Any GSX-R400 owners here?

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Anyone? Need a bit of advice and the various GSX-R boards haven't really given a result...

Cheers :)

[Guest cepheus1]

Hey Chris b.a.r.f. - A fellow biker with a SPV...cool!

I ride a GSX-R 600

I don't know if the question you have is general enough to GSX-R's for me to be of any help?

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

*love* the GSX-R6, hired one for a few weeks for a trip to the UK a while back; who needs anything bigger than a 600? :)

well, you might have an idea - problem is I comprehensively trashed the motor on my GSX-R4 yesterday (it's a GK73A RRSP model, single-seater). I managed to burn the #4 cylinder almost beyond recognition, valves are AWOL, cooling system shagged and - the icing on the cake - I've taken a few teeth of the 2nd-gear cog. It doesn't rain, it pours ;)

I've got no access to covered workspace, so I can't drop the motor out to have it apart (no cassette gearbox, so it's a case of splitting the casing); my point being that getting the above sorted will cost at least an arm and a leg, possibly more. So it's new motor time.

2 mechanics I know tell me that an RF600 motor should more or less drop straight in to the minigixxer frame, mounting-points and all. I know the block size is very similar, but what about cooling/electrics? They say there should be "No problem" but you know spanner-lads, they want to be onto the biggest earner possible :D You have any ideas? Know anywhere I can read a little more about it? A google search didn't give any kind of useable result.

The GSX-R600 motor won't fit (shame :( ) so, failing the above, do you know of any grey-dealers in the UK that do spare GSX-R400 motors and how much I might have to cough up for one - just a link would be a great help? For some reason our local newsagent hasn't had a copy of MCN in for ages now, says he can't get it at the mo'

Any help will be very gratefully received :(

Cheers

[Guest midnight]

i'd try a breaker if i was you,

http://freespace.virgin.net/richard.harrow...uk_breakers.htm

best place to get a decent deal

as for bikes, dont own one at the mo, had to sell my last bike, hoping to get a new one this year tho, looking at mv agusta f4 spr

just like...

[Guest cepheus1]

Yep! A 600 is fast enough thank you :shock:

Let me phone a couple of people tomorrow when everyone is back at work and I'll let you know what I find out

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

midnight: Blimey, great link dude. Will take me ages to get through that lot :) As for the MV? Nah, had my fill of Italian bikes ;) Aprilia RS250 was probably the most mental-handling bike I've ever ridden, but the reliability was hopeless, even for a stroker. Like the time the fork seal decided to let go all, squirting oil all over the left disc. Or the crancase seals giving up the ghost (ok, it's an RGV motor). Or plasticene-strength head bearings. "Tuned by Aprilia" disc-valves that are even more hopeless than the already useless Suzuki items. The list goes on...Nah, next bike for me will be a GSX-R6, once my insurance has come back down. One thing for sure tho' - the MV looks *bitchin'* in matt-black :twisted:

cepheus: Aye, though for me it's not so much the speed, just that 600's seem to be the best balance between speed/handling/costs. Thanks offering to make those calls, look forward to see if you get a result :D

Modaco, what a place - I knew I'd get some helpful answers here :(

[Guest cepheus1]

Sorry about the delay :?

Can you believe that both our local bike breakers and the bike garage I use were both shut on Monday! Typical bikers hey? Chilling out for an extra day after the weekend :wink:

Anyway, the breakers has a GSXR 400 engine for £250 but neither the breakers or the garage could confirm that the RF600 would drop straight in :cry:

Let me know if there is anything else I can do!

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Thanks cepheus, great stuff. That's dead cheap for the engine, any idea how many miles it's done? Whatever, some of my fam. are coming over to see me in July, I might just ask some brit breaker to crate the motor up for me and then I can get the old man to sort the shipping. Still, can I wait 'til july? :?

The bike shops over here seem to have pretty weird opening times, too - like when they can be bothered :lol:

[Guest midnight]

Yeh, i had a prilly aswell, gotta agree, reliability wasnt its strong point, didnt have too much problems, only major thing that happened was the bottom-end bearing went, but that goes on all 2-strokes. My only concern was the speed at which i was going through tyres and brakes (a rear Dragon would last around 5 months absolute max) but then i came to the conclusion that was my riding that was causing that :lol:

But, all said and done, its prolly the most fun bike ever, completely mental.

Of course, the other possibility is a Triumph Daytona 955i dunno, I aint a Jap bike hater or nothin, I just tend to like something a little 'different' to everything else on the road, no matter how much i like the R6/R1, GSX-R's etc.

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

know what you mean about "different" but where reliability''s concerned the only way to go is east :-/ Shame really. The 955i's a smart looker and well-quick, but a bit too bloody bulky for my liking, sort of like a sport-tourer.

Heh, and yer dead right about the 'priller going through tyres and brakes. A totally mental bike :lol: If I could I'd buy another '97 RS250 now (prefer the old shape) and have the motor to Stan Stephens and have him give it a reliable tune...there aren't really any stroker experts like him over here, more's the pity. I've actually been thinking about doing myself a supermotard based around a Husqvarna of something, mental handling and a gr8 laugh without too much license-risk ;)

Slight change of subject: wtf has happened to Performance Bikes? It's utter crap now - The new journos are tossers and even Trevor Franklin's jumped ship now. I long for the days of Rupert Paul, John Robinson (spoke to him on the phone a few times, great bloke - RIP), Mark Forsyth and co.....dammit, I must be getting old :(

[Guest midnight]

the main problems i see is that half the journos simply cant handle the bikes anymore, so when they do a comparison it is waaaay off, in a recent one i saw the r6 was last, gsxr-6 was second to last, cbr6 was next and the ducati 748 won it, which is kinda fooked up.

and yes, the old prilly's look the dogs, the new ones, dunno, looks strange to me, especially the back end weird curvy thing heheh

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Aye, maybe you're right about the journos come to think of it. And about the latest 'priller too - dunno why, it just looks "wrong". The "GP-style" aero droop at the back and quite a high fairing/screen. Looks like a begging dog or something :lol: Could be the fairing works, but who the hell buys a 250 stroker for it's efficient fairing? ;)

[Guest cepheus1]

Yeah....I thought £250 was a good price as well - though not really sure how many miles it had done...or whether I would believe him if he told me anyway :wink:

Now, Mark Forsyth isn't a name I've heard in a long time - Perfromance Bikes used to to be THE motorbike magazine! Complete S*%$ these days - even Superbike is only worth a glance in the newsagents for their centre spread

That Mark Forsyth was such a looney he is probably dead, crippled or in prison

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

That Mark Forsyth was such a looney he is probably dead, crippled or in prison

...he actually did an article for PB recently, riding that new malaysian GP bike Foggy's involved with (if I remember rightly) so I assume he's gone freelance now; he's a pretty good bike racer, too - remember seeing him charge round the Isle on a Ducati donkey's years ago....gr8 stuff :lol:

Too true about the motor, bit naïve of me to expect a dealer/breaker to give the real mileage ;)

[Guest cepheus1]

I stand corrected - glad to hear he's not dead, crippled or in prison :lol:

He could certainly throw a bike around!

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Indeed he could - like midnight says, the journos now are just a bunch of bloody posers (posers with spelling/punctuation difficulties, at that :lol:

Read in last month's PB that Ronnie Smith (their resident tester/racer) got killed january ;) Sad stuff, he *really* could handle a bike, just see his TT-results from last year...another RIP in order.

[Guest cepheus1]

That's sad - RIP :lol:

What keeps you over in Copenhagen then - you're a long way from home?

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Just came here 11 years ago with the Mrs. (she's danish) and...sort of settled down here, got a family. No reason to go back to the UK now - with one exception: the vehicle tax on motorbikes is 180% + (that's one-hundred and eighty percent :lol: ) which makes for some pretty eye-watering prices :(

example: 'priller RSV1000R = 219.998 DKK = £20,296 :shock:

So don't be moving here if you want cheap bikes, though it's somewhat made up for by the unreal number of utterly, utterly beautiful women here ;)

[Guest cepheus1]

180%

...and what is the reason/logic behind that!!!

Mind you, if I had to choose between bikes and beautiful women?

OK....beautiful women it would be

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Well, it's government policy so logic doesn't come into it :lol: The general idea was originally to discourage people from using the car (public transport here is superb) but now I think it's simply a money-earner for the powers that be. On top of that 180% you also have to add environmental taxes (variable) and, of course, road tax. Then there's a special state tax on the insurance premium, too :?

[Guest mcwarre]

Chris,

Why don't you import a pre-owned bike (over 6 months old) from somewhere in the EU. You don't have to pay VAT. This has brought down the prices in the UK due to competition from imports. In fact they are not considdered 'grey' if from the EU as the warranty has to be EU wide.

just a thought...

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Ayup mcwarre :lol:

Unfortunately, the Danish tax take any imported bike into their testing-halls in order to make a valuation of the it; if _they_ reckon it's worth 10000 DKK more than I paid for it (tax free) in, say, germany then that's just my tough s*** ;) They don't even look at receipts and stuff, they just say what they think the bike would fetch if sold as per normal in Denmark. And THEN they stick almost 200% tax on top of that (180 vehicle tax + environmental tax + road tax etc.)

Nice, eh? And bikers in the UK reckon they have it hard with gatsos and stuff? The gatsos they have here are copper-operated and is still well-loved by the filth...

Believe me, I've looked into this before - importing *anything*, especially vehicles, to Denmark very rarely pays :? Bastards have us by the short-and-curlies and no mistake...

[Guest TSCRYPTO]

I used to ride a GPX 250 - nice little bike, until some twat ran up my ass - his excuse: "I was reaching across the dashboard to grab my last ciggie, and I didnt see ya"...

Bike was destroyed - I played chicken with 3 lanes of peak hour freeway traffic...

:x

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Sucks dude ;)

Accidents caused by car drivers bad, own fault even worse. Have had loads of the latter type myself :lol:

[Guest mcwarre]

Cris,

Not that I would suggest it. I have been told that it is possible to get a new bike (identical to say your old one, but a newer version) and swap plates? Not that it is legal (until you get caught). Obviously a rumour.......