FromMaine

No shop anywhere near me would mount tires not bought from them, so they turned customers into DIY's. About 18 years ago I bought a Black Widow paddock tire changer and a HF balancer.   The convenience factor became apparent immediately. I averaged 4-6 tires a year for myself and 6-12 for guys in the same position as me. I don't charge for it as motorcycles are my hobby, not a business. Also, it turned our to be a good way to meet the few sport/sport touring guys here in Mid Coast  Maine. 

Ride for any length of time, and you will have a Muppet. If you ride and have not had one, rest assured, your Muppet Moment is coming. Wouldn't be to hard on your self.

The bike sounds fine, obviously you planned well to have Givi bars for just such an occasion.

The torn hamstring and you leaving in an ambulance is worrying though. I hope its not a bad as it sounds.

Instinct is a hard thing to overcome. In 2007 I lost my bike in a left hand corner and stuck my foot down. Broke every bone in my ankle and dislocated my foot a bit more than 90 degrees. 3 surgeries and lots of Titanium got my foot pointing in the right direction, but the soft tissue injuries plague me to this day.  Whatever the Dr. and Physical Therapist says to do, do it.  I hope you have a speedy recovery mate.

Well, that is fantastic news. Time to gear up!

Technically not today, but Spring of 2022. But since my password stopped working in Dec 21, and I was not able to get back online until recently, I'm playng catch up.

After riding around 50k and burning  through a set of Nelson-Rigg and Rapid Transit saddle bags, both of which needed numerous repairs to get that far, I decided I needed something a bit more substantial. Pretty sure there was no oem hard bags for the 4th Gen, maybe Givi's, but rare and not particularly attractive if what I did see for hard bags on a 4th were Givi's.

So, since I had bought a couple of semi rigid bags for another bike, but sold it before using them, I had a go at making them work on the VFR.

To be clear, these are American Tourister computer, carry on, roller bags. They have enough room for a 15" computer and maybe  a days worth clothes for a business trip. 2 of them are plenty for my needs. They are not waterproof, but way more than the Rigg's or Transits. The material is cloth backed heavy vinyl, so a few plastic liners do the job. BTW none of the rain covers I have ever used stand up to highway or post highway speeds.

The supports are 1/4" rod, washers welded to attach at the passenger pegs, threaded to attach to a tab on the back rest, (custom).

The squares on the supports locate the bags and keep them from moving fore and aft. The straps with quick releases hold the bags to the supports, the straps across the passenger seat pulls them in to the bike. It is solid, over 10k and zero issues. The only thing I did to the bags was 3M contact cement 3 layers of really soft felt to the insides to protect the tail piece.

I never bothered to take pics as I was putting it together so the pics are cobbled together from what I could find. Feel free to ask for any information I left out.

Edit. My other pics failed to upload. We have had sketchy, slow internet since the hurricane. Will see if I can add them later. Ok, finally got pics to upload. Bottom shows the support(s) with attachment points and design, middle the straps that hold the bags to the supports and the straps across the seat, top is what the whole show looks like in touring mode.

32 minutes ago, mello dude said:

I have that DID chain tool and after using it a few times, its worth every penny. Its a fine piece. 

I would agree 100%. Once I looked up how to use if properly, as in flipping the pin, it was great as it was self limiting as far as how much you could flare the rivet. I did find out though that at full compression it would only flare my RK chains rivet to 5.31mm. The RK guide said 5.45-5.55mm was the rivet head range. This was easily fixed by finishing the rivet with my Stockton tool. Since I use DID, RK and EK chains, I'll just keep my calipers handy as usual and check as I go to make sure the rivet is right. Next step is to get a 27mm spanner so I can ditch the adjustable.

"On reflection" 🌧️

Seem to remember having a few of those myself...........

Lets see, by my calculation, you are getting 43 kilometers per bottle (750ml) of really good red wine. By adding a tail bag, top box, or back pack (4 bottles) you could decrease that kpb (kilometers per bottle) to 28.5 and make 33%  fewer trips. The enviromentolists would bow at your feet. Right?

In all seriousness, great to have you back mate. None of us here really know what it took for you to be able make this post, but I bet it was a lot more than the few sentences you provided. All that and back in the saddle says a lot, well done!

Your expertise was missed by more than me me around here, I look forward to to reading more of your posts in the future.

Replaced my chain and sprockets on the 97. The old girl has 108K ( 173 K) kilometers on her now. While taking a break from cleaning the swingarm and counter sprocket areas I came across the chain tool that came with the bike when I bought it 10 years ago. When I initially looked at it, I dismissed it a a chain breaker only, and a cheap Chinese one to boot, and tossed it into the back of a toolbox drawer.

I have been using a Stockton chain tool, and its worked OK, but since I seem to be the only guy in my area with a rivet tool, its useful life is fading. So I went online to see if I could identify the one that came with the bike and maybe get some kind of use out if it.

I searched chain tool and variations of wording and found nothing in 15 minutes of looking. Finally right at the end I saw a video posted of someone putting a new DID chain on and it looked like he was using that cheap thing in my tool box. Watching further, I found out that it was in fact a DID tool, and lo and behold if you pulled the breaker pin out and turned it around, you have a rivet anvil.

We having a saying in New England " when light dawns on Marblehead" well, I had one of those moments. Of course I looked up DID rivet tools and was astonished to find they cost almost as much as a decent rear tire.

So, apologies Dave in Iowa, I finally get and appreciate your gift you threw in when you sold me your bike.

Many Thanks for having a rethink and keeping this site up and running. As VFR resources go, this is, and has been, my go to site for reliable and trusted information for my bikes. It has also allowed me to meet and ride with some great like minded induviduals over the years. That's a hard act to follow, so again, Thank You!

I'll echo the past comments of others, let us know what we can do to assist you to ease the load and keep this place going.

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.

11 hours ago, Dutchy said:

Indeed!

But with trackdays "been there, done that, got the t-shirt", owning a 285kmh in a 100kmh country is dancing with the 😈

 

 

More like getting caught dating his teenage daughter.🙂

Some days I think I would be better off pulling a plug wire on my 1000's and 750's, certainly easier on the wallet.

6 hours ago, Dutchy said:

 

Look a few posts back 

Got it.

That's quite a life style change!🙃

10 hours ago, V4 Rosso said:

Congrats to the new owner.

Seconded.

What's next?

10 hours ago, VFR4Me said:

Went for a ride... wasn't out for long,  but it felt good

And of course its supposed to snow tomorrow

Yeah, stepped out to my garage 2 days ago to see snow quietly falling.

No test ride that day.

Spent the day installing new brake and turn signal additions.

Started the bike just to hear the sound.

If your footwear includes shoelaces you're doing it um..............................

Just PM me🍻🙂

JK mate, My brother, who is a welder on Nuke subs and Nuke powerplants is a bit of an artist with any grinder. Me I'm always 1/2 second away from an ambulance trip.

Very good write up and documentation.

Last Spring at 82,700 miles I took the rear swingarm/shock off to clean and check every thing on my 97. Miked all the bushings and bearings and bolts, they were fine so lubed and remounted. The only thing I could not remove was the rear main bearing its self. Prior to starting I had checked the wheel for play by hand and did not detect anything. Spinning the wheel with the chain off, it spun freely. A dial indicator showed .002 runout. A look at my Honda service manual, Clymers and online did not show a service interval for that bearing. So I greased everything and put it back together.

I'm with you though, I would feel better if I could have miked and eyeballed the bearing itself. So when funds allow I'll be getting some type of hydraulic press.

Hi FromMaine,

Thank you for your donation of 25.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation.

Thanks VFRDiscussion

Great write up, a very entertaining read.

In 2008 I was working in San Diego and bought a bike to get around (83CB650) Every weekend I would take off for some where, so it was interesting to read about some of these places from another point of view.

Thanks.

https://shop.auctmarts.com/fairings/1x12.html

Have a look at this site, they make fairing kits for lots of bikes, I just posted one of  the VFR800 kits for illustration.

Years ago they did offer fairings for the 90-93 VFR's but they don't list them now. May still be worth while contacting them.

I have no experience with them so cannot say how good they are.

42K (67,500 km) on my watch.

Pretty pedestrian list, and more than a day as I've been juggling chores, weather and the bike.

Removed Swingarm, sprockets, chain. Cleaned all,  inspected and greased bearings and reinstalled a couple of days later.

Removed clutch rod, buffed, greased and end for ended. Cleaned output shaft area and put all back together.

Reinstalled airbox with new filter.

Cleaned and reinstalled all footpegs, polished right side heat shield, partially disassembled seat lock mechanism and lubed cable and lock.

Re-installed battery box, coils, solenoid.

Chased down fault on 12 volt external power outlet. Removed wiring and controls for heated gear found in harness. (PO I guess).

Removed, disassembled rear caliper, and sent through the Ultrasonic. Drying on bench.

8 hours ago, Philois1984 said:

Looks like a great job, before shot would have been interesting. A productive morning by the sounds of things.

The first pic is of the puncture, I used some tape that I used when I was diving commercially to repair it. not very pretty but it lasted about 20 K miles and would have lasted longer.

The second pic does not really show it but there was a sewn seam at the front of the seat that had started to deteriorate, so If I was riding in the rain the foam would absorb the water. There were also some small cracks forming on the aft part of the vinyl as it was beginning to become brittle with age and UV exposure so I was getting water in there also. Coming back from North Carolina last year was 2 days and 1,200 miles in the rain. When I got home I removed my bags and pulled the seat, which was about 2-3 kg heavier than normal, and hung it in the garage to drip dry. BTW, waterproof gear is anything but if you basically sit in a puddle for 10-12 hours. It was time for a new cover...…………………..🌧️

Well it was 25F/-04C this morning so I waited before heading out to the garage. Poured myself a mug of tea and had a go at recovering my seat. It wasn't that bad, but a few years ago something fell on it when it was -15F and punctured and cracked the vinyl, so time for a fresh cover.

Tore into the bike yesterday.

Checked valve clearance on back bank, No 1 cylinder intakes at service limit .006, but they were 16K miles ago so buttoned back up. When it gets above freezing temps I'll have a go at the front bank today.

Still to go:

Bleed Brake system and calipers in the Ultrasonic. I do this every year.

Remove rear tire, inspect, clean, grease rear bearing, probably time with 82K on the clock. Check front wheel bearings (new last year).

Remove, clean,  grease side stand and center stand, both are pretty stiff.

Drop shock and clean, inspect and grease bushings.

Retire OEM mirrors for second time and install replacement Y2K mirror(s) (one broke a while back).

I'm sure I'll find more to do.

OK, dropped the shock and dog leg. Inspected, took apart and cleaned and greased all bushings. Cleaned shock and inspected. Has been riding fine, so reinstalled. Did check it against a 929 shock with less than 10K on shelf, and the dimensions match. May re spring it and give it a go down the line if needed.

Finished valve check on front bank, ended up draining the coolant, will flush and replace with new. Also took the time to give the airbox a scrub and detail. Awaiting new air filter.

Removed center stand and side stand, neither looked like they had ever been serviced. Scraped and cleaned crud off both and when dry took a brass wire wheel to both. Reinstalled with a coating of high pressure waterproof grease. Now I may actually be able to snap the bike up first go.

Installed Y2K mirrors.

Today is rear wheel day, there is no play side to side and a check with a dial indicator shows it runs pretty true, about .002 out in 360 degrees, so I'll check the grease. I gave the front sprocket area a perfunctory clean while doing the side stand, so if time allows I'll remove and clean it and the output shaft area and remove and clean chain.

Hi FromMaine,

Thank you for your donation of 25.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation.

Thanks VFRDiscussion