Rogue_Biker

I had a GPI before and I really liked it. It's not necessary but it helps. When I had a CBR600RR, when going through a set of slow corners that had me in 2nd gear, I could keep it in second and rev it up & down between 7k-11k+ RPM and just stay within that range. But I found it more efficient to shift to 3rd if the straightaway was long enough. No need to use up so much gas and accelerate engine wear unless it was necessary. I do the same with my VFR800. I don't mind shifting down at corner entrance. Especially with today's modern bikes with slipper clutches shifting down doesn't upset the bike as much as the VFR800 does with its standard clutch.

Damn! That looks great!!!

I've used the Cyclops. Didn't like it. Problem is that LED "bulbs" are flat. The LED is mounted on two sides of a flat panel (imagine a ruler with two LED's on both sides). So the light comes out ONLY on two sides. The traditional halogen light bulbs emit light in all directions. The reflector on all halogen lights are designed to reflect a 360 degree direction just like the halogen light bulbs it was designed for. If you retrofit an LED that uses a flat panel onto a reflector designed to reflect light in a 360 degree direction, you will only get 50% of available light. The result is that you will have large shadows on the sides that the LED flat panel does not illuminate. Take a look at a factory LED headlight and you will notice the LED faces forward. Now look at the Cyclops light and you will see it faces left and right (or up and down). In a nutshell, you will get better results using an HID bulb at a much lower Kelvin brightness (around 4,000 Kelvin or less) than you would an LED panel replacement "bulb". Or you could just replace your H4 bulbs with brighter H4 bulbs. It will work better than the LED.

I agree with this 100%. The newest 6th Gen's are approaching 10 years old in the US. Low miles example won't be an issue. High miles examples will have issues for sure unless it was my 2007. LOL!!!! Only because I fixed all age/mileage related issues when they happened.

The Ninja 400 is not a meh bike. I test rode a 2018 model and came away mighty impressed what a 400cc parallel twin as tuned by Kawasaki can do. No, it's not as fast as VFR800. Not even close. But it wasn't slow either. Rode it on the street, freeway, a few twisties. The bike really surprised me. I was on the freeway cruising at 75 mph, rolled on the throttle and the bike easily accelerated up to 95 mph without the engine screaming and without a downshift either. Not bad at all. It was surprisingly competent and I would buy this bike as a 2nd bike for commuting, and all around fun riding. I'd even tour on it! Had great wind protection and was very comfortable. As for 5th Gen vs 6th gen, get the cleanest bike you can find in a 5th Gen. You can still find them if you're patient. But I believe you there are way more clean, low miles 6th Gen's around for less than $4k. Also, Honda still sells many parts for 6th gens at this time. Although some things are getting harder to get, or there is a wait to get parts...mostly odd parts that don't normally break often. If at all possible, make the stretch to get a 2014-2015 VFR800. New 2015's are still on showrooms for big discounts. Saw two locally for $8k new.

Clutch basket needs to be replaced. I have the same issue with mine when the engine is cold. It started making this noise around 50k miles. As soon as I pull the clutch in the noise completely goes away. When the bike reaches operating temperature, the noise goes away. The clutch basket slots wear out, allowing the clutch plates to move back and forth in the basket at idle as the engine speeds up and slows down. This problem is made worse with poorly synchronized starter valves/carburetors. Once the engine reaches operating temp, along with the engine oil being at operating temp, the clutch rattle dissipates because the idle gets smoother, metal expands, oil starts to coat the clutch. The noise is annoying and embarrassing is all. Won't kill or break anything.

I've watched quite a few motorcycle friends come and go. It usually happens to riders who have life-changing situations--new family, different job, different location, physical injury, and/or just a change of attitude & perspectives. Personally, I'm the opposite. I have no idea what I would do with myself without my motorcycle passion. I still manage to spend time with my wife while still enjoying my hobby so that helps a lot. I enjoy spending quality time with both equally. It's actually more time with my wife, which I'm fine with. In the meantime she is fine with me going out and riding on my own. I also commute to work daily. Every day is a fun ride.

Ah well...."slow" compared to a VFR800 yes. There is of course the VStrom 1000 if you're power hungry. I actually recently test rode the VStrom 650. It actually felt a lot like the VFR800. Similar midrange power. Similar low end too. I didn't fully test its top end power though, and I'm quite sure it won't keep up with the VFR800. However, the VStrom 650 weighs a lot less than my 6th Gen VFR at 475 lbs. wet. And that's probably why it felt like it had similar power at low and midrange. I also think the "lower" weight compared to the bigger adventure bikes is an advantage when off pavement. I wouldn't take the VStrom in anything more than a smooth fire road though. It only has 7" of wheel travel and not that much ground clearance. Still, it will go places the VFR won't dare!

Suzuki V-Strom 650 can do it all. Hence the popularity of the middle-weight ADV bikes. These are today's "VFR".

In the US, one can still buy new VFR800's. They're still trying to get rid of 2015 inventory. I would guess that they still have '16-'18 inventory they'll want to move once the '15's are all sold.

I rode with a guy with an S1000RR with the up/down quick shifter. I think the down shift requires a rev-match and his bike did that. It was awesome to hear that thing rev-match before a downshift in the middle of a corner or before it. He also said it was very quick and easy to ride because of it. Even when accelerating at part-throttle, the elimination of the clutch action is much faster, which maintains momentum. I can imagine what an advantage it would be.

I'm on my 2nd VFR800. The first one was a 2001 5th Gen I rode for sport & sport-touring. I did a lot more of the latter because I had tons of vacation time. For true sport-touring (searching for twisty fun roads far from home), the VFR800 was the perfect tool--small and nimble enough to be fun in the twisties, yet big enough to carry reasonable luggage while providing very good wind & weather protection. When I transitioned over to my 6th Gen my riding changed to mostly sport riding and commuting with only a yearly sport-tour. Two trips if I'm lucky enough to have the time. So my current VFR is 75% commuting, 20% sport riding, 5% sport-touring. I'm generally happy with my VFR for what I use it for. And she is beautiful. However, since I also have a CBR600rr for sport riding, I'm constantly reminded how much heavier and slower the VFR800 is. So every time I feel frisky & playful (which is most of the time) I always bring the CBR. And when I'm on the VFR, I wish I had the CBR. Except when when I'm covering hundreds of miles a day then I'm thankful for the VFR! When I'm commuting or sport-riding I always wish I was riding the CBR. I've come to the conclusion that the amount of love (or lack of) for my VFR800 really depends on state of mind, and where I'm going. I'm generally impatient and always at the verge of being frisky when I'm riding. That's probably why I gravitate towards much sportier, faster bikes. I still love my VFR800 and there really are few bikes that provides or exceeds what the VFR brings to the table. Since Honda doesn't want to bring us a 450 lbs. VFR800 with 105-110 rwhp., I might have to convert a sport bike into a "VFR-like" machine. Someone recently told me a GSXR750 (God help me!) with Helibars and lowered footpegs comes close to the ideal hybrid. Mmmmm......

There is only ONE thing that determines your fueling at low RPM/part throttle: That's the MAP sensor. The expensive piece that reads the vacuum from all 4 of your throttle bodies. Since you didn't mention a high idle, you probably don't have a vacuum leak. You also mentioned Coolant temps are normal so your coolant temp sensor is working. That leaves a possible faulty MAP sensor. Another area, which could be a Moon shot for you-- My 2007 VFR800 normally would get 31-33 mpg in mixed riding in recent times. Even after a thorough tune up. The best it got was 35 mpg when easy on the throttle. I remembered before it normally got 35 mpg at worse and 41 mpg at best (with PC5 and O2 Eliminated). I also noticed throttle response at part throttle wasn't as crisp as it used to be. Then my only-1-year old water pump (I replaced it because the original one leaked also) started to leak so I replaced it with a new one again. I noticed that the leaking water pump impeller was very difficult to spin by hand compared to the new water pump. Ok I figured failed water pump seal caused the bearings to go. With the new water pump AND Pro Honda Coolant in place, my bike's fuel efficiency gained....went back to its original 35-41 mpg. I even saw almost 43 mpg recently. Even the throttle response and overall engine smoothness improved. So it appears the old, failing water pump with the bad seal (and probably bearing) was dragging the engine enough to cause poor gas mileage because it was dragging down the engine. I also realized after doing some more research that Pro Honda Coolant is one of the few coolants that does NOT use Silica Inhibitors for Aluminum engines. The Silica Inhibitors used by most aftermarket coolant makers are known to cause premature water pump seal failures. Since I used aftermarket Maxima Coolant for my VFR, that probably caused my previous two water pump seals to fail. If your engine isn't being physically dragged down by a failing water pump, brakes, or something, that leaves only the electronic path that controls your fuel injectors to cause the overly rich condition. So if your MAP sensor checks out, that leaves only the ECM/RB controller. I'd even check your new Fuel Pressure Regulator. There really aren't that many things that control your injectors' flow.

I feel the pain of diagnosing an elusive problem. Been there done that on my VFR800. These bikes are aging and most of them are not garage queens. Thankfully, the cooling system is mostly mechanical and fairly simple. You've eliminated a lot of variables but not all. You're still rocking the old radiators and the old water pump. Are those original from when the bike was new? I recently had to replace my original from new water pump with a NEW OEM water pump, which failed within 6 mos! The new OEM water pump's impeller seal/bearings failed....the impeller was difficult to spin. So things like this can happen. Replace the pump. Replace the radiators. These don't last forever. Based on my own experience, it's better not to spend time and spin your wheels trying to figure out if a 10+ year old part is still working correctly. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. If it's a suspect, replace it. A few hundred dollars is money well spent if you plan to keep your bike longer. It's either that or buy a new bike for $10k - $16k. That's how I justify the decision to either fix or replace a bike and I'm at peace with it.

My VFR800 is down from a leaking water pump.....again. I just replaced the pump last year and it's leaking again. My guess is I replaced the old OEM pump with a new OEM pump that had been sitting for years and the seals dry rotted....I don't know. However, new VFR800 water pumps were on back order from Honda so bike has been waiting......Good news is the pump arrived yesterday so will be doing the install this Friday night (I have no life). So if I manage to put it all back together I might ride on Sunday! Probably the ONLY VFR800 riding nowadays.