Alright folks, let me tell you about hunting for a good CBR 954RR. I got this itch real bad for that generation Fireblade, saw a sweet deal online, and almost jumped straight in. Spoiler: almost made a dumb mistake. Sweated my butt off researching before I pulled the trigger.
The Initial Spark
Started scouring ads and forums daily. Found one local-ish, looked clean in the photos. Owner claimed “perfect runner.” Yeah, right. My gut said slow down. Dove deep into forums, especially the horror stories. Needed to know exactly where these bikes bite you in the rear.
The In-Person Reality Check
Went to see it first thing Saturday morning. Cold engine. Always demand a cold start! Fired it up – clackity-tick-tick from the right side. Not good. My heart sank a little. Owner just shrugged it off. “Oh, they all do that.” Nope. Pulled a small magnet outta my pocket (seriously, carry one!). Ran it along the bottom of the stator cover. Pulled out way more fine metal shavings than a healthy bike should have. Felt gritty. That right there screamed “stator on its way out, gear maybe chewing itself up.” Red flag city.
Checked the forks next. Bounced the front – rebound felt like sludge pushing back. Fork seals weren’t leaking yet, but you could feel the sluggishness. Regulator-rectifier? Took my multimeter. Owner looked nervous. Battery voltage at idle sucked – dropping low, barely climbing above 13V when revving. Classic symptom.
The Backside & Other Gotchas
Checked that swingarm pivot point near the shock – notorious for rust and binding. Sure enough, looked crusty. Poked a screwdriver lightly. Flakes came off. Big sigh. Clutch lever felt weirdly light and grabby right off idle. Common story for these: clutch basket fingers get notched. Felt exactly like that. And the bike had this vague “slop” feeling turning into corners? Possible steering stem bearings.
This bike had multiple money pit warnings screaming at me:
- Bad stator/charging system? Money hole waiting.
- Sticky forks needing rebuild? Ca-ching.
- Swingarm looking like a rust project? Nope.
- Clutch basket needing love? More dollars.
Left that one behind.
Finding the One & Double-Checking
Few weeks later, found another one farther away. Took the damn checklist with me:
- INSISTED on cold start (Started smooth, no scary ticks).
- Magneted the stator cover (Barely anything!).
- Tested reg/rec output with multimeter (Healthy 14V range!).
- Checked fork action (Smooth!).
- Poked swingarm pivot (Solid!).
- Checked clutch basket notchiness (Barely perceptible!).
- Brakes felt solid, steering felt tight.
Still got a shop to lift it and check steering stem play. Worth the small fee. Brought it home. Been riding it hard for months now. Sweet machine, because I avoided the obvious traps.
Don’t be the sucker. Inspect, listen, magnet the damn cover, measure the charging voltage. Ask about the gear position sensor recall too! Do the work upfront or you’ll be bleeding cash later. That metal dust on the magnet? That metal is GONE gone, and you’re the one paying to fix the mess.
