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Finally installed another thing I got from @SEBSPEED: I also installed a new black plastic ignition ring (covered in Cerakote trim wipes), and wet sanded and polished the ignition switch face while I had it all apart. Twenty years of key scratches gone! Got a new key ring with a soft lanyard so I can hang my fobs and whatnot over the front, and hopefully prevent future damage. But the Cerakote should be waaaaay more resilient, I tried to lightly scratch the underside with metal and its not trivially easy like the original silver paint over aluminum.

I had been looking locally for a very nice 94 - 97 VFR for a couple years with no luck. There were some examples, but none were as nice as I wanted or cheap enough to change my mind to a project. This is the day my 95 rolled out of the transport van from across the country. 11K miles. Two seats, this modified one and a stock one that was still to arrive in a box, along with another seat cowl and the original mirrors. Damn near perfect. Well, it arrived last Summer and I had some great rides on it in between painting my house. The Staintune sounds just lovely and the bike runs perfect. I did a couple small things, one of which buying another set of passenger pegs and doing a delete. If the muffler didn't have that lower mount I wouldn't have bothered on the right side. But I didn't want an empty bracket hanging there and I sure as shit was not gonna start cutting and grinding on the Staintune. Took HOURS to get it right. I had to fill and shape the voids after removing that much bracket. I could have always went with a welded up or custom alloy bracket, but I wanted to at least try and mod the Honda piece for a somewhat stock-ish look. It actually looks way better in person, that is as small as I could make it and have something left to work with. Left side was "easy". Still had a pretty good amount of time shaping and blending. Wanted to retain seat latch and handle. Then this Summer I was balls deep again finishing painting my house. I had taken the bodywork off in prep for going thru a few things and life got in the way. So when I (finally!!) finished the house this Summer, wrapped up the outdoor projects and winterized all the other bikes, she rolled back on the lift.

So got word back from sfdownhill, looks like builder is ready to move forward...:)

Just saw this on cycle trader....

Got the bike rejetted today and finally made the 100hp club, just! Dynojet main jets changed from 122 up to 136, needles moved two places and then some fine tuning of fuel enrichment = 101hp at the wheels. totally transformed the bike and enjoyed every second of the 60 mile ride home!

Here's the final look - so much better. Cerakote and caliper overhaul by @SEBSPEED! Arashi rotors up front, Galfer lines, and new Cerakoted plastic pieces including the chain guards. I have a new rotor for the back but that requires taking out the rear hub. Have the parts for that, will do it next time. Rear brake is waaaaay better than it was, including the front linked piston. One observation that will probably be common to a lot of VFRs that have "unknown" maintenance for years: there was a whole lot of rust both in the parts and the fluid, that never went clear regardless of how much I tried to clear it. The large junction on top of the battery side proportional valve is ferrous and rusts in addition to the banjo bolts. Galfer provides a stainless steel replacement for that part. I don't think anything inside the valves is ferrous but the contaminated fluid will sit and gunk up the insides. In the end, I probably pushed at least 40 oz of brake fluid through the whole bike to flush contaminated fluid out. I used a C clamp on the front left caliper to activate or half activate the SMC, and then some circus tricks to get a pretty good flow of clear fluid from the rear reservoir all the way through. Took a while but necessary. Of all the changes the increased braking up front from the rear pedal is probably the most noticeable.

If it's a creep towards Faceboof and that's all there is left, then I'm out. It was fun while it lasted. You will NEVER find me there. FUCK FB.

Dutch winters aren't what they used to be.... But I ain't complaining

Update: Sorting out the details from the back to the front. rear indicators: I bought some BMW LED indicators, that look nice but the fittings are flimsy plastic and i wasnt happy with them, so I decided to upgrade them. flimsy removed the fitting, drilled it out, and tapped an 8mm thread into it Took an 8mm stainless bolt and drilled the centre out of it on the lathe, then chopped the head off it then threaded it into the plastic part, nice and snug back together, new and improved Next job, seat release mechanism. I kept the vfr seat lock, and acquired the Speed triple seat release mechanism, Need to mount the VFR lock and mate it up to the S3 mech. VFR lock: S3 seat release mech bracket to mount the lock in the hole and stop it turning: Its industrial, but it wont break 😀 new arm to take the end of the pull cable - I used a 10mm bolt, drilled a 8mm hole in it, then slotted it to take the nipple Removed the arm from the VFR lock, flattened it, and trimmed it down, then welded the 'nipple holder' on (he said nipple 😄) Needed some dressing at this point, but thats the last photo I had of it Modified the lock mounting bracket so it holds the pull cable outer in place et voila, sorted, and another job ticked off.

I think they are a great value. I have them on: 1984 VF1000F 1986 VF1000R 1988 NT650 Hawk 1995 VFR750F 1998 ST1100 Soon one for a 1989 CB-1. Rebound damping adjustment, separate ride height adjustment, threaded pre-load collar. The spring rates that come on them are good, if a touch on the stiffer side, which I like. They have transformed all of the above bikes. And they are good looking if you have a bike that you can see the shock. If you buy from biketyresuk on eBay you can swap out the spring fo your choice for a up charge. I don't think it's terrible. They are also the eBay store for the UK YSS R&D center (FireFox Racing), so you are getting good support. They have answered my emails quickly and politely when I have inquired about length or application questions. Fully rebuildable too.

Problem is... due to way RR runs stator at 100% full-time, ANY connector will end up getting burnt and fried over time. Especially if you make Honda's mistake and use bare brass terminals with no protective coating against corrosion. People have tried replacing burnt connectors with NEW ones.... nope... Only real solution is tie stator wires across with proper western-union/linesman knot, solder and cover with adhesive heat-shrink tubing. Contact surface-area and conductivity is lots higher with solder (less resistance and heat). No exposure to moisture to cause corrosion. It's done this way in pro-motorsports (F1/MotoGP), aerospace and military applications for performance, durability and reliability.

Seen last weekend in Italy Didnot ask the price..

You should be ashamed at all of that garage space. I'm now up to 7...and can still walk around.

Today was the first sunny day in a couple of weeks, and since my insurance runs out in a week or so I took my VFR on some errands. Sunny ≠ warm, and there was a brisk wind, too. But I found a favourite spot to snap this piccy for posterity. This is atop King George terrace in Victoria, BC.

Tower dates back to 1260....

It keeps getting smaller! Plans are: Steel braided front brake lines Race Tech springs Tapered steering bearings (future proofing while I'm here) Pulling carbs and documenting (not sure if somebody's been in there) Replacing all coolant orings Remove PAIR (creating block-off plates with the original fitting ends) Repainting headers YSS shock (decided to do it while I had the whole rear apart) Replacing Comp Werkes fender eliminator with a re-worked stock unit I think that's it. Getting even smaller... Here's the shock Glad I went thru the cooling system. I was pretty surprised the two on the heads were this bad. They were almost goo...

Hi Bmart. If it was my bike, I'd go through those fuses and replace every one of them, they are most likely original and show signs of corrosion or oxidization on the legs. Give the contacts a wash with something like Metho on a firm small brush, then fit the new fuses with a small amount of Ox-Gard on the legs of each fuse. Given the not so good look of your Sub Fuses, have a good look at the state of your two Main 30amp Fuses. Do the same for the three legged Clutch diode, cleaning its contacts, and lightly shine up the Diode Legs with very fine emery paper or similar, and also a coating of Ox-Gard on its legs before re-inserting. As for your instrument LCD. Most definelty the two main connectors making pressure contact to the PCB are a cause for the LCD to go blank(not the only cause!), as they can develop high resistance contacts. Again a good clean of both PCB copper contacts and the connector contacts then a light coating of Ox-Gard will help greatly. Do this then reassess the LCD situation. Good Luck.

Finally after dealing with hurricane Fiona damage and getting ready for winter here I have found time to put the 1999 restore project in its winter home. Looks like I have some extra work to do as well, I had a quick look at the stator wires etc. and noticed they were dam warm on the final warm up for a winter oil/filter change. I pulled the connectors apart and I would say there is signs of heat damage. And lastly I came across something I have heard of many times but nothing seen, a mouse nest on top of the air filter, I have to surmise that this nest was in the air box out west and hitched a ride here The little bugger was even chewing on the inside of the air box

I think it looks like a neat bike and sounds pretty good. It also gives me VFR1200F vibes, the rear-ends of both bikes look somewhat similar in my opinion… What do you guys think?

All of that 😂 And that perhaps reducing friction in a device that is designed around a specific coefficient of friction isn't a good idea, as it will ultimately reduce static friction force and load capacity of said device. I tested some ceramic coating on a small corner of my tile floor the other day. I slid sideways pretty easily. The floor works better at a higher static friction coefficient. I do not have a lab where I can test for different surface treatments, nor do I have a design specification for a minimum coefficient of friction to match load capacity of the floor to foot system. I cannot predict when I might slide even if I don't slide all the time or haven't yet. So I left that alone and followed the label on the bottle that basically says "LOL no don't do that."

Had a great time on Saturday. It was a glorious day for me, thanks for sharing the ride. Let's plan to do this again in 2023, hopefully more than once. Great to see Brian F., St. Stephen, and RC1237V again, and good to meet Tirso and RRluv2RIDE! Sorry you could not make it, tjclyde, we missed you this time. Here is a bit of video I took, check it out to see what your taillights look like...that's about all I saw of you guys on the road, especially Jim and Brian F. NOTE: Click on the gear in the lower right corner and adjust Quality to 1080P to optimize resolution.

I don't post on VFRD very much. Now, this post is going to be long, kinda weird but......what the hell. After some good amount of time has gone by, I'm betting that the good souls of VFRD will have forgot or forgiven my transgressions anyway...........even my spelling. It could very well be that the reason a lot of you folk are having a hard time finding "Motorcycle Oil" is because I have most of it. Yep, sitting here on the eastern slopes of the Rockies I have amassed a fortune in "Motorcycle Oil". Back when most people were running for the toilet paper aisle in April 2020, yours truly, Bronco, was running for the "Motorcycle Oil" aisle. What say you we take a trip in time, a trip of mind, using a bit of the inventory of "Motorcycle Oil" as our time machine....... First up, we have this beauty, Advantec Ultimate; Ah man alive, those days were good, and bad. Yep, I had decided to bring in the new Big Slant K1200 Beemer to join up with the K75 and a Honda. Yes there was always a Honda around for some reason. The big K bike was a hot rod, and no one will ever convince me different: Next up we have an absolute classic; Shell Advance. Yes sir, I can't say I've ever used the shit but holy cow I have plenty on hand. I'm getting old and senile and to tell ya the truth I can't recall when and how I came upon this gem and started hoarding........ Next up in the "Motorcycle Oil" adventure is one of my go to stand by ole reliables. Yep, its Lucas and it is in-expensive. Being priced right, I naturally can literally fill a tanker truck with my supply of this stuff and use it to this day, regularly: Anything else around? Well sure. Here we have an oddball. Used by heaps of folks by the heaploads this tractor oil is used in motorcycles of all kinds. In my books it then qualifies as "Motorcycle Oil". I use it every year as the last oil change of the year and run it for the first month of the season as I'm getting my legs back under me on the ole motor-bi-cicle. I especially like that common sentiment says that conventional oil should not be mixed with synthetic; so I do it just to be a prick sometimes. It comes in at $37.99 Canadian Bucks and despite not being carried at most outlets a guy can buy pallet loads at Princess Auto for that price. Jolly Good. I say!

And sometimes, single is ok too

Yep, twins are seductive indeed...

Since I haven't ridden since Sept 12th on my last Sierra ride, I took the Tenere out for a shakedown run to make sure all is good. Some guy on a CB1000R smoked me down Almaden Expressway, but when it turned into a twisty Hicks road, I passed him with ease. He was leaning waaay off the bike, crossed up in the slightest of corners. Reminded me of my old self... Anyway, tore it up to Mt. Uhiminum and caught him again on the way down Hicks, since Hicks is a loop, and Uhminum is out & back. The new gearing on the T7 is not as zippy, but once you get going, it pays in dividends, as long as you don't flub a shift and bog it. The range and lower RPM on the highway are well worth the loss of grunt down low. The tires slide nicely on gravel, wet pavement, and other debris but I hope I won't be testing the crash bars again. I will ride to work in the morning to gauge what gear I will need for Saturday, plus tear it up one more time on the way home! Can't wait to see you guys again Saturday!

https://cfl.craigslist.org/mcy/d/mims-honda-nc30-baby-rc-30-big-bang/7551432289.html if I didnt already have one, I'd be all over it

You tried HispanicSlammer or Yokel? https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/staff/ PM Duc2V4 and sfdownhill directly, they can put your friend on the list. It's going to be awhile before there is a new header build, if it happens, so no rush. This forum, like vfrw, is slowly fading away. It isn't bad, the bikes are just getting old, not as many riders left, people moving on, the ST models are dying off. (Hopeful Suzuki's GT has some success.) These forums are expensive and time consuming and generally thankless, unpaid work. Mike West built vfrworld from the remains he inherited of a hondavfr.com forum 20 years ago. At this point I never see more than a handful of people here or there. Whether it's FB or some other platform, it's much easier to let someone else manage the hardware for virtually 0 cost.

Still better than FB!

If I might add, do not neglect the ground side of things.... the spider connector taped into the wire harness, left side, and the grounding screw on the right side frame.

Finally installed a quad lock stem mount on the VFR, including vibration damper and USB charger. Haven’t ridden with it yet, but the visibility looks good.

Meh, meh - the extreme creations kit lets you convert fairly easily and looks boss -

I spoke with sfdownhill last night and he is going to confirm with the pipe builder this weekend that he’s ready to take on more work. Should have an answer by this coming Monday…

I've heard of Gutter Oil as well............ But too me I say this; I want to say THANK YOU to all the contributers on this Motorcycle Forum. You will never know the number of hacks who have saved themselves countness hours of frustration and retrace of bad road. I raise my glass of early morning whiskey and say: Thank you

Very cool. The pull of the liter V4 is nice. I think I have 135s in my 85 with a Full Sudco 4-1. My 86 with the same Kerker slip-ons, K&N, snorkels intact, pretty sure I have 130s. Both bikes shimmed stock needles and 40 pilots.

The world is flat? Covid was a hoax?! What.....?!?!?

Yup, fun ride with the former norcal hooligans, as well as RR and Tirso. The RWB 07 and the yellow and red 5th gen brought more color to the ride! I crashed (not literally) in San Carlos last night, headed back north through the city this morning on a perfect day. Thanks again Jeff, you always draw a crowd!

I think Wal-Mart is one of the reliable sources for 10W-40, but I don’t think it’s in Canada? Your bearings, rings, and other lubricated surfaces are designed around a specific viscosity. But 10W-30 will work, as will 15W-40 if you can find it. 10W-30 is called out as an alternative in my manual with its own temperature range. The downward push on viscosities and why you can’t find it is a corporate average fuel economy thing. It’s kind of like shaved tires. It’s a cost savings and/or cost avoidance for the vehicle manufacturer, and they transfer far future risk to you that is unlikely to materialize while yo own the car so no one cares. It’s understood in engineering land that this is happening but unfortunately vehicle consumers don’t broadly know.

And in other news, Ducati continues to change over all its twin-powered bikes to V4s.

Came across this article recently and after finally getting to make this ride this summer I felt compelled to post it. Definitely one of the best routes in the PNW and probably on the top of my list now. https://www.roadrunner.travel/tours/classic-roads-us-12-through-montana-and-idaho/

Sorry for a very late reply. The bike was rideable so I didn't want to have down time during riding season. I was afraid it might take a long time to fix or I might have to give up and take it to the shop thus missing out on nice weather. The problem was in the bad ground as grum expected. Turning on the headlights or high beams applied voltage to the ground wire of the front electrical system (yellow connector) as well as ground wire of all sensors (TPS, IAT, O2, MAP share common ground - green orange). This was causing the bike to use more fuel and behave wierd because of wrong fueling. I fixed the problem by soldering a piece of wire to the back of the yellow connector and running it directly to battery negative terminal. I didn't want to disassemble other stuff to find where the green wire from yellow connector usually grounds, as this is a simple fix that cannot hurt anything else. Now sensors have no voltage on the ground and work as they should. I reset the mapping of rapid bike as it had adjusted the fueling to compensate somewhat for wrong sensor readings. Now the bike is more responsive of course and it will improve with time as the auto tuner does it's thing. I expect the fuel efficiency to increase as well. I want to thank everyone for help, a great community this is.

Now I have this crazy idea to put a 5th gen engine in a RVF400. 🤔 I had a guy measure the width between the frame rails & its just wide enough 😁

I've been using the stuff for a few years now and it works really good. Couple nice things is it won't harm paint in the short/medium term, so a spill is not disastrous. It only attacks rust, not metal, unlike acids. So while anything that has rusted can be prone to rust again if left bare (and wet), the good metal is still good. Can be used multiple times before it's effectiveness wanes. Also biodegradable, no nasty chemicals to try and get rid of. Don't leave aluminum in it tho, like your gas cap with the tank upside down. Alum no likey.

There’s my mistake, I was on my Triumph 😂

The VF pulled commuting duties today. Yesterday the MV went to Gouda.