Back on a Honda.
 

Since my VTR, I've ridden 2000 VFR, 87 BMW K75, 250cc Chinese scooter, 01 Bandit 600, 03 Bandit 1200, 02 SV650S, 92 Yamaha XJ600, 2009 SFV650 Gladius..

Now I'm back on a Honda.. 98 CBR1100XX, seems to have the same regulator/rectifier problem as the VTR.. Why is the R/R always the weak link?

NIIIIIIICE, how does the power compare to the hawk?

Oh, my buddy also had an R/R problem on his CBR929, I think Honda got a good deal on some really cheap ones.

If I had to own a CBR it would be the black bird. Not my fav color either but that's why there are paint shops. Great bike for customizing especially for a light rider the 1100 gives you everything you need in HP.

You just have to sort out its bodywork.

Like any Honda of this size it probly has the same issues with front fork strength as the Superhawk - big motor too strong for the hardware that surrounds it.

I restored two bikes this year and did well financially on both. One was a good buy, the other was a good build. The Black Bird is on that Superbike list.

I don't buy or build museum pieces. These are bikes we can fine tune to be responsive daily drivers. If you wanna ramp it up - it will have a ramp!

lol nice 1100 man

+1 on that...

Nice looking ride...

I had a '99, and I can tell you that there is no comparison. The XX shreds the Hawk in top-end power. It is a huge rush at deep triple digit speeds.

However, I found the XX to be truly bored under 100 mph, and thats where I think the Hawk really shines, as it's performance envelope is much better suited to real-world riding and stay-out-of-jail speeds - IMO.

It's not the R/R... It's the grounding... The R/R is the symptom, not the cause...

So what do you do to cure the cause?

Beef up the grounding all over the curcuit... Use slightly heavier gauge wiring than stock... And make sure all connectors are free from oxidation, which is particularily a problem where ground connects to the frame/engine...

Cold you give some example where specifically?

where specifically needs heavier guage wiring?

I checked out some connectors, there is no sign os oxydation.. not at the R/R connector neither.

oh.. and some more bike porn:

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I cant tell you exactly where as I don't know how the wiring is layed out on that bike... I know where on the hawk...

Close to the R/R there is a ground to chassies (wire bolted to subframe on the hawk) And somewhere close to the middle of the bike and wiring loom there usually is one wire bolted to the back of the engine block... And somewhere in the front by the gauges and headlight there usually is one as well... And since they are naked and bolted to the chassie you can't protect them well and it's usually here you get oxide...

These are the ground, they go through the chassie and meet up with the big beefy cable at the battery that's bolted to the chassie/engine...

Now logic in any electrical system dictates that they are equal...ie the beefy one should have the same area as the two or three small ones spread about the system... That's usually not true... Looking in the loom you usually find 4-5 wires coming together at the ground point (inside the black tape) and one thin cable going out to ground to chassie... Double that up to two or one twice as large and you are doing yourself a favour...