Check out a RF900R for a mate? Invercargille.

[OddDuck]

Hi All,

Would there be anyone willing to pop into the dealers and cast an eye over this?

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/motorbikes/motorbikes/sports/auction-2219744251.htm?rsqid=06d532c0302c40ae9ceba21aab456 b40-002

My mate's making noises about getting back into riding and is super keen on RF's. He quite likes the look of this one, Invercargille's a long way to go if the bike's a nope sorry walk away, would any KBer's be willing to check it out? Thanking you in advance.

[riffer]

Can't make it but will put in a plug for the good old RF. I had one for six years, and my son had one too. Fantastic bikes. That ad says it's a 6 speed - its a 5 speed.

Great all rounders the RFs. That's about top dollar for one there, so I'd check everything, particularly finding out about whether it's had any alternator work. They have a rubber cush drive on the alternator that has a bad habit of breaking and leaving you stranded. If it hasn't had the alternator let go, it's due to.

Also, like all GSXR based engines of that vintage, 2nd gear engagement dogs are made of putty. Should be fine with that mileage but check. Push it hard in first gear (careful where you do it - they go to 135 in first...) and change quickly. If there's any thing weird about how it goes into gear or it sounds odd its got a problem.

Apart from that almost nothing ever goes wrong with them. I got 160,000 kms before my second gear went, and being a 1994 it didn't have the rubber cush drive on the alternator so it was less likely to tear the rubber.

You can give people on sports bikes a real fright with one of these. And your missus won't complain about not enough seat to sit on too.

If you can ride these are a great bike to come back to riding on.

[jellywrestler]

Hi All,

Would there be anyone willing to pop into the dealers and cast an eye over this?

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/motorbikes/motorbikes/sports/auction-2219744251.htm?rsqid=06d532c0302c40ae9ceba21aab456 b40-002

My mate's making noises about getting back into riding and is super keen on RF's. He quite likes the look of this one, Invercargille's a long way to go if the bike's a nope sorry walk away, would any KBer's be willing to check it out? Thanking you in advance.

i think a long standing dealer like southern suzuki would be a bit more reliable than most people from here who could walk in and kick the tyres and give you the heads up don't you?

[F5 Dave]

Oow Gawd you'd want to pack a couple of cans of Matt black spray bomb so you didn't have to ride it home looking like that.

Also check if that's miles not km as think yanks had those particularly garish schemes. We got a lot of cast off orders dumped here. They got down to $9999, which erked the original $17k purchase people, think Tex got stung big.

The mikunis wear tragically and while you can replace the emulsion tubes you can't fix the plastic runners as easily. Heck you could 3D print them now, even FDM could be ok if slippery enough surface.

[OddDuck]

Can't make it but will put in a plug for the good old RF. I had one for six years, and my son had one too. Fantastic bikes. That ad says it's a 6 speed - its a 5 speed.

Great all rounders the RFs. That's about top dollar for one there, so I'd check everything, particularly finding out about whether it's had any alternator work. They have a rubber cush drive on the alternator that has a bad habit of breaking and leaving you stranded. If it hasn't had the alternator let go, it's due to.

Also, like all GSXR based engines of that vintage, 2nd gear engagement dogs are made of putty. Should be fine with that mileage but check. Push it hard in first gear (careful where you do it - they go to 135 in first...) and change quickly. If there's any thing weird about how it goes into gear or it sounds odd its got a problem.

Apart from that almost nothing ever goes wrong with them. I got 160,000 kms before my second gear went, and being a 1994 it didn't have the rubber cush drive on the alternator so it was less likely to tear the rubber.

You can give people on sports bikes a real fright with one of these. And your missus won't complain about not enough seat to sit on too.

If you can ride these are a great bike to come back to riding on.

Thanks Riffer. Yeah my mate loves them. I had a pretty good go on his (he loaned it to me for a couple of rides) and although it isn't for me, I can see the attraction. He's been through the cush drive drama on the alternator before (also the lead wire) so if anythiing happens there it isn't a new thing to face.

[OddDuck]

i think a long standing dealer like southern suzuki would be a bit more reliable than most people from here who could walk in and kick the tyres and give you the heads up don't you?

It's good to get an independent voice or two... right? Look, I'm sure the dealer's OK, but it's an old, cheap bike a fucking long way from home. If something wrong with it is seen once down there, it is going to be very hard to walk away.

[OddDuck]

Oow Gawd you'd want to pack a couple of cans of Matt black spray bomb so you didn't have to ride it home looking like that.

Also check if that's miles not km as think yanks had those particularly garish schemes. We got a lot of cast off orders dumped here. They got down to $9999, which erked the original $17k purchase people, think Tex got stung big.

The mikunis wear tragically and while you can replace the emulsion tubes you can't fix the plastic runners as easily. Heck you could 3D print them now, even FDM could be ok if slippery enough surface.

Ta. Yeah the colour scheme might be the reason that it's rather more affordable than the contenders... for now he's looking past it due to combination of acceptable mileage / pricing / general apparent good condition of the bike.

I'll give him a heads up about the carbies though, if he ends up having to Ebay (or whatever) some replacements then that tips the balance in favour of something closer.

[riffer]

Yeah, carbs... forgot about that one. Damn head injuries.

The slides in the carbs have plastic wings on them that wear out. This makes the needles flutter back and forward... and snap... usually on deceleration so they fly back into the airbox. But occasionally they take a little trip in to see the valves.

Mine flew into the airbox thank goodness. In the end I got another set of carbs from Victoria Motorcycle wreckers.

[Cadbury]

My own experience with a 95 RF over 65000km from new was pretty good. I'll echo some of the comments above, 2nd gear went at 25000km (about $1000 to repair by Colemans on a bare engine), emulsion tubes wore making consumption very poor and causing the plugs to foul (new parts were cheap), but fundamentally the RF is a very solid bike, plenty fast and a good handler on our less than manicured roads. The bike in the ad looks very well loved. The model shown has the later adjustable damping forks and so will also have the rubber cush in the alternator, quieter but I recall few owners who had the part shear causing the alt to stop spinning and resulting in no charging. I wasn't in love with the ride position as the bars were a bit low for a sport-tourer and my wrists aren't getting any younger. The 2nd gear fault is a bit hit and miss (no pun intended) as the gear dogs are rough-cast on 2nd, some seem to work fine for a long time, others failed quickly (and I wasn't doing anything aggressive to mine). Once they start jumping out of gear, the problem will start to get worse, and can eventually cause the shift fork to break, which you don't want flailing around in the gearbox...

[F5 Dave]

When my replaced emulsion tubes were out in 10,000k I realised the plastic runner wear would keep that happening. I bored the tubes and made some inserts with precision drill the right size. Basically 8mm of brass round with correct hole in it that would drop in the bore. I'd superglue these in place and gas them to remove.

3D printer would fix issue I'm sure .

I put on F1 bars that fix the odd angle the bars are at and slightly taller.

Then after increasing the springs for my 80kg the suspension was bearable although going over the Takaka hill I was cursing how crude the damping was.

I moved the pillion pegs down on plates as my wife is 5"6 not 4'. I moved the indicators back so they weren't right where you wanted the panniers to go.

I ran relays to decrease large voltage drop to the headlight which improved it to merely adequate.

I had it for about 4 or 5 years. The thing I liked about it most was selling it.

I had a fun bike to ride the rest of the time.

Oh dear. I seem to have shared too much.