FromMaine

FWIW I use Maxima chain wax. To be honest, I think the choice of chain is more important in the end. Just my .02 cents

I just sanded the rim rather than strip it. I did take the time to feather any bare spots into the existing paint, then quickly wiped them down with alcohol and touched them up with a few light coats of the paint before applying the final coats ( 3 light coats). The quicker you coat bare aluminum, the better. If you have an aluminum compatible primer you could try it, but think you will have to let it dry and sand it. I did not have any primer so I just followed the instuctions and recoated every 1/2 hour or so then let it dry for a few days before mounting new rubber. Also before painting I cleaned the bead with 3M adhesive remover, sanded a few divots with 120 (I think) then wet polished the bead with 1500. My rear rim was white to begin with, my front was oem black, use the same process and coats on both.

Hi Wald: Yes it is a red windshield, its made by zero Gravity. I flew out to Iowa to pick up the bike, and when I saw it was a bit skeptical. I boxed up the oem shield and shipped it to Maine just in case, then headed to Colorado to a SabMag meet. After 3,000+ miles I decided to keep it. I have just under 53K with it now. Its fairly effective for its size, to the point I can ride with my visor partially open. That said I am only 5'7"

Hi Wald: Sorry for the delay, for the life of me I could not upload the original of this pic. I resized it but hopefully you can expand it a bit. both rims are the rustoleum appliance paint. I am ashamed to say I cannot take a pic of the rims close up as my last ride was 600 miles to Madawaska in the rain mostly on Rt. 11 which is a logging road. The trucks lumber out of the woods covered in mud and debris and promptly dump it on the road. I pulled into my driveway and looked at my bike and thought, this thing is absolutely filthy, then wheeled it into the garage.............

Well, some thoughts. I live in a rural area, apparently there are 3 charging station in the county all with a single plug. One is closed from 7pm till 7am, when electricity is cheapest. Who's idea was that? Back when PG&E was responsible for 84 deaths in Calf. in the Paradise fire, they were still only voted the second worst Electric company in the US. The worst? Central Maine power, great. I expect to lose my power often and for long periods. I keep 1/2 cord of wood in the driveway and a generator in the garage.. Longest outage? 2 weeks, try that out. We don't see many EV's up here, but I'm curious how they perform at -25F or -50F up north. My experience with my Cars suggests not very well. Maine's electricity is 30% higher than the National average, the power portion, not the delivery is set to increase 88.6% on Jan 1 . That translates to one of the highest in the country. I wonder how many self righteous Prius, Tesla, et al owner realize they are carrying around 600 to 1200 lbs of hazardous waste, yes Metal Hydride and Lithium battery's are categorized as such. Not aware they can be recycled, so it will be a landfill nightmare in the coming years. So in conclusion, I cannot for see paying twice the price for a vehicle that will be less than functional during our winters, subject to Central Maine Powers price hikes, and that's even if we have power, and is an environmental disaster at the end of its life, and yes, some one is going to figure out how to make that a very expensive ending. In an urban setting, with mild winters, short commutes and reasonable/reliable electricity, and someone figures out what to do with the batteries, I can see it. But I don't live in that magical place of Unicorns and free Beer.

For the Do it your selfers here, the following. I've had a few things powder coated in the past working on boats, but found it does not work well is salt air environments. I live next to the Atlantic Ocean in a place where we get salt and sand on the roads 7-8 months a year. My bikes take a beating. In 2015 I bought a 91 in England, rode it for 8 months then sold it when the ship left with the caveat that I kept the rear rim. It was in tough shape after a winter on the roads. When it arrived back in Maine I had a think and decided to try painting it myself. I sanded, taped and cleaned it with alcohol, the applied 3 coats of this. Specialty Appliance Epoxy Spray Product Page (rustoleum.com) Ran it for a year and decided to paint my front rim (had a third gen front in white but wanted to keep the floating rotors on my 97.) Since 2016 I've put around 40K on the bike, have touched up the rims occasionally when putting on tires, but that's it. For me the benefits are. 1. I do not have to ship my rim and worry that the sandblasting will damage the bearing/bead surfaces or the tire stem. 2. The cost is about $15 for paint, tape, and alcohol. 3. Most importantly, I can repair/touch up the rim myself, which really is not possible with powder coating unless you strip the rim. Just my 02 cents and Humble Opinion. FWIW, its says Epoxy on the front label, l but is really an Enamel when you look at the specs and on the back of the can. No idea why they do this, but enamel is far easier to work with and repair. My 4th Gen has the Rustoleum on the rims, my 86 and 90 are OEM. I can't really tell any difference.

Drink the Koolaid Wald. Drink the Koolaid. 🙂

Good call in my opinion. But I am biased somewhat 🙃

This is my 90 purchased over 2 years ago from respected member here, Slovcan, finally on its way to Maine this past Sept.. My job and Covid dragged the whole thing out, but I finally managed to fulfill the Peoples Republic of Canada's demands for picking it up. All good advice here before my post, well maybe not the SnowCat, If there are two of you loading the bike, a chock is not necessary, if its only you, yes its helpful. No side stand, no centerstand, let the suspension do its job. Preload the forks and shock a bit, and check the straps often. Where I can, I do not use the hook on the ratchet straps, but pass the strap through the eye for a 100% lock. see below. Congrats on the bike!

What these guys said. Was blowing bulbs about every 1,00 miles or so. I do not live anywhere remotely near to a Honda dealer, so it was a pain to source, no idea why they needed "bespoke" bulbs anyway. Finally at 0430 am one morning as I started the bike to head south one of my bulbs blew again. Thinking it was a connection I played around with the bulb, no luck closer inspection showed a burned filament. As I was going for about 12 days I was in no mood to delay, so I grabbed an H4 I had for one of the cars. Thought I was going to have to bodge it with duct tape, glue whatever, until I looked at the respective patterns. IIRC I bent two of the tabs back and forth until they broke, the bulb fit perfectly, with minor adjustments. I bought another H4 enroute. The right side has 40+k on it, the left 37K since replacement. For the record, they were bog standard Slyvannia car bulbs in a 97VFR.

Installed a license plate bracket and light on my 90. Original owner cut the mud guard off for looks I guess. Must not have ridden in the rain, mud, snow or dark....................... All of which we have in abundance here in Maine. Came with a brake/riding light and turn signals. Easy enough to wire them into the loom, so I kept them.

Speaking of Bows. This is my wife's subtle reminder that............................ A. Christmas is coming up soon. B. We live in Maine. C. And I quote "So, how's riding in the snow going for ya?"

Extremely well presented and written. Thank You.

What can I say, you would fit right in here in Mid Coast Maine. Me and the other Sport Bike rider in the State could use the company..🍺

You had to rub the Snow thing in. 🙂

Seconded!

Well thought out and spoken. Thanks for the pics, that is an interesting timeline of motorcycles you have there. Had to look twice as I had never seen a Busa with hard bags. Guess I have now. 🙂 BTW, I have crashed hard twice, once in western NC on my VF700F, totaled, foot completely dislocated, 4 days in the hospital, lots of metal in leg and a flight home to my nurse wife who worked in the local ICU. It was a long year....the other was in 2012 in the mountains of Wales UK, I high sided a friends pristine 97 Ducati 750 Super Sport and turned into, quote "a 100+ foot long yard sale" It too, was totaled. Ouch. Ended paying for a rebuild as the frame was still in spec. But I guess both put some much needed perspective in my life. Sounds like you have a handle on this given your experience.

A Busa, a GSA, and a VFR is a very wide and tall Motorcycle triangle. Obviously each brought a different aspect to your biking enjoyment. Its corny, but what I have done in the past is just close my eyes and think about what I have enjoyed about my bikes. It may take weeks, but eventually an answer will become self evident. Look at what you value by riding. Another thing to consider is cost of ownership, it may not be a deal breaker for you, but with a family and 9 motorcycles I have to factor that in. Cost, I have paid between $250 - $2200 for my 83 VF750F 2, 85 V1000R's ,85 VF11000S, 86 VFR750, 90VFR750, and 97 VFR750. My 90 and 97 accounted for the top price, the rest half or quarter of that, so no monthly payment or interest. Insurance, my 97 in 2021 with full collision coverage, $100 deductible, full towing, full trip interruption @$250 a day and $5000 medical and a few other things was $127 for 12 months, and I had points on my license. Consumables, have to have special tires or mounting? I can get a pair of S-22 radials for $180 delivered to my door and mount them myself. I know guys who are dropping $500-$600 plus mounting on theirs. Registration/ Excise tax if you have it. About $75-$85 a year on anything but my AT. I don't fret every penny, but look at the big picture, if my VFR's are delivering what I need at a family friendly price and putting a smile on my face, well that's it then. You look to have a great example VFR, I would give it a think before letting it go. Full disclosure, I have certainly made some bad choices. In 1976 I bought a CB400F' put 41K in 2 years on it as I did not have a car. It was a back breaker, trips to New Orleans, Key West,, North Carolina and the Gaspe in Quebec cured me for life. in 2018 I bought a 2016 Africa Twin. I really wanted the original 700 which was not sold in the US. despite working on ships in Europe for 20 years and having space in the ships hold if I did find one there. In the end I bought a 2016 CRL1000, at 5'7"145lbs. I should have known better. Tall, heavy up top and with a 4.8 Gallon gas tank I could easily outride, and finding myself at a stop light having to tip from my left foot to my right so I did not tip over I admitted I had made a mistake. In the end, I found every time I threw a dart at the motorcycle dart board and hit V4 Honda I was happy. Just my humble opinion. Good luck! In

Hard to read, and even living here in Maine, I cannot dispute anything you mentioned.

Holy Cow! That thing is chowdered. Glad to see you were not injured as that could have ended in so many different ways. Hard to believe a properly staked axle nut would fail in this way. You obviously have your suspicions, hopefully you can bring it back to spec.

A little over 2 years ago I bought a 1990 with 45,000 kilometers/28,000 miles on the clock from a member here from Canada. I went on my merry way off to sea for work thinking I'll pick it up when I get back. Well that didn't work out as the border was closed by the time I did return. Glenn, the owner, was kind enough to store it for me, put a charger on it and periodically start it up for the better part of 2 years as I waited for the Border to reopen. When it did re open my first try was not successful. In order to enter I needed my passport, proof of vaccination, proof of negative Covid test within 72 hours and had to fill out a Arrive Canada online form only after I had proof of a negative test. My test came in to late to meet this standard so I shelled out $175 for a quicker one at a clinic in Bangor. Once at the border, it was the usual drill, passport, proof of vaccination, proof of negative test and proof of Arrive Canada form filled out. Then it was.... Reason of visit "to pick up a motorcycle" What type? "Honda" Model? "1990 VFR750" The Border agent suddenly relaxed a bit, and leaned out the window, " I have a 2002, and love it" Well since there was no one behind me we chatted for about 15 minutes about VFR's. It had been raining since I left, but it really started to come down now, The remnants of Hurricane Ida were tracking right over New Brunswick. I stopped for a bit just short of St John as the trusty CRV's AWD light had been coming on about every 5-10 seconds and the vehicle was going light. With standing water on the highway like I had not seen in a long time I knew it was hydroplaning, also the 4 cars over turned and 2 in the woods kinda confirmed things were not well. So I pulled off the road and notified Glenn I may not make it. After a quick perusal of Hotel options I carried on, slowly, like 30 mph in a 62mph zone. I ended up stopping 4 more times as I could not see, and the Honda was starting to go at less than desirable angles. I made it finally, 12.5 hours for what is normally a 9 hour trip to Nova Scotia. Glenn and his wife kindly put me up as I was shattered and tired. We had dinner the Glenn and I loaded the bike on the trailer. I was up at 5 am and on the road at 6. Made it to Calais around 12, and declared the bike for import and was kindly directed to the side. A few minutes later a young woman in Border Patrol gear came over and asked a few questions and I handed her my paperwork. Half hour later she came back to apologize as no one on station, nor any one they called had done a motorcycle importation. I laughed and said they must do a lot of snowmobiles though! She smiled and said "Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, we see a Lot of Snow Machines......... A few minutes after the head of Customs came out for a quick chat and asked me about the bike and could I get out of the car and have a look with him. Nice guy I showed him the head stem Vin and he said he could nor believe this was a 31 year old bike. We talked bikes for a bit then I got back in the car. A few minutes after the woman Border Patrol officer came out with a bunch of papers for me to sign and noted That I was on the hook for $5.08 in duty, which her boss laughed off and I was on my way. I cannot convey how professional, attentive, courteous and friendly the whole process was. Thank You Calais Maine Border Patrol. The bike.