Parker

Roy Very very very nice job, as usual. Colour scheme is errr, individual :unsure: :P but looking forward to seeing it in the metal. :unsure:

Me too :P Actually the spring is blue :beer: http://tinyurl.com/2f4r52 http://tinyurl.com/25oqzc

Gents (especially jstanwood and dutchy) - thanks for the info you've put in on this thread :thumbsup: . After saving all my pennies I recently junked the OEM shock (rebuilt and regassed, which lasted all of 9000km till it started flopping about again) and got a Willbers (actually a TechnoFlex, which is a Willbers made under licence in the Netherlands) fitted. It's the model without the remote preload which was all the budget allowed for at the time, with the can mounted on the left rear footpeg hanger. Having looked at the work that's gone on above, I might see if I can mount it elsewhere. I'd been told that if I fitted a decent rear shock it would make the front work a lot harder - given I had a set of 0.9 racetech front springs sitting in the shed, I got the team who fitted the rear to also fit the harder springs and fiddle with the damping/valving at the front to suit, so now at least the front doesn't bottle out when it's asked to do some work. The chap who tweaked the rear shock settings and worked his magic on the front was James at Zenodamper, with much able assistance from someone quite well known on this site It has since been, errr, extensively test-ridden :P Over four days and almost 3000km with the OzVFR mob, with loads of tight, bumpy 35/45km/h twisties, lots of 55/65 bends and miles of open 85/95km/h sweepers, the bike didn't put a wheel wrong. Where before it would have wallowed or juddered or just felt unsure and vague, this time it just felt utterly composed, no matter what I threw at it. The ride is certainly a lot stiffer than before, but a bit of tweaking will get me to a decent compromise. It might still be a little slow-steering in the really tight stuff, but the trade-off is absolute confidence in faster bends and in the sweepers. It might be just my imagination, but it felt like my corner entry speed was a good 10% up and I could get on the gas much earlier in a bend without worrying that the bike was going to go off somewhere I didn't want it to. For now, I'm happy with the set-up I've got, it's made me much more aware of what a stonking road bike a VFR is, even a 12 year-old bike like mine. That's not to say I don't look at all the USD fork conversions around and dream, mind :idea3: