5th Gen refurb, powdercoat, electrics and much love :)

[Hingley]

I never thought I would like Lime green wheels, but after seeing it against the black VFR I must say it looks good, the amazing background must help, what a place to ride, we have the Cape Breton Cabot Trail Here , but nothing like what you have 

[Bren]

On 1/19/2023 at 4:16 PM, Hingley said:

I never thought I would like Lime green wheels, but after seeing it against the black VFR I must say it looks good, the amazing background must help, what a place to ride, we have the Cape Breton Cabot Trail Here , but nothing like what you have 

 

They are actually a neon yellow, lighting and phone pics don´t do them justice.

 

I was 3 weeks in Canada some years ago, landed Calgary and drove slowly over to Vancouver. I thought it was beautiful there and I loved the huge expanse of the place. I´d be happy to ride that road in your pic!

[Bren]

So, on the 4th I was at my suspension guru bloke to get my SP1 forks serviced and modded. He´s a distributor and service center for Öhlins, K-Tech, Andreani and Bitubo and supports lots of racers at amateur and higher levels.

I decided to have them done professionally for 4 reasons:

 

1 - to make sure everything was done properly and to check all was well inside

2 - get it set up for my weight

3 - he agreed to let me watch so now I can be confident in doing it myself in the future - was a 3 hour drive to him.

4 - he patiently answered my endless questions

 

It was a great experience to watch him and I learnt loads. I´ve serviced the forks before but watching someone experienced makes a huge difference to understanding how they work and how everything fits together.

I bought the forks second hand and the previous owner had them nitride coated but I didn´t know what else he did. Turns out he had 1.00kg springs put in, which were wrongly hand scribed with 0.95, but didn´t change the valving at all, everything standard. Thought it a bit odd to go to the expense of the nitride but not do the valves.

The suspension fella gave me varying options for the forks, all included a service with new K-Tech seals and bushings and Fuchs/Silkolene 5w oil:

1 - new springs and reshim the standard valves - €400

2 - Andreani or K-Tech valves                             - above plus €150

3 - K-Tech cartridges                                           - €750

 

I went with option 1 as I think it will be enough for how I use the bike, if not now I know how to change everything out myself. He drilled out the ports in the rebound valve to 2mm and had a database of shim options from previous jobs- Wilbers and his own recipe.

 

I asked about polishing the stanchions which he didn´t recommend, seems polishing makes the surface so smooth that not enough fork oil adheres to the tube causing the seals to burn. He said it´s a big problem with Öhlins forks with the nitride coating. He doesn´t recommend cross-hatching as such but he does rub them with a 3M cloth, looked red but was kind of dirty. As it´s very fine it doesn´t remove any/much material but does create fine ridges, which you can´t see or feel, to allow oil to lubricate the seal during operation. I asked if I could take some pictures and he agreed but I limited it to just a few, didn´t feel right to photograph everything as it´s how he makes his living and he was gracious enough to allow me to watch and learn.

 

Fork apart with shims and valve removed. The new springs were slightly shorter than the old ones so he put in some spacers, not shown, to give me approx. 15mm positive preload, these forks are known to come from the factory with negative preload. Old oil in the jug behind, well overdue for a change.

 

 

[VFR750F3]

I used a Mupo 25mm drop in cartridge.  It is a complete drop in.  Made a big difference with a rear shock for the RC51.  For the VFR800 went with Andreani 20mm cartridge and ohlins rear.

[Bren]

What do you like about the Mupo on your RC51?

How do you rate the Andreani on the VFR?

I have Andreani valves for the RC51 on my ebay watch list but they're only offering the comp valves.

 

I can't justify a cartridge for the miles I do these days. Do you mind telling me what it cost?

 

Out back I'm Öhlins sorted 😎

[VFR750F3]

I paid 1707.22 in 2020 from WRS.  I borrowed the Racetech tool to compress the cartridge from a friend otherwise that is another 150.  Replaced the oil seals and bushings.  What I like about it is a kit and did what was promised.  I do not have to worry about shipping them out to be rebuilt correctly and not getting damaged.   No drilling no shim stack mods needed.  Drop in and go.  Shipping and insurance is expensive.  I just wanted everything new and a matched set and I like doing the work myself.

 

The Andreani's about 550 are sprung too softly for track days but for the street they are fine.  I went with some 1.1.  I weight 210 no gear.  The 1.0 was fine from Mupo.  The Andreani is available for a 43mm stock 6th gen fork or 41mm 5th gen.  Compression and rebound is done separately in each fork leg.  They use 5wt ohlins fork oil btw. This kit is just like the Daugherty offers.  He rebuilt some rear shocks for me.  If I could do it all over again  I would not have bought them if I knew that my brakes ie 3 piston calipers with and without delink would give me so many problems during track days.  I eventually put on lower F4i  legs with Nissin 4 piston and tapped the cartridge bolt from 8 to 10 or something like that.  I still run the Andreani cartridge with the F4I lowers and VFR800 for tubes.  Otherwise I would of had someone revalve the F4I cartridge.  Live and learn.  

[Bren]

Exactly why I took the route I did, if I'm not happy with it as it is now I can revalve it anytime. An over abundance of surplus income isn't something I have often so I need to do everything in steps and with a budget.

 

I'm hoping this year to get more free time and therefore more riding time so I can swap next winter if I'm not happy.

 

I'm excited to try the reworked forks especially the lighter springs, I found the 1.00 springs too harsh for me. I'm about 185lbs.

 

A few more mods to post up shortly as I finish this winters list and then roll on spring!

 

[Bren]

After getting some miles on the reworked forks I´m happy with how they feel. Damping is considerably improved with a much more compliant ride but also great feedback, I can feel the road surface much better without any harshness. I´m happy and consider it money well spent, which I should have spent a long time ago.

 

When I changed out my forks I found some damaged CBR 954 Helibars for relatively cheap. They had obviously been in an accident and one had a crack in the fork clamping section. Not one to worry about such things I had it welded and fitted them. The bent one was also slightly twisted and I had to play around to get it somewhat similar to the good one. Well, I ran this for 12 years with no problems but I also wanted to get straight, undamaged bars, I had read about someone using VFR 1200 bars and set out to find some. I eventually found some in Germany for reasonable money and swapped them over early this year. 

 

They actually work better than the Heli´s, they are higher up and come further back which has given me a very comfortable riding position. Cockpit view - VFR12 on the left, Heli on the right:

 

 

 

 

Also wired in my USB charger and fitted my stem-mount RAM ball. I ordered several length arms so I could play around with positioning my phone. I thought the version below is what I wanted but after a test ride I realised that blocking my view of the clocks etc. wasn´t it. When I had a CBR 954 brake master cylinder it also blocked the lcd clocks which annoyed me after a while so I changed it for a CBR 600 version to match the clutch and give me a clear view of the cockpit.

 

 

The only minor drawback with the VFR 12 bars is my preload adjusters hit the clutch and brake masters when rotating. It´s not something I have to adjust often so they´re into the spare parts drawer.

I also had to cut off the stop tab for the banjo bolt on the clutch master so I could rotate everything to where I wanted it, could have left it till I replace the whole line and use a different banjo fitting but the line was curved too tight so off it came.

 

That´s it until next winter but there isn´t really anything else I want to do to it now, I´ve changed and fitted everything on it I wanted, for now at least......

Recent ride pic below 🙂

[toreckman]

What screen is that you are using?

[Bren]

It's a givi touring screen.

I think it's called a D200.

 

I'm not sure about it as it takes a lot of air off my chest but with the new bars I'm not leaned forward too much so could be fine, need more miles to tell.

[Bren]

5 hours ago, toreckman said:

What screen is that you are using?

I did buy a chinesium double bubble in dark, dark, dark black some years ago and I was never sure I liked it. Also had troubles here with the dark, utterly black, tint for the mot/inspection. I view the DB screens as more inclined to supersports etc with chin on tank and all that = not how I ride anymore, those days are "mostly" gone. A lot of buffering at motorway speeds. It may have been the screen profile or it may just be that I'm progressing into that period of life known as grumpy old fart 😃 

May hold some truth! 

[Bren]

And then @SEBSPEED will announce a super charger run for the 5th gens and I'll be saying YES!! I need this!! But wife and kids will be saying NO! We need food 😄

I need a slush fund....

[toreckman]

7 hours ago, Bren said:

It's a givi touring screen.

I think it's called a D200.

 

I'm not sure about it as it takes a lot of air off my chest but with the new bars I'm not leaned forward too much so could be fine, need more miles to tell.

I'm also using straighter bars and looking for a screen that will deflect over my head.

[Bren]

9 hours ago, toreckman said:

I'm also using straighter bars and looking for a screen that will deflect over my head.

When I say straight, I mean as in not bent or damaged.

 

The givi is quite high and air just hits the top of my visor depending how im sitting. Always different opinions on screens, what works for one doesn't always work for another. The MRA Vario screen with the adjustable wing bit looks like it would  work well but I've never tried one.

[toreckman]

Thanks, I'll check them out