newbe with an nc 30 and loads of questions

[mart]

hi all for years ive wanted a v4 finally im going to be picking up a 1990 nc30 on saturday so could i ask for advice with this bike eg tyre choices, issues to be aware of, best oil to use, and any other good general advice
thanks mart.

[alexwitham]

Both my NC's have Bridgestone bt090's and i highly rate them although dunlop SP GPR Alpha 10's are equally awesome, use a good quality semi-synthetic, fully synth can cause clutch slipping if i remember rightly. Regulator/rectifier problems are quite common so bare that in mind. I always ride with my dipped beam on as i've read this can help keep reg/rec problems at bay, my rule of thumb is that no matter what the seller says to you, always change the oil and filter when you get it because you never know! Other than that as long as you get a good one and keep on top of general servicing there a bloody good bike.

[Neosophist]

Both my NC's have Bridgestone bt090's and i highly rate them although dunlop SP GPR Alpha 10's are equally awesome, use a good quality semi-synthetic, fully synth can cause clutch slipping if i remember rightly. Regulator/rectifier problems are quite common so bare that in mind. I always ride with my dipped beam on as i've read this can help keep reg/rec problems at bay, my rule of thumb is that no matter what the seller says to you, always change the oil and filter when you get it because you never know! Other than that as long as you get a good one and keep on top of general servicing there a bloody good bike.

Good advice!

Dont' forget it'll be 20 years old / maybe had many owners so be sure to give it a through going over when you get it, many things get neglected over the years.

Coolant flush & oil & filter change if not done recently
plugs / air filter.
check discs & pads for wear.
check forks for leaking seals (might be worth doing the fork oil?)
check the wheels rotate nice and smoothly (bearings can be overlooked)
The lower rad gets clogged up with crap and causes the bike to run hotter than needbe, easy way to clean it is remove it and soak the rad overnight in degreaser then wash it out (if you change the coolant and your rads dirty do them both at the same time)

It may sound like a lot but it'll only take you an afternoon to do all of the above ^_^

Then have fun with it :D The build quality is 2nd to none and providing there given fresh oil occasionaly there pretty bomb proof.

Side note:

From what I gather riding with the lights on can make problems worse with the reg/rec problem.

Just make sure your bike has a new (less than 3 year old) battery on it, and keep it charged once a week with an optimate / smart battery charger and you should get the most out of it!

[Cammo]

I always ride with my dipped beam on as i've read this can help keep reg/rec problems at bay

As Neo said this can be bad.

It depends if too much or too little charge is being supplied to the battery.

Best bet is to sort the charging system out. It can be made bulletproof (in my opinion this involves using non-Honda items... )

Mart: Electrical/Charging problems are a weakness on many nc30's but can be sorted with little effort. A weak system can cause a LOT of symptoms (leading to mega head scratching) and can be a PITA!

rvf400's electrical systems are much better, but the achilles heal is still the reg/rec.

[alexwitham]

I always ride with my dipped beam on as i've read this can help keep reg/rec problems at bay...

Apologies for the bad advice, for some reason i had thought i'd read that somewhere

[mart]

thanks for that