What did you do to your VFR Today?

[Presson]

Difference like night and day.

Went to FTR Suspension ( near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England) today to get a proper static suspension setup for £60. 

 

 Nice fellas with all the proper kit for full range of suspension mods and tweaking, and willing to chat, discuss and advise.

 

The rebound and rear preload settings I'd arrived at were judged good and my suspicion about insufficient front preload was confirmed.

 

Just ridden 60 miles home and what a difference. Now fully stable cranked right over, to the extent I'm hardly needing to hang off to keep things balanced. Much less dive under braking and, hallelujah, a much plusher ride; virtually no crashing and bumping along our dreadful back road surfaces.

 

The takeaways for me are:

1. If you haven't done it yet get your static setup done.

2. Imbalance between front and rear preload can make for a bumpy ride. Especially if the suspension is riding too low in the stroke at the front making the front tyre do too much work; it can still 'feel' like the rear is at fault 

3. Properly set up, the VFR800 starts to approach the fantastic handling of the VF500F2 (IMO).

For anyone interested, and accepting all bikes are slightly different, this is where I'm at:

•Rider weight fully kitted 90kg

•Front: Preload 3 rings showing. Rebound 1.5 turns out from hard.

•Rear: Preload 10 clicks from soft. Rebound 1 turn out from hard.

 

[Presson]

6 hours ago, Presson said:

Difference like night and day.

Went to FTR Suspension ( near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England) today to get a proper static suspension setup

I should add that my rear preload doesn't even start to engage the spring until at least click 4. The previous owner may have been a meaty chap or carried a lot of baggage  😂

[Bluehawk]

Today? Took 8th gen for a 16/17000 mile service at local Honda dealer. Full service was £475 if anyone is interested in costs (a slight discount for me). No valve clearances.

I feel the chain is still too loose [but with tolerance, just] so disappointed that was tightened a wee bit.

And, i realise many of you will say "for goodness sakes, do it yourself and save the £500", but tbh, i have no time nor real inclination to dismantle everything just for a few parts (put it down to age) :)   It's a lot I know, for changing plugs and filters.  However they discovered my front wheel bearings are shot! Pretty badly in fact and must be replaced urgently! And for these 2 reasons [3 if you count the price of £475 as a third point] is why i'm writing this, just to put it out there.

 

Valve clearances -

there's been much said about leaving it at 16k, so i did just that. They were happy not to touch it. Many bikes go on to 36k, i have read, before they are even looked at. So i'm leaving mine for then.  Sound ok to you???

 

Front wheel bearings - 

To me, i find it strange these are gone so soon. The bikes life has been mainly fair/normal weather riding. It is possible the previous owners used high pressure washers to force water thru the rubber seals - and i dont know if they have ever been greased up, at any of the 4-6 services it has had. I would have expected longer than 17k miles. Any thoughts?? I have heard some machines [non Viffers] can go at around 10k!  Either way, i have no choice to put new ones on Honda parts price £35 [plus 1/2 hour or so to fit at garage rates]. for your ref.

[Bluehawk]

Oh, forgot to mention, they gave me a brand new CB500X to run around on all day, without charge, which was fair enough seeing as i was paying and am a good customer of theirs (i even put in some fuel for them!)!

 

Not that it matters, but i really liked the more upright position, and as the years go buy, for some uncanny reason, i'm drawn to these naked uprights!  MT-09 [MT-07].  😏

The 500 had a nice comfy upright commanding position and the tall screen took the wind off. I had fun around the roads and to weave left and right like a kid again. 'Oh what fun we had'! Seriously, it is underpowered and poor clutch/throttle setup with too much free play. But a great commuter town bike, with over 65 mpg i think?

 

There's a brand new 750 Hornet out now. That looked much better - but still not for me at £6999, for occasional use.....to much i fear.

I'll give a couple more years and look at the prices dropping then to £4000, or consider the Tracer -09 SP.

[Grum]

3 hours ago, Bluehawk said:

Today? Took 8th gen for a 16/17000 mile service at local Honda dealer. Full service was £475 if anyone is interested in costs (a slight discount for me). No valve clearances.

I feel the chain is still too loose [but with tolerance, just] so disappointed that was tightened a wee bit.

And, i realise many of you will say "for goodness sakes, do it yourself and save the £500", but tbh, i have no time nor real inclination to dismantle everything just for a few parts (put it down to age) :)   It's a lot I know, for changing plugs and filters.  However they discovered my front wheel bearings are shot! Pretty badly in fact and must be replaced urgently! And for these 2 reasons [3 if you count the price of £475 as a third point] is why i'm writing this, just to put it out there.

Hi Bluehawk.

Don't understand why they would replace the plugs,16,000 mile is way too early for Platinum Iridium plugs, the NGK versions are designed for 100,000mile!

Agree with you regards the front wheel bearings that perhaps a pressure washer has prematurely made them fail. I'm up to 94,000k's with no wheel bearing problems. Actually, after 94,000k's the bike is running great, no issues at all. The bike has never been in a workshop since the day I bought it new in 2014.

As for the chain, always err on the slightly loose side of the tolerance, never tight.

Enjoy your 8gen, its a great bike.

[Presson]

Hi Bluehawk, Grum is right. On plugs, the Honda workshop manual (available in downloads on this site) indicates replacement at 32k miles for all years of 8 Gen F variant. Strangely, the X variant specifies 16k and 32k for plug changes. Valve clearance checks on 2014-2015 version F and X variants are specified at 16k, 32k etc. For the F from 2016 on at 24k.  Many don't bother though. That said, if valve checks are done that's the logical time to replace plugs to save a little on labour time. Something to think about for your next service perhaps.

[Sweeper]

If you liked the CB500x, you should try the Tiger660. It's nearly the same specs as the CB but 80hp instead of 48hp. 

[Bluehawk]

On 9/6/2023 at 3:23 AM, Grum said:

Hi Bluehawk.

Don't understand why they would replace the plugs,16,000 mile is way too early for Platinum Iridium plugs, the NGK versions are designed for 100,000mile!

Agree with you regards the front wheel bearings that perhaps a pressure washer has prematurely made them fail. I'm up to 94,000k's with no wheel bearing problems. Actually, after 94,000k's the bike is running great, no issues at all. The bike has never been in a workshop since the day I bought it new in 2014.

As for the chain, always err on the slightly loose side of the tolerance, never tight.

Enjoy your 8gen, its a great bike.

 

Hi G, very interesting. This is what I get for trusting the dealer! Presson said about the manual, so i just looked it up (14-15 VFR800F [edition 61MJM01]) and for plugs it says INSPECT at 16,000m and REPLACE at 32,000m.

Nowhere does it suggest 100,000! Even in all my [old] car days never had plugs last that long.

This is the NGK IMR9D-9H Plugs they changed, so a bit confused if its the same as you're suggested, 100,000?

Valve clearances INSPECT at 16,000m.

94000 kms on yours?? the mileage since 2014 quickly adds up i guess - you have better weather to use it far more. "Never been to workshop" cos you maintain it fully yourself, i'm sure.

So......I could have waited, saved £124 on the plugs and £28 on the labour! and i bet if i look back, the previous owner [probably] changed air filter at 12000 and didn't need that either, saving another £45 or so pounds! Buggers!

Lesson learnt,  at least its now in sync for next time.

RTFM as they used to say....

thnx again

 

[Bluehawk]

Finally, I'm seeing them [dealer] tomorrow for the £35 front wheel bearings to be done. I know they are not charging me at all for the labour, so a bit of a claw-back from the £££'s i paid them.

[Grum]

3 hours ago, Bluehawk said:

 

Hi G, very interesting. This is what I get for trusting the dealer! Presson said about the manual, so i just looked it up (14-15 VFR800F [edition 61MJM01]) and for plugs it says INSPECT at 16,000m and REPLACE at 32,000m.

Nowhere does it suggest 100,000! Even in all my [old] car days never had plugs last that long.

This is the NGK IMR9D-9H Plugs they changed, so a bit confused if its the same as you're suggested, 100,000?

Valve clearances INSPECT at 16,000m.

94000 kms on yours?? the mileage since 2014 quickly adds up i guess - you have better weather to use it far more. "Never been to workshop" cos you maintain it fully yourself, i'm sure.

So......I could have waited, saved £124 on the plugs and £28 on the labour! and i bet if i look back, the previous owner [probably] changed air filter at 12000 and didn't need that either, saving another £45 or so pounds! Buggers!

Lesson learnt,  at least its now in sync for next time.

RTFM as they used to say....

thnx again

 

Hi B.

See attached spec for NGK IMR9D-9H's. While NGK specify a design life of 100,000m Honda no doubt will apply a fair reliability safety margin specifying 48,000kms. These Plugs are nothing like the old car plugs you refer to! Even my 2013 Mazda 3 has a plug change interval of 120,000kms again being Platinum, Iridium type.

 

I replaced my 8gen originals at 60,000kms. colour, wear and electrode gap were all good bike had no performance issues. Some years back I replaced the plugs on a mates 6gen NGK9B-9H after 70,000kms, same situation, no performance issues plugs looked good and gaps were all in spec.

Yep, from the day I picked up my 8gen I've serviced it myself. I think I'm lucky where I live, roads are never salt treated in winter, this must help bearings, chains and sprockets. I never use a pressure washer anywhere near bearings.

 

Note - From 2016 8gen, the valve clearance check has been increased to 36,000kms. See attached. Guess this should just apply to the 8gen in general.

 

[Bluehawk]

17 hours ago, Grum said:

Hi B.

See attached spec for NGK IMR9D-9H's. While NGK specify a design life of 100,000m Honda no doubt will apply a fair reliability safety margin specifying 48,000kms. These Plugs are nothing like the old car plugs you refer to! Even my 2013 Mazda 3 has a plug change interval of 120,000kms again being Platinum, Iridium type.

 

I replaced my 8gen originals at 60,000kms. colour, wear and electrode gap were all good bike had no performance issues. Some years back I replaced the plugs on a mates 6gen NGK9B-9H after 70,000kms, same situation, no performance issues plugs looked good and gaps were all in spec.

Yep, from the day I picked up my 8gen I've serviced it myself. I think I'm lucky where I live, roads are never salt treated in winter, this must help bearings, chains and sprockets. I never use a pressure washer anywhere near bearings.

 

Note - From 2016 8gen, the valve clearance check has been increased to 36,000kms. See attached. Guess this should just apply to the 8gen in general.

 

Thnx v much. It is clear they've made a boo-boo! Changing plugs when they didn't have to. I have a feeling the guy [newish service counter manager type chappie] assumed that as many honda's had a plug change at a full service at 16k, the viffer would be the same. i left them to it when i booked it in, (not scutinising each item until after).

I will be more diligent in future.

Your research and knowledge is brill! Thnx. Always a joy to read your tech posts.

My manual showed the previous years, and i see that valve clearance change now!

As you said with the plugs, that's Honda just covering themselves for safety, but realistically doesn't have to be done often.

Just ride and enjoy!

 

True about salty roads. much corrosion over here. Walking thru the showroom so many 'nearly new' bikes with rust! The Hondas were good, tbh, but the others weren't so.

 

So, went back today for the 'ordered Honda front beariings' and another cockup by the parts people!!!

Koyo bearings arrived not genuine honda, but came with honda seals.

Whilst they were debating/arguing among themselves....one mech i spoke to said he 'often' opens Honda packets and Koyo parts are included, as tho Honda recommend/approve these people. Koyo have been making heavy industrial bearings since 1912 in Japan.  Anyway the seals were genuine honda and the price of 38 of my British pounds worked out the same in the end (free labour).

 

To prove dealers are not brilliant, 'this' mech decided to tighten the chain saying it's a bit loose but not by much......[we commented on this above]...well, considering i'd just paid £475 for a full service, you wouldn't expect another mech to go over what a first [experienced] mech had already [supposedly] done, would you??

I don't think their heart is in the job at these dealerships. There was a lot of tension between the staff and in the air. Bad vibes!!

 

I have already had dealing with a private garage [a father and son business], so in future I'll return there, and forego [stuff!] the full honda dealer service history thing! I was only doing it for the resale element. But it's gonna depreciate anyways, so as long as it maintained well, that'll be the key thing!

 

Right, weekend is here...so i'm off to [not ride a bike on nice sunny dry Oz roads] but lay a laminate floor and do electrics for a friend!  😞 

 

[Presson]

I sometimes think dealing with dealer servicing is a bit like 'dealing' with your General Practitioner; you have to guide them so they can help you. The alternative is to be a sponge and potluck with outcomes 

[VFR78]

My local Honda dealer replaced the plugs at the first two valve clearance checks. I didn’t think about it the first time, but asked why the second time. The response- “ its a Honda recommendation”.  The third time I said “don’t do anything, but the valves, I’ll do the rest”. That dealership has now closed. The current plugs have 50,000km on them and the red rocket still flys. At 96,000kms it has never required a valve adjustment, assuming the Honda dealership actually checked them, before they took my money.

[TimC]

I think most dealers' shop mechanics do decent work.  But not all them have a passion for it.  To them it's probably just a job, like many people feel about their work.  Which is to say they might do it well, but when it comes to working on our motorcycles, we probably have much more concern about it being perfect when we do our own work vs. when a shop mechanic works on it.

 

As for plugs, it stinks having to pay a dealer shop for something that didn't really need to be done.  But knowing it was done and now won't need to be done again for years is some peace of mind.  And if you're doing these things yourself, in the long run plugs and filters are cheap enough that if you do replace them more often that is needed you're not really just throwing money away.

[FromMaine]

Replaced my chain and sprockets on the 97. The old girl has 108K ( 173 K) kilometers on her now. While taking a break from cleaning the swingarm and counter sprocket areas I came across the chain tool that came with the bike when I bought it 10 years ago. When I initially looked at it, I dismissed it a a chain breaker only, and a cheap Chinese one to boot, and tossed it into the back of a toolbox drawer.

I have been using a Stockton chain tool, and its worked OK, but since I seem to be the only guy in my area with a rivet tool, its useful life is fading. So I went online to see if I could identify the one that came with the bike and maybe get some kind of use out if it.

I searched chain tool and variations of wording and found nothing in 15 minutes of looking. Finally right at the end I saw a video posted of someone putting a new DID chain on and it looked like he was using that cheap thing in my tool box. Watching further, I found out that it was in fact a DID tool, and lo and behold if you pulled the breaker pin out and turned it around, you have a rivet anvil.

We having a saying in New England " when light dawns on Marblehead" well, I had one of those moments. Of course I looked up DID rivet tools and was astonished to find they cost almost as much as a decent rear tire.

So, apologies Dave in Iowa, I finally get and appreciate your gift you threw in when you sold me your bike.

[Thumbs]

Rode through the bloody rain to an 8am MOT, it passed …. on reflection I should have worn my waterproof textile suit

[FromMaine]

"On reflection" 🌧️

Seem to remember having a few of those myself...........

[mello dude]

On 9/13/2023 at 9:20 AM, FromMaine said:

 

I searched chain tool and variations of wording and found nothing in 15 minutes of looking. Finally right at the end I saw a video posted of someone putting a new DID chain on and it looked like he was using that cheap thing in my tool box. Watching further, I found out that it was in fact a DID tool, and lo and behold if you pulled the breaker pin out and turned it around, you have a rivet anvil.

We having a saying in New England " when light dawns on Marblehead" well, I had one of those moments. Of course I looked up DID rivet tools and was astonished to find they cost almost as much as a decent rear tire.

So, apologies Dave in Iowa, I finally get and appreciate your gift you threw in when you sold me your bike.

I have that DID chain tool and after using it a few times, its worth every penny. Its a fine piece. 

[FromMaine]

32 minutes ago, mello dude said:

I have that DID chain tool and after using it a few times, its worth every penny. Its a fine piece. 

I would agree 100%. Once I looked up how to use if properly, as in flipping the pin, it was great as it was self limiting as far as how much you could flare the rivet. I did find out though that at full compression it would only flare my RK chains rivet to 5.31mm. The RK guide said 5.45-5.55mm was the rivet head range. This was easily fixed by finishing the rivet with my Stockton tool. Since I use DID, RK and EK chains, I'll just keep my calipers handy as usual and check as I go to make sure the rivet is right. Next step is to get a 27mm spanner so I can ditch the adjustable.

[Bronco]

What did I do to my VFR?

 

Well, I wrung it's neck for many hours on some mountain highways today

That fat girl sings more sweetly the more abuse I give her.

 

Still, she needs to go on a diet and lose a few pounds, in my humble opinion.

[bmart]

Yesterday...

 

 

[FromMaine]

Technically not today, but Spring of 2022. But since my password stopped working in Dec 21, and I was not able to get back online until recently, I'm playng catch up.

After riding around 50k and burning  through a set of Nelson-Rigg and Rapid Transit saddle bags, both of which needed numerous repairs to get that far, I decided I needed something a bit more substantial. Pretty sure there was no oem hard bags for the 4th Gen, maybe Givi's, but rare and not particularly attractive if what I did see for hard bags on a 4th were Givi's.

So, since I had bought a couple of semi rigid bags for another bike, but sold it before using them, I had a go at making them work on the VFR.

To be clear, these are American Tourister computer, carry on, roller bags. They have enough room for a 15" computer and maybe  a days worth clothes for a business trip. 2 of them are plenty for my needs. They are not waterproof, but way more than the Rigg's or Transits. The material is cloth backed heavy vinyl, so a few plastic liners do the job. BTW none of the rain covers I have ever used stand up to highway or post highway speeds.

The supports are 1/4" rod, washers welded to attach at the passenger pegs, threaded to attach to a tab on the back rest, (custom).

The squares on the supports locate the bags and keep them from moving fore and aft. The straps with quick releases hold the bags to the supports, the straps across the passenger seat pulls them in to the bike. It is solid, over 10k and zero issues. The only thing I did to the bags was 3M contact cement 3 layers of really soft felt to the insides to protect the tail piece.

I never bothered to take pics as I was putting it together so the pics are cobbled together from what I could find. Feel free to ask for any information I left out.

Edit. My other pics failed to upload. We have had sketchy, slow internet since the hurricane. Will see if I can add them later. Ok, finally got pics to upload. Bottom shows the support(s) with attachment points and design, middle the straps that hold the bags to the supports and the straps across the seat, top is what the whole show looks like in touring mode.

 

[JZH]

On 9/9/2023 at 9:30 PM, Bluehawk said:

So, went back today for the 'ordered Honda front beariings' and another cockup by the parts people!!!

Koyo bearings arrived not genuine honda, but came with honda seals.

Whilst they were debating/arguing among themselves....one mech i spoke to said he 'often' opens Honda packets and Koyo parts are included, as tho Honda recommend/approve these people. Koyo have been making heavy industrial bearings since 1912 in Japan.  Anyway the seals were genuine honda and the price of 38 of my British pounds worked out the same in the end (free labour).

Sorry, but I had to chuckle at this!  

 

Honda doesn't make bearings (or many of the other parts they use on their bikes and then sell as replacements), so you will never find a bearing with the name "Honda" on it.  On the box or packaging, sure--that's why there's an OEM markup of 50-100%...

 

KOYO is one of Honda's OEM suppliers, so the quality will be on-par with any of the world's major bearing manufacturers.  Moreover, most (but not all) of the bearings and seals Honda uses are standard automotive sizes and configurations, so once you decipher the codes, you can shop around and fit bearings from your favourite manufacturer.  Years ago I saved a large chunk of money by replacing the bearings in my 3rd gen with new ones sourced from various suppliers and manufacturers.  Only a few of them were available at a reasonable price via the Honda distribution system.  The table below is from 2005, so a few years out of date (!), but it will give you the idea...

 

Honda VFR750F-P—Chassis Bearings and Seals

(Based on 1993 U.K.-model w/1998 VTR1000F fork conversion. Read the Notes below. Use at your own risk!)

 

Description	Type	#	Honda Part Number	Original ID numbers	ID	OD	W	Comments	Source	Price each
swing-arm main bearing—left	needle roller	1	91071-MR7-003	HMK 2830 Japan UU NTN	28	37	30	caged rollers, no integrated dust seals	City DSS ACB	£11.61 £9.08 £7.00
swing-arm dust seal—left		1	91202-MR7-003	SDO 28  37  4  A2 ACS	28	37	4		City DSS ACB	£2.20 £2.85 £2.50
swing-arm main bearing—right	radial ball	2	91072-MR7-003	6904  Japan WS NTN	20	37	9	no integrated dust seals	City DSS ACB	£4.20 £7.74 £5.85
swing-arm dust seal—right		1	91214-MR7-003	SDO 26  37  5  A5 ACS	26	37	5	(26 37 7 supplied by City-might fit)	City DSS ACB	£2.20 £2.85 £4.20
swing-arm pivot collar B	inner race	1	52106-MR7-000	N/A					DSS	£13.06
suspension linkage bearing (at swing-arm)	needle roller	1	91071-KV3-005	BHM 1725  Japan Koyo	17	24	25	no cage for rollers, no integrated dust seals	DSS	£11.51
suspension linkage bearing (in shock connecting rod & shock arm)	needle roller	4	91072-MJ0-003	7E-HMK 1725  Japan WS NTN	17	24	25	caged rollers, no integrated dust seals	A&P DSS ACB	£8.50 £8.87 £6.50
suspension linkage bearing (at shock absorber)	needle roller	1	91072-KT7-003	7W-HMK 1720 NTN	17	24	20	caged rollers, no integrated dust seals	A&P DSS ACB	£8.50 £8.88 £
suspension linkage oil seal		8	91262-MG7-005	NOK AE8444H	17	27	5		A&P DSS ACB	£1.87 £2.06 £
suspension pivot collar (shock connecting rod)	inner race	1	52462-ML7-000	N/A		17			DSS	£8.82
suspension pivot collar (shock arm—at shock absorber)	inner race	1	52477-KT7-000	N/A		17			DSS	£5.08
suspension pivot collar (shock arm—at swing arm)	inner race	1	52463-KV3-000	N/A		17			DSS	£5.51
suspension pivot collar (shock connecting rod)	inner race	1	52463-MT4-000	N/A		17			DSS	£7.32
wheel bearing—front	radial ball	2	91054-MN8-741	6004	20	42	12	integrated black dust seals on both sides	DSS ACB	£11.00£5.50
wheel bearing dust seal—front		2	91257-KA3-711	AE1544F NOK	28	42	8		DSS ACB	£3.80 £2.00
sprocket carrier bearing	radial ball	1	91061-MT4-003	DF 0768 LU Japan NTN	35	55	20	integrated (red) dust seals on both sides	City-5wk DSS DSS-wait ACB-3wk	£25.20 £50.22£37.64£16.40
sprocket carrier dust seal		1	91258-ML7-003	SDO 45 55 5 ACS	45	55	5		DSS	£3.90
sprocket carrier o-ring		1	91352-MN8-003	N/A			2		City DSS	£0.42 £0.82
rear hub bearing—right	needle roller	1	91062-MR7-003	8Q-NK 50x62x25-1 Japan WS NTN	50	62	25	caged rollers, integrated black dust seal on one side	A&P DSS-wait DSS	£10.69£30.82£41.09
rear hub bearing dust seal		1	91284-MR7-003	SDO 50 62 5 ACS B8	50	62	5		City DSS	£2.38 £4.75
rear hub bearing—left	radial ball	2	91061-ML0-731	6908RS Japan Koyo	40	62	12	integrated black dust seal on one side – plus plastic linking ring to lock both bearings together (leaving single black seals facing outwards on each side)	City DSS DSS-wait ACB	£33.22£50.22£37.67£14.40
steering stem bearing—upper	angular contact ball	(1)	91015-KT8-005	32005X Japan MCI	26	47	15	(note ID—must be 26mm)	ACB	£8.40
steering stem bearing—upper	tapered roller	(1)	91015-425-832	N/A	26	47	15	(note ID—must be 26mm)	DSS
steering stem bearing dust seal—upper		1	53214-KA4-701	N/A	27	48	4	metal ring with rubber edge	DSS	£2.47
steering stem bearing—lower	angular contact ball	(1)	91016-KT8-005	32006JR Japan MCI	30	55	17		DSS
steering stem bearing—lower	tapered roller	(1)	91016-371-000	N/A	30	55	17	(32006JRRS— has integral dust seal)	Moore	£13.20
steering stem bearing dust seal—lower		(1)	53214-371-010	N/A	31	56	4	metal ring with rubber edge	DSS	£3.50

UK-based Sources Key:

ACB = A.C. Belting Ltd, 58 Kingsholm Road, Gloucester GL1 3BQ (01452) 410 968 (Jason)

A&P = Angus & Perthshire Bearings, Unit 62A, Buccaneer Way, Perth Airfield, Scone, Perthshire PH2 6PL (01738) 553 479

City = City Seals and Bearings Ltd, 23/25 Stevenson Road, Sheffield S9 3XG (0114) 243 5343 (Jason)

DSS = David Silver Spares, Unit 14, Masterlord Industrial Estate, Station Road, Leiston, Suffolk IP16 4JD (01728) 833 020

DSS-wait = Optional 2-3 week wait, resulting in a 25% discount.

Moore = Moore International, 104 Ashley Road, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset BH14 9BN (01202) 462 220

Notes:

Steering stem bearings were originally angular-contact ball bearings; it is common to replace with tapered roller bearings, though these are more difficult to adjust properly.  Tapered rollers are available from many aftermarket sources, but also from Honda (note that these Honda part numbers have not been verified).  Both types of steering stem bearings use separate metal/rubber dust seals; but the optional tapered roller 32006RS lower bearing incorporates a dust seal, so no separate seal is required.

The top bearing used on many Hondas (including the VFR750FL-P) is a non-standard size. Although it is often marked "32005", it is actually a 32005 (this is an ISO standard bearing number) with a 26mm I.D. rather than the 25mm I.D. you might expect. Needless to say, this means it won't fit onto the steering stem no matter how hard you hit it. <G> Some bearing manufacturers helpfully call this bearing "32005/26", but some do not!

Front wheel bearings are for a ’94-’97 FR-FV, since the VSource.org FP uses a front wheel from a later RC36.

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

[Bluehawk]

On 9/20/2023 at 8:52 AM, JZH said:

Sorry, but I had to chuckle at this!  

 

Honda doesn't make bearings (or many of the other parts they use on their bikes and then sell as replacements), so you will never find a bearing with the name "Honda" on it.  On the box or packaging, sure--that's why there's an OEM markup of 50-100%...

 

KOYO is one of Honda's OEM suppliers, so the quality will be on-par with any of the world's major bearing manufacturers.  Moreover, most (but not all) of the bearings and seals Honda uses are standard automotive sizes and configurations, so once you decipher the codes, you can shop around and fit bearings from your favourite manufacturer.  Years ago I saved a large chunk of money by replacing the bearings in my 3rd gen with new ones sourced from various suppliers and manufacturers.  Only a few of them were available at a reasonable price via the Honda distribution system.  The table below is from 2005, so a few years out of date (!), but it will give you the idea...

 

Honda VFR750F-P—Chassis Bearings and Seals

(Based on 1993 U.K.-model w/1998 VTR1000F fork conversion. Read the Notes below. Use at your own risk!)

 

 

Thnx v much JZH.  Most informative.  I was obviously comfortable with their fitting, as i said "he 'often' opens Honda packets and Koyo parts are included...Honda recommend/approve these people", so job done and now couple of weeks later, rides fine [of course]. For the future tho, although i've always been a dealer fan (for resale purposes and mech training etc), i'm taking it to a non-Honda place i know of. They've done a few jobs for me in the past. After your comments, i'll be saving too (as a small bonus), as it may allow me to get another machine too for the collection.......Quite like the new Triumph Tiger 660 for buzzing around town/commuting. One of the chaps on here suggested it to me, so i'll take a closer look......Times, they are a changin'!  :)  :)  :) 

[slo1]

Contemplated...... Do I really need 3 VFRs ? Picked up an 8th gen DLX thinking it could be the "One" vfr. 

Rode the 4th and 5th yesterday for the 1st time in months. Tomorrow the 8th and 5th go head to head.

After 10+ years, and about a dozen other bikes, the 4th and 5th have remained. Ergos, looks, sound, feel, they just do it for me.

The last time I had three VFRs, the 6th gen was voted off the island. The new to me 8th gen may be the weakest link.... Tomorrow...