swimmer

I did this upgrade last month. The seat looks nice. I didn't make any special requests or add-ons to the normal foam upgrade. The seat is more level now and more comfortable. Slighlty firmer. One thing I am not crazy about is that the new contour encourages me to sit a little farther away from the tank. This might be OK for someone that normally sits with their butt against the rise is the OEM seat but for me, at 5'9" and not overweight at all its a little father away from the bars than I would like. The new shape seems to work really well in combination with a sheep skin cover though. The longest ride I have done with the new seat is about 2.5 hrs (yesterday) and I did that in combo with the sheep skin and was quite comfortable the whole time. Ideally though I would probably need a full day's ride to really evaluate it.

I did a brake fluid (and clutch) flush on my bike following the procedure in the service manual. I did not encounter any problems.

I don't believe there is a flash available for the X.

Yea, that was the idea. Something for more comfort on longer rides with less wind noise. I wouldn't expect it to have the performance of the F. I would like to have both the X and the F but I can only have 2 motorcycles so I would have sell my 250L Rally which would mean no dirt riding anymore. I plan to keep my F through 100k miles and I am at 62k right now so, at least another 2 years.

Don't worry about it. It's common to change the oil, refill it, run it, check the level, and then have it show a higher level after your first ride. I always try to fill it on the low side to start with.

I probably had about 250 tracked fuel fill ups before doing the flash and my standard deviation is pretty small and I did not see any difference that I can define. If I had to make any conclusion, I would say for easy riding the mpg might be slightly better after the flash and a little worse if you are riding aggressively. If you plotted all of my mpg numbers from each tank over the last 62k miles you wouldn't be able to pick out when the ECU was flashed.

I think risers are your only option. HeliBars makes some. https://www.helibars.com/products/HeliBars®-handlebar-risers-for-Honda-VFR1200F-{47}-VFR1200R/482.html

Any current or former VFR1200F owners that have ridden a VFR1200X care to share your experience? How would you compare the two? Particularly I am I interested in heat management, which the F model is exceptional at, and wind noise or general wind management.

Vfr1200 does not have cylinder deactivation.

Sounds like ambient temperature is a significant factor in the swingarm and FD temperature. When it's really hot outside the swingarm gets hot, when it's cool outside the swingarm gets just warm. Bizarre.

Ambient temp?

After a 40min ride, most on the highway with some slower riding at the end, my swingarm and FD were almost too hot to touch. Guessing 85C maybe. Ambient temperature was 108F/42C. Normal. Running synthetic gear oil that gets changed approximately every 6-7k miles.

So I did end up getting my ECU flashed. Had everything done except lowering the fan temp. He loaded the power commander map created with a bike stock with the exception of a slip on exhaust. Overall the bike runs smoother and with a couple of tanks of gas gone through it there seems to be no decrease in mpg with normal commuting. Power delivery is much more linear coming out of lower rpm second gear corners for example instead a feeling flat until the rpms get around 6k. Also the acceleration coming out of those same corners feels greater and the graining on the sides of my tires confirm this. A little more sliding going on. Acceleration at highway speeds, from say 60mph in 6th gear is also smoother and quicker. Overall the performance gains are not huge but the general riding characteristics are improved enough to make this a worthwhile purchase IMO.

How many bars are showing up on your temperature display? If it's 3 or less you don't have an over heating problem.

I regularly ride in temperatures above 110f (43c) and find the VFR1200 to be best motorcycle I've ever had in terms of heat management.