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Bike: 1990 CBR600F
Toolbox,
Migs, SLEX
Runner and Stormrider
The first time is always the best. Do you remember
your first date, your first kiss? Your first love or so you
thought it was love. The first time you ever had sex.ok, this
is a bike review, and in the limelight not yet a classic but
has done 13 years of a very colorful riding history with 5
owners. A 1990 CBR600 my very first sportsbike.
At 17 years old, the peak of your nerve in
motorcycle riding, you want to have the fastest and best bike
you can get your hands and blow everyone clean in a straight-line.
Yup I grew up in the days when men where men and bikes where
bikes.. riding with sleeveless shirts, torn-up jeans and Vans
sneakers and ray ban shades. Wear a jacket if it was a cool
night preferably an air force pilot jacket. I look back and
say "what idiots we were". Bikes were massive, heavy
and had heaps of torque (or so think).
One day watching HBO taped in betamax from
the U.S. in a friend's place, I see this ad of the Hurricane,
apparently this friend of mine recorded the show complete
with the commercials, it was the Ad of the Honda Hurricane.
In retrospect I think it was that ad that just made me decide
that I wanted that bike, but before seeing that, I was still
lusting over the GPZ600 "Ninja". But "Even
the Ninja is scared of the Hurricane" - it was that tag
line that got me sold I now think.
My first look at the "jelly mould"
was when a friend of mine "Julius De Leon" rolled
out his brand new CBR600, it wasn't called the Hurricane anymore
in the 90's, for some reason, the ninja's, katana's, interceptor's
and hurricane's of this world veered of this marketing strat
and started getting technical and followed the FZR's cue,
which for some reason had a lower insurance premium I read
from some US magazine. Go figure.
Anyways there she was, brand spanking new.
I marveled on how the plastics covered the entire bike. You
didn't see frame or engine. Wow..I was sick seeing frame and
engine cause that's what we all had then. Even beside the
FZR600 and the Ninja 900 that CBR really looked good.
The plastics interlocked with each other and
the quality of the plastic seemed tougher compared to the
flimsy fiber glass like plastic of that of the FZR. Seating
on it I didn't see any wiring nor did you see anything metal.
While the others you could still see the wiring under the
instrumentation panel and it didn't look quite finished and
refined like
the CBR. I was in love.alas, I could only seat and dream then.
But in my mind and I think I said it out loud, "I will
own this bike!" - well you know the saying be careful
what you wish for, cause it might just come true, well it
did, that exact same bike after 8 years.
By now you all know that Toolbox got this bike
from Julius DeLeon and I didn't quite get the bike from Toolbox
straight out. I wish I did though.
Well here I was with some cash, fresh from
the boat (literally) I worked on-board a cruise ship for 2
years already and had some cash stashed for my very first
sports bike.Finally!
Called up my friend Raffy as I got word he
was selling it cause he needed cash for a business investment.
But unlike toolbox, I got her semi-neglected and down. She
had a cracked engine cover, plastics and pipes were scratched
up. But I still felt it was up to me, I can make this bike
shine again, like it did in the days it was famous for.
The first time I rode her, oil was leaking from the cracked
engine cover, forks were bouncing like a pogo stick, pads
were worn out completely, electricals were not functioning
the way they should, and lots of the fairing bolts were missing.
I got the engine cover welded and got those
EBC brakes pads. Cleaned the carbs, oil change, plugs, new
bat - the regular stuff and rode her. First month riding her
she was semi-naked, the side fairing were at the painters
being repaired and re-painted. I spent hours cleaning the
engine and despite being semi-naked, Jots my cousin commented
she was a good looking bike.
After sorting out the forks and plastics all installed, I
did the crazy thing and 30 seconds from my house I dropped
her hard on hard braking (there was fork oil smudged on the
front tire) damn!!I wrecked the tip of the oil cooler hose.
Double Damn! So the bike went to the shop again and stayed
there for almost a month and a half. Decided to replace the
Dunlop's and got MEZ33 for the fronts and MEZ55 (surprisingly
a 150 was a perfect fit) for the rear.
Still running with the same jet settings, I
had the infamous Bharok tune the bike for better throttle
response - and made him replace the cam chain. Forks again
were readjusted and fitted a new steering head bearing. After
sorting all the problems she was good to go - ahh well not
exactly, I still had a few knots and bolts missing to hold
some parts of the plastic firmly in place. Oh yeah I also
re-installed the rear calipers that toolbox removed.
Beside a 94 GSXR750 it kept pace even on the
hi-ways. In McKinley we had a threesome battle between that
GSXR750 and a 748 Ducati ridden by racer Joey Reyes. The funny
experience is that I was right at the tail of both bikes weaving
in and out of the traffic and as we cross edsa into ayala,
my cousin on the GSXR cuts a RAV4 in the process. When we
got to the stoplight along Makati Ave and gloating to each
other how we showed Joey we weren't exactly push overs, yeah
were real men now! when kapow! - He gets smacked on the head
in full view of the ayala traffic population by the female
driver of the RAV4 who happened to be his wife.
Beside a 96 CBR600F3, well that bike was called
the smoking joe edition but all the hurc did was smoke it
on the road each time. The Hurc took a back seat when the
mighty SRAD750 became its riding buddy.
The complaints I have on the Hurc would be
its brakes, and on long rides would be its narrow seats. The
air also blew the heat from the engine directly to your legs
and arms. I guess for cold countries this was good but not
for us here; but I've ridden hotter bikes. Pegs were low so
on the bends it was easy to scrape the pegs if you were on
the race track, but not bad for infanta twisties.
The last thing I had to do before 3 weeks before
stormrider got her was to replace the rectifier.
Well she's back with me and she was better
when I passed her on to Storm aesthetically, but will work
out a few more things like getting her back to the original
paint scheme. Plastics will be ordered and some preservation
work on the tank.
Its time for her to semi-retire from all the
excitement of hiway chases and quarter mile blasts. Maybe
fit her back with the smaller jets, to bring down her riding
temp and fit in a more subtle pipe. Gone will be the blast
of 7 to 12K, but will be decent for road use for that Saturday
Morning coffee meetings. Like a true champ she is, she will
hang her "jets" and let the new breeds make their
mark.
I hope to keep this Hurc until such time it
will be considered a classic, lets hope so. I don't see much
running around, 2 or 3 if I am not mistaken.
Here's to a fantastic machine Honda built for
us which started the lineage of CBR's famous for it all-round
ability and probably the biggest selling mid-class bike in
the world.
Article from SLEX Runner
She came to me on a Wednesday night, taking
away my misery having lost a loved one (my 95Super4) that
very same afternoon. Her stance was regal her posture most
inviting. I had never looked at her the way I did that evening,
but when I saw her once again, I knew that she was the one.
Was handed the keys, took her around the gas station, and
decided right there and then, she was going home with me.
I kept her for a month and though short lived,
she taught me a lot of things there is to know about riding.
She taught me how to be better: more gentlemanly-more patient.
She gave power at the roll of the grip and yet, there was
something about her which tells you to choose your battles,
and that there was no reason to show off. I had her for a
month, but we enjoyed each others company, heading to Baguio,
Infanta, and countless times to Tagaytay. She gave me confidence
everytime I would lean on her and she made me experience 200kph
without hesitation.
Because she was good to me, I gave her a chance
to breath better and tamed her temperament. Calm and collected,
her accelerations remained effortless. Without betraying her
trust and loyalty, I turned her over to her previous master,
whom I know would bring her to a well deserved pedestal. I
am thankful of having met the esteemed Hurricane, and am grateful
for the joys she gave me!
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