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30 years ago today I bought my first VFR, a low mileage ’91 VFR750. Picked it up on a dreary Friday evening and stopped by my folks place to show it off. Saturday morning I headed home to Victoria, taking a long roundabout route to get to know the bike. It was quite a change from my ’81 Kawasaki GPz1100. Rode down past Seattle to Bremerton, Wash., before backtracking north to catch the Tsawwassen ferry back to Victoria. Sunday morning I showed it off to my friends. We met for breakfast most Sundays, riding our bikes to some place or other - at least in more pleasant weather. That day was dull & overcast so I was about the only one to arrive by bike. But afterwords I headed out on a well trodden route up to Duncan, but got caught out on a sand covered junction and dropped my less-than-two-day-old VFR. The right side got pretty scarfed up, but only cosmetically, and insurance covered the majority of the cost. As for me, I scraped my knee cap and had a separated AC joint, both on my right side. Not particularly painful, but it took a few weeks before both bike and rider got back on the road - here is is on a ride to Genoa Bay. I rode the VFR for almost 4 years & 85K km before trading it on a brand new VTR1000F in early 1998.

I've just returned from a 3 week, whirlwind tour of a number of European cities. The motorcycling scene is certainly different to what I am used to in New Zealand. Paris was dominated by big, fast scooters, Burgmans and Tmax's and the like often with loud pipes and being ridden assertively through the traffic. Also notable were the electric scooters, and these are surprisingly intimidating when they bear down on you in near silence when you mis-timed a pedestrian crossing. There were few small capacity road bikes to be seen but plenty of large bikes like R1250s, FJRs and Goldwings. I saw one poor neglected VFR parked up. Even the police ride their FJRs and R1250s with complete authority and you'd better be prepared to jump clear when they run red lights while the pedestrian crossing lights are on... The Italian cities were full of smaller scooters and given the traffic density, narrow streets and overall slow pace, that makes some sense. I saw very few Ducatis although naturally the Bologna police had Multistradas for patrol, and in Rome I saw the Guzzi V85TT in LEO guise. The Netherlands is bicycle territory, and in one city I stayed in (Delft) the car was definitely lowest man on the totem, the order being bicycles, pedestrians, scooters and then cars. That's what you get when there is a terrific public transport system and compact high density towns. I spent a day in central London and saw more mid-capacity bikes than anywhere else, but the bizarre thing was how light the traffic was. There were very few cars, and what there were, were predominantly electric or hybrid. I guess this is the result of the congestion charges and the low emissions zone. I'm glad to be back home now, but not really enjoying the heavy traffic where I live. I am already missing the high speed trains (best speed I saw was 314km/hr between Paris and Zurich); it is insanely satisfying looking out the window when there is a motorway alongside and whispering past all the traffic like it is standing still. IMG_4211.MOV

Just realized I didn't post any update or my latest news. First the update, had a post surgery meeting with the neurosurgeon and he felt that I was doing very well and as long as I didn't have to be in an office to work, he was giving me the OK to be back at work, albeit, working from home. Luckily, for my role at the company, I have the luxury of doing just that. So starting on Feb 1st, 2023, I was back at work. The company let me bring "my desk" home, meaning 2 monitors, keyboard/mouse and laptop docking station, so I didn't miss a beat, didn't have to deal with a lot of bureaucratic BS by being away for a long time, so whew! So what next? A waiting game. When I had my seizure, the neurologist that saw me reported the seizure and I guess the California DMV suspended my driver's license because of it. When I went to the neurosurgeon and asked him if they were the ones to give the OK to get my license reinstated, he said no, that would be the neurologist who saw you at the time you had the seizure. So met with them the following week and asked what I needed to do in order to be able to drive again. Long story short, I had to agree to be on anti-seizure medication for 2 years and wait 3 months from the time of the seizure without having another one and without suffering side affects or complications from the first seizure. WOW! OK. Although this might seem extreme, if I didn't want to be on medication or to be off of it sooner, the wait time would have to be 6 months. So I said, "Two years and three months it is!" onward and upward. I'm just hoping after the three months is up, that the California DMV will be kind enough to reinstate my drivers license without a huge hassle! On that vein, I do have to see both the neurologist and the neurosurgeon in April, the former should be able to give the OK to get my license back and the latter should be able to say when I can go back to riding a motorcycle again, or at the very least when I can strap on a helmet without any issues. Ultimately that's my goal, to be back in the fray with the lot of you on the roads riding to our hearts content. We'll see how that goes, but I'll update you all for sure when that happens. In regards to my latest news, I had my yearly physical on Feb 9th and all was great. My regular DR. said she was impressed on how fast I recovered and that all my vitals, heart rate, lungs, etc. looked great. Did my bloodwork and just about every category we monitor, I was in the range we were aiming for, prior to the surgery. Essentially, I'm better now than before surgery, can't ask for more than that, right? Anyway, thanks for reading this and I hope that this info is helpful, if not inspirational to anyone else going through health issues. Cheers, D

Morning all, I’ve just paid a deposit on a yellow VFR800 with 27,000 miles on the clock. She’s a beaut and has a decent history, keys, maintenance CD etc and looks looked after. Should I be looking out for any issues and what mods are essential? Thanks in advance! Joe

Thanks for the replies guys.. I figured either these VFR1200 parts are rare and sought after, or not at all in demand as sales were so low in the US.. At very least I figure the plastics and OEM panniers (blue) will sell easily when the time comes. Sorry for the missing pics on the locost build links- that website has some challenges.. Here are a few youtube links that will work better (at least to show my older build, the Honda N600/ VFR800): The actual fabrication on the above car is in slideshow form below (not my videos): The 'other' VFR800 build is my ongoing 1959 Berkeley (my tiny British car seen below with 2 different bodies).. it is a work in progress.. If you search 'ccrunner,' some pics and videos will pop up here and there.. thanks for your interest.. I'm really enjoying the challenges combining both a car and a bike to make a fun project.

Ah, yes... I love my mountains at home but these are so much more exciting! After arriving at the infamous Chateau Noir, the 190 was quickly mounted and axle covers installed... I have yet to fine tune all that fancy suspension, but I have to say, this is by far the most composed, best handling, best braking, best shifting, most comfortable and outright fastest VFR I have ever ridden. And I rode an HRC-built lightweight Ohlins equipped RC30 just prior to boot. This lowly VTEC knocks its socks off in every department except static weight. The new tire wear says more than I can, after a lap on that road everyone loves... And especially after a few laps of my favorite section of road, the top of 28 before the old closed Texaco, aka the shitty gas station

No minute like the last minute... I could have sworn I had a brand new right side panel in my shop attic... apparently I used that one already... so mad dash to get my old one scrubbed down and sprayed just in the nick of time! And then another little disaster... extremely inaccurate packaging... what a piece of garbage. It took almost 5 months, but I did end up getting my money back from ZG. I ended up going with my oem 06+ screen for the trip. Mileage correction recorded... Hey @Rivcyko ... remember these? lmao So, here is why a 180 on a 6" wheel is a bad idea... Check our front "chicken strip"... looks like it hasn't really done much more than a lap of a showroom floor... But! What do we have here? Nothing! Beyond margin for error! This was the first ride, not pushing anything in any way as I was just doing brake checks, cooling system checks, etc. I was out of time to order a new tire to my house, so had the proper 190 I needed shipped ahead to Maryville, TN where we'd be staying for a few days prior to the spring ride in NC. Left side buttoned up... Yummy... Right side almost there... One more thing I felt needed doing, was some protection for the lower radiator. I got some metal mesh from amazon and worked up a screen: And then modified the 6g "V" inner fairing to delete the middle section. I trimmed it out and left myself some extra on the bottom edge to roll over for an oem look. Final assembly: I got a new filter sock for the intake as the old one was torn and dirty And then a nice little wax job And a quickie camera mount for my son's gopro I had just enough time for a few more short test hops before packing up for the big ride

It doesn't matter much. Put it in the location where you can use it best/safest. Levers/pedals set to factory settings are usually quite far off from where they are most useful.

Happy to be here and thanks to veefer800canuck for getting my registration sorted out. I bought my new to me 2014 VFR 800 in August, 2022. It had 13,000km on it. I downsized from a FJR1300 thanks to a deer. I'm really happy with VFR. Enough power, fits me well and looks great. I gave it a thorough inspection and servicing over winter. I did some minor upgrades including fender extender, Puig windscreen, GPS, tailbag, fork gaitors, grip puppies and repaired a broken tab on the front cowl. I have looked everywhere for OEM side cases without success. I looked for Givi and Shad side case racks and found that they are not for sale as far is I could determine. So I've ordered Hepco & Becker Junior side cases with their quick release racks. They look like they should fit the VFR well and I'll find out later this week.

Was at Donington Park on a cruiser getting embarrassed by the superbikes. My favourite bike there was a gorgeous VFR750 belonging to track instructor John Chambers who’s won multiple awards in the vintage motorcycle races on it. Aside from good looking this thing is FAST and he was instructing some upcoming BSB riders on it. Of course John is very talented but he was teaching some of the fastest riders in the country how to go faster on a VFR and it really tickled me! Check out his socials if you’re into that sort of thing and you’ll read all about the bike there. My welder friend will be machining some rearset adapters for the VFR750. Also came across some other lovely classic bikes being raced pretty hard - these guys are running in the intermediate group and were overtaking modern machines! These two were raced by a very attractive young lady who’s less than 5 feet tall and seriously capable. Nice to see old bikes being used as they were intended and not turned into dead museum pieces.

Hey, at least it didn't look like this when you took it out... I found a new white sock filter on amazon that worked, I can look up the part # if you need it. Might have been for an Accord. I found the info by digging deep in the archives here. If you used a pry bar, be sure to inspect the metal lip on the tank where the new gasket will go. If you deformed it, be sure to fix it or it may leak later.

Ooh, ahh... I spent too much time trying to figure out how to have the blow off valve make a funny noise, but short of zip tying a rubber chicken to it, I couldn't find any good options, so just let it be. But yes, that's how a bag of rubber chickens ended up at the Spring ride... Boost gauge adaption Looking more complete by the day So much work here, I can't even begin to describe most of it. THAT RED!!! WINNING!!! Here she is running some heat cycles in the yard. I did also Cerakote the Rotrex oil reservoir, and you can see the fluid level indicator hose doing it's job.

I'm a detail guy... gotta have them, I get lost in them... I moved the rear brake res to the footrest area to buy myself more room for the fuse box and RB install. Unfortunately couldn't get my hands on a translucent smoke colored res to match my bar controls, so I used this white one. The folks at Kurveygirl.com are trying to source me the one I need from Italy. I used one of my stainless mounts for it, and dressed up the bolts with a little torch heat treatment after lathe cuts. Also added heat shielding to the back of my carbon heat shield, but forgot to take a pic before install. That was fun, so I torched the titanium rotor carrier hardware too... Aaaand I swapped the clutch slave out for a red one, and torched those bolts too. lol Getting a little busy in there O2 sensor wires were a squeeze Another favorite little mod - these QD fuel fittings, thanks to sa1713 for the idea in an old thread As you can see, I opted for fancy oil for the old girl as well. Pump side Time to let the Japanese air out of the tank... Ah, that looks so much better... Accouterments installed... I had sent my rear frame sliders (oem luggage racks) to be powdercoated to match the frame and subframe. Got the mback, stuck them on, and found my new Remus arrangement didn't jive. Thankfully I'm handy... new part designed, tested, cut, coated, and stashed for future install. Oh yeah, tank on and other finish stuff happening too of course... double checking hose clamps, tightening bolts, etc My brackets put to use again With some mundane stuff like fluid fills and bleeds out of the way, it was time for a most joyous occasion. the first start. She popped right to life after cycle priming the fuel pump a bit. This was without the blower connected, just a proof of life and throttle body sync to start off. Coolant temperature held very steady, and below what I was used to seeing at this point. Very happy so far to see all that effort in those new systems paying off. I combined a selection of switches and pods from amazon to form this triple switch arrangement. Top switch is heated grips h/l/off, the bottom 2 are for the manual side radiator fan and for switching between Rapid Bike Map 1/Map 2. I even wired the lights to work properly. In case anyone needed to know, a mini fuse will fit & work in place of an old school fuse Rear wiring complete... I deleted the license plate light and used the connector for the fuse box relay trigger. Was feeling pretty chuffed at this point, nice to have more parts on the bike and less parts on the bench! However, still a fair bit of work to do. Both big and small, a clutch switch for example. Not strictly necessary, but an easy enough little project. the Brembo RCS masters do not come with a provision for mounting a microswitch, so I made one. Made & coated a tidy license plate mount And then for the fun part!

I used up my placeholders... not sure what the limit is for each post, rather not find out, so I'll just continue here. So yeah... modifications to the left side rad to make this work... I had to cut and plug the fittings that didn't work, and create new ones. I cut all the plugs and new fittings from 6061 tube on the lathe and welded them on as needed. I cut the new fill spigot from a spare CBR radiator I had kicking around, and stuck it on top of a short extension to aid in filling properly. The astute among you may have picked up on the fact the 8g lower has a fan... and the 6g left has a fan... and they are both still employed here. The 8g VFR fan is controlled by a temp sensor via the ecu, but a quick bench test revealed the motor is a simple 12v connection away from working. I wanted the 8g fan to be automatically controlled as it is much more efficient than the left side wrong-way blowing 6g unit, so I wired it to the temp sensor located in the 6g rad. The stock fan is wired to a manual switch located on the handlebar for easy access in traffic or low speed situations. It was around this time I had developed a pretty good idea of what these complex systems needed to look like, so forged ahead with excitement... Here's the link from lower to upper rad taking shape Rotrex cooler hose nipples and reservoir in creation Did I mention space was tight?!? Oil flow = Reservoir > filter > Rotrex > cooler > reservoir Rotrex oil capacity is now a full liter, more than 2x what it was before. Yes, the reservoir is funky... but it'll be hidden, and I'm more concerned about it working than looking good I added the chimney portion for air expansion under braking, vented at the top. Small hose section for return flow/air exchange at the base of the stack, and another hose loop at the back end for a visual fluid level indicator. How do you excite a lathe? You turn a nipple... On the CBR the oil cooler came from, the hot side coolant returns to the block. I decided to route it directly to the lower radiator for convenience, and because I had no doubt this motor didn't need help warming up. With that solution in mind, it was time to weld up the cooler fittings And here's the link connecting the lower & upper rads

And back to 6 bikes again...... 1985, 16,000km, from 1st owner Rear tyre is from 2010, front from 1987

So then I noticed a bad thing more The rear rim had cancer as well... and also noticed the front sprocked started to snap on the splince of outcoming front sprocket axle..... bummer did I mention I also did put a new chain on, the old was cracked, even sprockets like new, been standing outside? Anyway at this point I parked the bike, last week I started it up, did start after all the standing! Amazing engine! So I have scored a better rear wheel, got a sollution for the front sprocket problem aside splitting engine, a spechal front sprocket! But now I´m moving to a other city as house, so will be a time untill have time to work on this Transalp. It has moved to my bigger garage already whit my other bikes, the last 2 in the row is a friends bikes thro that I slowly try to make runners thro...... A pic from last summer whit my plated bikes So I have spent way more money on the Transalp I would have liked, but frankly I like the bike, even a ugly tatty old bike, very much! So I migth just keep it and ride on, I have things to sort still like I mentioned, and have a nice header as small stuff to change, clutch still a bit odd feeling so might need some attention still..... as I move will ride less offroad more on road, soem gravel so likely like to get mor eroad focused tires? we have to see what time as money allow To be continued.....

We had a bluebird 50f day here today, would have been rude not to wheel the bikes out and knock some dust off. First fire & neighborhood noise making of 2023... 😎

The Problem: If your tank has rust or needs a clean out, this guide is for you. Although I used the POR15 kit in this guide, any similar products can be used (degreaser, metal etching acid or similar and a tank sealer paint), please follow the instructions for your products used. This guide was performed on a VFR800 Gen 5, but the steps apply to any tank, with just the disassembly / assembly steps and specific bike parts, will be a little different. Prep: Required: · 20 Litres White Vinegar (Optional) · POR15 Motorcycle Bike Fuel Tank Sealer Repair Kit (or similar treatment kit). · A bunch of old screws/length of chain. · A heat gun or hairdryer. When it says dry the tank, it is always force dry using either the heat gun or a hairdryer. · 10mm socket or spanner. · A long thin piece of metal like a brazing rod (if any of the ports are clogged) · Dish soap. · A syringe · 2 metal or strong plastic plates , sized and drilled to cover the 2 bottom ports ideally. Or anything that will seal the ports and not leak. (I personally used the bottom of a plastic paint bucket cut to size and sealed with silicone for the small port. I used the fuel pump assembly plate itself as I was replacing it, for the large port, it was not ideal, but it sealed well). · Duct Tape · Bicarbonate of Soda (1 cup will do) Parts List: · 91305-MC7-000 (for gen 5 VFR800, or equivalent fuel tank sealing o-ring). No. 43 in parts list. · 17574-MN5-000 (for gen 5 VFR800, or equivalent rubber base gasket). No. 23 in parts list. Safety: Wear eye protection when using any cleaning/prepping agents. Perform all steps in an adequately ventilated area, ideally outside. Wear correct gloves for metal prep and degreasing stages. Follow all labels on chemicals used. Steps: Remove the tank: 1. Run the bike until there is 1 or no bars on the fuel gauge. You want to have as little fuel in the tank as possible. 2. Siphon out any remaining fuel. 3. Remove the seat. 4. Remove the 2 front bolts holding down the front of the tank. (No. 50 in parts list) 5. Prop up the tank with something. I used an extendable window cleaning squidgy. 6. Disconnect the battery. 7. Put a cloth or similar under the tank area, to catch spills if any. 8. Put the tank on its side before removing the supply & return lines 9. Remove all tubing and electrical connectors from the bottom of the tank. Wrap in cloth to avoid spills. 10. Unscrew the 2 screws on the back of the tank. (No. 49 in parts list) 11. Remove the tank. 12. Remove the fuel pump assembly and fuel level sensor assembly using a 10mm spanner or socket. 13. Carefully remove the fuel pump assembly, it can be tricky to get out, so take it slowly. Rock the assembly gently back and forward to loosen it. You may need to compress the metal sponge slightly, that’s ok it is just like a sponge. Be careful not to damage the rubber surrounding the metal sponge. 13. Remove the fuel tank cap lock assembly. No.26 in parts list 14. Only 3 bolts need to be removed to get it out (see parts list) Clean out the tank: 1. Remove any fuel from tank using a siphon or syringe. Assuming the tank is rusty/dirty, dispose of this accordingly. 2. Rinse the tank very well with dish soap and water, then rinse out at least twice with clean water (warm is best). This is to remove any fuel remnants. 3. Dry straight after using the heat gun (on medium setting) or a hair dryer. I found using my heat gun on medium heat for ~2minutes blowing into each opening of the tank to be just hot enough, but not too hot, cycling between each side of the tank and letting cool between. Be careful not to get the tank too hot it will damage the paint. 4. Once the tank is bone dry (this can take an hour or more), dump some screws, a piece of chain, bolts etc. anything metal will work into the tank. This is to remove any surface rust. Make sure you know exactly what you put in as they can get stuck. 5. Shake the tank well with the metal pieces inside. Do it for as long as you can. I think I did it for around 1 hour. 6. Remove all the metal pieces you put in and all the rust. You can use a hoover to suck it up from the large port on the bottom of the tank. 7. Rinse the tank again with water to remove the last bits of surface rust. 8. Fully dry the tank again immediately with the heat gun/hairdryer. Soak tank in Vinegar (Optional): 1. Seal the bottom of the tank with whatever you have chosen. Tape up the 2 tubes on the bottom. 2. Pour the vinegar into the tank from the top. 3. Use duct tape to seal the top. 4. Leave to soak for a few days. Keep topped up. (I left it soak for 5 days). If your tank is really badly rusted you can leave for a lot longer and also replace with fresh vinegar after it becomes inactive. Once you keep the level full in the tank it will not rust any more with vinegar inside. After 5 days the level of vinegar in my tank had not dropped at all, indicating the tank was sealed well. 5. If the return port is clogged, now is a good time to use a long thing metal rod to unclog it. 6. Remove the vinegar and dispose. 7. Wash out the tank with some bicarbonate of soda and warm water. 8. Rinse out well with water. I personally removed the large cover to allow quick flow of water out of the tank and ran a hose at the top for about 5mins, moving the tank back and forward. 9. Dry immediately if not moving straight on to the next step. Degreaser: 1. Follow the POR15 degreaser instructions or degreaser of your choice. 2. I used the whole container of the POR15 degreaser with 1 equal container of hot water and sealed the tank. 3. Shake the liquid well, leaving to sit for 1-2 hours on each corner of the tank. I let it sit overnight on the bottom of the tank aswell as doing maybe 1 hour soaking on each end of the tank. 4. Rinse the tank out well again. 5. Dry immediately. Metal Prep: 1. Pour the metal prep into the tank and seal. 2. Shake around the whole tank for at least 20 minutes, making sure all surfaces are coated. 3. Pour the metal prep back into the bottle, it can be reused. 4. Rinse the tank out well with warm water. 5. Dry the tank immediately again. This time I actually left it beside a radiator after force drying, for a few days to make sure it was bone dry. Shake the tank around a bit while drying, as water can get trapped in crevices. Tank Sealer/Coating: 1. Take off the lid and stir the sealer very well until it is consistent. 2. Make sure the bottom of the tank and all bottom ports are sealed. 3. Pour the sealer into the tank, seal the top with duct tape. 4. Roll the sealer all around the tank. I did this for around 30mins, allowing it to sit in each corner for a few mins also. Make sure the tank is well coated. 5. Let the excess drain out of the tank if possible. For the VFR800 gen 5 tank, there is no way to do this due to the design of the tank. 6. I used the syringe to remove any excess sealer. You will need to do this a few times as the excess eventually flows towards the back of the tank. You basically want an even coat on the whole tank with no pooling. 7. Remove all port covers. 8. Allow to dry for at least 4 days, not force dried. I left mine for a week as you want this to be 100% dry before use. Reassembly: 1. Depending on how much corrosion/debris was in the tank and whether it got into the fuel system, you may need to clean your injectors/tubing etc. or replace the fuel filters. If this is the case you should do this before reassembling the tank. 2. If you need to install a new fuel cap, see here for removing the lock mechanism. 3. If you need to install a new fuel filter see here. 4. Assuming you are ready to reinstall the tank, using the new gasket and o-ring, reattach the fuel filter and fuel level sensor assemblies. They should be torqued to 14 N.m and apply a star pattern when torquing. 1. Screw back in the lock mechanism. 2. Follow tank removal steps in reverse. 3. Put a small bit of fuel in the tank maybe 1-2litres. Confirm the fuel level sensor registers the fuel. Start the engine. The process is now complete.

Not Today, but actually last summer, I'm happy to have been able to mount my side panniers whilst keeping the exhaust high mounted 🥳 only required a couple of extra bushings and longer bolts 🥳 Great to cruise with my wife, supper convenient, not so good to ride alone though. The very 1st time alone I got stuck between cars 😅 Traffic was stopped so no harm done, as I was going through cars nearly stopped, pretty much guessing I was about to get stuck 😅 a pic seeing a great sunset on the motorcycle rally paper we attended last summer 😎 As one is on sharing mode, below a picture of my beloved VFR back on December 07th 2022. I was aware, as it was all over the news, that Lisbon was getting hit by a huge storm, pretty much like genesis flood narrative, however as I hate driving my car on traffic, which always gets worse on rainy days, I was like no silly rain is making me go through 1 hour plus of traffic, as I had a dinner with friends in Lisbon, and I live outside Lisbon. Well was I wrong, not only was the rain and wind so strong, that I was going to the dinner slower than cars, as I even had to make a detour to buy a new rain coat and trousers, as mine got all ripped and I was getting soaked. Through out dinner storm quite down, going back home had to take again detours now do to roads being flooded. Next Time I hear about an orange weather warning, I might remember having to go buying a new rain gear soaked 🤣 as well as ridding my bike slower than cars 🤦‍♂️ Take Care EverybodY

Okay, it's not in the greatest shape, but hey, $300. 1987 VFR700.

Who wants videos? https://youtu.be/LIMFTeyRGUY

Just want to say how sad the Toronto motorcycle show was. Absent was Ducati , Kawasaki. Honda had a lame display No CB 750 Hornet which looks like a cb 500 anyhow.. Suzuki was one of the better ones with a white Hyabusa, GSX1000GT and new GSX8S twin. NO bags being given out or posters or any giveaways like the old days. The late late 80 and 90s had the best shows with so many new amazing machines coming out every year. Now its just lame bikes all the same color. Some made just for the track but they put a plate holder on and call it a street bike. Just venting. I think if I put My VFR on a stand it would have had a bigger crowd around it than most bikes at the show.. Spring is coming. Ride safe.

I have so much time in figuring out the best way to configure the radiators and coolers. Literally days of standing, sitting, staring, testing. "Difficult to bill for" is putting it lightly. I decided to chop a good right side radiator to use as a Rotrex oil cooler, mostly because it was thin enough to fit in the space. All the aftermarket options I looked at had much thicker cores and would not have allowed the fairings to fit over, or would have touched the block, or had hose fittings that would be in the way or need to be rerouted, so at that point it was just easier to make what was needed. Compared to the stock engine oil cooler: Remember that thing about the Rotrex oil reservoir needing to be stored below the blower unit? Well, that had to fit somewhere too... and custom was the best solution again for that because the kit reservoir was small but also too bulky to be placed anywhere useful. I was using the layout line to visualize the hose routing and fluid flow. That aluminum tube was the start of a new reservoir that had to hold fluid below the blower, not overflow, and not slosh so much under braking that it allowed air into the system. I made this little clamp to hold it in place. Speaking of attacking in any direction... When you get stuck on one aspect, it's nice to break away and tackle something easy like fitting the new r/r. Unless it doesn't fit, because it's bigger than stock, and there's a supercharger mounting bracket in the way... ugh... so how about we make this simple and stick it in the vast open space(lol) on the other side of the frame? I drilled the frame for an M6 rivnut, just like Honda does. I added a pin at the second hole location to prevent the bracket from rotating. Not pictured, because I forgot to snap one. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped I'd still have room to fit a new fill spigot on the rad

Now, while measuring and fitting the front end conversion was fairly straightforward, these next two sub-projects were neither straightforward or easy. These two(more like 4, really) projects address two more issues prevalent in the Toro kit: A - the added power creates extra heat, and that heat needs to be dissipated while hampered by the borderline adequate folly that is side mount radiators, compounded by the downsizing(on a 6g) and downward relocation (out of the airflow) of the right side radiator and B - the lack of any cooling for the supercharger oil which Rotrex states is REQUIRED for longevity and warranty A sub issue is that since Dan developed the kit, Rotrex has updated the Rotrex C15 design to delete a seal on the blower shaft. This means that if I installed the kit as designed, and needed to replace the blower unit in the future, all the oil would leak out of the unit as the oil reservoir was located above the horizontal centerline of the unit(at the front of the airbox, behind the steering neck). It took days of pondering, staring, test fitting, and calculating to get this sorted out. The short story is that I ended up using the left side 6g radiator along with a lower radiator from an 8th gen for the coolant, and converted the right side 6g rad to become a Rotrex oil cooler. The longer version is that I also ended up redesigning the engine oil cooling system as the new coolant flow conflicted with the oem oil cooler. Here's the "blank slate" First up, I had to mock fit the blower pulleys and belt to see if there was room to route the hose down to the 8g lower rad instead of up to the 6g oem location *just* While working on that, Traxxion returned my goodie box Rapid Bike delivered my Race unit And I had a steel template cut that would allow me to test handlebar riser positions More test fitting Then I squirrel-brained my way into fitting an R1 rear master to the VFR footrest And made caliper spacers(ended up redoing these later) Then I realized the caliper color would look great on the footrests, so... And there's no way I was going to reattach the grungy heat shield to my nice rearset, so I coated it black. But then I also realized I could do better than that, so... I managed to do some programming and milling while that was curing Also made up some stainless steel fluid reservoir brackets, mimic'ing the Japanese "Ladybird" style Then the redo on those caliper spacers... And made the captured wheel spacers to locate the wheel perfectly on center in the forks...

So yes, I did say supercharger on that list... crazy story in itself... it was purchased new by VFRD member Arrow in Istanbul, Turkey. He installed it and had it tuned in the Netherlands where it pulled 202hp on that particular dyno. He later removed it and sold it to another VFRD member zRoyz in Australia where it sat on a shelf for a few years. Roy listed it for sale in a VFR fb group and somehow it didn't sell for months, even though the price was good. I happened to see the listing months later when someone bumped the topic, and I jumped on it. That was back in 2016 or 17... I was happy to just own the kit and wasn't too fussed about installing it as I considered it an investment at the time. Crazy story time... I dug the kit out of its hidey hole in my garage to look it over when I got into this rebuild. It was an odd time of the day, I hadn't touched it the kit in literally years and so I was pretty disturbed when I woke up the next morning to see I had received a fb message from Murray(phantom here) informing me that Roy had been in an accident during a group ride and did not survive his injuries. The crazy thing is, after calculating the time difference, I was looking through the kit and reflecting on how it came to my possession at the same time the accident occurred. I got the feeling it was my sign to go all out and throw the kit and the full kitchen sink at the bike, and bring it to the VFRD Spring ride to get it in front of Roy's online friends and do a burnout for him. Look at these goodies... I went with Conti RA3's and very glad I did - although I did quickly regret ordering a 180 to fit on the 6" 1098 wheel. The profile was jacked and I ran off the edge of the tire on the first ride nowhere near the lean limit. I ended up putting about 50 test miles on it and switched out to a 190 in TN right before the spring ride. For the front brakes, I went with a set of CBR1000RR monoblock calipers. I bought a used set on ebay and went to town refreshing them. I have set up a Cerakote application process in my shop and I coated these in Stainless and Graphite Black lettering. I used my vinyl cutter's software to create layout templates and stencils for the lettering. Cerakote is a cool product, it is MILES above and beyond using powdercoat. It's very thin and very tolerant of high heat, abrasion, and solvent. I have submerged test samples in both brake fluid and acetone overnight and the coating was not phased at all. As received Prepped First color Stenciled Done Test fit with fresh titanium bolts Speaking of titanium, I sprinkled some out back too... No easier time to install the Factory Pro shift kit, let's have at that Top it off with a new front sprocket And of course we can't cover that with a grungy cover, so let's clean that too and toss in a new plastic speed sensor adapter and Oberon clutch slave for good measure First Toro kit part installed It was at this point things began looking a bit hectic... So let's keep going... I rebuilt a spare throttle body with cleaned & flow matched injectors, and new silicone hoses And replaced the wax unit with new, even though the old one with almost 50k was still good. A lot of the small things are easy to replace while everything is apart, well worth the small extra expenses to do them while the bike is apart vs digging back in again later. Speaking of things that are worth replacing proactively... I'll get to the details of my stator and charging system upgrade later, but here's what my 47,xxxmi stator plug looked like. Not touched since factory install. Bike was charging properly when I last rode it, looks like it was about the go though. With the motor cleaned up, it was time to start throwing new parts back on it. I replaced every cooling system hose, o rings, and thermostat. All new. Also media blasted the tstat housing parts to pretty them up and check for pitting corrosion - all good. Replaced the spark plugs with oem equivalent Upon installing the new throttle body and mock up of Toro plenum, I found the first of a few kit-related issues that needed solving. The fiberglass intake hat had shrunk and deformed over time (as thick fiberglass resin does), causing cracks and deformation. The cracks were just on the outside surface, so I lapped the faying surface to get it flat before installation. I've confirmed that this cracking and deformation is not unique to my kit, so if you're one of the few that have one, check yours if you haven't already! And then the frame went back on, plus a test fit of the Rotrex Around this time I got my wheels back. I wanted to stick with an oem grey color, and I'm really happy with how this Prismatic Wet Charcoal turned out. I fitted angled aluminum valve stems before popping the tires on Test fit of my billet R1 rotor adapters with R1 spec 320mm EBC "Vee" rotors.

Well, my idea of one, anyway. aka, I collected parts for 10 years and finally installed them all... (a year ago, sorry ) aka, my bike needed a refresh after almost 50kmi and sitting unused for the last 5 years. I started this work early December 2021 and finished just shy of 6 months later in May of 2022, so this story has been a long time coming. I bought this 2005 VFR800 brand new 17 years ago in February 2006, and I started with some light modifications right off the bat. Mostly good practical ones like a throttle lock, comfy seat, mirror extenders, suspension work, luggage, etc. Being a member here prior to purchase and of course ever since, you get a lot of ideas and sometimes even some good deals on gently used parts and unique parts made by other talented members. Over the next series of posts in this thread I'm going to highlight the bucket list of parts I collected & fabricated, plus the modifications I made to my bike to make it into my dream VFR. Here's a pretty comprehensive list of what the build is comprised of: - 2005 VFR800. Bought new, now 48,xxx + mi - Powdercoated frame and subframe satin black - Wheels powdercoated "Wet Charcoal", added angled stems - 2005 Yamaha R1 forks upgraded with: ~Racetech 1.0kg springs ~Racetech G2R comp valves ~Traxxion rebound valves ~cartridges tuned by Traxxion ~Maxima 7wt 125-150 oil @115mm air gap - R1 front fender painted R258 Winning Red - Sebspeed triple clamp set, 35mm offset, integrated bar risers & custom riser bridge - Handlebar conversion to Superbike bar - Brembo 16RCS clutch master - Oberon billet clutch slave - Brembo 19RCS brake master - Tapered head bearings - Carrozzeria front wheel, 6lb - Custom billet rotor adapters - EBC Vee rotors, blue carriers - Titanium rotor bolts - 08 CBR1000RR Tokico monoblock calipers, Cerakoted "Stainless" with black lettering and rebuilt with oem seals - EBC HH pads - Titanium caliper bolts - Mirror extenders - 06 oem windscreen (?) - Dash lcd update film/led converion - Heated grips - NEP throttle lock - Oem CBR900RR grips - Sebspeed windowed clutch cover - Factory Pro shift kit - Throttle body hoses replaced with silicone - Fuel injectors cleaned and matched - A&A Torocharger kit, modified with: ~ added sc oil cooler and custom reservoir ~ modified cooling system to delete right side radiator, added 2014 VFR800 lower radiator with fan - Boost gauge - Knock sensor - Rapid Bike Race fuel & ignition management - VFRD Two Brothers replica big tube stainless header, RC30/8th gen VFR style to accomodate lower radiator - Remus carbon fiber slip on pipe set - Sargent seat - Oem luggage, full three bag set, side racks powdercoated - Ohlins shock with: ~1300lb Eibach spring ~Traxxion 1" spacer ~tuned on Traxxion dyno - Ducati 1098 rear wheel swap with: ~Sebspeed adapter kit ~1098 hub/drive parts and brake ~Braking Wave Fix rear rotor ~titanium rotor bolts ~JT quick change carrier ~titanium sprocket nuts ~Marchesini forged 1098 wheel, 9lb ~Superlite sprocket ~DID 520 chain ~geared -1, +1 (15/44) - Roadstercycle SH847 Super kit - Oem stator replaced with new - New battery - Core Moto custom brake & clutch lines

Just an update to say I finally got to meet the man behind the legend - MOHAWK! He made the epic journey to Mallory Park race circuit and we hung out for the day along with a few mates. Going fast on motorcycles: is there a better way to waste your time/money? What a pleasure to meet the chap whose mods I’ve copied (and many others have done likewise) and who has forgotten more about VFRs than I will ever know. Truly an honour! Unfortunately I wasn’t on the VFR as it had snowed that week and couldn’t get the bike MOTd (registered/roadworthy test for our non UK brethren) in time. Yes, it was bloody cold on track!!! Next time on the VFR though… One of the instructors was John Chambers with that beautiful black VFR750 (see previous post on 7 March) and he enjoyed toying with us on track. Can’t believe how that thing flies. Mohawk, thanks for coming along mate. It was truly an honour and a pleasure to meet you in the flesh!

This opens up options for 5th gen owners, this 8th gen 2014 standard exhaust went straight on no problem. I had to fit a 10mm spacer on the footrest hanger where the exhaust bolts on for a perfect fit.

It refers to Push Rod Length. See this from the Rear Brake section of the Service Manual!

Hi to all this is my vfr After purchase 2021 friend and I did some basic maintenance, it was bit forgotten: But is good now.

I gave up looking for OEM luggage so I installed Hepco & Becker quick release side racks and cases. The quality seems very good.

Short pull through the gears, shifting on boost

5th gen fairings are ABS. The best adhesive to use is actually ABS pipe primer and ABS cement. This isn't a glue, but will chemically solvent weld the material back together. GoldwingDocs has a great how-to

It can go quite a bit higher. Can position it in a wheelie, stoppie or level position

Bought a lift from a VFR guy... first project oil change and replacing left side fairings

I have a 99 VFR800 that I have owned since it was nearly new and I love it but it has always turned in a little slower than I would prefer in the twisties when riding at a pretty good pace. Another way to describe it is to say the steering has always felt a little heavy to me. I assumed the rear spring was not up to the load and that I should get my shock rebuilt, revalved and a proper spring for my weight and was just about to do that. To establish a baseline I got a friend to help me and we measured the sag, front and rear, and to my amazement, everything was right where it should be! The front was 39mm and the rear was at 25. I backed off one level of rear preload and the rear went to 29. I have dropped the front of other bikes over the years to get them to turn faster but that has always made it harder to get the bikes on their center stands. I'm 77 now and I need things to get easier, not harder! I have read about people shimming the rear shock to raise the rear to accomplish the same so I decided to look into that. I found that NAPA Auto sells two body shims that are perfect for doing this. One is 1/8" thick and the other is 1/16th" thick and they are both slotted so you can install one or both without removing the shock. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NCP2641037?impressionRank=2 ($0.79 each) and https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NCP2641038?impressionRank=1 ($0.59 each). I installed the 1/8" thickness first, by itself and found that it dropped the rear wheel to where it was only 1/4" off of the ground when on the center stand and that the bike leaned about as far as I wanted it to when on the center stand. My best guess is that when stock it leaned about 9 degrees and that it now leans about 15 degrees. I think if you put the 1/16" shim in there too that your center stand would not lift the rear tire and the bike would lean too far when on the side stand. Someone said that you could go to a 4mm spacer but I don't think so. 1/8" = 3.18mm. To install one shim is very simple and only takes about an hour or two. First, put the bike on its center stand and remove the seat. Then loosen the bolts that hold the front of the tank in place about 1/2". Now remove the two bolts holding the rear of the tank down. Raise the rear of the tank several inches and put rags or something soft on top of the rear of the airbox to hold it up. I cut about 8" off of the end of a pool noodle and used it to hold the tank up. Now remove the bracket that holds the pivoting piece the tank bolts to. Then remove the large rubber flap that covers the area and then remove the larger bracket the smaller one bolts to. Note: When you do this last step there are two different sized nuts/bolts involved. The large one is a nut and is the nut that holds the shock to the shock cross member. The other one is a bolt and simply holds the other side of the bracket in place. When you remove the large nut you will notice that your rear tire goes to the ground but the stud remains above the cross member enough to put the nut back on easily. If you get a good flashlight you can see that the top of the shock mount has dropped about 3/16" below where it normally is when pulled up tight. At this point it is very easy to slip the thicker shim into place with the slot going around the shock's mounting bolt. Tighten it all back up putting brackets and rubber flaps back as they came off. Now your rear tire should clear the floor only about 1/4". This leaves the center stand fully functional and it makes it even easier to put the bike on the center stand. I took the bike out for about an hour and ran some twisty roads and some higher speed interstates. The bike feels noticeably lighter and quicker to turn in and yet was rock solid at 100 mph. I hit a few small bumps at high speed and introduced some small but rapid steering inputs to see if I got any indication of instability and I didn't. Now I cannot guarantee that you will have the same results so if you make this modification to your bike, ease back into riding it to insure that it feels safe to you. But I will say that for less than 2 hours of time and $0.79 in parts, the result is very nice. I do not claim having found out about this on my own. This has been mentioned many times in the past but not recently and not in this level of detail. I just want to share how easy it was, where you can get the part needed and how much it improved the handling of my bike. It is still not a 600cc race replica in handling but it is substantially better IMO than it was. Vic PS. Adding the 1/8" spacer raises the rear somewhere in the ballpark of 12mm which is roughly 1/2". In the world of suspension mods, this is a substantial change.

39mm is 35% sag. What @bmart is nicely saying in a round about way is that by using spring sag to slightly steepen head angle to "sharpen steering" you are paradoxically adding squishiness in hard corners and turning with a softer spring rate. While it will sharpen handling when the fork is relatively static, it's going to reduce handling at the performance end where it really matters. I know from his other threads that since he roads races a lot, he likes the knife edge feel of a hard linear spring - cause he actually corners and needs a quick handling bike. As we get faster on bicycles or motorcycles, we like more of that precision up front that comes with a stiffer rate. So he like most knows what happens you do what you are suggesting. I use progressives from Hyperpro so I have a bit of the best of both worlds but my static sag is ~30mm and the bike stays up in the travel over real world (not track) roads. Importantly, my fork does not dive and lose handling precision at speed. Any speed, for that matter. I have had RaceTech linears in there and I know what the knife edge feels like for initial turn in, but on progressives I have nearly the same amount of precision, the same once in the turn, but no amount of ruts or potholes in the middle of a turn will matter. The right way to do what you are trying to get to is to separate the two variables. Keep the right spring rate for your preferences and experience level, and drop or raise the fork tubes in the triple clamp to get the right rake or head tube angle you want. I realize from your first post this is exactly what you are trying "not" to do. However, a 5mm drop in fork tube length is going to be something like 2-3mm drop in chassis height above ground, etc. I have never, ever noticed a difference in center standing my bike regardless of where the fork tubes are.

Success!! ...but basically everything rubber turned to rocks, which is probably why It was so difficult to remove. I'll have to order all the bits that are no longer attached 😅 Will also order a new fuel filter with the u-turn on it. Honda does not seem to sell the filter anymore. Anybody have a good experience with Quantum Fuel Systems? https://www.highflowfuel.com/quantum-fuel-filter-for-honda-vfr800-1998-2009-replaces-16700-mcw-d02/ I hate the $40 price for a filter, so I'm open to creativity here. 10-4. Mine was permanently deformed after removal. Partzilla to the rescue! DEI Reflect-A-Gold. I am told it's the good stuff. I ended up damaging everything rubber to get that sucker out, levering with a mini-crowbar, but we made it work! 😁

^ Yes certainly book ahead, since Covid, camping is the new hobby it seems. Used to be great to go out in the middle of nowhere for the weekend, now it's crowded even in remote areas! Good thing you guys are coming out in the summer time, this was Alice's today! Compare to the pics I posed of it above (page 1)... Welcome to Wallyfornia!

Ideally you will want to get the 4 exhaust o-ring gaskets for the cylinder exhaust ports. When we did our initial run we did offer the O-ring gaskets but most folks just got them directly from Honda or Delkevic, especially the latter header production runs. This time, we suggest that most take that route, it'll be a lot easier on all involved. Depending on whether your studs at these locations are rusty or corroded, you may also want to order new studs/nuts, or use this time to use some sort of rust/corrosion remover on them while you're waiting. Just because I'm more critical, I ended up replacing these on both my 5 and 6 Gen when I installed my headers. The only other potential gasket you might need is the main header exit gasket, this will depend on what link pipe you currently have for your exhaust cans. In my 5 Gen case, the link pipe was a metal to metal fit and I did not need/use a gasket or modify the link pipe. In the 6 Gen case, I had to have the link pipe expanded to fit the header exit and there it was also a metal to metal fit, no gasket used. Although I do believe I used some type of sealant at the places where pipes joined together. I hope this helps answer your question. Cheers, D

Big expensive box... So shiny... One of my favorite mods right here... Installing white leds and swapping the factory film for new polarized film to "flip" the lcd screen colors. It really makes it like a new bike. Unfortunately, it's the one thing I really goofed up on as I fully removed the lcd screens when I did not need to. I'm gutted to say I fubar'ed the original circuit board and I had to go buy another one. So although my mileage is now lower, it's not original and my badge of honor mileage is gone. I did mark the cluster with the original mileage so the correct mileage can be preserved accurately. Instead of removing the full panel as shown above, I should have just bent it out of the way like I did the second time here: Testing the film orientation: Done, off: And on: I actually ordered a custom gauge face from Throttlepimp, he did a great job on it but unfortunately the post office took too long delivering it, so it didn't make it in time to be included for the spring ride.

Another little job done, this time with an assist from Mr.Burns and his 3d printer to knock out this little spacer that helps mount the Rotrex oil filter on the A&A bracket. And now for something completely different... a little electrickery fitting the new fuse box and RB Race in the tail. Yaman at Rapid Bike in Florida was pretty adamant that I would void the warranty if I did anything other than look at the box, so when the ground wire was too short to connect to the battery no matter how I routed it, I went ahead and extended it instead of asking... Installing the RB meant connecting the oem O2 sensors. No problem on a normal install... but the 8g downsized to 1 sensor, and although this VFRD header has that + 1 wideband sensor bung, neither were going to work for routing the wires of the stock sensors. So... I used a low temp silicon bronze wire to tig braze the bungs in, minimizing the chance of ruining the exhaust flow with burn-through. The wideband and 8g O2 bungs are plugged for now. I have a wideband AF sensor and gauge that will be installed in the future. The result of the harness recall back in the day was pretty much all of this excess wiring... all now deleted since it was a lot of clutter, and the new SH847 r/r simplifies much of the issue that plagued the stock system anyway. While installing the switch gear I noticed the turn signal switch was a bit sticky, so broke that down and refurbed it. I also lubed up the switch pods and left them soak in some grease to refresh them a bit before installing. And then... Just as I was getting excited about firing this bad boy up for the first time in years... Ethanol gas kicked my ass People, use e-free gas whenever possible. My bike has been living indoors in my air conditioned and heated garage/workshop and never outside. This is what ethanol does to metal when left to sit. Keith at MasonCity Honda set me up wit ha great price on a brand new tank. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I was starting to hit a time crunch to make the '22 Spring ride and I felt it needed to be done. I sourced a very clean, low mile pump assembly from ebay. I installed a brand new oem fuel filter, gasket and mesh pickup on the ebay unit when I installed the Toro kit upgraded fuel pump and saved the other new parts t orebuild my unit in the future. For what it's worth, I took a quick stab at cleaning my old tank with CLR. Results were promising, but I didn't care to take the time risk. I can tackle that in the future to have a backup. Diluted with water... 1 overnight sit made a good improvement Freshly rebuilt new-ish pump vs CLR soaked rusty oem pump... Does carbon fiber make you horny? I pressure tested all the individual parts I worked on And then also the full system!

Teardown continued... without a doubt the dirtiest part of the bike was everything in the vicinity of the left radiator... it had sprung a leak in 2008 at the base of Blood Mountain... caused by a bent fan mount which allowed the fan to cut through the cooling fins as it ran. I was able to tear the bike down in a gas station parking lot at the base of the mountain with the oem tool kit. I used some steel epoxy to patch the rad and refilled the system with pure Georgia Mountain Tap Water. Over the years it developed a new leak and ended up making quite the mess. Elbow grease works wonders at loosening up that old baked on crud The frame and front end were in my way, so I took them off too I went back and forth for a bit before committing to powdercoat the frame, but I was already doing the wheels and subframe, and there'd never be a better time, so off it went. I always liked the way the black frames looked on the newer models. Wheels prepped for powder The front wheel was made by Carrozzeria and came with spacers to fit a Ducati 748 or 916 I think... it is very light at just 6lbs. It was an interesting puzzle to make the wheel work and fit properly with the R1 forks, fender and rotors I had collected. I started by measuring everything and making up cad files for the new triples, rotor carriers, and wheel and caliper spacers. This puzzle is always my favorite part of a project - taking a handful of select parts from various sources and creating a homogeneous result. I designed the triples with R1 fork spacing and a custom offset that is less than the stock 40mm. I've retained the ignition mount, ignition shroud, and steering lock in my design. I also added bar risers and a bridge to adapt a Superbike bar. I sent the fork cartridges and the Ohlins off to Traxxion for a full rebuild and revalve. The forks got Racetech G2R compression valves, Traxxion rebound valves, and Racetech springs. The shock was dyno'd and tuned after installing the new Eibach spring. I was really spoiled by the Brembo controls I had installed on my 750 naked build, so I got myself a set of RCS masters for the brake and clutch on this bike as well.

I spent a few hours on it today. I drained the vinegar, flushed with water, then let some bicarbonate of soda in water sit for awhile. I then flushed twice with water and dried with a heat gun. I left the tank sitting in front of my radiator, I will leave it overnight. I also unblocked the overflow, and the other 2 tubes on the bottom. Hopefully I can start the POR15 process tomorrow. I probably wont have time to complete the whole process. If I can get the de-greasing and metal prep stages done and dry the tank completely out with the heat gun, I can then do the final stage another day without getting any flash rust. I ordered the required gaskets today, I should get them in 1-2 weeks. I also picked up these yesterday: They are in quite good condition especially the fuel level sensor assembly.

At the end of the day the fact you are here sharing this with us is all that matters. I imaging some of the things you took for granted or ordinary before look a little brighter, taste a little better and smell a little sweeter. Life is good. ☀️

Before ordering, I had left a question on their Amazon page asking if they were really injection molded fairings. After I ordered, I got a response from them. They said they were not injection molded, so sorry... I cancelled my order.

...is the right answer! I grew up there, and wouldn't put it on any "must-see" list. The only thing I would consider "missing" from your itinerary is any venturing north of SF. Wine country (Napa and Sonoma Counties) is lovely, and that part of the state has always held a somewhat magical attraction for me. Maybe something to do with the road trips my friends and I used to take to Sears Point all those years ago. But, you'll get some excellent similar territory in the central and mountain parts of the state. We're thinking of visiting CA this summer, too. I haven't been back since 2018... Ciao, JZH