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I agree with everything Grum says and would emphasize the need to establish that the two feet of the stand are both in contact with the ground. I also echo his suggestion to place all of your body weight on your right foot. The trick with bikes with center stands (I've owned 20 bikes with center stands over the last 57 years of riding) is to come to the realization that you're not really supposed to lift the weight of the bike UP, you're using your body weight with a LEVER (the center stand) to press the center stand DOWN while you are guiding (okay, pulling) the bike backwards so that it can rock upward on the curved legs of the center stand. Some bikes are more optimally balanced for this: I have a BMW R1200RT that weighs a hundred pounds more than the VFR but it is easer to put it on its centerstand. Keep practicing putting your bike up and down on the centerstand (preferably on a level, concrete floor, at least at the beginning) and once you get the feel of it, it'll be a piece of cake. I'm new to the VFRD Forum myself but it's full of great and helpful information. Mine is a 2015 VFRD that I bought new at the end of 2018. .

Contact Iconic Motorbikes about a classified ad or setting up an auction with them, they have the attention of the market that will appreciate what you've done.

Hello! New to VFRs owner here from the Southern California area 😎 It's a 1992 VFR 750F, 40k miles, stock. Not perfect, but has been loved and survived fairly well! Still going through the basics, familiarizing myself with it. 🧰 Picked it up to try something totally different, with a bunch of character, more comfort and cheaper to run. I've always had a soft spot for early 90's bikes as well, and couldn't pass it up. Past bikes I've owned 1979 Suzuki GS850GN x2 (love me some air cooled 70's as well, Suzuki 8 valves especially) 2010, 2013 and 2014 BMW S1000RR (got a thing for s1krr first gens, another well built machine)

Yep, I remember that guy Bent. I have only been on Wayah Road once since then so don't know what condition it is in. TMAC used to be a 60 rider event that was not to be missed. The old Franklin Motel has been bulldozed. Many stories were told at that place. We used to rent the entire motel for the weekend. I remember TimC, MaxSwell, Katherine, Sweeper, and too many others to name. Sadly, the event has faded away as faces have changed through the years. I took a trip to the area two years ago and it is not nearly as infested with sport bikes as in years past. Parking Harleys at The Gap Store seems to be the in thing to do now. There were some expert riders back in the day that were fun to ride with. To the OP, nice write up that begs for "the dark side" of The Dragon. I've ridden it too many times to guess and I have more respect for it than any other road anywhere. It is extremely challenging in many ways. When the once Gov. of Tenn., Bredeson, infested the road with cops, things did change. There were letter writing campaigns, complaining, you name it, to no avail. It was like being infested with Nazi's. I've been stopped only for a license and registration check. That, unfortunately, hasn't changed. This whole issue was caused by the stupid few. The road has no cell phone coverage so if you get hurt, you won't get attention for a long time. I can ride the road "fast" but that became a "been there done that" thing. As far as slower vehicles blocking traffic. there are two things to do. Either pass them or follow them. The typical "wreck" on The Dragon is a head on because someone isn't smart enough to stay in their lane or a Harley rider with not enough skill to negotiate 318 continuous turns. Fond memories include a trip there alone and seeing the largest black bear I've ever seen ambling across The Dragon with it's thick coat flopping on his (her) back as he trotted across the road. Being there in the off season when I could ride a down and back run seeing not another vehicle on it. Katherine leading a "slow" group then pulling over on The Cherohala to let me lead a group that wanted to move on out. She was a rider's rider. The good news about The Dragon is that there are so many roads better to ride in the area. Highway 28 from Franklin to the Gap Store is infinitely better and safer. Hwy. 209 (I think) to Hot Springs (?) is nice and the Cherohala Skyway is much more fun. Wayah Rd.,, parts of 129,, and maybe better roads in N. Georgia like The Suches Loop (nice one), and too many to name. I would like to do another trip up there but one thing that always makes me think twice is the amount of body pain that place can produce during and afterwards! I've done 425 miles of nothing but curves there in a day but the body pays for it in pain. Age has nothing to do with it of course. ; ). Anyway, OP and TimC, you bring back memories. MaxSwell needs to chime in here.

For those who have followed my VFR saga over the last 11 years, wIll be very familiar with my highly modified Y2K model. Headline figures are 118rwhp, 35Kg lighter than stock. Carbon wheels, lots of Titanium nuts+bolts, screws, axles etc. Full info on request. I'm considering selling it, so thought I'd gauge if there is any interest at sensible money. To give an idea of cost to get to this point its cost me approximately £6500 (circa US$8500) . No good reason for sale, I just don't use it much so could use the cash for other projects. PM me if interested.

Had a ‘90 Civic EX Sedan, 5-spd. The absolute best car I’ve ever owned. At my now ex’s insistence, it got traded on a ‘96 Accord Sedan LX. What a letdown of a car. Honda really lost their way, for awhile. Fast forward ~15 years and I find myself sitting amongst a bunch of Honda automobile assembly workers, at a MotoGP race. Their commentary on Honda’s quality downfall mirrored my impressions. They say everything went to shit, mid-90’s. When I commented the newer stuff seems nice again, they say the quality is nothing like the earlier cars and they’ve become nothing but complexity. They say Honda have cheapened everything we can’t see and touch, trying to offset weight of all the government-mandated safety stuff. I’d love to have a brand new ‘90 Civic Si Hatchback, right now.

Honda Civic which I have. 40+ mpg., goes well, and while plain Jane, is the best buy I ever made in a car including a Z06 piece of garbage quality.

The Honda 5th Generation VFR800 in the UK seems very undervalued to me. No idea why that is. Maybe they are a victim of their own success and there are loads of them still around because they were so well engineered. Anyway, hope you get what you want for it.

Thanks for sharing man, sometimes loosing something (a job..) pushes us to actually live a little 😎🤘🏻 real nice photos 💥

Given all the mods the bike has, that seems fair. Interest I think will come from the membership here who know the bike best and its stewardship vs maybe an auction where it would be viewed by many as another 20 year old bike. I'd be sorry to see it leave your hands. I've followed what you done on it for a long time and you've done a spectacular job with it. If you leave the V4 fold as an owner, my hope is that you'll continue to hang out here and continue to post with your knowledge and wisdom. Cheers

Wife and I decided spur of the moment to head up to Maggie Valley for two nights. Found a place to board the dog, set extra food and water out for the cats, and we left Tuesday morning. First, a quick stop for gas revealed a battery on its last legs, so we headed to Carolina Powerhouse Honda for a new one. 20 minutes later, we were on our way. As far as slab miles go, one could do a lot worse than Interstate 26 West from Columbia to Asheville, and we made decent time and most importantly arrived at the Quality Inn in Maggie Valley safe and dry. The hotel has been recently refurbished and the room was clean and exceptionally quiet with fast, free wifi.. We walked around the small downtown area, had a decent burger and calzone for dinner, and then ice cream. I'd like to say we got up at the crack of dawn to hit the road to the Tail, but that doesn't happen. The route to the Tail from our hotel was quite spectacular. We had to stop and don the rain gear for 20 minutes or so while on Moonshiner 28, but what a beautiful, well maintained road! We even cheered on a maintenance worker sweeping wood chips off the blacktop. When we arrived at the south end of US 129, we stopped at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort for a quick break and to get the lay of the land, so to speak. Wife wanted to go in and get a T-shirt, but I told that it's bad juju to get the T-shirt before we did the ride. It was probably 2:30 before we actually started up the Tail of the Dragon. After just a mile or so, I could tell this was going to be an epic ride! The big Viffer was in it's happy place, even with someone as inexperienced as me. Hell, a rather obese guy on what looked like (and smelled like) a 70's two stroke 500cc passed us. After a few more miles, other vehicles coming back down were giving us the slow down signal, so we knew something was up. Turns out somebody on a 2020 Harley trike went over the edge. When we passed, she was up near the edge of the road, laying on her back, but moving. We found out later that she died on the scene. https://myfox8.com/news/the-dragon-woman-dies-in-motorcycle-accident-on-popular-scenic-mountain-drive/ We finished the rest of the Tail without incident, but certainly had a great time. On the way back down, we had to stop for quite a while while the accident scene investigators did their job. It was quite a somber atmosphere among all of the riders. We did get out T-shirts, and then started the long journey (felt that way after the riding we had already done up to this point) back to Maggie Valley. We followed a pair of Harley riders along Moonshiner 28, and they both did an admirable job through all of the curves. The roadway was still wet from the earlier rain, and they had just cut the grass, so there was a lot of wet clippings on the road, so nobody really pushed it too hard. As we were descending the mountain back into Maggie Valley, it started to rain again. Rather than don the gear again, we opted to stop for dinner (another calzone and a cheese steak this time) and of course, more ice cream. All said and done, we had a great time. We're already planning to go back, probably in early September. I think we'll definitely look for a hotel closer to Deal's Gap, because that seems like the starting point for so many great rides. We totaled about 600 mile of HARD riding in three days. One day of riding the great roads in the Smokies just isn't enough to do it all...

Very nice indeed. Be careful with the plastics - very hard to come by. If you have them off it would probably be good practice to inspect all the tabs and any other places for cracks or deterioration. You could Plastifix them to maintain their soundness. I don't know where you can find a connector pipe for a slipon these days - but those sound amazing with one - check out youtube, there are a few 3rd gen videos showcasing the sound.

You will have to double check the sprocket sizes and chain length. Unless the swing arm or wheel bearings have collapsed, or the output shaft is somehow loose or bent, there is no logical reason, I can think of, for too much slack in a new setup.

I've owned two Honda automobiles I loved: an '05 Civic Si (the 2-door hatchback, which wasn't very popular here), and a '14 Acura ILX 6-speed manual, which had the previous generation Civic Si engine. I only had the ILX about 2.5 years, but traded it when I got a killer deal on my ND Miata a couple years ago, otherwise I'd have kept it much longer.

Welcome to the club, there’s owners and service manuals in the download section Nice looking bike ...

+1 on a Honda Civic. I just love driving my '08 five speed.

Thankyou the sproket i replaced was an aftermarket one aswell so i didnt really consider that. But the shop i bought the chain and sprockets from said they have never come across this problem before im thinking of taking it to a shop for a once over as i bought it recently.

Hello, Just stumbled upon this discussion site. It looks like there is a wealth of knowledge and experience here. I recently picked up a 2013 VFR1200F in addition to a vintage 84 VF700 F Interceptor I already had. Hopefully I can learn a lot, help someone out with some insight and get some of my own questions answered.

First, Welcome to the asylum from The Land Of Interesting Weather. I cannot help with your specific issue but a can make a suggestion on sprocket replacement. The front sprocket Honda OEM has a rubber component that, I figure, has a dampening effect. The rubber creates a specific width and affects the speedometer drive engagement. There is a female plastic cap that engages a male nut (other than myself.) A prior owner of my current rider installed an aftermarket front sprocket that did not have the rubber dampener which eventually disabled the speedometer. This happened on the way to a SumSum in Montrose, CO. We were planning on meeting up with Hispanic Slammer in Colorado Springs, CO and, when I described the issue to Miguel, he explained the above. We were able to adjust the engangement to solve the problem. The moral of the story: use OEM sprockets for OEM chain and sprockets replacement. BTW, we'd love to see a picture of your VFR. We can never get enough chances to ogle these marvelous examples of Honda engineering and artistry.

Hi there, finally realized a dream and bought my 8th gen (2015) it’s the getting acquainted faze and firstly I’m trying to bring it to my style of riding tho as a rider who spent most of his years on sports bikes (except for once owning a 6th gen for about a year) I realize this bike can be more fun if I adapt my riding style to it . would really appreciate some suggestions of the correct way for putting it on its center stand without damaging my already herniated back 😌🤷‍♂️😁.

Congrats on your 8th gen! I used to have a tough time and was nervous getting the bike on its centerstand, but the tips above work. I still get a little nervous putting the bike up, but it's much easier now. But I also get a little nervous pulling the bike down from the stand, unless I'm on it, but I don't get out it first most of the time. Just takes a firm grip really. Anyway, cheers on your VFR and welcome to VFRD!

And a warm Welcome to you McZen. Great lot of suggestions you've added to centre stand ops. Hope your 2015 is the fast Red one. Enjoy your ride - The 8gen is a gem.

Yes, I am real. I will try to get some pics on here shortly. Thank you for the replies.

Come on Ray...I've already given you the full details of the wiring to the Relay! Scroll back to my post for last Thursday, the big post with picture of the relay and the wiring schematic. Again.....looking at the drawing... What do you see... A RED wire that goes through the 30amp fuse then to the Main Positive contact of the Relay then back directly to the Battery positive. It is a Hot 12v feed to your Ignition Switch. It is NOT switched by the Starter Relay. When you turn your Ignition to ON it transfers the RED wire power to a RED/BLACK wire that feeds 12v to your bikes systems via the Sub Fuses, you'll need to look at a full wiring diagram to see this! It sounds clear to me you have modified the wiring to the Starter Relay....WHY? As mentioned, if you have the correct item it should simply be a Plug and Play situation, it's a very simple task to replace a Starter Relay. Somehow you've made an absolute mess of it. Did you functionally Test the original Starter Relay you removed? If so what was wrong with it? Seriously Ray, messing around with a VFR's electrics without knowing what you're doing will only dig a deep hole for yourself. If you don't understand how the Starting System works, and our suggestions don't make sense to you, then recommend you get your bike to the nearest reputable Honda Motorcycle Service Centre and have it professionally sorted. Once again Good Luck.

Hi Aspon. Congratulations with your purchase. Assuming it has relatively low mileage and well maintained it will be a great bike. The 8gen is a very reliable bike, with a much improved electrical system and better fuel economy over the previous 6gen, along with numerous other enhancements. I also use the pannier case spike above the pillion foot rest as a right hand grab point, the other hand on the left steering grip, and as already mentioned always use firm soled shoes like your riding boots. Important to lower the stand then rock your bike slightly to positively establish the two feet of the stand are in contact with the ground, with as straight a back as possible try and transfer your whole body weight to your foot while adding a bit of pulling arm action rearward and up she'll come. A bit of practice and you'll realise you don't need to be Hercules to pop it on the centre stand. Enjoy your new ride and Welcome to the forum, there is a lot of good stuff here for the reading on the 8gen. Cheers.

Yay! (from fellow lower back cripple)

All the mods on that bike... I sooo enjoyed your journey to get it in is current state. I still drool over the carbon wheels.... - It might be tough to get it into the US...... dunno what the obstacles would be... I would check to see if any buyer has good mechanical tech skills to keep it running beautiful...

Don't know how I missed this site all these years, but he's got a bunch of great articles on maintenance and lots of gorgeous restorations he's done. Great V4 resource especially for the older bikes. http://v4dreams.com/index.html

I like saunas! Like 4 years ago when I visited Keny on my Ace of Spades Baltic Tour!! My leather pants have (some) perforations and wearing a sports longjohn helps wick sweat away, short vented gloves. My leather jacket has a removable front panel with mesh underneath and vents on the arms. Wear a long sleeved sports shirt with a MACNA cooling vest on top. AIM to ride outside towns, avoid traffic lights, keep moving. And drink PLENTY water along the way; or Earl Grey tea!

A hearse....

Another great road is the Back of the Dragon. Runs from Tazewell Virginia to Marion Virginia. The road runs up and down 3 mountain ridges, so some great elevation changes and hairpins. 32 miles in all with over 300 curves. https://www.backofthedragon.com/ Great route to take when on the way to Deal's Gap from the north. I happened upon it by chance on my first run to the Dragon. I make sure I ride it both ways every trip down there.

After moving out of Illinois, I now live about 30 minutes from the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway. Moonshiner 28 is another great road in the area. Truthfully there are so many good roads here I've gotten to the point where I avoid the Dragon in summer because of the sheer number of bikes and sports cars on it.

Good read. For a lot of folks the Dragon / Deals Gap area offers a lot of good riding. There’s a lot of good roads and areas that get over shadowed or forgotten about though. Our first time through the Dragon was the spring of 2001 on our way back north after a NY to Florida back to NY trip on our Busa. The next time wasn’t until 2014, once again on the Busa but we’d rented a cabin over near Gatlinburg and made a few trips over making a few laps each time. The police presence is much higher these days, even in 2014 they were keeping a closer eye on things and strongly enforcing the speed limit of 30mph. I’m planning on going back one of these days and re-riding the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here’s a couple pics, one from 2011 traveling and one from 2014 videoing.

Not Tail of the Dragon but much closer to home for me here in North Queensland, Australia. Just outside of Cairns, Gillies Highway has 263 corners and 800 metres of elevation in just 11.8 miles (19 kilometres) And in just over a week I am heading to this area for five days of riding 🤤

Great write-up! I've been to that area several times now, a few of those trips being the VFRD event formerly known at TMac (RIP), and I do 2-3 Dragon runs each trip. It does stink to get behind slower traffic, but when the road is open in front of you it's glorious. NC 28, to me anyway, is *almost* a better road. Less traffic, more flowing, and has a few places where you can pass slower motorists. Also, I never knew 28 was nicknamed The Moonshiner. Thanks for that! "When everything comes together you’ll notice that idiotic involuntary grin or an occasional whoop to punctuate an especially tasty sequence of twists." Yes, absolutely. On those rare occasions I manage to perfectly nail a couple hard corners, once I'm out of it I'll pump a fist and yell "Woo!!" in my helmet. Goofy, I know, but it's such a great feeling I have to celebrate for a brief moment! 🙂 As for "not conspicuously speeding," that is a challenge for me, too, when returning from a full day of riding and I just want to get home. I live in NE Ohio, and it takes 1-2 hours to get to any decent twisties. I generally try to take 2-lanes there and back, but sometimes have to slab it to get home before dark and before my brain and body give out after hundreds of miles. So whether I'm on rural state routes or freeways, on my way home the speed tends to creep up. I'm hoping to get down to that area before the fall. Thanks for the reminder about how important it is to go!

My last rear tire was Michelin Road 5. Got 16,200k's 10,066miles out of It, all country riding, I may not be fast but I'm definetly not a slow coach! Looking at my records I'm generally getting 16 to 17,000ks out of a rear be it PR2's PR4's or the Road 5's I'm certainly a Michelin Man, as they say, when you're on a good thing stick to it! There are just sooooooo many variables when it comes to tire life/distance. And as always YMMV.

Beginning of June I changed my tires. I had a set of Pilot Road 5s on my 800 that I'd mounted in September. After 6500 miles the rear was past the wear bars and handling like crap. The front had reached the wear bars. Since this was a Autumn/Winter/Spring set I'm not surprised I burned out the center, also because my suspension was worn out (got it refreshed in May). I put on a set of S21 takeoffs to hold me over until I decide what to try next. The plan is to do a lot of mileage so I need something that'll handle the miles without getting out of shape really fast.

Yup, first lesson of the BRP is head downhill when fogged in. You can walk faster than you can safely ride. Here's Blowing Rock, late April:

Re-reading your ride report, I was reminded of one of the dumber things I've ever done, on or off a bike. Several years ago I did a tour with the goal of riding the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Not really that ambitious of course, and plenty of people do this. My mistake was doing a good chunk of it in very thick fog. The first day was great, and I got off the road just before dusk, not wanting to risk collision with deer. I think I stayed in Roanoke. The next morning was chilly and damp but not terrible. As soon as I got onto the Parkway, I was shrouded in fog, the worst I've ever seen. I could barely see 10' in front of me most of the time. It was pretty spooky, and I could see zero scenery. I came up behind maybe 1-2 other vehicles piloted by people as dumb as me. I wasn't worried about hitting someone in front of me since I was going pretty slow, although the couple times I did come up behind someone it was a little freaky having taillights appear out of nowhere. But really I was more worried about someone hitting me from behind. I stopped a couple times to rest and try to warm up, which didn't work out very well. Finally, somewhere near the southern terminus of the Parkway the skies cleared up and it was actually a nice day, and I was able to see some nice views and take a few photos. I would liked to have taken a few photos in the fog, but I was worried about my camera getting ruined in the damp air. I should have abandoned my trek early that day, maybe at the very next off-ramp, gotten down off the mountain and tackled the length of the BRP some other time. What a terrible experience, but definitely a memorable one.

Same here. There are still-new 2-3 year old VFR1200X bikes for sale at US dealers, and it's a nice looking bike IMO. But I'd rather have the Crossrunner 800, which we didn't get. Also, the BMW R1200R is probably my next bike, and probably within the next year. I should have pulled the trigger on a good deal on one this past winter. It was ideal. I love my VFR and I'm riding it a lot these days, but I still regret passing up that particular R bike. I go back and forth which generation I want to buy, but I'll probably get a water-cooled 1200, '16-'18. Sorry to have thread-jacked your topic, Joel!

We can get the 1200 version but I'm not really interested in that. I would consider the Crossrunner if it were sold here but I really don't want an adventurish style, I want a standard, like this but with the V4.

That's the most important part about getting any bike, that it works for you. In truth, I would love it if Honda took the VFR 800 motor and made a standard similar to the BMW R1250R. Just a nice standard bike with luggage options and comfortable ergos... I'm getting old.

Great story and photos - thanks for sharing them! My wife and one of our sons drove through some of those areas a couple summers ago. They said I would love the roads there. I'm looking forward to going on the bike someday! I know exactly how you feel on two different fronts: 1. When you have the road to yourself, you kind of want to just keep riding, especially when you've seen the scenery before. I don't like stopping all that often anyway, and I get very frustrated if I end up being an RV or large truck I can't pass. 2. I lost a job in Sept. 2012, and was unemployed for a year. I took the opportunity to do tours around the Great Lakes (except Erie & Ontario, which I'd already done). Those were terrific trips, and I did them on small budgets as much as possible. I figured I might not another chance to do that much riding in a year, and I was right. I think since then I've done just one or two tours. Enjoy this downtime. We don't get very much of it anymore.

Thank you! I hope to be Ah-May-Zed, once I get them out of the basement and onto the VFR.....; ) I've never gotten even close to 10K from any tire. I'll feel fortunate if I get 4K from them. They really lean against a wall well in a basement........great grip.......

A pair of 8th gens at Black Canyon of the Gunnison and atop The Grand Mesa in western Colorado.

View on the Elbe near Laßrönne, direction northwest.