Ok, after letting the Bike bug eat away at me year after year for about 7 years now I have finally decided to break down and go get a bike. Unfortunately this comes at a time then I have too many expensive hobbies and about to take a vacation to Japan for 3 weeks. Going against most recomendations I will get a sport bike for my first but the one thing I will keep in mind is that it must be cheap. I'm pretty sure that something will happen and the bike will be laid down once, either during some bad turn, slip or just forgetting the kickstand. With that in mind, I don't want to spend alot of money on a bike nice pretty bike that I know will get all beat up. I have found the following bike and here are just some of the details (not much). It's an 88 Ninja 600 that has a fresh Dark Blue paint job on it. along with the bike comes 2 extra engines and extra fairing parts. The rear arm has been extended 3 inches and the bike has been lowered (I would be raising the bike backup since I'm 6'2"). The rear wheel is a nice Billet Mag and it even comes with another can of paint. Now the down sides. The bike has a noice coming from the currently installed engine and wants to overheat when you do alot of slow stop and go traffic but is fine when you drive it around a bit. It is thought that the noise was from the piston skirts but nows the gueses are toward a warn or loose gear. In any event, the owner is in the process of moving to the South east coast. The guy that has the bike has the approval from the owner to fix it and sell it with all parts. The price for the bike and all parts after it is fixed is $2000. This is just the price I was looking for. Should I go for it or not? If the bike isn't sold in 2 weeks, the buyer will have it shipped to him, other than that it is first come first serve. What do you think, jump on it or stay away? I'm thinking I should get it and take the best of the three engines and sell the other 2 or maybe sell all three and buy a newer engine. I didn't bother taking down info on the engines (years) or mileage.

P.S. If anyone wants a killer deal on a Minicocker (paintball gun) please let me know as it will help me greatly!

 

Well when I started to read it I thouhgt it was a good thing it comes with extra motors because you are going to need them. After reading on I would say you are really going to need them. Ninjas of that age commonly had problems with their valve train, earning them the nick name Ninjunk.

MO pass on the bike. There are lots of other deals out there, keep looking and if you have to wait until you can afford something better. Although at 2K you can find something reasonable.

Here is some information that I found at http://www.cycletrader.com

This is pricing info on a 88 Honda CBR 600
Low: $1,200.00
High: $5,500.00
Average (mean): $2,789.05
Median: $1,950.00

This is for the 88 Ninja 600
Low: $1,450.00
High: $2,750.00
Average (mean): $2,100.00
Median: $2,100.00

You can also look at newer CBR 600s possibly even an F2 if you take your time. IMO you won't regret waiting.

J


[Modified by Jarrad_r6, 10:33 PM 5/22/2001]


[Modified by Jarrad_r6, 10:33 PM 5/22/2001]

 

Jarrad
If possible to drop a newer (less problematic) engine in the bike, what year (or newer) would I want? I just assume jump on it as I wouldn't mind the engine work. It just seems that each time I turn around to call on a bike they are already gone or not what I'm looking for. What would you expect to pay for a 94 motor? Honestly, I would have looked at selling the rear Billet wheel also along with the engines to make the cost of the bike extremely cheap and then just get a newer motor.

Also (of topic), How do you like the 88 Lude. I had one myself w/4ws. I thought about getting another one and autocrossing it istead of my GS-R. I know exactly what you mean by More toys than time.


[Modified by the-bone, 7:20 AM 5/23/2001]

 

You are talking about a serious project bike with that Ninja. Even if you were too put a newer engine into it you are likely to always be needing to do something to it. If you spend all your time tinkering with the bike you'll never have time to ride it. That goes for it you put a newer motor in it or if you use one of the ones that he is selling with the bike.
I had an old GSXR 750 for about 5 years. When I got it I got it cheap because the original owner never got the jetting right, and the second owner couldn't either. I learned a lot about jetting and bikes with that GSXR, and it was a really reliable bike. But it never ran quiet like it should have. I literally spent more of my weekend time changing plugs, synching the carbs and rejetting than I did riding. In the end right about the time I figured out that my sliders were excessively worn and the vacuum diaphram was ruined I sold the bike.

That taught me to buy what I wanted and pay to have the work done. What I wanted was a bike that I could ride anytime and had a level of performance. For me that was the R6.

You mentioned that you were going on vacation soon, why not wait until after you get back and save a little more money to get your bike. If you get this Ninja you are going to have to spend time fixing it up before you can ride it much, if at all. Why not just let the time pass, and use it to save up some more money. IMO you will be much happier with a F2 than you will be with any Ninja. Just my opinion, I know when the bug has you the only cure is to get something asap.

As far as my 4WS lude I am thinking about selling it. It runs awesome, but it just doesn't have the motor to keep up with the type SH. I haven't been driving it much lately, less than once a month. But prior to getting the SH it was by far my favorite FWD car to drive. If you can't afford type SH I would get the 4WS and mod it. I just don't have the time to do it with mine. I was thinking about keeping it until I do have the time, but that seems a little unreasonable with a new house and an up coming marrage(2.5 weeks).


J

 

Looks like I will just wait a bit for a F2 or someting other than a 91 or older ninja. Don't be surprised that if you see me in a week on that Ninja though. The trip to Japan is in October so it's quite a ways off and my Buddy is going to be there for another 2 years so I could really go at a later date even though I was planning on going twice. The financing of the bike is not so much of what I can spend but what I want to spend on something to learn and beat up while keeping in mind that I will more than likely want a fair amount of spending money when I go to Japan but more so that I don't want to to me it's like buying a teenager a brand new car instead of a old beater than they only need liability on. If it doesn't get washed or or you spill something on it or the paint peels or somebody eggs it it isn't abig deal.

As far as the Prelude goes, Negative good buddy. I loved the 88-89 Prelude. There are very few cars I would take in its place. The reason why I said 88-89 is in 90, Honda replaced with steering system and put in a computer controlled. For some reason I just preferred having the steering shaft and planetary gearbox there. Honda had that car on the drawboard for 11years (I think that's right) before it came out. I can't decide if it looked better than it handled or handled better that it looked. I could care less for the get up and go of the SH and honestly don't like the 4th and 5th gen ludes. The 2nd gen was fine and the 3rd get was beautiful. When the 4th came out the trunk was just butt ugly, then the 5th gen came out and the improved the tail section but lost their minds on the front. Not to say they aren't good cars, but my bodystyle is the 3rd gen. I have thought about selling my GS and only keeping the GS-R but it is really nice to have that extra vehicle to drive when one is in the shop. I would keep the 4ws. As far as get up and go, I don't expect that much out of it. After all it is only 135hp for a 2900lb car.

 

Personally I consider the F2 a great combination of a bike that still looks good, performs well, you won't loose you insurance if you drop it at a light, and you can afford to buy easily. I hope you have more strength than I have shown and wait for the F2, waaaaiiiiiiittttttit for it, waaaaaiiittttit for it!


As far as the Lude goes in many ways I couldn't agree with you more. I still rubber neck at 3rd gens. I would never own a 4th based upon apperance. The tailights were big offenders, but I learned to accept them. However I was never able to over come my feelings about the dash. The only feature on the 5th that I didn't like,appearance wise, was the headlights. My solution, silver color so they don't stand out so much.
I guess I shouldn't complain about the acceleration so much, but here is the problem. 1st, I am accustomed to my R6. No car will feel like that, unfortunately my butt still thinks it should. 2nd, I drove a Viper at Skip Barber and I have never felt the same about any car. Not that I am planning on getting a Viper, nor would it be my first choice of 50K+ cars. That still falls to a NSX as most likely car I will buy in the next few years that is exotic. These 2 factors makes it so that I am just generally not thrilled with the 88 in a straight line. I do still giggle when I flip U-turns. Unfortunately the 88 spins the inside tire under heavy acceleration in a turn. The SH has spoiled me in this regard. I would have to put and LSD on the 88 to be truely happy with it in the turns again. Although even with 210K miles on it it still has less body roll that the Type SH.

I didn't realise that they changed the 4WS in 90. I heard that they had by the 4th gen, but I just assumed it was still the same in all the 3rd gens. Ahh if I didn't have to spend all day at work making enough money to keep them all on the road I could drive them all into the ground.

I keep toying with the idea of getting an R1, that way I will have something fast and I may be able to put up with the lack of performance of my other vehicles and enjoy the driving pleasure.


[Modified by Jarrad_r6, 10:59 PM 5/23/2001]

 

Ok, last note on the Ninja, is that I'm only considering it since the noise and overheat problem would be fixed before it is sold. otherwise I wouldn't.

What would you consider the next best thing to a F2? GSXR 600/750 from the 92 ear maybe? There is supposedly one about 90 minutes away from me that has been sitting and not started in the past 5 years or so. Expectation would be that I would have to change out alot of seals, gaskets and whatnot but the price could probably be as low as $600? Something I should consider?

The 4WS may have stay the same through the entire 3rd gen but it was definitely changed by 93. So I may have been wrong but I could have swore that they changed 4WS when they made the minor exterior changes, shift **** change, offered ABS (without 4ws) and increased it power by 5 horses.

NSX I couldn't agree more. I could live with a silver SH as I can see how the color would make the front more appealing. I have the same problem with my GS-R. I have to really watch how I get on the throttle when in those sharp turns. An LSD is definitely on my list of things to check on during my trip.

R1 Nice bike. I stopped in a shop yesterday after work and had to spend a little time admiring them.

 

I would definately go for the $600 GSXR before I would go for the Ninja. Depending on how they took care of it you may not have that much you need to do to it. Also if you wanted you could use the extra $1400 to have a shop do some work to it. Do you really want to take on the hassel of selling parts off a 13 year old bike? And then have to go through the hassel of fixing the bike up? The only other thought about the Ninja is do you think that the friend of the owner, or is it the owner, is going to fix it properly just to sell it. I would be highly suspicious that he would fix it enough to make it run better, but maybe not right. I have been promised lots of stuff from someone who was selling something, pretty much everytime I found they didn't deliver and there was other stuff that they didn't tell me about. When I bought my house I was promised lots she would finish painting the house, fix the screens, clean up, and that there were only two bleach marks in the carpet. What I got was trashed screens, 1/2 of one room painted, a dirty house I had to clean before I could take a shower, sheet rock damage from them moving out, and pet "stains" in almost every room in the house. If this guy is telling you about the major problems, what ones are there that you can't hear or haven't noticed?

I thought about selling my R6 and the Lude to get either a used NSX or a new S2000. The only problem is the Lude is my fiancees daily driver. Her commute is long enough that I wouldn't want her to take the 4Runner everyday, and I know that I would have to drive the NSX. Unfortunately after getting her the new Lude there is no way I could get her to go back to the 88 lude.
Be sure and ask for lots of information about the GSXR before you drive 90 minutes. I was looking for a classic truck about 8 years ago and called on one 8 hours away. I had the guy send me pictures and asked tons of questions. After talking to him I decided to rent a trailer and drive down to look at it. When I got there I found a bucket of rust, even though he said there was none, and other items like a lag bolt holding a fender on from the outside. These were all things that I would have liked to see before I drove all the way down there and spent all the money. At that point the guy asked if I would be willing to just take it. I told him that I had already wasted enough money on the truck and wasn't interesed. After spending $200, gas and the trailer, it was a better deal to walk away with nothing than to buy in.

Just a few combat stories. Enjoy

 

All my buddies including me used to own NINJAZ

-92 zx7
-93 zx7
-95 zx7-mod zx9 engine

I had a 96 zx7. For one thing they're too damn heavy. Another, All those Kawi's listed have had (like u stated) overheating problems, and then stall or have problems starting after a long hard ride. That is why I traded mine in for a Gixxer. I couldnt be more happier, my second choice would have been a Honda.

my 2 pennies.

 

Well, here are a couple of pics of it if your interested.

The back is a little customized.

would definitely put a stock swing arm back on.


Well, if I get it, there are a couple of things I will change and not sure what exactly I would do with the extra parts.

 

MAN!!!! no offense but.... that's a dynosaur!!!
Again,How much they want fer it???

if it's ur ferst bike... i wouldnt worry much about mods...

 

yeah, it's an old beast but like a first car, some people don't mind what they get to learn on. I'm not going gaga over the mods, just noting them as extras. I think I'm going to go ahead and get it since I have someone at work that will buy the rear wheel from me and that will help knock the price down to $1500. I don't consider that bad at all since I have seen people wanting up to $2500 for the same bike in less condition. After I'm more confortable on bikes I will sell it and move up to something like a 95 CBR.

 

Good Thinkin M8'

that's the way to learn, not under a car on the freeway!

GL, and ask away if any questions!!