Cogswell

If I won the lottery, I'd be a collector of 3rd though 6th gen and 8th gens, and would have one in every color. If I count correctly that would be 19 in all. My favorite is the '91 with gold wheels and ironically one of my least favorite is the '08 silver that I own. That would be some significant MBD . . .

Just promise to cancel all motorcycle debt - you'll win for sure!

When I bought my 5th gen new in '99, I really wanted a red one, so searched all over and ended up finding one about 200 miles away just as the 2000's were hitting showroom floors. I was in a rush because I really did not want the yellow on the Y2K's. At the time I had no idea about the cat, wax unit and other things that changed on the 2000, but I really didn't like the yellow. Now that time has passed, the yellow has grown on me - I've come to like it a lot. It's unique as a one year only color, not to be seen before or after that year. There's one for sale about 150 miles away. If I were going to have a 3rd VFR I might go check it out.

^^^ That. Or, if you really want to do the best mod for your bike, have Jamie Daugherty re-work your forks and shock to suit your weight and riding style. He will replace everything as well as custom valve it to match new linear springs. As for servicing the bike, find a place you can for sure not need to move it and get it propped up as below. I used a piece of wood to evenly distribute the load on the headers and sneaked the scissor jack out of the GF's Camry to hold it in place. You can do it!

FWW, the last time I brought some M/C parts in to the US from the UK, there was no duty assessed. Some internet searching will turn up the treaty that sets those and you can go find the chapter and verse and see what it says now - it may have changed. The exchange rate and shipping though can be harsh.

I've never been a fan of the over the chain guard versions. I might he more inclined if they covered the entire OEM guard, but the half length ones don't do it for me. . Accessories for these bikes are getting fewer and further between. If Harris no longer makes them, you may be out of luck.

Nice . . . I'd give that photo two likes if I could!

Great intel - thanks.

There's no substitute for cubic inches/cc's. 😎 I think the hillbilly way of saying that is that "there's no replacement for displacement . . . " LOL!

Danno, just noted the Dark Side comment. Couldn't agree more. A car tire makes much more sense and would be cheaper and last longer than a M/C tire in that application.

Not sure what to think of that. I never got the 3 wheelers thing - takes up substantially the space of a car, but you're out in the open like a bike. Seems nicely executed for what looks like a home built rig.

I appreciate the comment in the OP about being humbled by being passed by a coach or other rider that's two up, or on a small bike, etc. That happened to me - I had some time at a local track and thought I was cutting a pretty good line until one of the coaches blew past me on another G6 VFR, disappearing through the next turn before I could get there . . . I felt like the slack-jawed Coyote watching the Roadrunner disappear. It was a lot to process in the moment as my stupid ego deflated - I had to process that I'm not even close to as good as I think I am and that I have a lot of development that needs to be done. (I recall thinking "how is that even possible??") I couldn't rationalize that he was on a better / lighter / more powerful (pick the adjective) bike than mine - it was the SAME!! - it was NOT at all about the bike, but WAS about my lack of skill. I haven't done any track time since, but have not forgotten that experience and often think of it prior to departing on a ride to remind myself to stay within my abilities. Riding on the road is not a race - the only prize is to pull the bike back in the garage with it as nice as it was when I left. If only we all had the time / money / facilities available to get to that next level. One other thing I took from that was that good ride leaders don't tell everyone to "keep up" - they rather tell them that "we'll wait for you at such and such a junction / landmark - whatever. Ride your own ride and be safe." Great write up - thanks for sharing.

One use I've found for it is when riding through mountainous areas. The ECU does not have an idle air bypass that was common for the era and it thus cannot compensate for changes in atmospheric pressure. The most pronounced I ever had was at the Pike's Peak summit. My G6 would just not idle - it could maybe maintain around 700 rpm, so I had to constantly hold the throttle to keep it running. Once back to lower levels it regained its idle. Even at 5,000 feet which can be common in the western US, I find myself pulling out a screwdriver to change the idle speed. Then once back to near sea level do it again since its idling too fast. The manual lever lets you keep the idle more or less where you want it if idle is baselined near sea level. The other for me is that the wax unit is such a PITA to get at that taking that out of the equation is one fewer potential service project I might need to do. And I think it's happening on my G6 - there doesn't seem to be a fast idle these days - it stumbles along until it warms up then idles fine. Just my $.02.

Same here. IMHO the wax unit was a solution in search of a problem. The lever actuation was much simpler and IMO works better and is more reliable. Probably some sort of EPA reg . . .

A consideration for a 98/99 converted to a 6th gen TB would be that you lose the manual control for the starter valves and would likely convert to using the 6G wax unit. Since the 98/99's don't have that, the thermostat housing and clutch side waterneck on the rear head need to be swapped for 2000 to 2009 units which have the nipple for the small hose that goes to/from the wax unit. Last time I looked at the parts fiche both were available from mother Honda. If someone were very good at modding, it might be possible to hook the 98/99 cable control to the 6G starter valves, but it would probably require some fabrication of some small parts. I looked at that but determined I do not have the abilities to pull that off. Wish I did - I'd love to be able to get rid of the wax unit on my G6.

Duc, What's the fate of your crashed G5? Is the 5th gen with the donor motor also going to donate parts to resurrect the crashed bike? Any pics of that?

Unfortunately . . . those are links . . . to a website jay-d.com. The OP must have had these pics on a website that's no longer being maintained - going to the external link returns the dreaded "404 Not Found". The VFRD software must not display the error, just a blank page. You may be presuming that these photos were uploaded to VFRD, but from the looks of the links to a site it seems that's not the case. In that event, there's nothing here on the site that can be recovered. I wouldn't get too hung up on the photos - the text gives you plenty of detail and it's all referring to brake parts that are in plain sight. It might take re-reading more than if the pics were there, but it can be deciphered.

That might be the only logical conclusion. It sure seems unlikely to have happened on its own.

Hey Grum. I can provide the 2nd example of that phenomenon. At 30,000 miles (50,000 or so km's), I checked mine and found all 8 VTEC and 3 standard valves to be way tight. At first I thought that couldn't be right for all the reasons normally mentioned, including only part time VTEC operation. I thought that I had to be wrong, that I'd made a mistake. So, I made no adjustments and put the entire thing back together. It ran fine, pulled and sounded as before. No issues. When the weather really turned bad and it wouldn't be ridden for some months, I dug in to it again (I was now faster as I was better at it). Same result. So, figuring somehow I was missing something or was measuring incorrectly, I got a friend, a 30 year A&P mechanic who's owned numerous Honda M/C's and wrenched on them personally, to come over and check them. I purposely kept quiet my findings and just told him that I was struggling with the check and if he would have a look. I didn't influence him in any way to be looking for what I thought was happening. I had cams in and pins out of the VTEC buckets so he'd have to do everything except strip the bike down. I left him with tools, pin latches, the procedure and explanatory working of the VTEC latches. I then left him for a several hours with some pizza and cold snacks. When I came back he had finished measuring, but the cams were still in and he hadn't removed the latch pins. I asked him "so, what did you find?" As he handed me the paper with his measurements he replied "your 8 VTEC buckets are tight and you have 3 of the others that are tight." Looking at his measurements, they weren't quite identical to mine, but they were very close and the other 3 he measured as tight were the same ones I had. I still do not know what could have caused that and it still seems counter intuitive. It's a very expensive fix as the VTEC buckets are over $250, significantly more if purchased at list price. The bike's back together and running, though I've had a hard time reconciling how owners have run them over 100,000 without adjusting the valve with no issues. I can't speak to anyone else's bike - that was just my experience with it.

Well Michelin fans . . . I was stumbling through my Amazon account and saw the PR2's I bought last year. I wondered . . . and clicked on them to see if they're still there. Nope. I don't see the vendor any longer. Looks as though the PR2 availability is finally over. 😞 Strange, too as the date codes on the set I got were less than 6 months old at the time. Unless that vendor re-surfaces in the spring, I don't know where to find them any longer. It was a good run . . .

Hi Cogswell, Thank you for your donation of 50.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks VFRDiscussion

I'll bet it sounds even better than it looks!!

As long as we're revisiting this topic, after 1 summer of riding, the headers had turned more or less a bronze color, with some blueing near the heads - not surprising. About 30 to 40 minutes with a sponge, spray bottle and some Barkeepers Friend has them looking like new. Not sure if that affects the passivation or not - I can't imagine that the B.K.F. removes any significant layer of material to get down to anything ferrous - but if so, so be it - they look very nice again.