Hairsy

I've had a noise that sounded identical to that. In my case it was on a 1998 CBR600F3. Checked lots of things and eventually took advice that I'd receiveed to balance the carbs - solved the problem instantly. At tickover, things aren't under load and the mismatch between cylinders causes these rattles. I have to say that I was sceptical when I initially received the advice but, in my case, it was definitely the solution. And the bike ran better as well.

Thanks for the thoughts. Keep them coming!

A number of you may have seen my Amateur Restoration thread where I took a non running / messy / rusty CBR600F3 and gave it a new lease of life. Although it led to a fair few frustrations / sleepless nights, I really enjoyed it. I'm getting itchy fingers and want a new project but I'm really struggling to find something. My thoughts / desires are ... - I can't afford more than £1,000 - I'm not great at repairing bodywork. Damaged plastics / tanks really aren't my thing so I'd like my project not to need this kind of repair work. Although it's fine if replacement panels / parts are available and cost effective - I don't mind a non runner but I'm not really seeking a full engine rebuild. Of course there's always the risk of a project needing one but I'd like my project to be more likely to not need it - I'd love to not have a steel frame but I wouldn't rule it out - I'd really like to do a 2 stroke. It's all about the smell! - I quite fancy doing a smaller engined bike this time : 80cc - 400cc Apart from the cost, I could compromise on any of the above! It's possible that the bike might be a keeper, particularly if it was small engined (mainly because my 'daily' is a Z1000SX). But I also might sell. I'm not looking to make money but I can't afford to lose money. My last couple of project bikes have been sold at cost (or slightly below it) but have been to people who have really deserved / needed to find a bargain. I really like that. Can anyone suggest a project that might suit me?

Actually it's completely scientific!

I've completed your survey. I quite like it but, being honest, I wouldn't pay for this. The real value in these records is how it affects resale value of the bike and, for that, I need paper records. That doesn't make it a bad idea - it just means that your income model would probably be best with targeted advertising. Perhaps with an option to 'pay to remove ads'. Good luck with it - I like the idea

You can register engine changes with DVLA. It's not uncommon. If you want a slower bike though, it's probably cheaper to just buy a 125. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Definitely balance the carbs. The irregular idle causes mechanical rattling noises at idle. The slow return to idle is also a symptom of carb balancing issues. I had the same symptoms on a bike with the same engine. Balancing solved it.

This. From your symptoms, I'd say pilot jets and balancing. If you're certain that you've got completely clean pilot jets then try a balance. If you're not 100% certain then double check your pilot jet cleaning or replace them with new OEM ones - and then do a balance. I've had exactly those symptoms on a CBR600F3 and this was the solution.

Pilot jets can be cleaned but the holes are so small that it's really easy to leave a small bit of dirt in there. Also, you can clean them and then inadvertently leave a little bit of dirt in the float bowl or fuel hose that then immediately blocks them up again. Probably worth having another go at cleaning them. Having the right size mains is definitely wise but your description of symptoms does suggest pilots would be a good place to focus. An accelerator pump is a mechanical device - it's part of the carb and pushes extra fuel through when opening the throttle. Your manual should tell you whether you have them. No wires! The other thing to check for is air leaks. Are the ports for carb balancing all blocked off? Are the carb rubbers a tight fit to the carb and the engine?

I'd second the idea of getting comfortable on a push bike - even only on minor roads. However, if you're apprehensive and would benefit from having someone sitting next to you and coaching you then I think your idea of some driving lessons is a good one. It will help you build your confidence and it will give you some insight into what it's like for car drivers. Either way, it sounds as though you're thinking things through AND happy to acknowledge the need to develop at your own pace. This is (a) rare and (b) great.

If you're able, try another battery. If you don't have one then connect another 12v battery to yours (e.g. a car battery) with jump leads. Positive to positive and negative to negative. Then try starting. If it starts then your battery needs replacing.

As Simon said, make sure you're confident riding on the road on a bicycle. If you know how to safely and confidently ride that, including turning into and out of main roads and navigating roundabouts, then you should have sufficient knowledge and competence for a CBT. I'd strongly recommend one of the phone / tablet apps that prepares you for your theory test. In your position, these will be really helpful. Make sure that for EVERY question, not only do you know the answer they're looking for but you understand the logic behind that being the answer. If it's not clear why something is the answer then do research into that. Once you have all this, you should have a good grounding in why the rules are the rules. Take it one step at a time. And if you're still lacking confidence then perhaps take your CBT and do your initial road riding on an automatic scooter. That will remove gear changing from the list of things that you need to deal with at the start. And, finally, enjoy it!

Not sure whether this is practical or helpful but, earlier in life, I flew paramotors competitively. In the early days I flew 2 strokes and overheating was alway a bit of a concern although I never actually had a problem. You're of course absolutely right about the CHT being a late warning so some people would use EGT warnings as a proxy for, potentially, rising CHT. The downside of EGT was that the sensor was more of a pain to fit (and introduced a permanent hole). The CHT sensors were just mounted on the thread of the spark plug - is that what you're using? Having said all that, your readings suggest that you probably haven't got an issue so perhaps unnecessary in your case.

I’d always try for warm oil - partly for the flow of the oil but also because you want any particles inside the engine to be suspended in the oil when it comes out rather than ‘in a place of rest’ in some crevice in the engine. However, to add context, if you’re carrying out regular oil changes with good quality oil and a filter change then you’re probably fairly low on the list of risky owners. Aim to do it warm but don’t lose sleep over it.

Please take this post in the spirit it's intended - to help. Firstly, if that driver had not only been speeding but had also been playing with their phone then you could have been hit - and we all know that this isn't a particularly hypothetical scenario. Secondly, and most importantly, there was a point in my riding life when I decided that every slightly dodgy incident that I encountered was something I should treat as something to avoid at all costs in the future. Regardless of who was technically in the wrong. Many of my 'incidents' were clearly my own fault - and still are - but many are other people's fault. I made a decision to ignore who is at fault and treat everything as MY responsibility to avoid in future. So applying it to your situation, ask yourself honestly whether you made the most comprehensive possible look behind you. Realistically, unless you examiner is a truly bad person, you probably COULD have spotted this driver. By way of example, I was once told by an instructor that I 'could' take my right hand off the handlebars when looking behind me so that I could take a better look. I tried it and realised that I definitely could see better. So now I always do that. If I CAN do something to increase my safety then I now treat it as a failure if I choose not to. Another suggestion, when you turn to look behind you, is to spend at least a second or two with your head completely still looking back. I see many people turn their head and immediately turn back again. Saccadic masking applies as much to us riders as it does to the drivers who fail to see us. A still head when looking behind you will see much more and, importantly, will be MUCH more effective at picking up movement. I wish you all the luck with your next test and that you don't get anyone interfering with your smooth passage. Enjoy that joy when you pass!

I never concluded this so, for the sake of anyone looking in future … I removed the pilot jets and could see the build up in the holes. Some were blocked and others were just reduced in size. Lots of patient soaking and cleaning in carb cleaner along with blown air left them looking like they should. I suspect that an ultrasonic cleaner might have reduced the work needed but I don’t have one. Refitted them and the bike ran perfectly. Had they not worked, I’d have gone OEM.

You don't need to do anything with the bridge between the two batteries - you can work on one battery at a time and the other one won't be affected if it's only connected to the other battery by one terminal via the bridge.

You could set these up on a battery conditioner if you have access to one (Ctek or Optimate type of thing). You can do one battery at a time - no need to disconnect any of the wiring - just connect your conditioner to the individual connectors for one of the batteries. Then do the other. I've used Ctek many times and it does a good job of bringing life back to poor condition batteries. But it can't resurrect a dead one. Re the charger, if you manage to bring the batteries back to life then, once it's working OK, check the resting voltage of the battery pack. Then connect the charger and see if the voltage increases a little. It should be a bit more pronounced if the battery is a little discharged before you connect it to the charger.

Final post on this thread I suspect. I took the bike out for a 30 mile trip around the New Forest at the weekend and it was absolutely brilliant. And now, a few days letter, the bike has been sold and has just been ridden away by a thoroughly nice guy. He seemed really chuffed and it felt so good to see it going to a new home. My reflections & learnings from the process ... 1) Don't buy a bike unseen - even though I don't feel in any way ripped off, I didn't understand the true magnitude of the work involved. 2) Make a plan and, most importantly, make sure that plan has really small steps. I'm hugely grateful to Tinkicker on here who gave me the advice to set small goals for each day. I sometimes ended up exceeding those daily goals but by having only a small goal, it means it's a lot less frustrating when things don't go to plan 3) A bench grinder with a wire wheel is awesome for a project like this 4) The majority of problems can be solved without new parts if you're patient and have a decent level of ingenuity, creativity and tools 5) You can do a really decent job with rattle cans provided you focus on the prep 6) You really DO have to take safety things apart to assess their condition (learned from when the friction material fell off the rear brake pad upon disassembly) 7) A 50/50 mix of Auto Transmission Fluid and Acetone really does make a fantastic penetrating fluid A manual impact driver is a great tool 9) Bike fairings / plastic are really hard to repair & colour match if you're not a professional. 10) Overall, Honda build and parts quality is excellent. This was a 26 year old bike and I'm experiencing just as many corroded fastener issues with my 'new' 7 year old Kawasaki as I had with the project bike. 11) A restoration like this is incredibly satisfying. I highly recommend it if you have time available. Thanks to everyone here for the encouragement and advice along the way. You definitely helped when things were frustrating me. Dave

Try to dry it completely (with the petcock switched off). Then turn the petcock on just for a second or two and try to spot the source of the leak. I once spent lots of time trying to locate a leak like this and it turned out to be a fuel pipe above the carb that was dripping onto the carb and then down.

Given the lack of reliability of non OEM carb parts, I decided to clean the original pilot jets and see whether that solved the problem. And it did! I'm afraid I didn't take photos of this process but all 4 pilot jets had at least some blockage. A combination of generous amounts of squirty carb cleaner and air were needed, along with leaving them to soak for a while in carb cleaner. This allowed me to clean them all so that all openings were letting through light as intended. I also reset the idle screws, all of which were turned in about half a turn more than factory settings. I put the carbs back together (I'm getting quite quick now) and the bike immediately settled to a better purr than before. With everything open, I took the opportunity to do a carb balance and this turned out to definitely be needed following the cleaning of pilot jets. The bike now picks up on the throttle nice and quickly and settles back to idle quickly instead of a slow drop, which it was doing last week. I took the bike for a 20 minute ride in today's glorious sunshine and all the work felt worthwhile. Sadly though, I don't have space to keep multiple bikes indefinitely so this afternoon I've advertised the project bike for sale. Just in case anyone is interested - the advert is here (but you already know far more if you've been reading this thread!). https://www.gumtree.com/p/honda-motorbikes/honda-cbr600f3-1998/1478534295

WeBike Japan looks to be very cheap - £25 incl. postage for 4 jets. Seems to claim they're OEM. Has anyone used them - are these likely to be genuine OEM parts?

I'm going to be rebuilding a set of CBR600F carbs. I plan to clean parts where possible but I've been advised that it's wise to replace the pilot jets rather than try to clean them. There's lots of cheap rebuild kits on eBay etc but I want quality. I don't want to do the job twice. Can anyone suggest a source of reliably high quality jets? In the absence of a reliable alternative, I'll go OEM Honda but they're going to set me back £80+ for the 4 jets. So if there's an quality alternative then that would be nice!

It's been a while since I gave an update, mostly because other things have been getting in the way and it can be hard to re-engage once momentum has stopped. But today I finally got around to getting the MoT done. One advisory for slight play in a front wheel bearing but not of concern. However, as a result of the ride to the MoT place and back I've realised that I'm not happy with how smoothly the bike runs at low speed. Dirty pilot jets are definitely the main suspect. Those who've been following this thread may recall that I replaced the carbs with a second hand set from a recently running bike. I contemplated doing a full clean and rebuild when the replacement carbs arrived but I was so desperate to know whether the bike would run at all that I fitted them with only a minor clean of the bowls. The bike does run OK now, and there's probably bikes out there that run worse, but I can't consider the bike finished with this rough slow running. The MoT place were very complimentary about the bike and that just gave me even more incentive to get her running right. So next week I plan to, once again, strip away the bodywork and pull the carbs off. They'll then get a proper comprehensive clean, rebuild and then balance which, I hope, will leave the bike just how she should be. A few more updates coming soon.

Similar to the above ... I would start with alcohol, rubbing the area with a little children's paint brush if it's fiddly (I buy packs of 5 from Poundland!). If that doesn't work then I'd step up to White Spirit and / or Paraffin. With either of these though, I'd then follow up with alcohol or brake cleaner. Nail polish remover (acetone) can be good but, as mentioned above, I would worry about its effect on plastics so I'd be more cautious with that.