honda but it wasn't the most exciting paint job I've seen. Over the years they've produced some fantastic, even iconic, designs and yet every now and then something dull slips through. I would be tempted to go with one of the classic Honda red/white/blue schemes from the NC29, NC30, NC35, early FireBlade or maybe even the Urban Tiger! That would also help resale value.

Interesting comments there, they made me think.

It is the original paint and decals, Lapis blue (PB257 pearl paint) on the bike currently. Red is my favourite colour by far (can you tell?) and I am not a fan of multi-coloured bikes, one colour (like VFRs, most Ducatis and Triumphs) look best to my eye. I have been through the cbrforum f4i section and considered the various colours that have been put on these bikes over the years. Having seen a couple of reds however it doesn't seem to suit the bike quite as well as I had hoped.

Interestingly this very version of the CBR was available in silver or black with decals that didn't have the silver stripes, just the tank emblem, 'CBR' on the sides and '600f' on the tail along with 'HONDA' on the belly pan area and 'PGM-Fi' on the nose. I think they look great, especially the black. (I am not a fan of silver, I find it anonymous.)

That started me looking at blues. My usual start point is simply looking at vehicles I see when out and about, there's a couple of current lovely blues circulating our roads right now, one by Ford and another by Mercedes. Again though, like picking alloy wheels for a car it's more important to choose the right colour for the vehicle than just a good looking colour.

So having considered all the above (and after considering Mrs views on the subject) I settled on Lapis blue with three of the decals from the silver / black bikes (tank, side and tail). Mrs was quite strongly in favour of the original colour, she said that a) it's a lovely blue (which it is) and b) we know it suits the bike. From my point of view it's my normal style, modified without looking modified.

Resale value doesn't bother me, I don't do this for the money (I'd be bankrupt by now!) and the original tank and fairings will be stored as spares or for re-fitting at sale time.


The reasons for the re-paint are twofold, the left hand side fairing has scuffs as though it scraped a low wall and the rest of the paint is in pretty poor condition i.e. heavily swirled and marked all over. There are some chips too. Overall it's not shabby but it doesn't bear close inspection. I like good paint!

Major service completed, new chain and sprockets fitted and found a genuine Honda touring screen. The bodywork returned from the paint shop so I set to and fitted it. It took me a whole day, but I didn't rush, took my time and cleaned, lubricated and torqued everything.....





Bike now runs beautifully - smooth and quiet. It also gleams.... It's starting to look and feel like one of my vehicles.

bludclot wrote: ↑

Sat May 14, 2016 8:03 pm

Forks are done, note new genuine drain bolts, washers and clamp bolts.

raising from the dead, but I have the NC31 and was planning to put adjusters on them too. which one you have put and have you put and pd valves. waiting on Hagon springs to arrive

Thought it would be nice to post the current bikes:

I bought this having always wanted one. 3.5K miles from new, completely standard, aside from an Akrapovic can and link pipe it's going to stay that way. It's 'quite quick' !



And this:





A fair bit of work has gone into the CB thou, I can post details if there's any interest.

Lovely, especially the R1. Still got the CBR600? I bought a CBR600F Sport last May. 2001 with less than 1500 miles on it! Been in someone's collection. A great bike.