Hello Again, This Time With A 900 In The Shrops Hills

[Trevini]

Hello all, I've just done my first proper few rides on my '03 900. I'm hidden away near Craven Arms; previously I was Cambs area with a long-term Ducati ST4S, before that a 916, VFR750, TDM850 (sold 2006) and various '70s to '90s bikes. I still have the Triumph 675 Daytona in my pic next to the TDM, but it doesn't quite fit most of the riding I do these days. Way back I raced a bit at amateur level, 250s and 600s.

 

My 900 has covered 52k miles in its 22 years, has partial history and seems in good fettle. Quietest engine I've ever known, possibly, and the bike seems to do everything better than my old 850 did. Felt great on a run across towards Machynlleth/Dolgellau on Sunday; very easy to cover miles on this bike. With a 31" inside leg and surrounded by tiny/gravelly roads I feel like I could use an inch or two lower seat height, and a pal nearby has lowering bones which we may try. Seat is an aftermarket 'MotOK', very comfy but not sure it that's just a cover or a repad too. It sits on the the usual 8mm rubber bungs (6 of).

 

Quirks? Not much so far. At low speed it has the usual snatchiness; I've got as far as confirming the ECU has the black/brown wire disconnected, but would like to investigate further. It has standard pipes but I have some Remus ones which I'll try at some point. Tyres are an odd mix of newish Metz 888 front and squared-off Angel ST rear, which you can feel a little in the handling. Suspension feels fine at moderate pace but I'd like more/better damping at the front especially for more enthusiastic riding. For the moment though, I'll familiarise some more and enjoy...

 

 

Hi Andy.

 

As Catteclan mentioned, my 900 is completely stock (other than a K+N air filter). Mine has never been bad for snatching compared to some, but what I found helped with mine was paying meticulous attention to the throttle body balance. The TPS setting also benefitted mine by being in the upper portion of the range specified in the manual. I tried the air box mod and it made little or no difference too mine, so I put it back to standard. Every bike seems to be individual by the seems of things. The bike is just coming up to 73K miles now, of which I've done all of them except for just under the first 500 and has never really deviated from being  how it is now to ride. The engines are happier in the 3.5-6k rev range generally, so apart from slow town riding, never really spends a lot of time below 3k and almost never below 2k except when idling. 

 

I have run Remus Revolutions in the past (still have them in the shed) and found they made the lean surge around 2800 rpm worse. Definite improvement on the top end with a power commander fitted (also sitting in my shed) just running the PC supplied fuel map for the cans. 



Suspension wise, I have YSS emulators in the forks and it's a vast improvement on the front end for relatively  little money. I also run an MT09 Ohlins rear shock which seems to work well too. Setting the suspension for your weight is well worth the effort.

This post was last modified: 15-05-2025, 09:30 AM by Trevini.