And so for my next trick...

[Terry]

I was looking for another project and this 2015 1200 hove into view; after one too many bourbons I hit the "buy-now" button and had it shipped to me. It has done 23000km and was an insurance write off; it was bought by the PO with the intention of powering a dune buggy but that never happened. It appears to have sat outside for a couple of years and has quite a bit of surface corrosion and the obvious crash damage. My guess is it was dropped on the right side at reasonably low speed in a collision avoidance, and then slid under the object that was being "avoided". Scuffs on the right side, left middle cowl completely missing and a severely bent radiator look to be the major offenders but the time parked outside has not been kind. Anyway the chassis and forks appear perfect, the brakes a bit draggy but not bent, and it starts and sounds mechanically great. I've owned many VFRs but never the 1200 so this is all new territory for me. Watch this space! Wish me luck!

[Lorne]

1 hour ago, Terry said:

I've owned many VFRs but never the 1200 so this is all new territory for me. Watch this space! Wish me luck!

 

 

So, back to stock or do you have something more exotic in mind? Either way I'm looking forward to your new project.

best wishes for a successful build.

 

[mello dude]

"One too many bourbons" will get you every time....lol! 

Looking forward to see how you do...

 

Good luck 👍 

[Terry]

Step 1 is the Voyage of Discovery where I get to learn just how many parts I need to buy. It is clearly going to need some panel  and paint work, and given the price of new OEM bits I am looking for some lightly-used bits on the net. I also pushed the button on some Helibars as research shows the ride position of the 800 VTEC and 1200 are near enough the same, and I enjoy the higher bars on my 800. I will also splash out on a centrestand.

 

I think I will keep it generally stock except for maybe a slip-on muffler to replace the "unique" stocker...call it a sympathetic refurb constrained by price.

 

A lot of the bolts are showing surface corrosion; what would be the smart way to deal with those (other than just buying new)? as thinking to start with a soak in Evaporust but after that?

 

The brake and clutch levers are super furry, what about those?

[DrErgal]

Bourbon brings wisdom 😎
Nice move 🤘

[Skids]

Nice, but you have some work to do.

 

Depending on how you will ride it (it's really fast!) you may wish to consider upgrading the suspension. There is a remote ECU flash available which will make it much smoother as well as removing some gear limitations etc.

 

The exhaust note can be made to sound abso...fecking...lutely fantastic, but you'll need the right can.

 

Other than that, iyt's a fantatstic bike and I hope you get her how you want her and enjoy the ride.

 

Will keep an eye out for updates. 

[Terry]

Thanks Skids, feel free to give me more specific info on the reflash and suspension upgrades. Right now I have the more pressing issues of mostly seized front brakes, a leaking fork seal and an electrical gremlin; I had started the bike once, but when I tried to repeat that I got an electrical pop and deadness so need to locate the cause. 

 

Not asking for any dick pics, but do you have any photos of the left side of your bike with its clothes removed, especially the area around the front left of the engine?

[FromMaine]

20 hours ago, Terry said:

I was looking for another project and this 2015 1200 hove into view; after one too many bourbons I hit the "buy-now" button and had it shipped to me. It has done 23000km and was an insurance write off; it was bought by the PO with the intention of powering a dune buggy but that never happened. It appears to have sat outside for a couple of years and has quite a bit of surface corrosion and the obvious crash damage. My guess is it was dropped on the right side at reasonably low speed in a collision avoidance, and then slid under the object that was being "avoided". Scuffs on the right side, left middle cowl completely missing and a severely bent radiator look to be the major offenders but the time parked outside has not been kind. Anyway the chassis and forks appear perfect, the brakes a bit draggy but not bent, and it starts and sounds mechanically great. I've owned many VFRs but never the 1200 so this is all new territory for me. Watch this space! Wish me luck!

 

 

Great stories never start with " After I had that second wine Spritzer" 😁

 

Definitely will be keeping an eye on your progress.

 

 

[Lorne]

 

18 hours ago, Terry said:

A lot of the bolts are showing surface corrosion; what would be the smart way to deal with those (other than just buying new)? as thinking to start with a soak in Evaporust but after that?

 

Put the bolt in a drill and spin it against a scotchbrite pad + polishing compound. Chaos Causes demonstrates this over on YouTube. (the video should start at the 7:00 minute mark)

A bench grinder and polishing mop would be the easiest way, but they might come out shiny polishing by hand. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8 by Lorne
added one more thing

[Captain 80s]

4 hours ago, Terry said:

Not asking for any dick pics, but do you have any photos of the left side of your bike with its clothes removed, especially the area around the front left of the engine?

 

[Terry]

1 hour ago, Captain 80s said:

 

Well-played Mike. I could do with that diagonal support "member". 

[eastbowl2]

On 9/8/2025 at 6:56 PM, FromMaine said:

 

Great stories never start with " After I had that second wine Spritzer" 😁

 

Definitely will be keeping an eye on your progress.

 

 

 

Great one!  

 

Anyway, wishing you the best on the restoration.  It's great bike once you get it dialed in.  The Service Manual is on the site here somewhere if you don't have it already.

[Terry]

Had a reasonably busy week making a bit of a start. First up was the front brakes which were were semi-seized making rolling around a challenge and which were predictably gunked up, one or two pistons had a small amount of pitting on their exposed ends but the seals were in good order, but what a pain to refit!. The master felt awful but was clean inside, still feels more draggy than I want so I will pull that one down again. One oddity that I haven't resolved is the brake light switch which works fine but the lever doesn't actually touch it. Wondering if I have an aftermarket lever here? The levers were horribly white and furry but a soak in alloy cleaner got rid of most of that followed with assertive wire brushing, and some penetrating oil and (im)patience got the span adjusters working. I will need to repaint the calliper bolts and maybe replace the pads pins as these also suffered corrosion. The discs cleaned up with some elbow grease and red scotchbrite pads but the disc bolts should get replaced to lose the rust. The rear brake will need similar attention but is not causing major drag.

 

I ordered a full left middle fairing from a breaker in South Australia and that showed up today. I also found a radiator locally which arrived yesterday. I also found a clutch cover locally which will a little scarred is 100% better than what I have. I have the inner middle fairing coming from the US, and some radiator hoses from Florida. I bought a genuine HISS key from the local stealer and will get that coded and cut at some point. I have worked some graphite powder into the locks and they are feeling much better. I am wavering on buying a centrestand; I have a set of race stands but no way to use the rear one due to the SSSA and shaft drive. 

 

Have found a few unpleasant surprises with the hinge bracket on the tank rear really rusty; structurally OK but will need TLC to preserve what is left. The frame has some weird powdery white corrosion which is visual only but a bit ugly. Autosol seems to do a reasonable job without messing up the black finish. The reflector on the left lower fork leg took some impact and this has marred the lower casting and cracked the fender a little which will need some Plastifix or similar. One of the mirrors refuses to lock down when in the normal position, and I'm suspicious this might be an aftermarket part as well. 

 

 

Today has seen a major scrubbing session which has left me feeling drained, but at least the worst of the gunk is behind me and I can see what I have to work with. Electrically all seems fine, and the bike started right up with a new battery fitted.

 

The next major project will be the forks which are a bit weepy as they are wont to do after a long idle period; there is some surface corrosion on the tubes but nothing too serious so I am hopeful a decent clean and polish will sort this out.

 

[Lorne]

55 minutes ago, Terry said:

found a few unpleasant surprises with the hinge bracket on the tank rear really rusty

Are you able to spy the inside of the tank? This spring I finally worked up the nerve to check my '09 Vtec's, and was very relieved to find it looks pristine inside. 

[Terry]

Looks pretty nice in the tank, no sign of any corrosion inside. This bike sat outside for at least 2 years, looks like maybe salt spray got to it. The corrosion while not unexpected is more widespread than I had hoped. Still looks like a clean and straight chassis and the motor sounds great but without a cooling system I have limited my enthusiasm there. I just fitted the radiator so as soon as I get the missing hose and the forks I could take a sneaky ride.. 

[Terry]

I received some second-hand radiator hoses on Tuesday and so was able to properly fill the cooling system for the first time, which also allowed me to run the engine up to fan cycling point. It sounded great and there were no leaks! Unfortunately I now have a check engine light which is telling me I have a wiring fault in an O2 sensor. Closer inspection shows nicks in both sensor wires where the bent radiator crushed them, so I ordered some more second hand parts for those (sigh) from Boontsra in Netherlands...

 

I'll be pulling the forks apart this weekend and seeing what joys reside within. I am hoping to just clean the seals without replacing them but that will depend on what I find. I also placed a reasonable order with Webike Japan for some OEM fasteners and a mirror, plus second hand levers and muffler shield; a bit spendy but the best I could find. 

[Terry]

Onwards. I put my big boy pants on and pulled the forks out, and was a little unsettled by the amount of corrosion that was hiding on the inside of the left stanchion. This has cut the fork seal so disassembly was in order. This is my first time on USD forks although, being in the Southern hemisphere, I suppose most forks are USD anyway...Prior to this I fitted up the new left fairing panel which aside from the colour will be great. The 1200 has a very different fairing attachment method to other VFRs, that's for sure, but actually pretty easy when you get a feel for it.

 

I concocted a jig using three pieces of wood screwed together, with a couple of 6mm bolts threaded through. I put a ratchet strap through the axle hole, then tied the other end to the joiner of my wood pieces, and slipped the 6mm bolts into the plastic pipe. This gave me plenty of leverage to compress the springs and get the caps off. The bushing on the left leg is badly scored so that needs to be replaced along with the seal.

 

I have gently filed all the rusty spots off and then followed up with 800-grit paper, which has left the stanchion smooth/shiny with barely detectable pits; I will see how this goes with the new seal, but I might need to replace the stanchion if the seal fails again.

 

Now playing the waiting game again while parts wing their way from Europe, Japan, US and the Waikato...

 

We had a great spring day today, so I celebrated on my MT10 with a 300km, twisty ride. Such a crazy bike, had a few instances of involuntary wheelstands in 3rd gear...

[MBrane]

IME you can have some pretty good pits in a stanchion as long as they are smooth. Anything deep enough to cause sealing issues can be filled in with JB Weld.

[Terry]

On 9/21/2025 at 1:28 AM, MBrane said:

IME you can have some pretty good pits in a stanchion as long as they are smooth. Anything deep enough to cause sealing issues can be filled in with JB Weld.

Thanks mate. These are tiny pits from the corrosion so all the high spots are gone, and I can barely feel the worst with my fingernail. I had heard of the JB Weld trick before and will bear that one in mind. 

[Terry]

Back into it tonight as a few parts arrived from Japan and the Netherlands. Unfortunately I have learned (the expensive way) that my 2015 VFR is different in a few places to the earlier 1200. I got some used O2 sensor leads as I had a MIL indicating the 2-3 sensor was faulty, and I can see some crush marks on the cable where the radiator got bent back, so that made sense. Unfortunately, the 2015 (and I think the -X model) has the O2 sensor moved to under the rear of the motor, which means the lead is about 150mm longer, and the lead from the earlier one just won't fit. Looks like I will need another new part. I did at least confirm that plugging the new (short) lead in clears the MIL. I will see if  a local autoelectrician can repair the damaged lead first.

 

Also (and this one is harder to understand) the pair of levers ordered from Webike was lovely for the clutch, but no bueno on the brake, being both shallower but also the pivot point was slightly wrong. So I will just keep working with what I have, maybe add a screw into the area that contacts the stop switch so I can make that work. 

 

Anyway, I was at least able to rebuild my front wheel with some new bolts, cleaned up rim and repainted ABS ring.

[Lorne]

9 hours ago, Terry said:

I will see if  a local autoelectrician can repair the damaged lead first.

Repairing the O2 cable should be straightforward - hard to believe they have any magical properties 😉

Keep up the good work.

[Terry]

The auoelectricians declared that the O2 sensor should just be replaced; in their opinion  the visible marks to the cables were not enough to cause a break, and having peeled back the insulation they may well be correct, so I bit the bullet and ordered a new cable from Webike, USD198. At least it comes with all the little cable clips; diconnecting the old cable from under the engine/above the headers was quite a bit of contortion as I was saving the old clips for possible reuse. 

 

I made a small modification to my brake lever and drilled and tapped a small screw into the area that contacts the brake light switch, and this now functions as it should, so that's a win. I also fitted up the replacement right mirror part as the detente didn't work on the old part, which I suspect was aftermarket.

 

I cannot believe how many small and intricately shaped plastic parts there are on these 1200s! 

[Lorne]

2 hours ago, Terry said:

I cannot believe how many small and intricately shaped plastic parts there are on these 1200s! 

That's how I felt about the plastics on my '92 3rd gen. 

[Terry]

32 minutes ago, Lorne said:

That's how I felt about the plastics on my '92 3rd gen. 

The bit that really bugs me (as a clean freak) is a pocket in the black plastic inner of the top fairing, which is visible through the clear screen but you can't actually get to without disassembly. Clearly my cleaning efforts haven't got to that level (as I deal with the more pressing issues of O2 sensors, the cooling system, brakes and suspension) but I'll get there...

[eastbowl2]

23 minutes ago, Terry said:

The bit that really bugs me (as a clean freak) is a pocket in the black plastic inner of the top fairing, which is visible through the clear screen but you can't actually get to without disassembly. Clearly my cleaning efforts haven't got to that level (as I deal with the more pressing issues of O2 sensors, the cooling system, brakes and suspension) but I'll get there...

I hear you.  I solved it with a lightly smoked screen.