Jump to content

Vfr Triple Clamp Project


cassandtim

Recommended Posts

  • Member Contributer
Seb,

Those bolts are titanium from Yoyodyne. They're worth more than the oil cooler :biggrin: .

All that means is that they'll make white sparks instead of red like steel... :goofy: Go ahead and slot the oil cooler holes then, it really can't hurt to do it, especially since it's so accessible at the moment! 10 minutes and a Dremel is all you need.

Sorry if that comes off as pushy, I'm just one of those OCD, anal types about how a bike goes together... :warranty:

At this point the bolt heads don't so much contact the oil cooler as they do whisper sweet nothings gently into its, uh...fins. The oil cooler mounting tabs aren't slotted, but they have big holes for grommets. We removed the grommets (too bulky) and pulled the cooler as far forward as possible before mounting it firmly, so I'm not worried a bit about future damage. The OCD child in me wanted 1 mm of clearance, but we don't always get what we want tongue.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I meant was that you could enlarge the holes or make them into slots with a Dremel. With the grommets taken out, it probably won't wiggle around much, but those tabs on the cooler are pretty soft and might flex over a rough road. Small points to consider, but anyway, I'll revert back to my previous statement about my self-imposed level of workmanship. :warranty:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After Much toil this past week we finally have lift off............

Stoked does not begin to describe my feelings right now. Almost a year to the day (August 25th, 2007) after Ol' Red and I suffered a mishap because of a cager's inattentiveness she is back on the road and better......Oh sooooooo much better..than before.

Here's a couple of hard working mugs..... Magellan & Tim:

gallery_4914_3816_33482.jpg

Loni & Tim next to Ol' Red

I took the bike for a very short shakedown ride late this afternoon. Still has that awesome VFR turn-in. The suspension can only be described as very authoritative. It eats up the bumps but seems firm at the same time. It definitely feels planted. I'm going to check sag on Tuesday.

The bike tracks very well. No wierdness at all. I locked the Throttlemeister on at about 45 mph for about a mile or so and easily road the bike no handed (in a straight line). It tracked very nicely.

The completed front end:

gallery_4914_3816_54988.jpg

New Front End Complete, WOOT!!!

Upper view:

gallery_4914_3816_16596.jpg

Upper View

Side view:

gallery_4914_3816_78445.jpg

Side View

Final cockpit view:

gallery_4914_3816_6024.jpg

Final Cockpit View

A peek under the fairing:

gallery_4914_3816_19618.jpg

What's under the Fairing?

The shock reservoir clamp finally mounted:

gallery_4914_3816_33518.jpg

Reservoir Clamp Mounted!

I really want to thank all of the people in this VFRD community for the inspiration to even undertake this project. Without the forum I may have given up riding after the accident or at the very least gave up on Ol' Red and replaced her with another bike.

Some people that helped along the way (not in any particular order): Busy Little Shop, veefer800canuck, Kanadian Ken, silver#788, Opus, and many more that I'm forgetting.

A massive THANK YOU to Magellan for doing the majority of the reassembly work and getting the bike running (I owe you much my friend :wheel:) and to Darth Bling for the vast farkle knowledge (is it called "Farkle Fu"?), parts, tire mounting, and just hangin' out at the garage.

Now off to Canada for the PNWVFRD "Kootenay Hootenanny". WOOT!!!!!!!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
The shock reservoir clamp finally mounted:

gallery_4914_3816_33518.jpg

Reservoir Clamp Mounted!

Would this shock reservoir mount work for all the 6th Gen owners who got into the recent Elka group buy? I've never liked how Elka expected us to just mount the reservoir with rubber bumpers and hose clamps, and I sure would like a custom mount for my Elka rear shock ressy, although by looking at your post I'm not sure if I have enough slack in the hose to get it into the position in your photo. Please let us know if it would work though, and if so, if you would be interested in manufacturing more of these ressy mounts. Nice work on everything...you da man!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Whew, we got 'er done. :musik20:

What Tim didn't mention was that we had to chase a very scary gremlin. Last night we fired up the bike and got an FI light. After putting out a call for help on VFRD I realized that I'd mis-located one of the pins from the harness to the black ECM connector, but after putting it right we still had the FI light and the codes wouldn't clear. Uh oh... ECM damage? I have to point out that the Honda manual was pretty damn lame at laying out a troubleshooting tree for the symptoms, but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that after already having replacing numerous damaged wires at the black connector (from last year's accident), we eventually found one more that was completely broken inside its insulation. After replacing it, VROOM!!! No more FI light. (BTW, Tim, I checked all the other wires on the connector very thoroughly for internal breaks or hidden damage. We're good now :fing02: ).

I may have missed it, but is the front fender staying that colour color?

After further thought, I'm voting for matching red. If not, matte black to match the fork lowers... :goofy: Either way, this is officially the sickest VFR I've seen yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I appreciate the effort this build took, especially the custom triples....but I hate the bars. Love the rest however, and it is easy to see that a TON of effort went into it all. Enjoy the ride!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!!!!

Magellan and I just finished adjusting the shock reservoir bracket (the 1/8" aluminum plate that the CNC'd mount clamps to). What an incredible P.I.T.A.!!!!!!

We had a friend (big fella) sit on the bike to see how close the bottom of the reservoir was to the brake lines/chain guard. Way to close for comfort even though the shock has an 1100 lb (19.64 kg) spring. We quickly realized why Elka wanted to mount that thing on the passenger footrest bracket. They obviously didn't want to let us have 1 extra inch of hose length though :goofy: .

I'd be more than happy to converse with anyone wanting to do this mount; even give you the CAD file to get it machined. I'm not so sure that I want to go through trying to mass produce them though. Not to say that this build hasn't been rewarding but, as most of you that fabricate stuff for your bikes know, it's been extremely frustrating at times too.

So, onto the bars issue. I knew that I wanted to go with a taller and wider bar set-up after spending some time in the twisties with my wife's 2002 BMW R1100s. I could carry more speed through the corners on her bike than the VFR (10 mph or so, that's quite a difference). I knew that a lot of it had to do with better suspension but felt that some of it had to do with a more upright riding position. I'm not sure if any of my ideas on it are valid or fool proof, I just feel that it has more than a little bit to do with it. Another upside is that my upper back won't be killing me after a few 300-400 mile days :beer: . They are definitely wide though (more leverage = less effort to counter steer). I put the taller riser blocks (17mm vs. 7mm) in today and it even feels better. At first I worried that it would detract from the look but after checking it out from all angles I think it looks pretty sharp. It's kinda like that CD that you may have bought for one song but eventually you love the whole thing because it grew on you.

I'll let you know about the change from stock bar postion after I see a few 6th Gens at the "Kootenay Hootenanny" later this week. I'm hoping some attendees will want to take the bike for a spin and give me some feedback.

And lastly, I'll leave you with some food for thought: I used to ride with a friend that had a scary fast 'Busa. He is/was a damned fine rider (fastest & smoothest I've known). He eventually got himself an R1 and was able to eek a little more speed out because of the weight decrease. He finally ended up on a custom 650 motard and when he rode that bike it seemed like he was twice as fast than he ever was on any race replica. I'll concede that his technique was superb no matter what bike he rode but even he said that it had a lot to do with being more upright. Maybe something, maybe not.

.......and no, I'm not going to paint the fender. Mostly because I love to be annoying smile.gif .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
I'll be releasing the CAD files as soon as I make some needed adjustments including the minor interference shown in the photos. I'll also be raising up the portion of the lower triple where the bearing and seal rest so that anyone else that goes this route doesn't need to use snap rings as spacers. :huh:

How's this coming along Tim?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...
  • Member Contributer

Amazing rebuild, glad to see your friends supporting you in the efforts to but the VFR back on the road.

I have a couple of questions:

1. how much of a gull wing would you need to mount clip ons above the top triple?

2. did you complete the revisions to your cad drawing and have you shared it with others from this site?

thanks in advance,

keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Looks great, I think I missed this the first time around. :dry:

What was the final value on the offset you designed in?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

Tim, is there some reason you're bumping this thread with no reply? I sent you an email a while ago with a question, and you never got back to me?

capn, I believe he wrote earlier that he matched the offset of the oem VFR triples.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tim, is there some reason you're bumping this thread with no reply? I sent you an email a while ago with a question, and you never got back to me?

capn, I believe he wrote earlier that he matched the offset of the oem VFR triples.

It was I who bumped the thread, first time because I was rowing through old threads of interest to me, and with winter upon us, and a flurry of newer VFRd members embarking on their own FrankenViffer projects lately, I thought it would be interesting to some others too, who might not have seen it.

Second time I bumped it was because Mike had a Q and it hadn't been answered quite yet, and maybe the OP has other things going on and is busy???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Tim, is there some reason you're bumping this thread with no reply? I sent you an email a while ago with a question, and you never got back to me?

capn, I believe he wrote earlier that he matched the offset of the oem VFR triples.

It was I who bumped the thread, first time because I was rowing through old threads of interest to me, and with winter upon us, and a flurry of newer VFRd members embarking on their own FrankenViffer projects lately, I thought it would be interesting to some others too, who might not have seen it.

Second time I bumped it was because Mike had a Q and it hadn't been answered quite yet, and maybe the OP has other things going on and is busy???

Looking back through I see he answered the offset question: "Actually my scale read 39.6294275 mm.."

I'd be up for the CAD file also, I discussed this with Tim at the Summit last year but haven't followed up. Maybe a small fee for the file would be appropriate??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking back through I see he answered the offset question: "Actually my scale read 39.6294275 mm.."

I'd be up for the CAD file also, I discussed this with Tim at the Summit last year but haven't followed up. Maybe a small fee for the file would be appropriate??

He sent it to me gratis a while ago. I would just send you the files, but I promised I wouldn't freely disperse them. Tim gave me a small verbal disclaimer along with the files and I will honor his wishes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Second time I bumped it was because Mike had a Q and it hadn't been answered quite yet, and maybe the OP has other things going on and is busy???

Methinks CassAndTim are in the process of moving at the moment...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.