Have I got a French blackbird..?

[Cougar377]

More intrigue.....

The owners handbook that came with the bike is for the carbed version with analogue instruments so I downloaded a PDF of the FI & digital dash version.

Seems that only the UK digital dash will allow you to switch between MPH and KMH....as I've now discovered on mine.

So now I'm even more confused....UK spec dash, french stickers...WTF..:dunno:

Answers on a postcard..p0pc0rn41

 

[silverfox.xx]

Yours is a Cat model digi dash, convertible to MPH or KPH. Might be a European model ?.. :dunno:

The rev counter face (Jaws supplied I would imagine) is what I have on all my (analogue) dials, it is the indiglo dial faces (see jaws site), should be adjustable for brightness and colour change. I suspect the std one is underneath... all of mine are.

You can get analogue to digital dash conversions... I know a man. So it is possible you're has been done.

I guess the engine and frame number will confirm as much as anything.

 

[ascar]

another idea might be that the bike was bought in france by a brit from the channel islands then sold on the main land so you will have a french sticker on parts of the bike.
are the roads long enough on the islands lol for a bird

 

[Cougar377]

another idea might be that the bike was bought in france by a brit from the channel islands then sold on the main land so you will have a french sticker on parts of the bike.
are the roads long enough on the islands lol for a bird

I refer the right honourable gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago... c7u8

"Just noticed that my fuse box cover is in French yet the bike was first registered new in the UK in April 2002"

 

[willibet]

don't be such a baby, it takes next to no time to work it out and run it up to speed on the road. If you join the M27 at Fareham heading towards southampton you should see 150 plus before the bottom of the slip road. Go do it. There is also a nice stretch on the A32 near Droxford that mine regularly sees 170+ on the speedo.

I think you mean 17:00+ on the clock, Lumpy.

 

[karlos2000]

so, who deleted my original post :dunno:

weird

 

[silverfox.xx]

I think you mean 17:00+ on the clock, Lumpy.

1.70 as he pushes it from one end of the lounge to the other. 8rfl@8rfl@8rfl@

 

[Cougar377]

don't be such a baby, it takes next to no time to work it out and run it up to speed on the road. If you join the M27 at Fareham heading towards southampton you should see 150 plus before the bottom of the slip road. Go do it. There is also a nice stretch on the A32 near Droxford that mine regularly sees 170+ on the speedo.

The very stretch where I saw a tag team operating just before Christmas - 1 x blue imprezza to chase and 1 x grey 3 series beemer to sneak up behind you...
Passed them heading for Soton as they were pulling a car over onto the long slip road for the Segensworth Roundabout, Imprezza in front Beemer behind - both flashing their blues.
You may have seen the Blue vRS Octavia along that stretch too. If not then I'm sure that you've seen the black Volvo saloon....saw him chatting to an R1 pilot.....
Or maybe you were at warp factor 10 and missed it all....:wank:

 

[Cougar377]

Got a reply from Honda UK who've identified the Bird as originating from Belgium (that explain's the French language stickers).
They don't think it's restricted but have given me Honda Belgium's contact details to see if they can shed a bit more light..p0pc0rn41

 

[Rick448]

If your not bothered about tearing in and you're happy with the performance. Why worry?

 

[karlos2000]

Got a reply from Honda UK who've identified the Bird as originating from Belgium (that explain's the French language stickers).
They don't think it's restricted but have given me Honda Belgium's contact details to see if they can shed a bit more light..p0pc0rn41

I bought my bird in 98, before I did I was considering an import. The top places when I enquired were Belgium and Holland. The year after, my friend who owns a pub bought a new Alfa 156 and a Ford Escort van, bought through a Dutch company but picked them both up from Zebrugge. He still has both and the Alfa still hasn't broken !!!!

 

[Cougar377]

If your not bothered about tearing in and you're happy with the performance. Why worry?

Two reasons.....

1) I didn't reach the dizzy height's of Blackbird ownership only to end up riding something that puts out the same power as my old Thundercat and weighs the same as the Cat plus the wife on pillion.

2) I'm paying insurance based on it being a full power Bird.

Why do you own or have owned a Bird?

 

[Rick448]

I own one to use the power of it. Not all of the time but certainly sometimes. I was picking up on the fact you seemed to be saying you don't want to test it out to see if it is full power but want to be sure it is. That's all. How people ride and why they own the bikes they do is their choice. I hope it is not an import as I guess that could affect insurance for you too.

 

[Cougar377]

I own one to use the power of it. Not all of the time but certainly sometimes. I was picking up on the fact you seemed to be saying you don't want to test it out to see if it is full power but want to be sure it is. That's all. How people ride and why they own the bikes they do is their choice. I hope it is not an import as I guess that could affect insurance for you too.

Well you've hit on the age old question...do any of us really need a 160+hp bike capable of 170+ mph....

I don't own a Bird to go everywhere with my hair on fire and I rarely top the ton for long on the roads along the south coast. I need my licence for work.

But I do own a Bird because it will be able to take me, SWMBO and luggage over distance without a fuss and not looking and handle like a total barge whether solo or two up.
When I get round to taking the Bird abroad there are plenty of places where higher speeds are tolerated more than this country. It will be nice to enjoy that feeling without looking in the mirrors every five seconds...

The other reason I own a Bird is because it's one of the finest pieces of engineering that Honda motorcycles have produced.
As a bike engineered specifically to be the fastest it goes without saying that because it's ever-engineered it will handle the stresses of everyday normal bike use without breaking a sweat. And it will be far more reliable than most bikes because of that...@tu*

Plus I like the subtle timeless look of it.

I may never need to buy another bike as long as I can sling my leg over the saddle....:-0)

 

[dave boyce]

Well you've hit on the age old question...do any of us really need a 160+hp bike capable of 170+ mph....

I know I do,Having had a couple of bikes with 100 odd brake I thought that's all I would ever need but you get used to it,now I've got one with nigh on 140 at the wheel I like it even more,would I trade down to a bike with less power? Probably not.Its a bit like my ten inch knob...I might not need one that big or be able to use it all But it doesn't stop me trying and I wouldn't chop four inches off the end.......

 

[Rick448]

I'm sure we don't need 160bhp but its very nice to have it if you want it.

I can remember my 250LC felt fast and now my work hack CB500 has loads more power than that but it feels dog slow. I know there are times when more power than the Bird has would be nice, although these are few and far between. And power without it being useable is useless. I think that is the point we are reaching with the new breed of superbikes. They drip with electronics to make the night on 200bhp useable for the normal punter who can buy these rather than just elite racers. Since i began riding i think tyre technology has been the greatest leap forward in allowing me to get more fun out of my bikes. Performance wise there isn't a great improvement out there compared to the Bird in out and out speed, however handling / braking are much improved on sports bikes, though how much on a sport tourer like the Busa or ZZR14 i'm not sure as i haven't ridden either of those.

 

[Cougar377]

Emailed Honda Belgium a week ago and still had no reply.

Shouldn't be surprised really...same ferkin nation that wouldn't sell us their surplus stocks of NATO ammo during Gulf War One.:wank:

 

[karlos2000]

Emailed Honda Belgium a week ago and still had no reply.

Shouldn't be surprised really...same ferkin nation that wouldn't sell us their surplus stocks of NATO ammo during Gulf War One.:wank:

great beer though, so I forgive them :bow:

 

[Cougar377]

UPDATE....

Well...my five year quest to seek out new life and new civilisations, etc. etc......bl4hbl4hbl4hbl4h has born some fruit at last.

I found out that if you ask Honda nicely they'll send you the bike's Certificate of Conformity...so, to get a definitive answer to the power question, I did.
And, yep..it was originally destined for Belgium. :xm
Worse still, for that market the bike was restricted to 78kw at 9000rpm.
For those of you watching in black & white....that's about 104hp...:cry:

So I posted on a couple of other international forums and someone replied that they'd found a french site which had some info.
Cue several nights trawling the net for french websites (naughty..!) armed with Google's trusty Translate page on standby (I can recommend this over several other so-called translation sites).

The results that I found to derestrict (or "debridage" in froginese) the FI Bird were consistent on a number of sites (and were replicated on some french X11 sites, too).

This involved a 2 stage process:-

1. Remove the inlet rubbers under the throttle bodies and replace with unrestricted versions (the restricted ones have aluminimum plates moulded in).

2. A wiring mod to the ECU.

The first part of step 1 was easy enough but tracing the replacements (based on the french part number) was not. In the end I modded the existing one's by removing the plates and reprofiling the insides of each inlet rubber.
The wiring mod was a straight forward solder job and took 10 mins.

Interestingly the inlet rubbers were moulded with "72kw" in the edges....:dunno:

A few gentle test runs to start seemed to confirm that she was up on power most noticibly from 5000 onwards. A blast down the local motorway gave a more interesting comparison against how she pulled "pre-mods".

Warp speed Mr. Scott would be fair...:-0)

So I booked her in for a dyno run and in the meantime ordered a new air filter from Jaws.

So....

Was it all worth it?

Take a look.

The only thing they said was that she is running a bit rich.
Their recommendation was a more free flowing air filter (Pipercross) and to whip the baffles out the Pipewerx cans.

Dunno...maybe a PC would be worth considering....??:dunno:

 

[Jaws]

That is absolutely bang on the money !!!
Never seen a standard Bird produce more that 134Bh on a properly calibrated rolling road..

Nice job sir !