Bike of the Month - July 2009 - RUSSELL'S RF900
Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:36 pm
Well it all started on June 27th 2008 when I had my beloved GS1000c stolen from my house and I was, to say the least, miffed!! I was due to go to a combined birthday party at my local real ale pub on June 28th and As i was walking and kicking stones thinking the worst about my GS, I happened to look up and coming over the river bridge was a bike. All I saw was the number 900 on the fairing. I thought wow a Suzuki RF 900 ! F*** it, I’m having one of those and got to the pub telling people my next bike, if the GS wasn’t found, was going to be a Suzuki RF900.
On the Sunday I was telling my next door neighbour that I was looking for an RF900 he said “oh my mate has a bike at work - I will see what it is and get back to you.” Instantly I said “if its not an RF I’m not interested.”
He came back on the Monday night, from work, with a large bit of paper in his hand and said “here the guys name is Paddy.”
I looked at the paper it said ‘Suzuki RF900r RV’, wtf was an rRV?!! well I read on, ‘25.000 miles on the clock, 1 years tax and a years mot, a spare set of tyres, chain, and a grippo pad to stop the pillion slipping.’
The bike had just been serviced by him, shims done, new iridium plugs, oil filter, air filter & it had just come back from the Northwest 200 (the bike was parked at the place where Robert Dunlop lost his life) so I went off to look at it with Lisa. I had been sent photos by email but we all know how that goes the first photo is the first one I saw
We went off to see the bike and as we turned the corner, there she stood, all resplendant in her maroon/silver livery. I had been told that he wanted £1500 for the bike, and we agreed a deal.
“Here are the keys, take it for a spin” he said so i did. 3 minutes later and I was back and said “yes its a deal”
The next month took a life time to arrive but eventually July 25th came around and I received a call saying he couldn’t bring the spares over with him as his wife was ill. I replied “bring the bike .. give the spares to next door neighbour at work on the Monday.” So he set off from Boston and it took ages to for him to get here…….but she arrived, money changed hands and I now owned the RF900RV
Since getting Elvira (as I named the bike) the list of changes are endless.
I probably wont remember them all but here goes…....
rear light conversion done after reading the post by fast fitter.
new discs due to wavy ones turning to hot chocolate in the sun (see picture below)
few tests with bars and finally I bought the conversion from Germany
I have added things like 12volt supply to the bike for my phone and sat nav
I also added a Tony Archer seat but prefer the softer one made in Peterborough
I also added the undertray (nearly forgot that) as some of you know I added some led's.
I went to the Scarborough Meet and while I was there, blew a few fuses…..to the dismay of the people waiting for me each time to change them.
On my return home, I left the bike till the 13th of June before I took a look and with John (Red Dwarf) helping me trace the fault, we found the problem 2 wires
The problem was where Roy (fast fitter) had already said that his went.
So, we facilitated a repair and about a week on she is fine ..touch wood.
I’m not happy my GS was stolen but its seems fate as before I was happy to plod through the Suzuki Owners Club but, with the GS gone and me now owning an RF900 and the problems that were going on there, I came to the RFOC where I have a bigger family now with more friends………..well loads more friends!!!
And with out those sorts of friends my bike would be just another bike. Oh I would like to say thanks to you all for the years great time fun friends and so on. Thanks to you all. I am not going to pick out anyone in particular as you’re all my mates and have helped me a lot.
Regards Russ .... Your local R&D Bod
oh and of course my Mrs with the patience of a saint…………Lisa.
well done russ. the bike is better looking than you 
