SIKKO's RVF400

[SIKKO_X2]

Took the bike for her maiden voyage yesterday for registration and I must say that I am impressed with this bike! I put 50 km’s on her and loved every moment of it. It feels very stable and predictable on the road as well.

A few things that I noted:

- It has much more torque than my CBR, making it easier to ride and take off from the lights. I noticed that first gear is pretty useless, and there was a bit of bogging down low so I will be cleaning and rebuilding the carbs very soon.

- The chain is also in desperate need of replacement, it seems to have stretched and seized a few links, meaning that the chain changes tension, making the down low bogging worse when setting off from the lights. The previous owner looks to have possibly used engine oil as the chain lubricant, as it looks to be drenched in it, with some flicking onto the rear wheel occasionally. I will change the chain ASAP.

- It has non-standard gearing, so while the chain is off I’ll figure out what gearing it’s running and decide if I want to change it.

- As China said, it gets warm – especially at the lights. Once it’s moving and air is flowing over the radiator it drops. I will look into servicing the cooling system.

- After doing some research, it turns out that the NC30 shock that is on it has a gas valve on the reservoir, which isn’t stock. Great news as it means that it has been rebuilt/regassed at some point in it’s life. It will also make it cheaper to rebuild.

 

[china911]

What gearing do you have on it.? 1 st gear is usually pretty tall. From the 400 ive had you can run 80km ph on 1st.

The nc 30 had the dude shock. your rvf nc 45 has the rebuild-able reservoir shock.

 

[SIKKO_X2]

What gearing do you have on it.? 1 st gear is usually pretty tall. From the 400 ive had you can run 80km ph on 1st.

The nc 30 had the dude shock. your rvf nc 45 has the rebuild-able reservoir shock.

Not sure, I will have to check when I change the chain.

The RVF NC35 had the non-rebuildable shock whereas the NC30 had the rebuildable shock with reservoir, which has also been put on my bike

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Ordered new chain, sprockets and carby seals. I'll be running 15/40 gearing as I've heard that it's ideal for the road

 

[china911]

if your not already on to it try website grey 400 .com .

 

[SIKKO_X2]

yep already a member - ive gone through a few hundred pages of Honda V4 threads and read anything that I can learn from for the future

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Chain and sprockets arrived. I realised that it had a rivet masterlink, so ordered a new chain tool which didn't arrive on Friday lucky I have the day off in Wednesday for an exam so straight afterwards I'll be able to throw them on

 

[SIKKO_X2]

even though my chain tool hasn't arrived I got impatient and decided to install the new sprockets and give everything a thorough clean.

Turns out that it was running 13/40 gearing, which made the first gear a little short for my liking when setting off from the lights, hopefully the new 15/40 will help.

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/user/nossta/media/IMAG0926.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/nossta/IMAG0926.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG0926.jpg"/></a>

 

[my67xr]

15/38 come's up as standard here -
Gearing Commander: Motorcycle Speed, RPM, Chain & Sprockets Calculator

15/38 Top speed 203.9 km/h
13/40 Top speed 167.9 km/h
15/40 Top speed 193.7 km/h


Edit; Should that rear axle nuts outer lip be peened over into the keyway slot to stop it from undoing itself ?

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Yeah i've been playing with the gearing commander to figure and trawling through forums to decide on gearing and it looks like 15/40 is a good compromise for street riding. I found that with the 13/40 that was on the bike I was having to make it scream when setting off at the lights to get infront of traffic. This could also be related to the jetting and condition of the carbs but I won't know until my gaskets arrive and I can rebuild/rejet them.

Good spot - i'll have a look in the Haynes manual and see if there is anything missing that should be holding the nut on.

As it has a single sided swingarm the axle nut spins with the hub assembly, so unsure if it will undo itself but better to be safe than sorry :thumbup:

 

[my67xr]

Yeah i'm not 100%, but i have come across a Mazda (friend's) that someone forgot to peen it in
The front hub nut was only holding by 1 or 2 thread's at the most.

I think you can see the mark's on these where they were peened in ?

 

[krazed0451]

I'd just peen it, it's close to zero effort and offers peace of mind

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Yeah will do

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Been super busy so havnt had much time to work on the rvf bit I did manage to rebuild the carbs with new seals and noticed that the air filter was putrid, so I've ordered a replacement.

I've also been on the lookout for an aftermarket exhaust. In the meantime I've ordered a cbr600rr shock that I will be getting resprung and revalved to suit me and the bike, which I will then install with the exhaust.

I also received some nice new levers and a double bubble screen

 

[SIKKO_X2]

So I finally managed to find a second hand full-system for a great price which is on it's way from Queensland

Ethos full system and as it's my birthday in november i'm going to get the shock rebuilt as a gift to myself so that I can get the pipe and shock installed in one go:

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/user/nossta/media/_57%206.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/nossta/_57%206.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo _57 6.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/user/nossta/media/_57%207.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/nossta/_57%207.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo _57 7.jpg"/></a>

 

[china911]

LOOKS GOOD.. ALOT OF PATIENCE NEEDEED INSTALLING THOSE HEADERS. WORTH IT THOU . ONE OF THE BEST SMALL BORES BUILT.

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Yeah I absolutely love it, looking forward to getting the suspension rebuilt and exhaust installed,it should really liven it up and make it a lot more fun

 

[Cordogs]

Man I completely forgot about this thread. Got any more recent pictures of this thing?

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Here's a few pics that I took after I rode the bike to work yesterday - i'll be sure to upload plenty of pictures once I install the new exhaust and give it a thorough clean:

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/user/nossta/media/IMAG1046.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/nossta/IMAG1046.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG1046.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s141.photobucket.com/user/nossta/media/IMAG1047.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/nossta/IMAG1047.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG1047.jpg"/></a>

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Well it's been a while since I have updated this thread and not a lot has happened up until now as I have been waiting for my new car to arrive. Now that the car has arrived I am free to spend some more money on the RVF.

I am still yet to install the new exhaust as I am yet to have the shock rebuilt.

What I have done this weekend however is put the bike on stands so that I could take the wheels and forks off. The wheels are at the bike shop getting some Pirelli Diablo Rosso II's fitted and I will be taking the forks for a full rebuild and respring this week.

I have ordered plenty of goodies which have started to arrive:



Here she is as she currently stands:





When I took the forks off I noticed a lot of rust and pitting on the bottom-inner stanchions. With some anti-rust fluid and an old tooth brush I was able to remove the majority of it.

Before:


After:


I will see what the suspension shop has to say about the forks but long term they may need new stanchions or re-chroming.

As other stuff starts to arrive I will post more updates!