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Well, as you can see from omgvfr's post, the headers are here, he's just lucky that he lives in So Cal, so was able to stop by and pick his up first hand, rather than wait for shipping. On that topic, I'm flying solo right now as sfdownhill is away this week, so I'm trying to tag team this with my day job and doing the boxing up at night. There's a few on here who have not responded to my last post yet, but rest assured, they'll be boxed up and ready to go along with the others. I was able to get them all boxed up last night but need to get the shipping labels done and then get the boxes dropped off, so they can get to their destination. Here's what the front of my garage looks like at the moment. And a peek at what to expect once your box arrives (if you're one who has a set coming). Hoping to get all the labels printed and onto the boxes tonight. I know, I know, "Hurry up Duc, we've been waiting so long!"

Hi all, I posted here a few times explaining how I was guilty of letting my lovely 750 sit in the shed and gather dust. Well, this summer I really got to work on it and it's back on the road. I put together a little PDF with pics and some text for a work group and thought it'd be nice to share it here. Enjoy! VFR presentation.pdf

THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY! I just have two left to deal with. These are the one's going outside the US, but I should have these out later today or tomorrow, different shipper and process along with a couple of I's to dot and T's to cross. I just want to thank everyone for being so patient and understanding of the circumstances but we all persevered and the rewards will be received very soon! Cheers, D

Fitting the front primaries. Fitting the midpipe. This lines up well after the welding work. Stock exhaust clamp now in use. A big plus: The midpipe can now be removed without first removing the rear wheel. Taking a look at how it all comes together. This is really nice. I've ordered three M18x1.5 o2 plugs. Everything else goes back together as normal. Note: Even if the rear primaries are slip fitted together and the header is in one piece. If you need to install or remove the centerstand it can be done by removing the header bolts at the engine. There is then enough flex to access the top right bolt for the centerstand. A parts diagram shows the assembly order of the spacers, flat and spring washers.

Thanks!, now I just need to convert all measurements to metric to understand anything 😅

As coolant heats up it exands, so running the engine with the radiator cap off will lead to overflows when some heats gets into the system. The point about hitting 107C at idle suggests that the radiator fan is not coming on. That should be cycling on around 101C and off at 98C and you should be able to hear or see that happening. If not you may have a broken wire, blown fuse or stuck fan blade. The thermostat sounds like it is working normally 78-80C is the normal opening point.

I have spare socks...

Removing the stock system is pretty straightforward. Remove tail plastic, remove rear wheel, remove Remus can and link pipe. Remove front fairings, loosen right foot stay, remove heat shield. Header bolts all loose, rear primaries disconnected, and the stock system shifts out just fine. Once the bike is back on the sidestand the centerstand can be removed. The bike certainly looks good with all of this stuff out of the way. I also cleaned up surfaces while the access was there. With everything ready, the first step was fitting the Delkevic copper gaskets. They're just a little big - but this is a good thing once all is assembled. You can see that the ring wouldn't just fit but needed a little manipulation to sit centered. My initial reaction was - oh no! Spend the time to make the entire gasket centered in the exhaust port. I noticed on the front ports there is some chipping of the external casting. Once fitted they stay in on their own and don't fall out unless disturbed. Looking at the rear ports, here are the gaskets fitted. I was told that the left rear primary slip joint was a tight fit. This is true - I had test fitted these before they went on the bike. The right slips on easily enough, while the left was quite tight. Wiggling and slightly twisting, it does slip on all the way though. Same thing removing the slip fitting. I put a marker dot on the slip fittings as an index, so I could tell when it was fitted all the way when on the bike. With the rear primaries loosely fitted and the same in the front. Here is the view before joining the slip fittings. A bit of strength to align these while lifting the header up, both began their slip fit. A moment of manipulating by hand and they fit as much as they would go. Out comes the ratchet strap with a piece of cloth to protect the surfaces. I squeezed the left joint first and then the right. Once the strap was pulling, light taps on the slip joint pulled them right into place. This was surprisingly easy considering how tight this appeared while test fitting. After these joints were fitted, the remaining 4 points attaching to the bike all lined up where they should. Very nice!

I was going to say that's a VFR700F RC26, the lack of "750" on the lower fairing is typically the giveaway...but actually both the "VFR" and the "V4 GEAR DRIVEN CAMS" on the fairing are wrong so it's almost certainly been repainted at some point and it could easily be either a 700/RC26 or a 750/RC24. Almost impossible otherwise to know without getting up close and checking the VIN or plate. Still my favourite colour scheme for them. VFR700F RC26 VFR750F RC24

And then back to duty weighting the crab pot at the bottom of the bay. 😉

A set of round clocks is on it's way to you.

Correction: Custom Sudco Slip On Sounds better and the bike runs better with this larger muffler. Sudco Video Clip

Once burped. Top up the Reserve Tank, don't worry about overfillig it, the system will either draw back what it needs or any excess will be simply dumped overboard via the reserve tank overflow hose. just keep an eye on the Reserve Tank level, top up if needed, but the level should settle down after a ride or two. I'd be a little concerned about the hose burnt by the header pipe, needs sorting out! As Terry mentioned make sure your cooling fan is kicking in when it should. Download the Service Manual from this site if you don't already have one, link attached. Service Manual, 6th Gen 2002+ VTEC, with bookmarks, new cover & OCR https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/files/file/150-service-manual-6th-gen-2002-vtec-with-bookmarks-new-cover-ocr/

Two round headlights were a requirement for an "RC" tribute.

Thank you. Started as a Track Bike. Came out so good, I finished the build with the street equipment and then later swapped in a frame with a title. Getting ready. Titled bike on the lift with another engine. It actually made the swap easier and now I have the original engine completely restored as a spare.

There's always decisions and compromises to be made in doing something like this. Most importantly, the headlights need to be at the right height (low enough), and far enough forward, and still allow room for the front fender, gauges and clip ons.. Most custom attempts I see, the cowl is way too high and back and looks off. After that making sure the sides match the the angle of the frame. Everything else is what it is. The rad openings are not terribly off to vent. The lowers? make adjustments and hope it looks decent. Lines look good, cowl mounts are in reasonable places. Pretty fucking hard to take Blade fairings made for a super short bike with clipons under the top clamp, and fit to an old, tall bike.

Score of a good clutch line for 10€ The one on bike not so convincing.. That breaker did have a lovely 1986 RC24 that thankfully is staying as a bike, owner will hold it in his collection

Sorry, but I had to chuckle at this! Honda doesn't make bearings (or many of the other parts they use on their bikes and then sell as replacements), so you will never find a bearing with the name "Honda" on it. On the box or packaging, sure--that's why there's an OEM markup of 50-100%... KOYO is one of Honda's OEM suppliers, so the quality will be on-par with any of the world's major bearing manufacturers. Moreover, most (but not all) of the bearings and seals Honda uses are standard automotive sizes and configurations, so once you decipher the codes, you can shop around and fit bearings from your favourite manufacturer. Years ago I saved a large chunk of money by replacing the bearings in my 3rd gen with new ones sourced from various suppliers and manufacturers. Only a few of them were available at a reasonable price via the Honda distribution system. The table below is from 2005, so a few years out of date (!), but it will give you the idea... Honda VFR750F-P—Chassis Bearings and Seals (Based on 1993 U.K.-model w/1998 VTR1000F fork conversion. Read the Notes below. Use at your own risk!) Description Type # Honda Part Number Original ID numbers ID OD W Comments Source Price each swing-arm main bearing—left needle roller 1 91071-MR7-003 HMK 2830 Japan UU NTN 28 37 30 caged rollers, no integrated dust seals City DSS ACB £11.61 £9.08 £7.00 swing-arm dust seal—left 1 91202-MR7-003 SDO 28 37 4 A2 ACS 28 37 4 City DSS ACB £2.20 £2.85 £2.50 swing-arm main bearing—right radial ball 2 91072-MR7-003 6904 Japan WS NTN 20 37 9 no integrated dust seals City DSS ACB £4.20 £7.74 £5.85 swing-arm dust seal—right 1 91214-MR7-003 SDO 26 37 5 A5 ACS 26 37 5 (26 37 7 supplied by City-might fit) City DSS ACB £2.20 £2.85 £4.20 swing-arm pivot collar B inner race 1 52106-MR7-000 N/A DSS £13.06 suspension linkage bearing (at swing-arm) needle roller 1 91071-KV3-005 BHM 1725 Japan Koyo 17 24 25 no cage for rollers, no integrated dust seals DSS £11.51 suspension linkage bearing (in shock connecting rod & shock arm) needle roller 4 91072-MJ0-003 7E-HMK 1725 Japan WS NTN 17 24 25 caged rollers, no integrated dust seals A&P DSS ACB £8.50 £8.87 £6.50 suspension linkage bearing (at shock absorber) needle roller 1 91072-KT7-003 7W-HMK 1720 NTN 17 24 20 caged rollers, no integrated dust seals A&P DSS ACB £8.50 £8.88 £ suspension linkage oil seal 8 91262-MG7-005 NOK AE8444H 17 27 5 A&P DSS ACB £1.87 £2.06 £ suspension pivot collar (shock connecting rod) inner race 1 52462-ML7-000 N/A 17 DSS £8.82 suspension pivot collar (shock arm—at shock absorber) inner race 1 52477-KT7-000 N/A 17 DSS £5.08 suspension pivot collar (shock arm—at swing arm) inner race 1 52463-KV3-000 N/A 17 DSS £5.51 suspension pivot collar (shock connecting rod) inner race 1 52463-MT4-000 N/A 17 DSS £7.32 wheel bearing—front radial ball 2 91054-MN8-741 6004 20 42 12 integrated black dust seals on both sides DSS ACB £11.00£5.50 wheel bearing dust seal—front 2 91257-KA3-711 AE1544F NOK 28 42 8 DSS ACB £3.80 £2.00 sprocket carrier bearing radial ball 1 91061-MT4-003 DF 0768 LU Japan NTN 35 55 20 integrated (red) dust seals on both sides City-5wk DSS DSS-wait ACB-3wk £25.20 £50.22£37.64£16.40 sprocket carrier dust seal 1 91258-ML7-003 SDO 45 55 5 ACS 45 55 5 DSS £3.90 sprocket carrier o-ring 1 91352-MN8-003 N/A 2 City DSS £0.42 £0.82 rear hub bearing—right needle roller 1 91062-MR7-003 8Q-NK 50x62x25-1 Japan WS NTN 50 62 25 caged rollers, integrated black dust seal on one side A&P DSS-wait DSS £10.69£30.82£41.09 rear hub bearing dust seal 1 91284-MR7-003 SDO 50 62 5 ACS B8 50 62 5 City DSS £2.38 £4.75 rear hub bearing—left radial ball 2 91061-ML0-731 6908RS Japan Koyo 40 62 12 integrated black dust seal on one side – plus plastic linking ring to lock both bearings together (leaving single black seals facing outwards on each side) City DSS DSS-wait ACB £33.22£50.22£37.67£14.40 steering stem bearing—upper angular contact ball (1) 91015-KT8-005 32005X Japan MCI 26 47 15 (note ID—must be 26mm) ACB £8.40 steering stem bearing—upper tapered roller (1) 91015-425-832 N/A 26 47 15 (note ID—must be 26mm) DSS steering stem bearing dust seal—upper 1 53214-KA4-701 N/A 27 48 4 metal ring with rubber edge DSS £2.47 steering stem bearing—lower angular contact ball (1) 91016-KT8-005 32006JR Japan MCI 30 55 17 DSS steering stem bearing—lower tapered roller (1) 91016-371-000 N/A 30 55 17 (32006JRRS— has integral dust seal) Moore £13.20 steering stem bearing dust seal—lower (1) 53214-371-010 N/A 31 56 4 metal ring with rubber edge DSS £3.50 UK-based Sources Key: ACB = A.C. Belting Ltd, 58 Kingsholm Road, Gloucester GL1 3BQ (01452) 410 968 (Jason) A&P = Angus & Perthshire Bearings, Unit 62A, Buccaneer Way, Perth Airfield, Scone, Perthshire PH2 6PL (01738) 553 479 City = City Seals and Bearings Ltd, 23/25 Stevenson Road, Sheffield S9 3XG (0114) 243 5343 (Jason) DSS = David Silver Spares, Unit 14, Masterlord Industrial Estate, Station Road, Leiston, Suffolk IP16 4JD (01728) 833 020 DSS-wait = Optional 2-3 week wait, resulting in a 25% discount. Moore = Moore International, 104 Ashley Road, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset BH14 9BN (01202) 462 220 Notes: Steering stem bearings were originally angular-contact ball bearings; it is common to replace with tapered roller bearings, though these are more difficult to adjust properly. Tapered rollers are available from many aftermarket sources, but also from Honda (note that these Honda part numbers have not been verified). Both types of steering stem bearings use separate metal/rubber dust seals; but the optional tapered roller 32006RS lower bearing incorporates a dust seal, so no separate seal is required. The top bearing used on many Hondas (including the VFR750FL-P) is a non-standard size. Although it is often marked "32005", it is actually a 32005 (this is an ISO standard bearing number) with a 26mm I.D. rather than the 25mm I.D. you might expect. Needless to say, this means it won't fit onto the steering stem no matter how hard you hit it. <G> Some bearing manufacturers helpfully call this bearing "32005/26", but some do not! Front wheel bearings are for a ’94-’97 FR-FV, since the VSource.org FP uses a front wheel from a later RC36. Ciao, JZH

Rightio then. Firstly clean things up a bit. Grind things back to so we get good penetration. Then weld it back up. Next up, lop out the rusted out section. I didn't have exactly the same wall thickness tube to hand so I stuck some 3mm wall tube in the lathe and bored it down to ~2mm wall. Still thicker than original but close enough. Then weld it back in. Need to do some more cleaning up on it then I'll paint it and stick it back on.

Then I highly recommend GPR. beautiful sound, excellent quality and looks really good.

I've been asking this question for a few years. I run OLD Passports in everything. They're great in the country, but in the city around cars they false a lot. the new Reline is excellent, by all accounts, but $800 plus a kit for each vehicle? Harumph...

The pics linked in the original post for this guide are no longer working so attached is a pdf of the guide which includes the pictures. Bleedingfluid Replacement On Linked Brakes Wabs On 6Th Generation (The Ultimate Guide) - Maintenance Guides - VFR Discussion.pdf

Does this procedure also apply to non-abs models ?

Through discussion on Facebook I got a hint and found the answer in these forums and it was in everyone's favorite topic - unleashing the factory power! They look to be older style black widow headers. Newer style that comes up on Google merges the rears and fronts first. This older style merges the sides. Dead giveaway is the rear primary pipe made out of three sections. Every bit of info can be found on these forums!

"Still have high temps" ? While the bike sits stationary idling? In stop/start traffic? All Normal. These bikes rely heavily on good coolish airflow through the radiators to maintain a constant temp of around 76 to 80 degC with an ambient temp of around 25degC or lower, on hotter days engine temperature will also rise. With a cold engine feel the upper radiator return hose at the neck. Start the engine, at around 76 to 80 deg you should notice the hose temperature rapidly rise. This will indicate both thermostat and water pump operation. Not sure if there is any way of checking it but perhaps fitting a new Radiator Cap might be worth doing, and I wouldn't trust that damaged hose you have!

It's off of a Honda CH150 Elite scooter. I think I was trying to declutter a bit and reduce some bulk. Didn't think I needed a huge reservoir tank for what the bike was originally being built for. Hasn't been an issue on the street. Think I overflowed once, but an old radiator cap was to blame. No problems since. Started off as this: I would always save them when we disassembled totalled or abandoned scooters at the Honda Shop. Plus got a Fucke-Tonne of original Honda bolts and hardware.

Those are produced under my design. I can get you a pair for 170 € including 20 connectors to install them. If you are interested on a pair you can write me to: ark.santos@gmail.com

Actually a other faring whit twin headlights that could possibly fit, what I think, as the orginal bike is a bit higher is a 87-88 Yamaha FZR1000/750 faring Also a option to get twin headlights is a top fairing that French Poly26 make but sadly the company has a reputation of not so good build quality and still quite high prices...

All right, it's that time! I recently acquired my set from the latest run. The very good news is everything is working as it should! I've just finished with the install and I have some photos to share. 😁 Here is my pair. Right now the rear primaries are just balanced in the slip fittings. I have a Remus high mount can - the link pipe is balanced where it should be. The Remus link pipe does not utilize the stock exhaust gasket. It has a built-in clamp. This is actually a very tight fit on the stock exhaust outlet. The diameter of these pipes are about the same. The muffler end of the remus link pipe would slip on as it should here. I knew this part would need to be addressed before the install. The first welding shop I went by was a fabrication specialist, I showed them what I was working with. They didn't have expanders or tubing material there and I was referred to another local shop. The second shop has cars parked inside and custom turbo header projects everywhere. This was the right place. The first attempt was to just expand it as is - the metal promptly cracked and tore open. He confirmed I do have a clamp that would work. A moment later, the end is cut off and there is a new piece of pipe that slip fits being welded on. These now fit properly and everything is clean inside and out. This aspect of the project could have gone many ways. I am very glad it worked as well as it did. It's a pretty weld and is the most visible one so good there too. Here is the starting point. The bike is a 1999 model. It hasn't been down before - the scrape on the stock header is from lean angle.

Hello, I have been reading up on your forums learning about the VFR’s, great bikes and awesome forum. Just purchased a 1995 750 “barn find” with 21,000 miles and a 1997 enthusiast owned 30,000 miles. Looking for decent phone mounts. Any suggestions? Thank you. Brett

Technically not today, but Spring of 2022. But since my password stopped working in Dec 21, and I was not able to get back online until recently, I'm playng catch up. After riding around 50k and burning through a set of Nelson-Rigg and Rapid Transit saddle bags, both of which needed numerous repairs to get that far, I decided I needed something a bit more substantial. Pretty sure there was no oem hard bags for the 4th Gen, maybe Givi's, but rare and not particularly attractive if what I did see for hard bags on a 4th were Givi's. So, since I had bought a couple of semi rigid bags for another bike, but sold it before using them, I had a go at making them work on the VFR. To be clear, these are American Tourister computer, carry on, roller bags. They have enough room for a 15" computer and maybe a days worth clothes for a business trip. 2 of them are plenty for my needs. They are not waterproof, but way more than the Rigg's or Transits. The material is cloth backed heavy vinyl, so a few plastic liners do the job. BTW none of the rain covers I have ever used stand up to highway or post highway speeds. The supports are 1/4" rod, washers welded to attach at the passenger pegs, threaded to attach to a tab on the back rest, (custom). The squares on the supports locate the bags and keep them from moving fore and aft. The straps with quick releases hold the bags to the supports, the straps across the passenger seat pulls them in to the bike. It is solid, over 10k and zero issues. The only thing I did to the bags was 3M contact cement 3 layers of really soft felt to the insides to protect the tail piece. I never bothered to take pics as I was putting it together so the pics are cobbled together from what I could find. Feel free to ask for any information I left out. Edit. My other pics failed to upload. We have had sketchy, slow internet since the hurricane. Will see if I can add them later. Ok, finally got pics to upload. Bottom shows the support(s) with attachment points and design, middle the straps that hold the bags to the supports and the straps across the seat, top is what the whole show looks like in touring mode.

Found the problem and have fixed it at least for now. The two ears at the top of the side stand (#10) had spread open a bit so the inner surfaces that contact the bracket were not quite parallel. The shoulder bolt did not appear worn nor did the hole in the bracket. There is a small clearance where the shoulder goes through the ear and the bracket so there is some play but once I squeezed the ears in a vise and used some feeler gages to verify they were parallel, I put the side stand back on and now there is only a very small. movement, maybe 1/8 inch max, when I pull the foot outwards. I checked the lean angle with the bike on the side stand and it is now about 13-14 degrees and seems about right. My 1976 CB750 Cafe Racer is abut the same, around 13 degrees. I also read someplace that if you mount the bike by standing on the left side foot peg that it can put too much load on the side stand and cause the ears to open up. I never do that and I don't know the first 16 years of history of the bike other than the guy I bought it from looked more like my size (tall, skinny and light...😊) and said he had only owned it for a few years and rode it very little. It has a Works Performance rear shock and when I got it, I had absolutely zero sag and I had to back off the preload to the very top of the range to get a reasonable sag so whoever put that shock on was probably a lot heavier than me. Some day, budget permitting, I'll get the shock rebuilt with the correct spring for my weight, 160-165 with full gear. Anyway, the bike now sits at a reasonable lean angle on the side stand which has only slight play on the bracket now. I'll check it periodically. Thanks very much for your input.

Test ride yesterday!! A little purple to pay homage to the original graphics... Ran perfect. Starts and idles nicely. Pulls strong, no clutch slip. All instruments and gauges work. Need to pull the crankcase covers and refinish this winter. Chain guard is next. It's finally clean, need to remove the stickers and give it a matte or satin finish. Instantly felt like a VFR I've ridden for years. Not perfect, but a real nice budget survivor refresh. Oh, sounds great too.

Never got the rain from Lee but winds are strong.

Welcome back to your 8th gen Grum! Great to hear you are riding again, and with purpose(wine)! Stay healthy and ride more.

Replaced my chain and sprockets on the 97. The old girl has 108K ( 173 K) kilometers on her now. While taking a break from cleaning the swingarm and counter sprocket areas I came across the chain tool that came with the bike when I bought it 10 years ago. When I initially looked at it, I dismissed it a a chain breaker only, and a cheap Chinese one to boot, and tossed it into the back of a toolbox drawer. I have been using a Stockton chain tool, and its worked OK, but since I seem to be the only guy in my area with a rivet tool, its useful life is fading. So I went online to see if I could identify the one that came with the bike and maybe get some kind of use out if it. I searched chain tool and variations of wording and found nothing in 15 minutes of looking. Finally right at the end I saw a video posted of someone putting a new DID chain on and it looked like he was using that cheap thing in my tool box. Watching further, I found out that it was in fact a DID tool, and lo and behold if you pulled the breaker pin out and turned it around, you have a rivet anvil. We having a saying in New England " when light dawns on Marblehead" well, I had one of those moments. Of course I looked up DID rivet tools and was astonished to find they cost almost as much as a decent rear tire. So, apologies Dave in Iowa, I finally get and appreciate your gift you threw in when you sold me your bike.

So, track day. Didn't embarrass itself and I rode it a lot (because the track bike developed a misfire). Didn't do anything to it over the two days other than check stuff and add fuel! Something still isn't right with the clutch....but...it's not unusable. Still enough drive to hit 130-135 on the clock down the back straight & start finish straights at Cadwell Park. For context I've seen 140 there on a 1999 R6 and 138 on a 1997 CBR600F. With less clutch oddity/issues it would be quicker (and to be fair if it had more ground clearance and I could enter faster). Pegs touch down early, unsure what touches down next and its a road bike not a track/race bike so full length hero blobs left on and treating them as the limit! Massive hanging off to avoid pegs down which resulted in a first of getting my knee down on it! 🤣 Just to set expectations here, it's always been a road bike, track/race bikes are for knee down (and I've done plenty of it) but on the VFR I've never ever even *tried* to get my knee down! Brakes worked well, only pootling round in the intermediates but its such a stable platform and the suspension improvements have let me really use them to their best. Good enough on the brakes to embarrass a few much, much newer bikes though! Need the longer shock before I try again though.

As the wheels needed re-coating/painting, and new tyres and the front brake discs were down to close to the wear limit (about 3.7mm) and there isn't much point *not* doing the bearings and seals while you're in there the cost difference between sticking a set of CBR600 wheels on wasn't really that much. It was basically the cost of the wheels which were cheap (£60 for the front from a 1994 CBR600FR (CBR600F2R in the USA) and £65 for the rear from a 1996 CBR600FT (CBR600F3R in the USA) plus a new disc. I did consider the later wheel, it gives floating discs etc but loses the speedo. I decided however that I wanted to keep it as close to original but with a sensible upgrade to allow more modern tyres. So one set of tatty wheels later, bearings removed and cleaned before sending away to be painted. I spent an *age* agonising over the colour. White was original but its hard to keep clean, looks dirty really quickly...but the race bikes had white wheels...and it's the original wheel colour. White it was then! Wheels went off for powdercoating and then it was time to turn my attention to the suspension. I considered a fork upgrade, the issue being that the RC24 has abnormally long forks and if you fit shorter forks then you have to fit "superbike" bars but then different forks allows you to have better brakes. While the brakes on the 88/89 RC24 aren't the latest and greatest they're still essentially the same as fitted up until the 1997 VFR750 RC36. The main limit for braking IMO was the suspension, on anything other than super smooth tarmac the forks would bottom and the tyre would "jump" over any ripples. I decided to stick with the original forks and fit uprated springs and emulators from RaceTech. Unfortunately of course Racetech being in the USA they only have details for the 86 which has 37mm forks however after some consultation with PDQ and using the RT calculator for the older model I settled on 0.95kg/mm springs, 20wt oil and a 130mm air gap. Anti-dive is now bypassed and I intend on fitting a small spacer to prevent the small amount of movement on the left leg. Of course new seals were fitted, bushes were still absolutely fine. Fork legs on the other hand not so much. So they got a fresh coat of paint. Eventually (actually less than three weeks later) I got a call to say my wheels were ready!

As this is a VFR, possibly a better use for that location would be to fit a voltmeter! Ciao, JZH

I've stepped back from a lot of troubleshooting posting because I'm more of a gotta have my nose in it kinda guy to figure things out,... adding to what everbody said above...jumping in with some notes from the past.... you need to figure out if your charging system meets baseline and with that do this! The Drill-- Go through all your connectors for burnt leads, dig deep. Crispy wires? Not good. The stator connector is the number one burn it up connector on the bike. - Your gonna have to fix that! Then---Go through this starting point quick list. You will need a multimeter too. Steps: --- - Recharge battery overnite - then to take it to Autozone or similar to load test. -- Good? Bad? – An iffy battery can fake you out and act like a bad R/R. Buy new if needed. - With good battery fire it up, warm up for a minute or two. ---- (Looks like you have a new battery so charge overnite) These are R/R quick checks--- --- With voltmeter at battery posts get voltages -- idle volts? 5000 rpm volts? What’s the numbers? Should be in 12.8 to 13.3v min idle and generally 13.7 to 14.4 ish at revs. (if in the 12s at idle, check at about 1900rpms instead. Its not unusual for the system to be in discharge at idle. ) - I start to get a bit nervous if I see the volts creeping up to the higher 14s and 15s is a no go. -Typically OEM R/R failure for Honda is good volts in the 13s at idle, but will drop to low 13s and even into the 12s at revs. FAIL! (Agree with Danno, whats the battery volts when bike dies?) - Check stator - These tests are done checking the connector that goes to the stator. (Engine off) 1. Pull connector apart. Set meter to resistance. Check pin to pin, 3 yellow wires, A to B, B to C, C to A. What’s the numbers? 3 separate readings --Should be less than 1.0 ohms. - 2. Check continuity from each A,B,C pin to ground, -- -should be infinity - nada nothing. no continuity. -- 3 separate checks. (Connector still apart, engine off) - 3. Crank it back up. Do another pin to pin thing, but set meter on AC volts. idle and 5000 rpms. What's da numbers? Should start 15 -20ish and climb 50ish and more. Again – 3 readings- (Again, connector apart) @johnscad....OK dude, what are your numbers?