Dislikes About Your 300

89818 Views 219 Replies 67 Participants Last post by MoonShineBurner, 4 mo ago

Fanatic

Discussion Starter · Jan 12, 2015 (Edited)

Now, I normally don't feel comfortable starting negative topics, but when I think about it, this can be more positive than anything else.

I think we can agree that our 300 is a superb bike overall, especially if one can appreciate it for what it is. It has tons more to like about it than to dislike.

Just to share our views and opinions as to what we can find to nitpick about, what do you not like about your 300R/F?

Few things that I can think of:

1) When I fuel up the bike to full, it shows a max of 6 bars. The 6th bar comes & goes off / on... And then disappears very quickly after a few miles of riding... So I'm left with 5 bars most of the time. I suppose the bike doesn't fuel up to the absolute max because it's tilted on the stand while at the fuel up. Also, the decrease and increase of a bar happens frequently as I progress with riding throughout the tank's fuel range.

2) The exhaust canister is prone to attracting stains from the rubber soles on my shoes... Especially since the canister is large in size, and gets so hot and attracts to melting the rubber with even the slightest touch or rub from the sole.

3) The bike's motor takes a very long time to warm up, especially when it's below 30 - 40 degrees outside (less than comfortable, I know

). I let the bike idle for a couple of minutes or so, and then I ride at the lowest RPM's to give the motor some more time to build heat. It takes a while... And actually, everything takes a long time to warm up when it's very cold outside. The shifting is always a bit harder and harsher... When I'm at the red light or when I'm trying to shift the bike to neutral, the bike keeps going to 1st or 2nd... Very difficult to land on neutral. I'm having all this happen only when it's very cold outside. I suppose motorcycles are more sensitive to the weather, and we can read the bike's behavior better than a car because we're more connected to the machine... And plus the bike's motor and components are more open to the weather compared to everything being enclosed and covered like it is in a car.

Just nitpicking... Some of these are just the nature of how motorcycles are, so probably no biggie. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post it up here.

* FYI, I have about 1,500 miles at the time of forming this thread.

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kiwi rider

· #6 · Jan 12, 2015

I got 2500 mile on odo.
@Fanatic The trick with getting the 6th bar to stay on is to fill the bike whilst sitting on it. Sounds awkward but you get used to it. Put the cap back on before dismounting tho! You will then get around 20 - 25 miles before dropping to 5 bars. I got 253 miles out of one tank the other day.
@Mike N Kelly Hall Yes, the mirrors suck and the tail end is ugly, that's my blunt opinion! Various options for changing them tho, do a thread search if interested.

I'm finding the gearbox a bit more finicky and not as slick as my 250R was, which is odd as they should be identical. Esp finding neutral once stopped.

Another comparison with the 250 would be the increased engine vibration of the 300, not a deal breaker but annoying all the same.

A proper key operated helmet lock would be a nice feature to have.

It would also be good to have clear access to the oil filter cover without having to remove fairings. Would make oil changes real snappy.

None of these are big issues tho, great bike as we all know

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kiwi rider

· #11 · Jan 13, 2015

needa916 said:
I HATE all the rattling due to vibration. It sounds like my old 1986 Ninja 250. I don't hear much complaining from others, so it may be just mine, but I've checked all the bolts/nuts.

I could complain more but dont want to bore others:laugh:

I'm waiting to ride another 300 to compare encase my bike was just assembled hastily last thing on a Friday!

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kiwi rider

· #31 · Jan 21, 2015

AJ Nin said:
I have mentioned several times about my rattle and how it sounded like a card in the spokes of a bicycle and how it did not seem to be the same rattle some others have reported. Anyway, the bike was riding fine, but I decided why not run a tank of premium through it since I was down to one bar. In part I did this because it was really getting noisy....off throttle in any gear and partly because premium is cheap now. So I filled with Shell Vpower or whatever it's called. This was in town and IMMEDIATELY...NO MORE rattle. Nary a hint of a rattle and believe my I tried to make it rattle. What I was calling a rattle was detonation due to too low octane gas.

That's really interesting, I was wondering what your rattle was! I'm tempted to try a tank of high octane myself now. Thanks for the update.

kiwi rider

· #57 · Feb 2, 2015

kool-aide said:
do all Hondas put the horn in the wrong place? all the yamahas I rode, and even the Harley, have the horn below the signal, not above. drove me nuts the first few weeks. I kept honking at everyone when I was trying to cancel my turn, lol....

Would you believe they changed it on the 300, it was the other (more common) way round on the 250R. Hard to guess why they'd change it.
Took me ages to get used to it and i still get it mixed up occasionally. People must think I'm real friendly honking all the time or a road rager!

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kiwi rider

· #58 · Feb 7, 2015

Just did my 2nd oil change. That design of not being able to remove the lower right hand belly cowl without removing the top one first is a right pain in the arse. I've worked out if you just take out the lower three screws of the top one tho you can get enough flex out of it to sneak your allen key in and remove the last (front) screw on the belly cowl.

Back of the class for whom ever designed that set up.

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kiwi rider

· #60 · Feb 11, 2015

CB2015 said:
mirrors too narrow
speedometer reads 10 Km high at 100 Km
have windshield but air coming from around the triple clamp is really a lot as already mentioned

Interesting that the models with speedo in Km/ph read 10% high whereas the ones in MPH seem pretty accrurate from all accounts.
Yeah the windshield is a little on the light side protection wise but it looks sporty!

kiwi rider

· #67 · Mar 25, 2015

modalsaliency said:
-OEM tires are pretty bad. I upgraded to Pilot Street Radials and it felt like an entirely new bike.

Stock first gear is useless. I have to shortshift to 2nd to even make left turns from a stoplight.

Cant wait to get the PSR's on my bike to feel the difference.
Regarding the low first gear: adding a tooth to the front sprocket helps.

kiwi rider

· #80 · May 7, 2015

@AJ Nin ^^ you would probably be the only one on this forum who owns/has owned the Honda, Ninja & R3 so your word is lord IMO on the differences between the bikes.
I get a bit tired of the speculative comments from people who don't own any of them!
Yes I agree with your comments about the lighter weight of the Honda adding to its appeal.
How do you find the brakes on the R3 compared to the CB? Theres been some poor comments in the R3 reviews about this aspect.
Screw on oil filters are the way to go, I've had a few bikes with this set up, its so quick and easy. Honda take note!!
Regarding your sidestand: You could cut the foot pad off with a hacksaw then cut another 1/4 inch off and get someone to weld the foot back on. Shouldn't cost too much for one weld.
Must be just awful having to choose which bike to ride! I'm envious...

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kiwi rider

· #87 · May 8, 2015

shisoshin said:
curious about cb300f needing 98 octane to avoid detonation
using 87 [pon?] octane rated petrol.. [10.7:1 cr]

A fuel rated using the PON system is 4-6 octane numbers lower than if it was rated using the RON system so their 87 octane in the States should be at least equal to our 91 down here in Australasia Shisoshin. (u probably knew that tho)

My bike runs fine on 91 but I did try 95 and 98 out of interest with no noticeable difference, as you would expect.

Interestingly Ive seen at least a couple of octane - compression ratio charts on the internet that show an engine with a comp ratio of 10.7:1 (ie. same as ours) needing to run fuel with an octane rating of over 100!

kiwi rider

· #90 · May 8, 2015

MeeLee said:
Less wide handlebars allow better steering in my case (less wide arm reach), and easier to filter between cars.

I've converted a quite a few bikes to narrower clip-on bars over the years as bent over with lower bars is my preferred riding stance.
Yes it makes for easier filtering but I find its actually harder to steer the bike (particularly at low speed) as you don't have as much leverage with narrow bars.
Think of a trail bike with its wide bars, you can throw it into a slide and counter steer out of it real easy because of the control you have over the front wheel due to the amount of leverage your getting outta the bars.

When you lose the front end on a road bike due to gravel on the road or what ever, if you've got narrow clip-ons then its real hard to save it because you just don't have the leverage to fight the front wheel wanting to tuck under. Unfortunately I've first hand experience of this... more than once :laugh:

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kiwi rider

· #95 · May 10, 2015

Derek Halpern said:
My negatives of this bike:

-Bad gearing,,hard to find neurtral and jumpy at times, sometimes bike gets stuck in N when downshifting from 2-1 while approaching a light.

-Tires in the rain are suicidal

-Weak HP

-Kickstand is too long making it hard to park in some areas

I heard others mention a buzz, my bike has none of that even going 160km/hr on the highway i don't feel any buzz..

You've been trying to keep up with your mate on the 650f too much! :laugh:

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kiwi rider

· #97 · May 11, 2015

Jkilla71 said:
I don't like the term beginner bike because to me a beginner bike was a 80cc 2 stroke with knobby tires.

Agreed, the first bike I learnt on was a Honda Z50 thing with high rise handle bars, not even sure if it had gears, definitely a centrifugal clutch.
I had to learn how to ride our farm bike so by the age of 10 or 11 I was riding a 125cc bike even tho I couldn't reach the ground by a large margin!

I dont mind the idea of people learning on the CB/CBR's at all, but it would be a shame for them to be classed as a beginner bike.
I view them as a small displacement sports bike.

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kiwi rider

· #112 · May 16, 2015

kool-aide said:
ok I finally have a real dislike, lol.... the foot pegs use a rubber grip. yuck in the hot, oh so hot, sunny days of summer. the R3 uses the "spike" like metal. I like the rubber because I can slide my foot around real easy. but....I think the metal pegs are better. I think they offer better grip in the hot summer days.

it would be nice if Honda used these as stockers instead of the rubber.

Change em, put the aftermarket CBR600RR ones on, cheap as chips.

kiwi rider

· #116 · May 21, 2015

On the down side they do reduce your ground clearance tho. I got tipped off a BMWR65 once because I leaned her over too far (I was used to Ducati's!) and the centrestand dug into the road and took the weight off the rear wheel. Made for exciting times at 70MPH! No bad injuries luckily.

kiwi rider

· #120 · May 21, 2015

MotoMike said:
Even easier than pushing the bike all around the driveway, is to pull the bike over onto the side stand and brace your hip against the seat just enough to lift the rear tire off the ground. Then reach down with your right hand and rotate the wheel enough to move the chain to the next section you want to lube.

When I first got my 250R and before I bought a rear wheel paddock stand, I used the same technique, except that after pulling the bike up onto the side stand I'd have my wife hold and balance it in that position, with the rear tire just off the ground, while I spun the wheel and lubed the chain... took all of one minute to completely lube the chain.

Yes this is the beauty of a light bike like ours. I use this technique when I'm away on tour. At home I use a hydraulic trolley jack under the rear shock linkage that lifts the weight onto the side stand.
One of my winter projects is to build front and rear paddock stands so I can fit tire warmers at track days.
IMO a center stand would be dead weight on a bike like this.

kiwi rider

· #126 · May 23, 2015

Center stands are so 1980's :laugh:

My first introduction to center stands was on a Honda Vee Four 750cc machine that was my first proper road bike. Being of the excitable age of 19 I used to take great delight in grinding its legs when ever I was fast cornering... which was fairly often!

The last bike I owned that had one stock was a Kawasaki GPZ900R (the bike that Tom Cruise rode in Top Gun

)
However, the previous owner had removed it to fit a four-in-to-one exhaust system that by the way sounded absolutely raucous on full song!
They were handy for maintenance but that was about it and I don't miss em at all

kiwi rider

· #135 · Jun 9, 2015

MotoMike said:
I also suspect that the 300R will be available with the Repsol livery in more markets next year.

That will annoy me if they roll out the Repsol livery next year

I wanted it last year :laugh:

It was the repsol option that sold the CBR250 too me. Prior to that the other color options had left me cold, esp the universally hated ruby red & silver

But yeah I reckon next year they will drum up a few new sales with some new color options and then launch a whole new model (hopefully!) in 2017.

The 'F' is available in white in NZ as well, I reckon its the pick of them.

kiwi rider

· #145 · Aug 4, 2015

MeeLee said:
Yamaha is very neutral, linear kind of bike.

Ya know, in some kind of way I miss MeeLee.... his lines were usually good for a chuckle :laugh:

kiwi rider

· #150 · Aug 4, 2015

autopilot said:
For me its just the mirrors so far. they don't show a lot behind except a lot of elbow. Sort of fixed it with stick on convex overtake mirrors from a car shop.
Just about love everything else. Comfort good so far, mpg brilliant, power sufficient, handling good, stability good, style good, light weight, seat height good, confidence good and all getting better.

Good to hear. Thought about bar-end mirrors? Not to everyone's taste but def give you uninterrupted vision.
And make your bike look more like a cool cafe racer

kiwi rider

· #192 · Dec 11, 2015

MeeLee said:
I thought the muffler was genius! About as small as you can get it to be!
Where is it overweight?
I'm sure you can remove some of the catalytic converter sponge material, but by law it has to be there, for emission's sake.

Everywhere

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