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Greetings from 'The Garden of England'


Snapper

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Hello all!

 

My name is Andy and I have recently taken ownership of a very tidy 2001 VFR800Fi (one of the last non-VTEC models, in blue with the grey wheels). This one, in fact :happy: ...

 

 

Prior to owning this, I had been mainly riding a Suzuki DL650 V Strom, which I used for touring and general road riding. However, I wasn't too impressed with the way that it went round corners and didn't think the brakes were much good either. So, I decided to get myself a 'sports touring' bike and find out why this design of bike is so popular with people who cover long distances. As yet, I don't know, as I am still in the process of sorting the bike out and making it ready to tour with. Still, it certainly goes, corners and stops better than any bike I've owned before (which don't include any sports bikes, by the way).

 

I don't plan to modify the bike too heavily, as it is in such good, original condition and it would be a shame to ruin that, although I will be making a few (fully reversible) mods to make the bike more comfortable for my 6' 4" frame. So far, I have had the seat re-padded with memory foam inserts (with the original seat cover re-fitted), added 19mm bar risers and adjustable 'dog leg' control levers. I will also be fitting adjustable foot-pegs to it, once the arrive from the Far East.

 

In terms of making it suitable for touring, I have ordered a Givi top plate and fitting kit (to take my existing Givi Trekker Outback top box) and a set of throw-over Givi panniers. That should be enough capacity.

 

There are also a raft of small electrical jobs that need doing (fitting a voltmeter, replacing the reg-rect with a heavy duty one and changing the non-functioning heated grips), but these will have to wait until I can get some assistance from my big brother, who is a former auto-electrician.

 

Maintenance-wise, I have just replaced the (unevenly worn) Dunlop front tyre with a new Bridgestone (BT021) to (roughly) match the new Bridgestone (BT014) on the rear. I will be replacing the (unevenly worn) front brake pads with EBC HH pads and cleaning/servicing the calipers at the same time. The rear brakes need inspecting, too. 

 

So far, I pretty happy with the bike, although I will reserve final judgement until I have it all sorted out the way I want it and have covered several hundred miles in other countries.

 

Hopefully, I will be able to find all of the support and inspiration here on the VFR Forums to do the necessary work on the bike and enjoy owning it as much as most other people here seem to have enjoyed their VFR ownership :wink: .

 

Andy

 

 

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Welcome to VFRD.

 

You'll get all the advice you want (and some you don't :goofy:) on here with a LOT of good technical knowledge available.

 

Do you have a service history with the bike? Things I guess you'll be interested in are: when was it last serviced, how old is the brake fluid, when were the Starter Valves last balanced? I see you are already onto the electrics, the weak point of the Fi & Vtec models. Seals & bearings will also need checking I'd suggest, plus chain & sprockets.

 

How many miles has she done? Mine ran beautifully to 130,000miles before I retired her so with a little tlc, they last a long time.

 

Best of luck with the new bike. :beer:

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