VFR800R

Sorry I'm late to the party. I'm still in. I will be incommunicado for the next two and a half weeks, but I will join in on the buy when I get back. Lacy

I'm still in, let me know how much and which PayPal account to send it to. Lacy

Amazing work. This is something I've always been interested in, but I didn't realize how close you have come to production. Please add me to the list for a 6th gen set, just tell me where to send the PayPal payment and how much. Lacy

As we're getting ready to move again (this time from Groton, CT to Poulsbo, WA), I realized that I never really took "final" photos of the VFR and posted them to my build thread. So, here are a couple: VFR800 Front quarter 9Aug2011 VFR800 Right Side 9Aug2011 Recently, I have only done a couple small things. I have had a carbon fiber hugger sitting around for a year, waiting on the time to build a bracket (because my eBay "steal" didn't come with one, and the British company who made it wouldn't answer any emails), so I finally hacked out an aluminum bracket and trimmed the trailing edge of the hugger with my Dremel to eliminate a crack. It turned out pretty great, with good alignment and more than enough protection for my Ohlins shock. I also added a couple of HRC/Yoshimura stickers (another eBay find from somebody in Thailand), and a Yosh timing plug for the CBR600RR (thanks Honda for all your standardization!). The plug is obviously only visible when the right fairing is off, but I like that I have at least 3 Yosh parts on the bike to tie together the HRC/Yosh theme (the upper triple clamp nut, the timing plug, and the R55 muffler). I also finally completed the Vortex rearset conversion; I needed a few parts from Vortex (worn out shifter lever bearings, which necessitated buying a new shifter lever) and a shifter rod, but now the shifter is fully functional. I keep contemplating a reverse-pattern, but the clearances are pretty tight already and interference would be bad. Finally, I added a lithium iron battery from Shorai which knocks about 6 more pounds off the bike, which brings my rough total to about 60 pounds removed. Not bad, but it could be better... I have more stuff in the garage waiting to go on the bike: Tokico monobloc calipers from a CBR600RR to drop another pound of front unsprung weight, a Superhawk clutch master cylinder, and more parts for the (repeatedly failed) front radiator project. They will have to wait for next winter, because I will be at sea all fall... Next, I think I want to finally do something about the undertail space. There have been a few discussions on VFRD of late about making panels, so it may be time to bite the bullet and do it. Then, I think rideability is next on my list; with the BMC filter, no PAIR valves, and the Yoshimura exhaust, I have a lean flutter just off idle that is pretty annoying. I may buy myself a PCV with Autotune for Christmas. Well, that's it for now. I didn't get to meet any East Coast VFRD folks while I was out here due to the bike being in pieces and my tendency to play with my daughter and hang out with my wife, but hopefully I run into some of you in the Pacific Northwest! Lacy

Well, since my inverted fork conversion dragged on through the summer and didn't get finished until October, I now only have minor additions to do over the winter. Which is completely backwards from how it should go... Another Inverted Fork Conversion Oh well, there's always next summer in New England to explore. The list of stuff sitting in my basement and garage to be installed: - K&N oil filter, new (eBay sourced used) clutch cover - Motovation frame sliders - Used (another eBay score) carbon fiber hugger - which needs a trim to eliminate a crack on the trailing edge and an aluminum mounting bracket I need to make - Reverse (GP) shift for my Vortex rearsets; I have the parts, but need new bearings for the shifter arm - Install some stickers to tie together my Yoshimura theme with the Honda (HRC); first, I have to clean the bike though - Continue super-secret radiator modification trials Other stuff on the docket: - Cut a new bracket to mount my Yoshimura R55 muffler and Ohlins preload adjuster - Build an undertail panel to fill in the open space where the mufflers used to live - Install a CBR1000RR clutch master cylinder and adjust the bars for better cockpit clearance There's probably more, but we'll see how much time I get to work on it. The undertail panel is an experiment in composites; I've done some carbon fiber work before, but that was in college and it's been a while. Lacy

I originated the fork swap chart referenced to by V4 Rosso and SEBSPEED above. Seb's additions to the chart are excellent (he added all the VF and VFR data that I did not originally include, and more). As for the accuracy and the sources of the info, I tried to find creditable sources and lay out where I got them from, but even the fork lengths quoted by the Ohlins fork source (which is no longer online) may not be exact. For example, I used '06-'07 ZX-10R forks which I measured at 738mm, compared to the 743mm listed on the Ohlins site. I would take those Internet sources as a rough guide, and trust "primary sources" such as Seb's measurements of the CBR forks as the most accurate: I'm glad the spreadsheet is finding some use and being built upon. If anyone is curious about the reliability of any of the numbers or sources listed, I can give an idea about which ones I think are 100% correct and which ones may be less than perfect. Lacy

Great idea, I will try to score a CBR1000RR clutch master and see if it will work. I think the RC51 design was carried over to the CBR, so they should be the same (and the CBR likely cheaper). Rusty, I love your Brembo goodness, but I'm not prepared to throw down $750 for master cylinders! Maybe for a magnesium rear wheel.... Lacy

I went for a brief (less than 10 miles) test ride this afternoon just before dark. Here are a couple of photos; I apologize for the poor quality, they were taken with my iPhone. Although the graininess does hide the dirt and dust that I haven't had time to wash off yet. photo1.jpg photo2.jpg It was a pretty ginger ride, with a lot of focus on bedding in the new pad/rotor combination up front and testing out the new forks. The steering feels MUCH lighter than before, but to be honest I really can't do a before and after comparison as the last time I rode the bike (in its original form) was December, and the last bikes I did ride were both Buells. Probably the most shocking change is the rear brake feel; with the CBR600RR master cylinder, I didn't realize how harsh the bite of the rear caliper would be. I'm accustomed to braking with the front lever and rear pedal with the CBS system, without much feel coming from the rear brake and the ability to step on it pretty hard with little effect. With the new setup, however... WOW, I locked the rear brake the first time I used it. I will have to relearn how to stop this thing. For the most part, the whole package felt pretty good. I didn't challenge myself or the bike at all on this ride, however, so pushing harder will have to wait for later. Prettier photos will follow after I wash the bike this weekend (hopefully). Lacy

Well, I finally finished putting the bike together today. The first ride test will follow shortly. Until then, here is a visual tour of the changes made to the bike. For those of you who are clean freaks, beware: it's pretty dirty. DSC02964.JPG Front shot, showing off the new front end and the oil cooler mesh I added. The cooler had a bunch of mauled fins, so I cut up some window screen and zip-tied it around the cooler for future protection. DSC02962.JPG DSC02973.JPG I ended up with a bunch of electrical connectors that were abandoned in place, so the old electrical tape came in handy. In this photo, there are actually four different connectors taped up and fastened to various attachment points (two ABS computer connectors, one ABS control valve connector, and the front wheel speed sensor connector). DSC02954.JPG The shifter-side Vortex rearset, bolted to my custom-machined mounting bracket. I have parts to make the peg-mounted shifter linkage operational, but I need new bearings and haven't got around to calling Vortex about it. I may even be able to change over to GP-style shifting, we'll see. I already painted the rashed peg tip once, and then promptly stepped on it and messed up the paint. I'll repaint it after the test ride... DSC02949.JPG The new rear brake line runs through the swingarm, courtesy of work previously done by EmeraldVFR and Seb: Gen. 6th Vfr: The Brake Lines are Now Runnging Through the Swingarm! DSC02953.JPG DSC02952.JPG I followed Steve and Seb's directions, using Earl's coated hose and steel hose ends. Instead of running two lines, I pushed a single line through the swingarm (via a hole in the front left, near the shock) and made a small bridge line to connect the two ports in the caliper. You can just see the hose coming out of an existing hole in the bottom of the swingarm behind the bridge line in the photo. DSC02982.JPG I finally have an exhaust setup I'm happy with. Although I haven't ridden it yet, so we'll have to see if it sounds as good as the old TiForce can. The exhaust system is all Yoshimura: the link pipe is a Yosh RS-3 for the '98-'01 VFR800, and the carbon-tipped end can is an R55 originally intended for the '08-'10 Kawasaki ZX-10R. Luckily Yoshimura tends to use a standard can inlet size of 2.25", so the newer can mounted up to the older link pipe with just a little trim of the pipe. The spring hangers don't line up perfectly, but they are close enough. Amazingly, the aluminum muffler bracket I hacked out for my old TiForce setup (that also mounts the Ohlins preload adjuster) perfectly matched the Yoshimura R55 mount. Sweet! rum/uploads/1287620871/gallery_10025_5394_1739847.jpg[/img] DSC02947.JPG DSC02983.JPG The right side Vortex rearset mounts a CBR600RR rear brake master cylinder with a brake pressure switch plumbed into it. The adjacent exhaust heat shield mounted to the original rear set, so I set about making a bracket to connect the shield to the new rear sets. After a few hours of cutting, drilling, and sanding I happened to look in the box of Vortex goodies and realized that there were two small brackets in there intended for the CBR600RR/CBR1000RR heat shields, that just happened to work perfectly on the VFR. Oh well, they are prettier than what I was bungling up anyway. DSC02972.JPG No more evap canister! DSC02970.JPG A shot of the completed front end. '06-'07 ZX-10R (Kayaba) forks, '04-'07 CBR1000RR (Tokico) calipers with Vesrah pads, Ducati 848 (Brembo) rotors, Ducati 999 Marvic Penta II cast magnesium wheel, and custom Spiegler brake lines. The carbon front fender was donated from some random Kawasaki, and I thank it for its sacrifice... DSC02956.JPG The cockpit features CBR929/954RR triple clamps, a Yoshimura top nut (notice a trend here?), Cycle Cat Ducati Monster clip ons, and a CBR1000RR front brake master cylinder set up. It is REALLY tight everywhere around the bars, and I'm still adjusting them to make everything work. DSC02960.JPG The clutch reservoir is very close to the clip on, and currently bangs against the screen mount at full right lock. Adjustments are needed... DSC02961.JPG The right side is similarly tight; the brake lines and throttle cables are rubbing at full left lock. Surprisingly, the brake reservoir clears everything. DSC02993.JPG DSC02981.JPG That about covers the modifications. I finished bolting on the fairings tonight, and have just a few tweaks to make before going for a test ride tomorrow or Monday. I'll post up my weight spreadsheet shortly to show how much mass I've cut off. It just exceeds 50 pounds, according to my figures. I'll have to put the bike on some scales to see if it has dropped below 500 pounds wet; unfortunately I didn't weigh it pre-modifications, so I can't prove how much it has lost. So far, I'm pretty happy with it. Once I have washed it, I'll take some "final" shots and post them up. Lacy

It's done... Stand by for more to come...

All right, time for some beauty shots... I found a place in New Bedford, MA, that does powdercoating and machining (Allpage Inc.). They stripped the 8 spoke Enkei 3rd generation VFR750 wheel I had mounted to my VTEC and powdercoated it Sahara Gold. I (somewhat impatiently) had them order and coat the wheel without getting a paint chip (powder chip?!?) to check the color better against the Marvic magnesium front wheel I was trying to match it to, so the color is further off than I would like. It doesn't come out well in the photos, but the newly coated rear is somewhat brighter than the Marvic, which looks like a dirtier color of gold. Oh well, I kept telling myself that the two wheels would be 5 feet apart, the front would be partially covered by the rotors/forks/calipers/fender, and that it would only be really noticeable on the right side of the bike. We'll see how it all looks when it's bolted together in the sunlight... I also had them strip and coat the aluminum nuts I have been using, which is awesome except... the powder is thick enough that the socket doesn't fit, and unfortunately there isn't a standard (English unit) socket that is slightly larger. I'll probably wrap some paper around the nuts and try to use the next higher metric size, and if that doesn't work I may have the shop strip them again and have them anodized instead (as they were originally). Speaking of stripping powdercoating, I forgot to have the shop mask off the mating surface of the wheel (where it mounts to the hub), so I'll be sanding that off prior to mounting the rear. Rookie move... The rest of the parts came out very well. The titanium front axle spacers look fine; I originally intended to have complete spacers machined that would replace the stock ZX-10R spacers and give me the additional 12mm I needed, but after talking to the machine shop I decided to minimize how much titanium cutting I was going to ask of them to reduce cost somewhat (so these will be in addition to the stock ZX-10R spacers). I have since discovered that the spacers are a little bit too wide (about 0.1mm each), so I need to re-measure everything and get them shaved down. The ZX-10R axle is different than our VFR (and most Honda) axles; it doesn't shoulder against only one fork leg, instead it compresses both fork legs together, so my spacer/wheel hub width needs to be right on so I don't end up tweaking the fork legs and adding stiction (or blowing out my fork seals). The rotor spacers are 5mm thick, to correctly place the Ducati 848 rotors within the 2004-2007 CBR1000RR calipers. I measured up the 848 rotors and had the spacers machined to match the contours of the rotor, so they don't stick out; since the machine shop was going to cut them on a CNC mill, I didn't feel too bad about adding a longer cutting profile. With the spacers, the rotors are no longer precisely located on the wheel hub shoulder, so I eyeballed that when torquing the rotor bolts and had the wheel balanced again after installing the rotors. No weights needed! Finally, the rearset brackets. These adapt 2004-2007 CBR1000RR/2003-2006 CBR600RR Vortex rearsets to the VFR800 VTEC. The original Vortex relocating brackets are angled and space their mounting bolts too far apart for the VFR, so I redesigned them to fit correctly. I couldn't get a position that exactly replicated the stock peg location because the Vortex peg brackets are pretty long, which meant the holes to provide a stock location were way too close to the relocater bracket mounting holes. So, instead they feature a "stock" location that is the same height as the stock VFR pegs but 10mm back, with additional positions from 10mm down to 20mm up and up to 30 mm back. In the photo below, the Vortex brackets are on the left (with the angled mounting holes) and mine are on the right. If anyone is interested, I can provide SolidWorks or .dxf files of the brackets. In my case, I got a good set of used rearsets (Vortex part number RS205) from eBay for $125, then paid around $140 for the machining of the brackets and $40 for the anodizing. I also bought another Vortex part, a shifter bracket, to try to get the rearset shifter system to work. I'll report on that when I declare success or... well, I won't declare failure, but will try another angle. Your costs may vary, but it is a viable alternative to the Sato Racing rearsets if you have access to a CNC mill and don't mind fiddling to make the shifter work. I also have a CBR600RR rear brake master cylinder to go on the rearsets, which would probably not be the right move if you were keeping the linked brakes on your VFR. Again, some of this may not be for the faint of heart. So, that's where I am, still assembling and with a couple of outsourced jobs yet to complete. Once the axle spacers are shaved, I can bolt the front end together for good. I'm currently mounting the controls to my Cycle Cat clip ons, and need to drill a few holes in them. Then, it's time to strip the rest of the ABS parts off and weigh them to determine how much I have really lost; based on my (very incomplete) spreadsheet, I will be very lucky to reach 50 pounds total removed at the end of this set of modifications. That all depends on how much the remaining ABS parts weigh (both ABS control valves, the ABS computer, lines, and whatever proportioning valve is resident under the seat). Once my accounting is complete, I will share it so we can compare measured weights of the stock components and the new stuff I bolted on. Then, it will be time to ride... Lacy