Hi guys - my Blades just died on me (again) and the last time this happened (last week) I took it to the garage (unfortunately I am no good at fixing bikes AT ALL ).

The mechanic said it needed new sparkplugs and the airbox was 'hanging off', and 'that'll be £130 please...'. However, after that it went beautifully until - just now! It's died on me again!

So, what IS an airbox (I'd never heard of it...) and where is it located - what does it look like, and why is it quite so important?

Thanks...

The airbox is the big black box that takes up most of the space under the fuel tank. 1999 Honda Motorcycle Parts for CBR900RR, OEM and Aftermarket at BikeBandit.com
It contains the air filter and is screwed tightly onto the carburetors so the engine can only suck air through it and not from anywhere else.
Its job is to trap air that is moving past the bike at speeds varying from 0kph right up to 300kph+ and bring it down to a consistant velocity before feeding it into the engine. It also receives gases from the crankcase which allows them to be fed back into the engine to be burned.
If the engine is able to suck air through the intake manifolds or the bottom of the airbox then that air is of course unfiltered and any dust will increase engine wear. It also messes up the fueling as this air is coming in at an unregulated velocity and will tend to cause that cylinder to run lean.
It would depend on what he meant by "hanging off" as to how you would fix it. I'm not familiar with the 900RR but it appears the airbox has rubber boots that fit tightly into the underside which go over the carb throats and are held by clamps. It may be that the clamps were loose or that the boots had come out of the airbox.

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I have the RRX as well and i done work in this area a few weeks ago. it wasnt hard to change the airfilter in the airbox or the sparkplugs. get a haynes manual and some tools, they will pay for themselves soon enough.

to see the airfilter you take 3 bolts off holding the tank on and 3 or 4 tubes off below the tank (depending if the fuel tap has the extra tube for the vacumn model) and lift the tank off. 9 screws hold the airbox lid on, undo them and lift off, you can remove the filter element. the underside of the airbox has 4 holes on it which push onto the carbs like blade says, and 4 large jubilee type clamps are tightened by screwdriver to form a seal. if they were loose, that would be the hanging off bit. although he prob just meant loose as theres not the room for the airbox to really hang off.

mine was really dirty as it was the original i think (10yrs) when i replaced it and the plugs, i really noticed the difference in acceleration and noise.

good to know i saved myself £130,lol

Hi John - thanks for the advice! I must say that I agree with you totally! When I got it back, the difference was quite noticeable - it ticked over much better and the was generally a lot smoother, particularly at lower revs...all is well now...

Is it running again? if so did you do anything to fix it?

i know u said u cant fix bikes, but have u tried an oil change, its very easy and will save you a few quid.

All is indeed well...because I'm stupid I didn't realise that actually it was running out of petrol. Onto Res and down to the garage and now all is well again...apologies for wasting everyone's time...

I am going to stand in the corner and beat myself right now...

lol, flip! , slap urself about the face,lol, im in the habit of resetting the odometer when i fill up and i get about 110miles before i hit reserve

Great minds think alike there John! I have just done the exact same thing my friend!

Thanks for the help... i am now out from the stupid corner and I'm off for an afternoon cruising the highways and byways...