Diary of CBR1000RR - the First Month

 

I have had my much loved Yamaha R6 for 2˝ years clocking up 38,000kms. I decided it was time to upgrade to something a little bigger so on Wednesday 1st of February I traded in the R6 on a new 2005 CBR1000RR. Deal done, the bike would be ready to pick up on Saturday morning.

 

It was a long two days but Saturday finally came. I arrived at the dealer at 9:05 am, for an opening time of 9 am, wanting to get on the bike as soon as possible. By 9:40 am I was on my new bike after all the paper work and dealer talk were completed. After a short ride home, dumping the paperwork on the floor, I was off to show off my new toy to my mates and get used to the bike before its first Club ride on the Sunday.

 

Day 1: 156 kms. Sunday morning I got up early to get in a few kilometres before the day’s ride to Eildon. I decided to go rear rider for the first leg to Marysville, just to see how I went. Riding up Chum Creek Road I found myself unnecessarily changing down gears all the time.  I could leave it in a higher gear and still pull out of the corners but was used to always changing up and down on the R6.  Down Myers Creek Road with not as many gear changes.

 

Off we head up the Black Spur. Knowing the road, I felt more comfortable leaning the bike over more in the corners. Marysville was the first stop and I’m loving the new bike: more power, better brakes and better handling. As the day progressed, I started to feel more confident, watching the kilometres slowly build up, wanting to get the first 1000 kms out off the way so I could unleash the full power of the beast.

 

The first 1000 kilometres was clocked up the next Sunday’s Club ride, Noojee via Loch. I was watching the odometer all day, hoping to see the 1000 kms tick over before the Noojee Powelltown road and, as we finally approached this lovely stretch of road, it did. It was time to let it loose!  I loved every second of the ride to Yarra Junction, a grin from ear to ear when we stopped.

 

First service saw the bike off to the dealership on Tuesday.  I got a loan bike, a little 250cc. Riding home was fun; no power when you did get it going and then it was hard to stop!  Nowhere near the standard of my new bike. Wednesday I picked up the bike and washed it, ready for Saturday’s photo shoot at the MCG. Sunday’s ride was down the Great Ocean Road. Time to put the bike and myself to the test. During the day I found the handling of the bike to be great and the power exciting as it lifted the front wheel off the ground on a couple of occasions.

 

Monday night I had the bike out washing it after the GOR ride and checked the oil and noticed that the level was over the top of the sight glass. I looked in the owner’s manual to see where the level should be. It was definitely over-full. So I checked the specs to see how much oil it should take and compared it to my bill from the first service. The manual said 3.2 litres but the dealers had put in 3.6 litres, according to the bill. Whilst I had the manual out I read up on what should be done on the first service. It seems the dealer had also forgotten to check out the clutch operation and list it on the bill and also hadn’t filled out the Service Book.

 

Not happy, I took the bike back to the dealer on Saturday morning. They checked the oil and agreed they had over-filled it. First they tried to siphon the oil out. Then they tried to drain a little out via the sump plug but, with the oil being hot, the guy dropped the sump plug and it all came out. The oil was replaced and the service book stamped. The salesman said they would credit me for the extra 400 ml of oil I was charged for at the next service. Not happy with how it was serviced the first time I said it wouldn’t be coming back. Then he tried to say it had to be serviced by the shop to maintain the warranty, which was crap. Any qualified mechanic can service it. I left. (Joel is a mechanic …Ed.)

 

In the first month (February, 28 days) I have managed to clock up 2,128 kilometres only riding on the weekends.  I’m really happy with the power and handling of my new toy.

 

Joel Haley (Honda CBR1000RR)