Fireblade???

As much as I like the Cat and that I have jelled with it I'm always tempted when I see a Blade.

There's a 918 on a T plate advertised locally for £2000 with 28,000 miles and just wondering if anyone has any advise as to, if I should consider or what to look out for.

The tax & MoT run out identically to the Cat.

Thanks,
Danny.

I'd definitely consider a blade in any guise, I jumped onto a 954 last September and didn't stop pining for one until I bought mine in November, blistering speed yet sure footed, great bikes. 

Check for service history (at least some), also look closely at all panels and extremities (mirrors etc) to make sure its not been down the road. headstock and wheel bearings and fork seals can be a weak point. Check for a noisy start up and look at what is coming out of the exhaust when cold and hot, if its smokin it may have been thrashed, saying that they are pretty bullet proof engines. 
 Good luck with whatever you decide

Cheers Snowcat, bit limited as to when to view as my Son's been in hospital for nearly 3 weeks and open ended as to when he will be home for good.

He's 25 and all of a sudden problems occurred, just got back from today's visit and he is definitely better but only at 70 or 80% but enough of my problems thanks again.

Danny.

The priority is obvious there, hope he gets well soon, they'll always be other bikes pal.

Best of luck

Steve

You're right, maybe thinking of other things to take my mind of stuff.

Nothing wrong with doing a bit of that. Occupy your mind with something positive, it can actually be quite focussing. As I've said buying that blade was a big leap but I've never looked back, it's made me a better rider as well as I'm well aware of its ability to spit me off in a heartbeat!!

Be glad to help out anymore if I can

 

Ridden several blades over the years and rated them all.

Dodgy regulators and some gearbox issues on 2002/3 models seems to be the only tails of woe.

Hope your sons situation improves

Snowcat wrote:The priority is obvious there, hope he gets well soon, they'll always be other bikes pal.

Best of luck

Steve

Hope he gets well soon.

Rosco

Radar wrote:Dodgy regulators and some gearbox issues on 2002/3 models seems to be the only tails of woe.

The charging circuit is often a weakness on the big Honda's but if you have a problem you can diagnose the issue with a multimeter and find out if it is the reg / rec or the stator. If you do have an issue cross your fingers it's the reg / rec as it's a ffffffffffffflipping lot cheaper, trust me. Had issues on my Blackbird, my Fireblade and my mates VTR.

Have a good look at the stator cover where the wires come out to see if there is lots of instant gasket or cuts in the rubber sheath that covers the wirse coming from it, and then, if you can see it, have a look at the cables that come from the reg/rec to see if they have heat shrink or electrical tape all over them, good signs of a 'fix'. I just kept resoldering the wires on the BlackBird Reg/rec until I ran out of wire then bought a new reg / rec.

The stator on my Fireblade (929) cost about £250ish, and that's direct to me to fix so if you have to give it to a garage to fix you can double that.

Don't let the above scare you, my Blade was awesome, so awesome in fact I've had two of them and will have another again at some point.

Apart from this, do the usual checks which includes but is not limited too:

• Frame and engines numbers should be the same as they are on the V5
  
• Service history is a good selling point but far from a guarantee that it won't breakdown (Unless I am planning to sell the bike on, I personally prefer to buy a bike from someone at home with a decent garage set up and little or no service history as I think they are more likely to do a decent job than a main dealer. Lets be honest how many of us have had a bike back from the garage to find something missing or not done but you've been charged full whack
  
• Sit on the bike, bounce up and down, hold the front break on and bounce the front end up and down, you don't want any notchiness in the movement or any clunks
  
• Check over the chain and sprockets for condition
  
• Check the oil and coolant levels, if someone hasn't bothered to top them up while they are selling it chances are they didn't while they were riding it and therefore more chance of neglect, also if the coolant is not coloured then chances are all they have done is top it up with water
  
• Start from cold to see how it starts
  
• Once warm, is the exhaust clean, or blue, or thick white, you don't want blue or thick white
  
• Check all the lights work, side lights, full beam, main beam, indicators, brake lights and the horn also
  
• Walk the bike back and forth to see if there are any noises or resistance while pushing pulling it around
  
• If you test ride do a low speed brake check once for the front, once for the rear just as you set off (let the seller know you are doing this though, it's just polite if nothing else) get up to 30 and do an emergency stop, does the bike at the front or the back when stopping? Does it pull to one side when stopping? Any noises or feed back through the bars?
  
• Whilst riding get in a straight line let go and hover your hands above the bars, does the bike pull to one side when your hands are not on the bars?
  
  

There are a million other things to check but lets be honest, unless you take a written checklist you won't do all of them, no one does, and you'd also be there ALL DAY, and get on some appropriate forums for the bike and find out common issues to check. Don't be worried about the whining noise in first gear

When I first got mine I found the dodgy whining noise in first was my sharp intake of breath from the brutal exceleration

Snowcat wrote:When I first got mine I found the dodgy whining noise in first was my sharp intake of breath from the brutal exceleration

Mine was more a trumpeting noise that came from MY own personal rear, once I got used to that I could hear the gear noise

That's a great write up by the way stretchy, think the bosses at Thundercat Towers should pin that somewhere as a beginners guide to buying a bike (obviously taking the Honda specific info out).

Mods, big brother, bosses are you there??

somebody called  

Good post Dan ..  maybe like to do a Thundercat version which we can pin?

I'm sure those with Honda's probably know this, but on some models the rectifier/shunt is mounted on the frame using it as a heat sink. Using Thermal Paste (stuff used between computer CPU chips and the heat sink) has been known to help the problem of the units overheating and burning out. You can get the paste from Maplin.

SteveCat wrote:somebody called  

Good post Dan ..  maybe like to do a Thundercat version which we can pin?

I'm sure those with Honda's probably know this, but on some models the rectifier/shunt is mounted on the frame using it as a heat sink. Using Thermal Paste (stuff used between computer CPU chips and the heat sink) has been known to help the problem of the units overheating and burning out. You can get the paste from Maplin.

Some of the problem was down to poor design (I KNOW, hard to believe) and many of the reg / recs were updated to include fins, or bigger fins to help dissipate the heat better, will have a look at that paste, always good to have options

Thanks to all. All things considered I think I will wait 'til next Spring when it's a special birthday and my lad should be a lot better.

Surprising how much just going to visit gets you down and maybe I needed a pick-me-up.