Mac Morgan

I’m not sure how old this topic is but if you own a gen5 VFR it’s worth reading. I’m on my 2nd VFR having bought my 1st back in 99. I’ve been pretty good about maintenance especially brake fluid because it prone to absorb moisture. After about 12 years my rear brake started to act up. I took the caliper apart, cleaned the pistons and cylinders and reassembled. The bleeding required a bit of finagling but I finally got the rear caliper to bleed by forcing the SMC forward on it pivot and getting all the air out. I’ve not ridden the bike much as a Triumph Tiger 800 got in the way. I’ve seen so much written about others rear brake problems that I decided to look into it further and I bought a complete left caliper/SMC off of EBay. It came from 2000MY VFR. Upon taking it completely apart I found the green check valve completely filled with what looked like mud and the SMC piston covered with the same gunk! Upon removing the caliper pistons I found a grease-like substance in the bottom of the cylinders. I’m not sure what my VFR’s linked system looks like but I suspect it time to look into it.

Brakes, brakes BRAKES! I’ve had a couple Gen 5 VFRs, but a comment on brake hoses. A few years ago I was working on a 400/4 which needed everything- carbs stripped and cleaned, ft. brake not working at all. I think we all look at brake hoses as lifetime pieces but they’re not. On the 400/4 I couldn’t get any fluid through to the caliper plus the bleeder nipple had firmly attached itself to the caliper. I ran safety wire through the hose only to find that after almost 50yrs the inner hose was breaking up into little chunks. The system is pretty simple when you think about it but most of us never think about changing brake fluid or changing up the hoses. On my VFR I had the rear caliper problem which entailed completely disassembling the system. I didn’t take the SMC (secondary master cylinder) apart but instead forced bled it by activating its attached mount and watched the rear center piston move in and out. It’s important to replace the caliper seals as they help pull the pistons back into the caliper housing. A dirty/rusty piston will bite you every time. hope this helps. mac

Having owned 2 98 Gen 5s, I’ve experienced all the issues with the problem areas of the bikes. The first was using the kill switch to stop the engine but leaving the ign on. I did that twice which I think caused the stator/rr connector to melt as the connectors overheated as the system attempted to re-charge the dead battery! The stator wiring is around 14-16ga wire and the rr wiring is closer to 12ga. Think that causes a resistance issue! I’ve never found that the rr completely failed but have since replaced it with a mosfet unit. I’ve doubled up on the ground wire running a 10ga wire from the - terminal to a frame boss near by. About 2 yrs ago I started having a problem with the rear caliper locking up. Unlike many, I like the linked system although some of the components are no longer available. Upon disassembly I found the rear caliper in need of cleaning as I found some contamination inside. I’ve been keen on replacing brake fluid yearly. As for the suspension, I first replaced the stock shock with a Fox Twin Clicker back when I first got the bike. I’m not sure it really improved the handling to justify the cost of the shock! After buying a second 98 VFR, I sold the first after first installing the stock shock! I’ve always found the VFR to be a stellar handling bike hence it’s being one of the best used sport bike. I’m not sure of of the reason for a complete front end conversion especially when one considered the time and cost and final results. Obviously modern USD forks are all the rage especially if one considers the fact that almost the contenders in WSB and MotoGP are using Ohlins components. In trying to “improve” Honda’s stock setup, I’ve tried GoldValve and their shim stack is basically the same idea Ohlins use. Unfortunately, if you don’t get it right the first time you have to completely disassemble the fork to revalue. A better idea is the DMr cartridge upgrade kit. I still have my second 98 but it gets ridden less and less after acquiring a 2013 Triumph 800 Tiger a couple of years ago.

Use a .009 (hi E guitar string)

I had the same problem. I disassembled the rear caliper and replaced all the seals and cleaned the pistons. The center piston had what appeared to be water mixed with brake fluid. For bleeding I manually pushed the secondary master cylinder to bleed the center rear piston. Now that I’ve seen your photo it may be time to look into a new SMC. Good piece and photos. I should also think that the old SMC could be cleaned. I’ve had similar issues on a BMW Magura MC. The front brakes were locking up. I pulled the plastic reservoir off and found corrosion around the return orifice and cleaned it with a .009 guitar string.

Rusty fairing screws...! I never let mine get that bad. I just chuck them up in my drill, apply some semichrome to some 0000 steel wool and they come up looking like chrome. If your fairing screws look like the above one, what’s the rest of your bike like?

After 20 years, I wasn’t surprised about what I found in the rear caliper. You try an maintain your bikes as well as possible but time passes by and a couple of years have gone by since you replaced fluids. The braking system is a bit complicated and I think you have to think outside the box when you get into the bleeding of it. I replaced all the seals in the rear caliper- unfortunately there are some components which are no longer available and I was hoping they were not the problem. There was one component, perhaps the PCV, that someone spoke of having a screen which was clogged with debris. Did not get into that. But after a couple attempts of “reverse bleeding” it seemed ok.

I rebuilt the brakes on my ‘98 last year. The rear brake had started to “self-apply”! I found some water in the middle piston area of the rear caliper which is activated by the pivoting left front slave cylinder when the front brakes are applied. As for bleeding- after refilling the system (I have every type of bleeding system- mityvac, ebc air powered, big syringe for reverse bleeding) and still having a soft pedal, I started forcing the rear caliper pistons back into the caliber body and then manually exercising the left front slave cylinder (the one on the pivoting mount) while bleeding the rear (remember to unbolt it and hold it upside down so the bleeder nipples are pointing up.

As for wellnuts, the best are from Honda but expensive. I’ve had good luck ordering from amazon but one has to look at the sizes- thread size, length and diameter. Never really had a problem and I’ve been replacing them for 20 years... really quite simple. JIS screwdrivers- it took a lot of “crammed-out” Japanese fasteners till I discovered that we’ve been using USS screwdrivers that don’t fit Japanese “cross-headed” screws. Actually the screwdriver that comes in every Honda tool kit is a JIS screwdriver-try it out on the countersunk screws on your brake/clutch reservoir cap. Go to partszilla and you can order just the stem and handle by themselves, about $1-2.00.

Having owner a number of bikes during my life and still having a 98 gen 5 since 1999, I love to check back on the discussion site to see what’s going on with you all. The amount of time, money and effort spent on making one’s VFR as fast as Marquez’s Honda is mind boggling. I’ve always enjoyed my VFR and other a few small changes have pretty much left it alone. First thing I did was to replace the stock shock with a Fox twin clicker and then later with a Penske; didn’t feel much difference! Read about lots of folks delinking the brakes but decided against it; I like being able to use the rear brake on steep downhills in the rain! Also better for playing with the ADV crowd wrestling their 550lbs GS elephants down rocky Jeep trails! As for the forks... I’ve used the RaceTech dampers in both a KLR250 and my VTR1000. What a pain it is to take the forks apart to change the damping! Anybody try DMr for some help? Anyway, keep up the good work guys and keep sending in those photos!

I have a feeling that the oem bent flange shownin the photo above is probably the result of overtightening the the exhaust nuts. The torque is only 9 lb.ft. I’ve had my headers off a number of times for jet hot coating and a failed attempt of fitting Delkevic’s version 1 ss system. Their fixed front down pipes weren’t inline with the exhaust ports and the 2 rear pipes wouldn’t fit into the collector. If anyone’s interested, pm me. I’ll sell them cheap! A note about the 6mm exhaust port studs and nuts. It’s possible/probable that one or more exhaust nuts will permanently attach itself to its stud resulting in the removal of the whole shabang! No matter what I tried, I could not unscrew the nut from the stud. Put anti-seize on the stud/nut assy to save future hassles.

If you’ve got the bike apart this far, go ahead and dive into the trans... they’re not rocket science and it’ll give you an education on how it works... most bikes these days have similar trans and shifting parts. When I was running with WERA years ago I’d rr my trans every year just to keep an eye on bearings, shift dogs and such. You can tell a lot about the rider by the shape of the dogs. The gears are in constant mesh and really don’t wear much. It’s the dogs and their corresponding engagement windows that take the beating from flat shifting and careless downshifting. Good Luck.

I’ve followed this discussion when it was first posted a number of years ago. Since then many of us have come and gone as have their VFRs. I sold my first 98 but kept a second but have quit trying to make it something it’s not. I’ve left the brake system alone, tried Fox Twinclicker adjustable shock (for sale, like new in the box), Penske shock now, GoldValve install- too much trouble to set up to one’s liking. Jamie Daugherty, Daughertymotorsport, makes a great upgrade for our VFR- a fork cartridge upgrade kit. Installation is a lot easier then trying to decipher the Gold Valve instructions and the results are worth the price. Jamie will send the correct weight springs and answer most questions. He also has custom made shocks and does custom machine work.

I’d check the forks and triple clamps for straightness as well as the frame.

I do most of my own maintenance but it’s getting that too many bikes in the garage leave some unattended to. My VFR is still one of my favorite and I’ve had 2 over time. I’ve a brand new chain and sprockets as well as new SS brake lines sitting in a box but after cleaning and adjusting the old chain, I think I’ll wait a bit. As for adjusting steering head bearings, the factory manual has the best method and works well. I like the idea of the tapered bearings but I think the spacing is a bit off and they don’t seal out dirt and water quite as well.