Higgin

If you are looking for a nice helmet in the sub $300 range, check out Motorcyclegear.com They have a lot of good closeout deals on many helmets. I've bought almost all of my gear from them over the years and couldn't be happier. Excellent customer service and easy returns. One helmet they have on clearance that I've had my eye on and stands out as an excellent value is this... http://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/closeouts/last_chance_bargains/shoei/qwest_helmets_closeout_graphics.html A very nice, nearly $500 MSRP Shoei for right around $200. IMO, you cant really beat that. I've personally tired on this model and liked it a lot. Very comfortable. It will probably be my next lid if they still have one in my size when I can gather up the $$. Also looks like they have plenty in XXL for you. This is a current model helmet (the closeout is just on some discontinued colors), so you should be able to try this model on at a local bike shop before you buy. But anyway, just thought I'd mention it to you, since it fit your critieria. Just stay away from that one model in XL that is left!

I used to wear only fully armored leather jackets, but for me there were 2 big drawbacks....1. The heat - with the Humidity and heat in summer, they would just get nasty to wear and limited the time I wanted to ride. This was partially solved with a Joerocket Leather jacket that had panels you could zip off under the arms all the way down to the waist revealing mesh underneith, but the jacket was usually on the small size for me and I couldnt find anything similar new when it was time to replace, which leads me to the seconds reason I got away from leathers.....2. I have Crohns disease (an issue with my stomach/intestenes, etc) and my weight can vary by as much as 40-45 lbs over the course of a riding season. That led me to have 2 leather jackets, but it seemed like most of the time one was either too big or the other too small and it was rare that either actually fit correctly and there just isnt that much adjustability in leather (fat guy in a little coat comes to mind lol). So I started looking for alternatives when my 2 leather jackets were starting to get to the end of their usable lives. I wanted something more comfortable in the heat, that had the ability to be adjusted to fit me through most of my weight changes, and I wanted something that seemed decently safe in a crash. What I ended up with was the Cortech GX Air Series 2 jacket. It is a mesh jacket but it has leather panels in the main "crash zones" - elbows, shoulders, and down the back. It also has a wide range of adjustability through the waist, chest and arms which was important for me, but proably not so much to everyone else :) I've been using the jacket for about a year now and I really like it. It is much much cooler in the summer heat and humidity, and seems like it would be relatively safe in a crash, but thankfully I haven't had to test that yet (knock on wood). You can check the jacket out here on newenoughs old page for it... http://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/closeouts/last_chance_bargains/cortech_by_tour_master/gx_air_series_2_motorcycle_jacket.html Unfortunatly, I bought one of the last remaining jackets when it went of closeout a year ago, and the new GX AIR Series 3 jacket has done away with the leather panels and is now just a straight mesh jacket with ballistic nylon. It does look like there are some left around the internet though, so you may be able to find one if thats what you are interested in. FYI - I think I paid $99 for mine on closeout, so that's what I look for pricewise. Hope that helps you out, or at least maybe points you in a better direction for mesh gear. The one thing that sucks though, is that they never made a matching pair of pants for this jacket as far as I know, so I ended up just having to get just some normal Textile pants to zip to the jacket.

Wow! I have not seen that movies since I was probably 8 years old! I had totally forgot about it, but I now reember liking it a lot when I was young. Hope you get the brake pedal figured out; I'll probably be back to look through this thred in a month or two as this is the next mod my bike needs. Once I got my corbin and heli-bars on, the pegs just are too high up now on long rides. The corbin seems at least a couple inches lower than the stock seat.

Thanks, Veefer, I saw that earlier.....just a question, could you explain the steps taken to remove the swingarm pivot bolt and switch it around? Do you have to remove the shock first? I might go ahead and do that if its not too much trouble.

Awesome! I'm about to replace my chain and sprockets but dont have the spare $$ to get a rivet tool at the time or have the local shop change them. This way looks to be the ticket. Just to clearify, you take the nut off the swingarm bolt, then just tap the bolt out enough with a nylon hammer so that the chain has room to get around the foot peg assembly....but the bolt is not out far enought that the whole swingarm is going to fall off, correct? That would not be good I'm sure :)

So I've been looking at getting a new chain and sprocket set for my 98. Going to go +2 in the rear, so 17/45t. Pretty much set on a DID chain. I've been looking at various sprocket and chain websites, and so far seems like Sprocket Center has the best prices for a quality kit I've found so far. Here is the link to the 98 vfr chain and sprocket kit page on their site.... http://sprocketcenter.com/index.php/street-sprocket-applications/honda/vfr-800f-1998-2001/sprocket-chain-kits/530-sprocket-kit-superlite-steel-sprocket-set-with-your-choice-of-x-ring-chain-honda-vfr-800-98-01.html Basically my question is what is the difference in all the chains? I know I want to stick with a 530 for longetevity issues, but I'm not sure about the differences beyond that. They have a "Monthly Special" with a DID 530VM series chain for $190.95, but also the 530VX series for the same price. Whats the difference between them? They are both rated for 1000cc. But they also have the 530ZVM-2 (1300cc rated) for $222.95 and then the 530ZVMX (1400cc rated) for $243.95. I assume that as the cc rating goes up, the chain is beefier and stronger. But will this also equate into a longer life on an 800cc VFR, or is just overkill? I'm not too worried about a little added weight, I'd rather have the longest life chain possible. What do you guys recommend? Also, what is the difference in a "nickle" colored chain and a "natural" colored chain? Is nickle a silverish color and natual is just black? Also, if you have a better place to buy a chain and sprocket kit, let me know. I'm open to suggestions! Thanks!

Add me to the list, im in. Please pm me if/when this gets going in case I lose the thread. would be nice to be able to use a topcase!

My plan was to install the Speedbleeders and then flush the system by adding new fluid to the MC reservoir and pumping it through either with the levers or a Mighty Vac. I just installed the speedbleeders from wiremybike.com a couple weeks ago and it made bleeding everything a snap. It may possibly introduce a tiny bit of air at the caliper when you change the bleeders over, but if it did, I didn't notice it. Plus, once you start bleeding, that air is right there at the speedbleeder and will be the first thing ejected. I highly recommend getting the speedbleeders....Once I got them all installed (which was easy....do one at a time, pull one old one out, put new in), it took maybe 30 minutes to bleed everything....and that includes removing the rear tire and rear caliper to flip it over as you are supposed to (supposedly you can do it without removing rear tire, but it gave to much more room it was a no-brainer). And that was the first time I bled my brakes. Doing it again, I bet it would be a 15-20 minute job start to finish. No hiccups at all. Just followed the sequence procedure in the service manual. I did it by cracking the speedbleeders open and pumping the lever. If you are going to use a mity vac, the speedbleeders are kind of pointless, except as just a backup to make sure no air gets back in. Not to mention, I'm not really sure the mity vac would build up enough pressure to overcome the oneway valve inside the speedbleeder. It might, but still, using it seems pointless with the SB. For the original poster....I would imagine (as someone else posted) that a small amount of air got in the line when the bike was on its side. Try bleeding the clutch first. Its a piece of cake even with out speedbleeders. I would be willing to bet that will solve your clutch problem.

I have what look to be the same clear lenses on my 98. Just to get it out of the way straight off.....the build quality on these are not the best. Definatly not anywhere near stock. The plastic is much thinner and feels like it would break a lot easier and base is just a piece of hard chromed over plastic. I was really afraid it was going to snap when I was installing the mounting screws/bracket, but they didn't. So basically they are a cheap replacement clear lens, which at $35, I'm sure you already mostly expected. They work and look decent from a couple feet away, they are just not near OEM quality. My stock lenses were kind of scratched up some and I knew I was going to be doing my bike in blue this year and thought the clear would look good with it(and it does, IMO), so I bought the pair I have from a local VFRD member. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, as for the bulb, my clear lens actually came with bulbs. They were the same as the stock bulbs, except amber colored. So they still give off the amber color when flashing. You can see the amber bulb through the clear lens, but really not much unless it is flashing. It looks fine to me IMO. I'll try to post up a couple pictures of mine installed later tonight. If you have any other questions, let me know. BTW - from what I've gathered, Thurn motorsports seems to be the best place to buy aftermarket signals for our bikes. I don't know of anyone using the front clear lenses, but I know a lot of people have replaced the whole rear signal assembly with good results. They also have many bulb options....standard amber, metalized bulbs, led, etc. If you got the led bulbs, you would need a relay to prevent the fast flashing, which they also sell. They are a little more expensive, but I would assume higher quality bases on what I've heard about the rear signal, but I don't know first hand. Maybe someone will speak up that has experience with them. Heres the site for blinkers for our bike..... http://www.thurn-motorsport.de/html/blinker-leuchten-rc46-1.html

Haha, Belfry, thats exactly what happened to me.....I also just installed helibars along with all this other work. I had planned on draining the clutch master anyway, but I did losen the banjo on the brake line a little too much and got some air in there...no pressure at the brake lever. Luckily I had the speedbleeder set ready to go an did the brake bleeding today. Honestly, it was not bad at all once I deciphered through the 2 or 3 writeups on here, and the service manual. Honestly, I found it easier to follow the service manual, just doing exactly the steps it described for "using an industrial brake bleeder" except instead of using the industrial brake bleeder, I used the speedbleeders and pumped the handle/footlever. I went through this morning and put all the speedbleeders in, then spent probably 3-4 hours reading everything and trying to combine it all into my own list.....and then it probably took 1.5 hours to do the actual bleeding. Mostly because you have to take off the rear tire and turn the rear brake calpier upside down, plus I went really slow so I wouldn't screw anything up. I bet next time I could do it in 45 minutes. The speedbleeders make allllllll the difference. Now, starting with a totally dry system would probably take forever, but with fluid already in the lines, it was honestly not hard at all. Just follow the service manual and use the writeups on here mainly for the pictures. Keep in mind, the write ups I found on here were all done using 6th gen bikes, and although the brake bleeders are almost the same, there is one critical difference. The 5th have a center bleeder on both fron calipers, and the 6th has only a center bleeder on the left caliper, but also has a second PCV beeder valve under the seat. That is what kept screwing me up when I would read through the writeups and then compare to the 5th gen sservice manual. I kept saying WTF??? Until I found diagrams of both systems and figured out what the difference was. Anyway, if you have the speedbleeders, go for it! I was amazed at how brown my fluid was. I dont even want to think how long it's been in there from previous owners.....quite possibly original, as the brake pads also looked to be original (changed them too) and thats probably what led to my clutch slave failure. I'm already impressed vy the difference in the lever and footlever feel. Cant wait to get it out on the road, hopefully tomorrow if I can stay up late enough tonight to get all the plastics back on.

Success!! Well, I think anyway...can't get it out to test till probably tomorrow. It turns out there was just air stil in the line somewhere. I tapped around on the line yesterday with the handle of a screwdriver and ended up taking a day off of working on the bike to relax and today I tried the lever out and Viola! Works! Very happy about that! The rebuilt Master and brand new slave give an awesome feel at the lever. Honestly, the old slave cyl was so jacked up I can't believe the clutch worked at all (it started acting up during the last 500 miles of last riding season). Once I got the old slave off, I saw what the problem was.....the piston bore was totally pitted all the way around causing fluid to leak by slowly and causing the piston to get hung up and not move smoothly. it would move halfway, get stuck for a second, and then come the rest of the way out slowly. So like I said, I'm amazed the clutch even functioned. But this totally explains why I thought the clutch was slipping occationally after shifts in low gears. Thanks for all the replys and help, hopefully it all works now :) And now it's off to put the speedbleeders on the brakes and bleed them out. Hopefully I have better luck with them, but with the complexity there, I'm not holding out much hope lol!

Hey brad, thanks for the info. While doing a search yesterday, I specifically remember reading the second page of your other post, but I think it was when I was searching about my speedbleeder and I didn't read the whole thing. Der. I actually remember at one point while installing the new slave cyl that I accidentally pulled that rod going to the clutch out a little and kind of freaked thinking I shouldn't be able to pull that out. I just kind of pushed it back, and quickly forgot about it. So I guess my next course of action is to carefully pull the slave back off and see if the piston is moving and check to make sure that rod is engaged the way it should be. I probably screwed something up super simple and it causing me all this grief.....Well, that's my hope anyway! Will report back.

Well, I finally got to the point where there is fluid comming out of the bleeder when I squeeze the handle......buuuuut, it does not feel like it is engaging the clutch. THe pull on the handle seems much too easy and there is very little resistance. I tried putting it in gear and pulling in the clutch and tried to turn the rear tire by hand(on center stand) and it just felt the same as not having the clutch pulled in. Couldnt get the tire to rotate at all. SO I'm not sure whats wrong. Off to work right now, so I guess I'll deal with it when I get back. BTW - I do have a mityvac......but its at a friends house over and hour away. Sigh.

hmm, yeah I do, the one that came on the new slave cyl :) When I pulled the speedbleeder out, there was fluid comming out of the hole......but I'll try it with the normal bleeder right now. I'm about to give up for tonight. ok, so it seemed to bleed out just fine with the normal nipple. Not getting any air bubbles in the fluid. So now I just swap back the speedbleeder? i dont see how that would make any difference, but i'll try it.