Leaderboard

While looking through my old pics - not for anything VFR related, I came across this shot from late-2019. Probably washed it in preparation for a long winter's nap and decided to record the moment. I think the 6th gen looks pretty good from this angle.

Hi. if you have not seen Steve's wrapped VFR I've attached a pic of both his bikes. Both look amazing. Not sure if he still owns it. Enjoy the pic they booth look stunning.

Hi Bumpers and Bumperettes! I am fine, thanks for asking guys. My health is still getting worse by the year and that was kinda what happened last year. Combine it with the let down of first block not being tunable by me and the fact that i had to start weekly purchases of LSU`s to keep up i just said fuck it. There is no Dyno close who will do RapidBike so the math stoped making sense with all i have to redoo to get shit proper and reliable. Some will say this project never made sense - i DO NOT AGGRE! All one can ask for in life is the ability to do something you love, and have the money to do it nomatter what it is and in a perfect world everything else should be shown the door! 298 days since my last post there is at least some news. I have ordered 2 more MyTuningBikes and enough sensors to sniff all 4 cylinders. I will have to strip her again, remove the headers and weld in 4 bungs. But first i will have to dyno my aprilia sxv and get her ready for a new owner and complete the FJ1100 restauration also going out the door! Getting rid of all the "noise" aka bikes i do not intend to use any longer will be necessary for me at this point in life. well, selling two and added one - cagiva Mito sp525 in very good shape, nothing major and a bike that is so rare i could not help myself, but the VFR will take presedence! To be continued - until completed!

New exhaust is a mash up of stock muffler connectors and cross-over with the rear sections of a Yoshimura 4 into 2 system. Found some gaskets that had the correct ID / OD for the job. The Yosh pieces were complete, but I wanted the cross over pipe and the secure, clamped fitment of the stock connectors. Plus I wanted to re-position the mufflers a bit. New ends of Yosh pipes got gasket compression slots with drilled ends. Had a subframe with a damaged left passenger footpeg mount, so I cut them off and smushed the stubs for mounts. Here's how much higher the new mount location will be compared to "stock". Cleaned up and radiused sub frame mounts and new custom struts for the mufflers. Real nice angle now and super solid.

I think I got it fixed, lots of hoop jumping and I might have to taxes taken out now..but I think it is working now. Freaking crazy set of hoops I had to figure out.

Good looking 6th gen... Related to the winter blues..... winter is long and I do the winter teardown thing... But the wait.... I watch this vid several times a winter, I'm sure plenty of us can relate..

I always replace my ducks when they become excessively sarcastic.

I send a sarcasm sample out for testing every season to Derision Labs. Still concentrated and effective. Can probably go a couple seasons between testing.

Guess I'm an Outlier. Started riding in 1976, but bought my first V4 in 95, a VF700S. Moved on to a VF1100S, then a VF1000R, another VF1000R, an 83 VF750F. 97 VFR750, 90VFR750. As I'm getting on a bit started looking around 12 years ago for something different. Went to 4 consecutive Ecima shows as I was working in Italy and looked at pretty much everything. Nothing, well in my price range, stood out as anything other that lateral move from my VFR's. At the last Ecima show I went to I sat on a Africa Twin and to my surprise, flat footed it. Yeah, it was bolted to the floor and a beta model, big mistake. But I bought one back in the US, and knew before I got back to Maine from where I bought it in NJ, that it was a mistake. Kept it for 5 years, but realized that at 5'7" and 150lbs it was never going to work.Sold it and had another look around. Transalps, Triumphs, Kawasakis etc. Looked at everything. Hate to admit it as I'm a form follows function guy, but quite a few new bikes are just not that good looking in my eyes. Never sold any of my V4's, so riding was not an issue, but what did I finally do after about 2 years of looking? I bought a 2001 VFR800 with 11K on the clock. I am 2 weeks away from punching the the 70 ticket, so I'm aware my riding has a sell by date coming up, but that's where I ended up, again.......... Between the 97 and 01 I managed just about 10K last summer/fall. Looking at a bit more this year if all goes well.

900RR front end w/R6 wheel and 285mm rotor, Z900S calipers with a Brembo master cylinder of unknown origin. The seat subframe is a sliced and diced 5th gen subframe with a scratch built support section for the RC51 tail unit. Seat is a Sargent 5th gen seat that was cut down into a solo. Brakes are delinked and I just finished building a rack so I can moto-camp this year.

Have to agree also. I get asked a lot why I'm still riding an Interceptor at 70. Because it's more comfortable than any other bike I have ridden in the past 15 years. That said at 5'7" and 150 lbs I am the UJR ( Universal Japanese Rider)😁 so I think Honda built the VFR special for me. ..... ..

I visited the breaker today; waaay out in the countryside, pretty sure I could hear banjos in the hills... Turns out my old 99 VFR800 (which I sold in 2019) had made its way to a final resting ground there but I was able to track down and acquire the DMr shock and the CBR600F4 forks which hold a set of Gold Valves and proper set of springs, which I had fitted way back when along with a brake delink. They cleaned up nicely and don't appear to have been abused, as did the 8-spoke wheel. I picked up all these bits for US$350... Now I have a dilemma (but a good one). My current 99 has a nice Nitron R3 shock which I think (to be confirmed) will swap over nicely to the 09 and the DMr shock can drop back into the 99; pretty sure the DMr is no bueno for the 09 as there is no room for the fixed reservoir there. I think I will then transfer the springs, cartridge and rebound adjuster from the CBR forks into the 09. I actually like the 09s brakes so while I do also have a spare set of 4-piston callipers and matching master I don't feel an urge to delink. What fun!

Recent issues from the last 15 years also speculate that this is the year they release the RVF1000R-R!!!!!!!!

This little rascal sitting on a shelf in my shop has a different take...

Oh yes ❤️ Most of us surely has his own bat-cave to take shelter in.

My other bikes are a Kawasaki ZZR250 mini sport bike bought as a winter bike many years ago & eventually treated to some TLC & restored to nice condition. As I'm sure you know from my VFR I can't leave things alone, so its well modified & waiting on a 315cc Ninja 300 engine & wiring loom/instruments transplant. A slow burn project. Handling is ace. It's more recent cousin is a Kawasaki Versys-X 300 (now 315cc high compression) going to be my cheap mpg slow tourer when I retire soon. Gets 300miles from 17L if you keep it below 60mph. Again bought as a winter bike new back in late 2017. Since the winter need ended in Covid (now work from home) it has had a lot of upgrades & will be finished soon. You can check it out here. https://www.kawasakiversys.com/threads/new-panniers.233579/?post_id=1742639#post-1742639 These are a very underrated machine with a loyal following. I've out toured & out ridden some mates with BMW R1250GS's both on & off road 😁

Well well well... the mad scientist strikes again. the ladder trick really did the work! It was VERY sketchy, but after distributing the load with a block of wood up top and securing transversely with easy-straps, I was able to confidently say the magic words "She aint goin nowhere" Next was to punch out the axle... and that was interesting! Quite easy to do, to be honest, and by some accounts on this forum, I consider myself lucky it were so simple. She's a little sour on the "left" (from rider position), but a good clean and grease & I'd wager she's good for another 60,000 miles 😁 Would love to poll advise from the viffer collective consciousness on this one. LMK how bad she is Now for the big battle of the job... Never have I ever struggled with a circlip like this before... I really had to muscle that bad boy off, and even then... I walked it off around its inner radius. (foreshadowing...) But we got there! Yee haw! a very scary job made simple. For years I was timid about taking the rear end apart, but it really is as simple as it could be! (challenging? Yes. Simple? yes. Such things are not mutually exclusive in my mind) Pics of the eccentric/bearings: And now for the whole point of this exercise... enjoy the eye candy, folks: Billet Hel rear brake caliper. And as pretty as she looks on the table... it was time to bring it all back together (and calm my nerves by getting this machine back on the earth!!) --- Reassembly --- So here we went... Step 1: Cir-clip ... well crap... this didn't go my way the first time, barely getting it removed. So what makes me think I can get it back ON.... After rummaging around town getting other bits I may need (across three hardware stores...), Ol Faithful Harbor Freight came to the rescue with the largest cir-clip pliers I have ever laid eyes on... That's right, folks. This Is how I got it back on. 🤣 After dying of maniacal laughter from my successes (and at my struggles from earlier), I press on to button everything up. All goes smoothly, and here's the end results... 🤤 Now... this job isn't complete, as I'll be back in there one more time to be sure that rear brake is clamping onto some kit as premium as itself... Stay tuned!

Some history about the elf racers, Ron Haslam, and Honda: https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Racers/elf_motorcycles.htm

Loosen the left handlebar and slide it up on the fork a fair amount. Now rotate it as far forward as you can to where the banjo bolt is the lowest point in relation to the master cylinder. You smartly have old towels or blankets draped over EVERYTHING at this point. Work the lever, almost slapping at it not fully depressing it. You are not cracking the lower bleeder. Let the air bubbles come up out of the "bleed hole" under the little cover in the bottom of the master. The key is the bleed hole is now the highest point. It is not called a "bleed hole" by accident. I just fully bled two dry clutch systems only doing this in the last couple weeks in the matter of about 15 minutes each, coming back to manipulate the lever a bit while I did other shit. Huge bubbles just keep coming up and out as soon I just touched the lever. And then did a few traditional bleeds to finish up for insurance. Easy-peasy.

You might say that. This is the end of a ride in mid November a few years back from West Palm FL to good old Maine. Agreed to ride a buddies 83 Kawa GPz1100 to store in my garage so we could go cross country the following year. He's a Brit and had no place to store it. Long story short, hit snow around Wilkes Barre Pa. Had to park it up for a day, hit snow again in Binghamton NY, but managed to make it to Albany before pulling the rip cord. Spent another day parked up there. Then just south of Portland, you guessed it, it started snowing again. Took it slow and pulled in around 10 pm. To tired, cold, and exhausted to even remember to bring the saddlebags in. Picture taken around 8am the following morning. So we do have 4 seasons 1. It's not snowing 2. It's about to snow 3. It's snowing 4. It just finished snowing 🙂

Just because it can be done.... (proved to be a bit more "involved"..) The OEM side carter is now a spare ornament.. Planning to ride some 7,000km on her this year, so new tyres are in order. The rear Yokohama (now Shinko) dates back to 1991.... Front brake powerrrrrr...

As mentioned in the Torocharger thread, this bike did make it to Rotterdam, but it is still locked in a warehouse, and the Dutch shipping agents seem very reluctant to just let me have it and take it to the UK. I have imported US bikes into the EU a few times over the last 30 years, once was even into NL, but those were bikes I was riding around Europe as a "tourist". This one is missing things like the battery, fuel and oil, as well as "green card" insurance, but I could supply those things... No doubt the EU's importation rules have tightened over the years, so I will have to be patient, and may need to to wait until the bulk of my US stuff is imported in connection with my move to NL. But the good news is that I appear to have bought a big garage in Leiden (with a nice house on top for the missus), and I'm scheduled to get the keys for it in July. It's a traditional, 18th century "canal house" which has not been converted (as so many of them have been), and the ground floor is still a big open space with a 12' ceiling. It will still be a challenge to get all my bikes (not to mention the van!) inside, but I have some ideas about how I might take advantage of the height to do that... 🤔 Ciao, JZH

I had been curious about running oil for more than 1 season, so 2 seasons on the VFR and I sent a sample to Blackstone Labs, Fort Wayne Indiana. They suggested I could run another season before the next oil change, maybe send another sample in October.

I've discovered simular.... I can't sit bolt upright on a bike for an extended period..tailbone goes "Hey you!" that knocks out quite a few bikes.....I need to have some lean forward. Maybe that is why I never like Helibars..

Problem resolved I thought I would bring the group up to speed on finding the problem to the "Loss of throttle control and stalling" after I purchased this bike I had only taken it on some very short trips due to the issue with the stalling, I decided to take the bike out and see if I could figure out what the common denominator was with the stalling, what I found was it was happening when I would be slowing down and it was shifting down in response to the decreased speed, what it was doing was not releasing the clutch enough at low rpm and causing the bike to stall, along with that I was also having it stall at times when just sitting at idle and that is what caused me to take longer figuring this all out, I had two issues, one was the clutch issue and the second was varnished injectors due to the low miles on the bike and it had sat for a couple of years before I bought it. So I dosed it with 12oz of Techron Complete fuel system cleaner and then ran it out on a "Closed course" wide open to clean the injectors and then ran the transmission calibration on it and between the two services it completley solved the stalling when slowing down and the stalling while idling issues, plus the transmission shifts smoother then it ever has since I've owned it! Regards, Kent

Multistrada also, 2016 and then a 2020. Although I hung on to my 5G VFR and added another. I've looked at the Suzuki GT and GX and the Tracer GT, they have great reviews but the build quality didn't seem as polished as the Honda. But maintenance costs on the older V2 Multi are ridiculous, one benefit to going back to a Japanese bike.

I would be pretty wary as amazon is rife with knock off stuff that is very poor quality. I don't think it's worth the risk to save a little money and then come back to bite you. Just my opinion.

Hi everyone. I was an active member here a long time ago and really enjoyed working on my 2001 VFR800. When I owned my 800 and Honda announced the 1200, I was so impressed by the initial photos that I whipped together this video. Ever since then, I've thought about buying a VFR1200 but there were so many bikes that I wanted to try (around 20 or so!). The time was finally right, and yesterday I brought one home. It's a 2010 with only 9,400 miles. It has some nice modifications, and I'll ride it as-is and see what else I might like to change. I also own a first year 1975 Honda GL1000 Gold Wing that I restored, a 2015 KTM 1190 ADV (favorite bike ever), and a 2021 Husqvarna 701 Enduro. I'm looking forward to learning more and interacting with other owners!

Seems to have been the main fuse holder. I was running the bike the other night on the stand and fiddling with stuff under the seat and noted it seemed hotter than I'd expect, and some conductor was escaping from what looked like a somewhat dodgy crimp - my fault during my build no doubt - the whole unit was looking fairly trashy so I replaced it and soldered the joints. (I know crimps are generally held to be superior but I was joining two different wire gauges and didn't have the right size crimps for the larger of the two) Just ran around the loop here and couldn't get any more symptoms out of the bike over bumps so I'm provisionally declaring it solved until the next issue pops up. Thanks again for the able assistance of forum members.

First Pic looks like a Dutch Unicorn in the background. With boobs.

Rolled it outside for it's first run before the next weather system rolls in. Sounds F-ing great in person. Throttle response is snappy and it settles back down to idle nicely. Stoked to ride it when the weather cooperates. Upgrade Kit First Run

Well, she will be "seeing Sarah" this year... She's in good company Okay...... Better safety wire them suckers...

Roger that. I'm originally from MA and spent a lot of time in NH/VT/ME and upstate NY. I remember snow!

Rear brake set-up copying what I did on the RC26. Front end going in 1988 VFR 41mm lower triple and RC36 upper. RC36 bars. Quite a bit of wiring re-routing involved with moving the fuse box off of the triple clamp. Everything plugged in there.

Oh, you'll probably be seeing more of the same. Thanks to browser cookies and trackers you'll probably see ad space on random sites you visit in the future showing similar products. 😇

I've test ridden both the 660 and the 800 when I was considering swapping out the Crossrunner. The 660 lacked the punch of the VFR and whilst the 800 was a great ride, it costs a lot and I'm still a little doubtful of the build quality of a bike that would have to be ridden through English winters. Neither of them are a replacement for the VFR1200 though. I decided to keep the Crossrunner as my commuter (170 mile round trip) until I retire in Jan 26 as it is simply brilliant. It's a proper VFR but with a really easy riding position which I need at my age. This has brought me to my VFR1200F. I love this bike. I've spent a lot on making it a better, fun ride and able to tour too but the riding position takes it toll and so I've purchased a VFR1200X Crosstourer. I know the hp is well down on the F but everything else works for me. I've only managed to take her out for a short check ride (bought unseen, 5 yrs old with less than 900 miles on the clock and a full Honda annual service history and I had 2 weeks to hand her back so she needed a test ride) and I believe the bike will give me what I want, Shaft-drive, bigger fuel tank, perfect riding position, big luggage and that motor. She's stuck at the back of the garage atm and for various reasons, wont be coming out until my new double garage is built and I can move the CR and CT in along with the F and Fi-1 coming over from my son's garage. I wouldn't mind a test on the new V2 Duke but I'm not a big fan of all the tech (more to go wrong?) and it's very, very expensive so unlikely to really be a contender. The CT was a bargain imo and I can't wait to get her sorted and regularly ridden.

I don't believe they were sold in the USA, you had the original Ninja 250 (1986-2007) right up until the new 250R was released in 2008, the rest of the world got the ZZR from 1990 depending on country, until the new 250R was released in 2008. Mine is a 2001 model imported from France as UK only got them in 91/92 IIRC. They are slightly more powerful than the Ninja 250 & make around 26hp at the wheel. My 315cc project will take that to circa 44rwhp which the chassis is more than capable of dealing with. I have added a KR1-S front end, with cartridge fork internals with twin disc's & an Ohlins shock with KR1-S alloy swingarm. It handles like a scalpel & makes the VFR feel like a bus 😂

I use to be 5’7” but at 72, I’m a fair bit shorter😳. If I had an Africa Twin or KTM Adventure, I’m reasonably sure it would fall over, a lot. RC79 with the low seat is all I can handle, but I do get sore knees and neck. My Viffer now has 115,000kms on it, so maybe I need to find something new.

I think other engine interesting configurations have spoilt me, I test rode a GT but it had too much in-line rasp for my tastes, but a decent handler and nice ride position. I have also ridden the NT1100 but that felt a bit vanilla and I was happier when I jumped back onto my ST1300. I am hard to please. I wish Yamaha would do a proper GT version of the MT-10; that engine is magical, smooth, FAST, sounds great, and in spite of reports does not use more fuel than a VFR unless you engage the afterburners frequently. The 17L tank is a limitation as realistically the low fuel light is on at 13L used, compared to the VFR at more like 17L, but the ride position and leg room encourage you to keep going.

While there's no way I would sell the 5th gen or the Valkyrie, (too much TLC emotional equity in them)(never say never) I always peruse newer bikes too. In the tradition of N + 1...... I am looking at the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT. Havent pulled the trigger, but its tempting....some good deals going on...

I will be taking a close look at the Tiger Sport 800 when they have a demo available locally. I have a few bikes that are 'additional" to my two VFR800s. A Yamaha MT10SP which has a banzai motor, upright ergos and an amazing chassis, but really needs a bigger tank, and you pay the price for the handling with a fairly jarring ride at times. I also have an ageing 2005 ST1300 which is big and heavy but dances well in corners and has all-day ergonomics and a fuel tank to encourage that. The rising price of bike registration here is making me reconsider my many-bikes approach. Hence the interest in the Tiger Sport.

I loved my last 6th gen and never planned to sell it. When my daughter started riding, I got her a CB500x and then started riding it myself on occasion. After riding it in the mountains, I realized that lighter and more comfortable was a good thing. I was in my early sixties and had no plans to two up or do long days on the open road so I started looking. The CB was a great little bike for carving up tight mountain roads but only had 48hp. I ended up with a Tiger660 that has the same chassis specs as a early CB500X but 79hp and hard bags that don't require an ugly mount. Best of both worlds now. The Tiger will run circles around a VFR in the mountains, can tour comfortably, and is even fun on the track. I know of seven or more VFR owners who have switched to the Tiger660. If you need a little more, there is the new Tiger800 sport. No experience with it yet.

Whenever someone mentions Elf I always think of the front swingarm! I took the photo below quite a while ago. Speaking of stickers, bonus points for the Cycle sticker.

My sarcasm is showing...

Used the winter months to replace fluids in my 02. Changed the engine oil and filter, fork oil, dust caps and oil seals, brake fluid and brake pads on the rear. Coolant is a year old so I skipped that. Noticed the rear caliper wouldn't slide so I partially disassembled all calipers and cleaned and greased the slide pins. Fixed an oil leak at the stator cover by replacing the gasket. Reused the gasket once before. Didn't hold for too long. Removing the old stuck on gasket was a faff. Stator still looks good.

OK, it's done. Took way more effort and time than I thought it should have, but I freely admit there probably was a lot of operator error on my part involved. This proves once again just because what worked on my 3rd and 4th Gens, doesn't necessarily mean it will work on my 5th. They are different animals. In the end I loosened the top cable at the TB. I did loosen the 2 screws there also, but because I could not get the drum off the shaft, I just tightened them back up. I the took the front brake MC off, and then as advised here, took off the clip on. I was a bit surprised as my eyeball metrics said it wouldn't go. It did, rather easily. Getting the old throttle tube off required a lot of grunt and working the tube back and forth, but it finally was free. Today I started with installing the new one and had to walk away a few times. Tried putting in the top ferrule first then stretching the cable on the bottom, then played with holding the drum on the TB at different points to see if I could get the last 2mm I needed. No go, so installed the bottom ferrule and had a go at the top cable. Finally after a LONG time got it to go in by pushing the throttle all the way forward and getting the ferrule seated with needle nose vise grips. I also used a bunch of words I only use when I was working on ships. Thanks Terry and Lorne for suggesting removing the clip on, it made a huge difference. Pics, or it didn't happen.🙂

I knew it was time when I realized that every time I got on my VFR I would think... How can something this cramped be this heavy?