Cogswell

Wow, you have both the seat cowl and the impossible to find side stand fairing. Honda called the gold on those wheels "Summer Blond Metallic". It's a very light gold that sparkles in the sun - just stunning with the red when it's all cleaned up and polished. Great score!

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

Just thinking out loud, could it be that the salesman is no longer working there? They don't usually last long. Anyway, a vehicle dealer has a dealer's license, in this case from the state of Oregon. That can be in jeopardy if they are not properly acquiring title to inventory and processing it for purchasers. If it were me I would go on the state of Oregon's website, find the department that licenses vehicle dealers and place a call. Explain your situation and see if they advise you on next steps. Best of luck with it.

I couldn't agree more. About the only thing I farm out is an A/C recharge - the equipment is just too expensive to have for a very occasional service.

Too bad that later gens don't have that feature - that was a nice design.

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 . . .

And the World Economic Forum billionaires will be laughing at us all the way to the bank.

IIRC, if the VTEC solenoid that actuates the valve is not connected, it results in a no-start. That, however is quite unlikely as the connector is very difficult to reach under the throttle body. A thermostat stuck open keeping engine coolant below the threshold Grum mentions could be one possibility. Often in trouble shooting an alteration is made and the presumption is that it's cause and effect when a fault is noticed. The likelihood you disturbed anything VTEC related in the process of R/R'ing the headers is quite low. Could it be that you've ridden it around a while and not noticed that it wasn't working and then after installing the new exhaust, in the moment of enjoying it decided to let it rip and only then realized the issue? Or as Grum mentioned, maybe you're just not noticing the change to 4 valve operation now vs previously. I'm not sure there's any way to objectively verify that it's working other than the seat of the pants method.

For me the canary in the mine predicting the V4s ultimate demise was at the last bike show I attended in 2014. Honda had a booth, but no VFR and the reps knew nothing about it - only vaguely familiar with it. I should have paid closer attention then . . .

When people ask me why I do this, my reply is "if I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand".

I'll second that. Happy NY and safe riding to all.

Does that result from the crown of the road surface, presuming in this case the tire would be rolling toward the camera?

Welcome, you've found the right place. Some pics of that would be great. Makes me wonder what the lowest mile 5th gen remaining has on it. About 5+ years ago there was one on ebay with less than 100 - an accessories manufacturer had bought it as a fit-model for its products. AFAIK it never surfaced here on VFRD so its fate is unknown.

Hey gang. Here we go again as year end approaches, still short on the op budget. We don't want to lose the forum, so if you haven't so far, please chip in with donations to keep us going in '22. Happy new year to all.

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

This is a good tutorial on the SMC and what can happen when fluid in it goes bad. The diagram was referenced as being posted by a member I cannot find - but as I recall in that post he had bought a badly neglected 5th gen with this issue and finally sorted it all out, finding that the green filter was clogged. Unfortunately I cannot find that member or post - possibly it was deleted. https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/93973-rear-brake-locking-up-rear-center-piston-fixed/

Check out this thread in the maintenance guides forum. Purists will say that 6th ad 5th gen LBS systems are different - and yes, they are. However, the concepts are similar - at the end there is a detailed description of bleeding the SMC. I've done it on both my 5th and 6th gens (ABS) - it only varies slightly but the concept is the same - force the fluid through he SMC and extract it through the PCV. Looking at schematics of the 5th gen system may help visualize it. https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/70842-bleedingfluid-replacement-on-linked-brakes-wabs-on-6th-generation-the-ultimate-guide/

The hardest part about bleeding an LBS is the SMC - a vacuum bleeder will never pull fluid through it. The only way of doing that is forcing it through using the rear brake pedal. The trouble with not changing that portion of it out comes with the small filter screen and a tiny port in the SMC (there's a defunct thread on here about this) that will plug with decayed fluid. When the SMC applies pressure to the rear caliper the pressure will not release and a dragging rear brake results. Tho it seems inconsequential, changing out that portion of the system is needed for its long term correct functioning. The pinned topic on bleeding 6th gen systems covers it - different but similar on 5th gens.

Portland has become a hell hole. Hotel occupancy in the core is around 20%. No one is coming to visit - vacant real estate all over. Once retired, I'm out of here!!

Unfortunately, it's not likely. 2002 to 2005 shared one ECU and ABS control unit, 2006 through 2009 have different units. Both are different part numbers from their earlier counterparts. Note also that the ABS pulser ring on your '03 front wheel is different from the 2006 and up units. I'm not an engineer nor geeky enough to get deep in the weeds on either, but the difference in ABS pulse generators might indicate that the ABS module from later models are looking for a different signal profile and simply replacing connectors on the wires leading to the unit are not necessarily going to make it work properly. What differences there are in ECU's beside VTEC engagement RPM settings I don't recall being documented in any threads here. Honda may have changed the connectors simply to keep modules from being installed on bikes they were not meant for, but there could be other substantive reasons. It's probably going to be easier to just find the correct wiring harness for your '03 than try to find that specific connector to swap it and hope it works. I don't know of any source for Honda connectors other than the generic ones for bulbs, charging system, etc. Swapping might be fine, but it will be tedious and would not be guaranteed to work and I'm guessing you'll find it very difficult to locate that connector.

Thoughts & prayers to Roy, family and friends. RIP

Also, factor in that premium fuel will be a must if you do that. Old habits die hard and depending upon how aggressive the advance is, the one time you forget could lead to catastrophic damage.

Ah yes - 5th gen charging system issues. You sir, have been initiated in to the club. Welcome aboard!

Check out Rapid Bike (USA). I believe it's only the Racing Module that can do that. You'll want a professional tuner making those adjustments. Call and ask for Yaman to learn more. There's a defunct thread on here by Candy Red RC46 who went through all that on a 6th gen.