Olive

And talking shirts are we just doing the generic Guys style or is there going to be a female style... Kinda like it when the ladies look great as well.

Since when do the ladies not look great as well?! You, especially, should know better. :)

MaxSwell, Axel_7 does have a good point. Quite often a man's T-shirt can look like a burlap sack on a woman - it's all about the sizing and the cut.

@ Polar Bear - it's easy to choose. One of the twins has hard luggage installed, the other doesn't. I take whichever suits my needs for that particular day.

I'm in for the event this summer - looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting a few riders that I only know from the form.

I have two VFRs. One has Pazzos, the other, as you so eloquently call them, Chi-zzo’s. They look very similar, but there are a few differences. Of note - I have had the Pazzos a lot longer than the knockoffs.

1. The knockoffs fade. The Pazzos retain colour they had the day I purchased them. The knockoffs are already showing signs of fading. Colour on the knockoffs isn`t as vibrant as the Pazzos

2. The knockoffs feel a little looser - wobblier. Not quite as sturdy. So far this has not been an issue - I don't notice when riding, only when standing beside the bikes comparing them.

3. The knockoffs are significantly cheaper.

Beyond that, the levers seem identical. The knockoffs seem to use the identical template as the Pazzos. Is it worth the coin? That's really a toss up. I don't regret picking up the Pazzos because it was significanatly faster shipping (and I didn't want to wait four to six week for a shipment from China). On the second bike it wasn`t an issue to wait for the shipment. The key is that the levers fit my hands - stock levers do not adjust in close enough for small hands.

Your milage may vary.

I can attest to the issues with K&N spot welds. I have had exactly two K&N filters on a VFR and both of them had issues. To be fair the second one only had a small drip, but the experience last year that involved a tow truck has them very low on my list of preferred filters. I don't like to see my bike bleeding.

Changing the air filter is a task that I had been procrastinating about for a while.

I probably wouldn't have procrastinated quite as much had I realized what was really involved. Unfortunately there weren't any pictoral tutorials on VFRD to walk me through it. So I grabbed my camera as I started the monumental task to document the entire process.

Having looked at directions of how to access the filter, I was a little reluctant to start. First of all, it would require lifting the gas tank.

Now, in my mind the gas tank is a solid piece of metal, firmly attached to the bike. It's not something you simply lift up. It's not something that motorcycle manufacturers have ever intended to be lifted, tilted or removed in any way, shape or fashion - at least not in my mind. Of course, this line of thinking had me envisioning smashed fingers if I lost my grip on the heavy, awkward tank, or problems lifting it up and holding it while attempting to fit a prop to support it. Since I had been warned about the importance of having an empty tank prior to starting, I assumed that the tank needed to be completely empty, and even as such it would prove a challenge. (I'm sure you can guess where this build-up is going).

Trying to ensure that I had an empty tank was the first task. Since I still needed to get myself and my bike home when I was running on fumes I stopped at a gas station for $2.19 worth of fuel. I'm sure anyone who noticed the magnitude of my fill-up was amused. The attendant in the store sure did - he even enquired over the intercom if I was having difficulty with the pump. (No, not at all. I always buy one point five litres of gas... it should be just enough to get me within walking distance of the NEXT gas station.) By the time I arrived home my low gas light had been blinking for some time, and a quick calculation had me running circles around my area trying to burn off just a bit more fuel while still managing to ride the bike up the hill onto my driveway. I didn't want to walk back to the gas station with Jerry Can in hand for another 25c worth of gas. By the time I had the tank as close to empty as I thought I could safely get, it was late enough that shadows were lengthening.

Since it was obvious that daylight was waning, and I don't have the luxury of a garage, I parked the bike on the driveway and decided to wait for the following day. After all, this task was going to take three or four hours. The other warning I had been given about the air filter was to be careful not to drop any of the small screws holding the filter in place. In my mind I was envisioning tiny screws the size of the ones holding my glasses together requiring the use of a precision screwdriver. I was also picturing the area under the tank as having hundreds of small nooks and crannies where tiny screws with aspirations of freedom could secrete themselves. Of course, small screws aren't simply limited to crevices in the bike to hide, I have an entire driveway with lots of places with hiding places for screws, bolts, washers, nuts... well, you get the picture. Dusk with impending full dark does not make the best conditions to play a game of hunt and go seek for a dropped fastener.

Since I was envisioning worst case scenerios I had also questioned how much of a struggle removing the old air filter was going to be once I got to that point. I figured that task would also likely involve broken fingernails and a blood sacrifice or two to wrestle the old filter out and coerce the new filter into a tightly fitting spot.

Have I mentioned that I have a highly active imagination well seasoned by weeks and weeks of procrastination and finding excuses to delay what was sure to be a memorable install?

By the time I had gotten to the task at hand, I had magnified it in my mind. It wasn't going to be as simple or straightforward as an oil change. But of course few things are. Removing the mirrors from the bike last fall I illustrated my unique talent for complicating matters by stripping not one, not two, not three, but all four allen bolts, necessitating drilling out the original fasteners. And perhaps it is best if we don't mention the fate of the late model power drills I was using to attempt to drill them out with. I don't know what type of metal Honda used on the OEM bolts, but it certainly was soft in comparison to my allen keys simultaneously being hard enough to write off two ancient power drills - one that seized completely, and one that stripped an essential gear rendering it useless to drill anything more viscous than half melted butter. With this in mind I walked outside, camera in one hand and new filter in the other ready for a task that could quite possibly take all day, or have my bike out of commission for a week or two.

After having turned a molehill into an entire mountain range I was ready to start the task.

It was deceptively simple, almost disappointingly so. The tank was very light, and I could easily pick it up with one finger. There were no crushed fingers. There was no need for a power lift. The screws on the air filter were large and easy to remove, although the front two were a little fiddly and I could see where a magnetic screwdriver would have come in handy. No screws were dropped, misplaced, stripped or mangled. None. The old air filter lifted right out, and the new one dropped straight in. No blood sacrifice required. I questioned if I had missed out on something - this was entirely too easy.

Had I realized just how trivial and easy this actually was I wouldn't have procrastinated at all.

Difficulty: Exceedingly easy (embarrassingly so)

Time Required: Ten minutes (if you work at a slow, leisurely pace)

Pre-Prep: Ensure gas tank is mostly empty, down to the last one or two bars. You don't need to worry about emptying the tank down to fumes. Seriously, you could probably lift a half full tank without noticing the weight.

You need:

Socket Set with extension

Phillips screwdriver

Chain adjustment wrench and extension

Clean filter

You probably don't need:

Instructions

Photos

(But I will provide them anyhow... after all, it would have helped to have them to convince myself of just how easy the task was... besides, I had the camera prepared to document the entire process for you).

Lifting the Tank

1. Remove the seat.

2. Remove the two bolts at the front of the gas tank. Each bolt has a washer associated with it.

3. Lift up the front of the tank and reinstall one of the bolts to use as a support for the tank prop.

4. Tilt the tank back towards the rear of the bike, lifting it out of the way of the filter housing. There is a cord that will ensure you don't lift the tank too far.

5. Clip together the chain adjustment wrench and extension and use it as a prop to hold up the tank. If you put the open round end of the extension handle over top of the reinstalled tank mounting bolts it will not slip. (If you don't have the this tool, you can use almost anything to prop up the tank - it's not that heavy).

Accessing the Filter

6. Remove the screws holding the top of the plastic air filter housing. There are seven Phillips screws holding it closed - two at the front, two on either side, and one at the rear.

7. Lift up the filter housing and swing it out of the way exposing the filthy air filter.

8. Lift out the dirty air filter.

My filter wasn't nearly as dirty as I had envisioned. Quite honestly I wouldn't have been too surprised to find a mouse nest or two, but the mice around my house had apparently not discovered the joys of motorcycling. Not sure where the oil on the back of the dirty filter came from. Your dirty pictures:

9. Drop in the new air filter.

A few gratuitous shots of a clean air filter.

Reassemble the Bike

10. Replace the air filter housing and refasten the phillips screws.

11. Remove the prop holding the tank up, and remove the bolt you temporarily reinstalled to support the prop.

12. Lower the tank and securely reinstall the bolts and washers at the front of the gas tank.

Optional step: writeup a humourous tutorial about the buildup to pulling the bike apart and the simplicity of the maintenance. Extra points if you make other members on VFRD laugh.

That's all there is to it. It's that simple.