RF900 enquiry.

[gav]

And if youre considering buying a RF900, now seems to be the time. There are some bloody bargains on Trade Me, you're getting one hell of a good bike.
I sold my mint 2001 VFR800, and bought a cheapish RF900 to do a couple of rallies on. It surprised me just how good it was, to be honest. Its faster and weighs less than the VFR, handles pretty good and is so comfortable.
Heres an interesting link worth reading.
http://www.mcnews.com.au/Testing/rf900.htm

[90s]

Oooh yay, the thread got revived! hehe

Thanks 90s, I was actually under the impression that the GSX's were much more expensive than the rf's? I've seen a few GSX's for sale, usually 750's but they're mostly around '88 -> early 90's. Whereas the RF900's i've seen are around 95 - 97. Is it wrong to assume that there would be a significant jump in technology/stability on a bike from those years apart?

I quite like the look of the GSX, and I think 750 would be a good comprimise of power (I too know 900cc is a wide step, but yeah, self restraint = live longer = more riding!)

They still make the GSX-Fs so you can get them the same age as the RFs, where I found them to be a bit cheaper than RFs on TM when I was looking. However, they end up a lot cheaper when you get an older GSX of course - although you get an older bike. Mine's got 98k on the clock and was serviced today - no problems.
You'd have to ask the experts on whether the tech is a lot better on the RFs, but both seem pretty basic really. RFs might be a little more adjustable on the rear?

[F5 Dave]

Yeah I've got factorypro jet kit in the RF & it seemed pretty good. But pull all the slides out & check if they are worn. I ended up building the white parts up with epoxy & bugger me it seems to be staying. I think I've posted pictures & a super lame drawing of the parts I made to recon the emulsion tubes previously.

Any small engineering shop with a lathe can make the parts out of brass. I've just got my lathe a couple of weeks back, but not wired in yet & I'm a complete novice so I won't offer to try fix anything until I find out if I can use it usefully.

Let us know if you can't find previous pictures on here.

[ManDownUnder]

I have it on good knowledge that an RF900 will do 160+ two-up with Colapop on the back...

mpd or kpd?

LOL - yeah all that's bee said on the RF is good. I've had no problems with mine. Only issue was a total electrical failure that turned out to be the battery... not bad for a bike with 82,000kms on it. As for the chain. Dunno what i got, but it gets semi regular lube and has easily lasted 50,000 kms... plenty of life left yet.

They're a good bike but I'd encourage you to try a range of stuff to be sure.

Value for money they're very hard to beat

[riffer]

Mine just sailed through its warrant this morning.

Not bad for an 11-year old bike with 100,000 kms on the clock.

And yeah Nige - that was km/hrs I was talking about. Have you met Colapop? The bike's not THAT powerful.

[riffer]

Yeah, thats who I've tried, he's got some FZR1000 Exup carbs, $300AUS + shipping. Would these be a straight fit?

I doubt a straight fit. They are BDSTs, aren't they though, so a bit of work would make them fit. You'd have to remove the carbs and reposition them on the RF carb carriers if the spacing between the inlets was different. AFAIK, the FZR1000s, Ducati Monster M900, Yamaha TDM850s, (although only 2 of them), XJ600 Seca and YZF750/1000's used BDST38's, a bit bigger, so possibly a jetting nightmare. Also, the inlet rubbers would be a bit different at the airbox side, wouldn't they? Not too sure if the inlet manifold side is a different diameter with the 38mms compared to the 36mms... I chickened out and used the RF carbs sorry.

Here's a link to a place in the UK that does RF parts. No carbs though.

edit: Had another thought. The 2003 Bandit 1200 uses Mikuni BDST36SS carbs, exactly the same as the RF900, and there's a truckload of Bandits around. I wonder if you would have more luck with these?

[F5 Dave]

Heck I would avoid using carbs from another bike, chances of it not being a jetting nightmare are pretty slim.

[MSTRS:Me]

They still make the GSX-Fs so you can get them the same age as the RFs, where I found them to be a bit cheaper than RFs on TM when I was looking. However, they end up a lot cheaper when you get an older GSX of course - although you get an older bike. Mine's got 98k on the clock and was serviced today - no problems.
You'd have to ask the experts on whether the tech is a lot better on the RFs, but both seem pretty basic really. RFs might be a little more adjustable on the rear?

Couldn't say. But the RF900 used the earlier oil-cooled GSXR1100 bottom end. When Suzuki changed to watercooled, they had a swag of these engines 'lying around', so they used them to power a cheap, powerful sports-tourer. The g/box is 5spd and the engines are under-stressed as has been said already. Many will still have the old size chain/sprockets @ 532...when worn out, best to replace with a 530 kit.

[riffer]

Maybe, maybe.

The RF is a water-cooled engine though, so surely that can't be the reason why they used that bottom end. Probably used it because it was such a good design. Haven't they also used it for the 1200 Bandit and GSX1200 & GSX1400s?

Adjustment on the rear is pretty basic but probably better than the GSX-F. It's got the preload, adjustable with a c-spanner; compression damping, adjustable by a screw on the outboard reservoir; and rebound damping, adjustable by a dial on the underneath of the shock. What do the GSX-F's have?

As for using carbs off another bike Dave, if you used BDST36SS carbs with the same jetting, how much of a baseline would that give you for the RF?

Probably easier to sort out than going for a BDST38? Either way, RF carbs are getting hard to come by.

I've still got the old carbs off mine. With the exception of the throttle slides and slide holders, they're in good nick (no1 has no float needle - I dropped it and couldn't find it). What parts do you need to fix? I'm thinking unless your throttle slides and holders are rooted you're definitely going to be better off getting new jet needles and needle jet tubes.

[F5 Dave]

Depends what you mean by the same jetting. So you could swap over the mains & pilots, but what about the air corrector jets etc & would the emulsion tubes be the same, if so would they be any better ? Slides & guides wear & bugger the tubes, so good guides seems paramount.

[yod]

interesting info here - see comment at the bottom from a kiwi

[gav]

Hmmm, so looking at that link would the emulsion tubes be all I need or would I need the Titanium needles as well? The 4 degree rotor advancer would be worth getting as well? Bike has done 40,000 miles, has K&N filter and Scorpion pipe fitted.

[riffer]

Hey Gav - have you pulled the carbs apart? It definitely sounds like ovalisation of the emulsion tubes (needle jets).

If I were you (and had more money than me) I would replace both the needle jet and the jet needles as a pair.

I noticed with mine that when I took out the needles they were worn on the edge from rubbing against the tube.

Pay careful attention to the slides when you take them out too. They are made of a very soft plastic which wears a bit. Did you look at my carburettor thread? There's some pics there that illustrate the problem well. F5Dave is the only guys I've heard of that's developed a repair technique that seems to work.

That 4 degree advancer looks the bizzo for sure. Just like those Slingshot 750 gixxer cams...

[90s]

GSXf used the original gsxr750 engine, so the 6s are very unstressed, but 'race bred' if you like that kind of thing.

I'm sure you have noticed but there's some nice looking ones here on kb for sale at the mo:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...=yes&p=1086536

and re: prices I paid $2k for my '88 with 90,000k on the clock and no issues after 7000ks in 6 months.

[gav]

OK, pulled the carbs out today, not sure if they are that badly worn or not, have tried taking some photos.