apexandy

Update to this build, the bike is for sale after 17,500 amazing kilometres. Check the classifieds for info. Sad to say goodbye, but excited for whoever might be the next owner to enjoy the bike! 

The problem is because the electricist that make the work for me! Put the gauge no the original wire that comes Out from the bike! Anda that thing works with impulse!! I dont know if Its possible to configurate, or the only way to work rigth is to put the íman on the wheel ...

. Íman means magnet ! :))

I tried many different methods to get the factory speed sensor to work with the koso gauge, and I think it might be possible with a 5th or 6th generation speed sensor (I can't remember why... this was a few years ago). But I couldn't get it to function. So I used the koso supplied speed sensor and put it on the swing arm with the magnet on the sprocket bolts. Problem solved. I hope that helps.

Great bike! Ever better Dad!

Cheers to that!!!

I Andy! I ready the tópics over and over again! I really cant put the speedmeter rolling!! Its a Shame! Everything works rigth!!!

Your bike looks fantastic! What is it specifically your are having trouble with on the Speedometer?

Hey my friend! Can you help me how to configure The speedmeeter koso dB-02 !?? I just finish my bike and everyone loves! And i tell thanks to A guy from Canada Thats inspire me ! Cheers bro

Hey man! Not sure how I missed your message, but if you are still having issues post #21-27 in this thread has quite a bit of info that should help :) Bike is looking good!

Hi Andy, i stumbled upon your build, had to register just to say that this is incredible. It is beyond awesome what you did on this build. Honestly drooled on my screen while gawking at the clean factory-esque lines you crafted. Congratulations on this great bike. Id love to build one similar to this, i too am a V-fan. By the way, i love the sound of the motor.

Im from the Philippines and how i wish i had some of the resources and supplies you have at my disposal as id like to turn out a beauty like yours. Anyway, keep at it, its gorgeous as it stands but im sure youll keep perfecting it.

Thank you very much man! When it comes to modding a bike every task you research and tackle will be learning experience, and even though it may not work perfectly the first time if you keep at it you will continue to improve in your skills. There is a ton of info on this site and all over the internet on modding and fabricating, we have it good :)

And yes… the VFR creates some beautiful music!

You win this round Seb! But I still own the category of "most girly color"

I'm not sure where else I could save weight without making drastic changes. I already have a tiny battery.

I've come to the same conclusion. I've weighed mine with a bathroom scale (one wheel at a time, add both numbers), and the local department of transport scale, both times I came up with close to 415 lbs dry (no fuel). Which is quite similar to your numbers Seb. Which does represent a 70lb weight savings over stock however!

Lighter wheels, different swingarm… after that it's basically shaving grams from other parts. Although custom headers would probably help me a little…

Bike still looks amazing Seb!!

Thanks guys

It sounds like a 360 degree motor.

I suppose from the different pipe merges?

Great workmanship! I really like your "wiring tunnel" idea in the front of the tank. I have had a tough time routing my wiring between the frame and the radiator.

This bike is incredible Seb :) The overall appearance is very aggressive yet integrated. But the most impressive thing to me is that as you get closer to the bike you notice more and more custom details. Custom fabricated parts that speak volumes of your skill, ability and vision. Well done sir!

Thanks again guys :)

Not sure I ever told you how thrilled I am at the front end I bought from you Bailyrock. Looking back and thinking of all the worn out front forks I could have ended up with it is amazing i stumbled onto your sale when I did!

Did you ever consider going with a highmount exhaust?

To be honest I'm not a huge fan of most high mount exhaust systems. It looks more 90's and less balanced overall aesthetically to me. But I have seen a few I like.

In the future I still want to make a new full system and then I would try to tuck the muffler much closer to the right foot peg and expose the wheel more. Maybe even make my own muffler…

So many dreams, so many other priorities.

Your bike looks fantastic! You even managed to put the tank badges on the correct direction :) The ducati monster seat is a great choice, it looks really good on there.

As for the gauge mold, unfortunately I am not making or selling any parts right now. But I'm sure you can figure out a solution!

Hey man, welcome here and thank you for the kind words about my bike! I'm not exactly sure what you would like help with. If you started a thread and posted pictures of your project we might have a better idea of what you are referring to.

And we just like looking a project VFR's :)

I've definitely thought about it. I have a desire to change the headers at some point, and potentially enclose an oil cooler in a belly pan, so I don't want to spend too much time on a belly pan that might not fit future plans.

I used to spend a lot of time on the custom fighters forum and I always appreciated the members who "completed" a build and then continued to modify and refine the package as time went on. The itch to do new builds will always be there however…

A belt sander clamped to the work bench is very handy as well

John Britten was from another planet! I couldn't last a week working at the pace he managed for years. I modified a motorcycle with a few hand made parts… he build an entire racing motorcycle and took on the world. My house has some hand built cabinets and custom touches… he made everything in his home, including his own sink fixtures! Incredible!

The VFR launches so well at the strip! My best time was a 7.6 in the 1/8 mile. With the track being at 4100 feet it equates to about a 7.2 at sea level I think. Which translates to low 11's I believe in the full 1/4 using online conversions. However I'm not sure how well my bike would do in the 1/4 without a fairing. 1/8 mile suits it well.

My clutch was already a little suspect before the drag races, and I have a sneaking suspicion 2nd gear wheelies are a little hard on it, so I have a new one to install before riding season. I'm going to put in oem discs, but purchased stiffer springs based on positive reviews from others on here. I'm excited to see how it rides with the fresh clutch

How's your bike coming along? I thought I read in one of your posts you have been working on it lately?

A variety of woodworking tools… As I'm a cabinet maker that is what I have access too, I'm sure there are better tools for the job.

For sheet stock I sometimes use the table saw with an old carbide blade to cut it close to size and then usually a good jigsaw with a high quality fine tooth wood blade. It helps to clamp the aluminum to a sacrificial sheet of plywood or mdf and cut through both.

For bar stock pieces I get creative with the table saw and mitre saw… can get sketchy at times though.

Then files and sanding for the rest. Also, I find using a high quality sealer or wax on the parts keeps them corrosion free and easy to clean all season.

I like the tank grip Beck

Truly amazing how factory it looks next to the other factory fighters. I mean that as a comlliment.

Thanks man! That was the goal of the build, OEM+

Cool to see you plugging away on your bike again! I can't wait to move into my 2 car garage to have some room for bike work again.

That hugger would really pop in body color.

I've thought about doing the hugger in body color…but I was thinking it might look a little "90's". It does need a new finish of some sort. I just wrapped it in 3M carbon fibre vinyl for now.

Look forward to perhaps meeting up for a ride this summer. With any luck, maybe even the wife can join in the fun.

I was thinking of maybe organizing a bit of a VFR ride in the okanagan area. A nice sunday ride to the motorcycle museum outside Salmon Arm would be sweet :)

So this update has been a long time coming! After moving last summer my wife and I decided to build a house this winter… so that has been keeping me extremely busy lately. But today I am home sick and finally have some time to post up some pics of last years mods:

Since I mostly ride solo I decided to remove the passenger pegs and make a new exhaust hanger.

I made an MDF mockup and a friend of mine machined it for me

Decided to send my forks and shock off to Jaimie Daugherty Motorsports to be resprung and revalved

The wiring harness always bugged me, nothing was where it needed to be on the bike, so I decided to start from scratch. This is the stock harness without tape

Needed to make better mounting points for the various components

And then began the long tedious journey of building my own harness

Decided to crimp all connections and seal with heat shrink

Concentric twisting of the layers leaves the harness much more flexible. I eventually wrapped the whole harness in motorsport spec flexible heat shrink and used high quality weather sealed connectors almost everywhere.

Finally made a mount for my hugger fender. Used my own carpenter techniques this time

Upgraded the switchgear and throttle. Used a CBR throttle housing and an R6 throttle tube for a quick turn modification. I would highly recommend this change on the VFR.

Since I use the Koso gauge speed sensor I made a block off plate for the stock sensor location

A few pics from the summer.

Met my dad for a few day ride

My riding buddies

Had a fun night at the local 1/8 mile dragstrip. Even took home a trophy (okay… only a turbo 900cc snowmobile and myself in the bike class that night. But hey, a victory is a victory)

That's my buddies mustang… and no, it's not stock. 800+ hp on drag slicks. We actually ran very close times that night. He runs low 10's in the quarter. It is so strange having a car match your speed under full throttle!

And that's all the pics I have for now. The only other mod I didn't have a close up of was the addition of a dedicated LED brake light on the license plate. I didn't feel comfortable the run/brake LED had enough of a difference between the two to be really noticeable.

I rode another 5000km this season and enjoyed every km of it. The bike is working like a dream. It honestly feels like a brand new machine every time I hop on and ride.

Oops. Of course it's in KM's.

Interesting test. Would it be safe to assume this information could be applied to my 4th gen engine? The 4th gen manual recommends the same viscosities per temperature range. I normally run 10w-40, but only ride my bike in 5-40*C weather. Would 0w-30 be a safe choice? And which mobil one are you using?

Thanks!

PS is that 92,000 miles on MR.RC45??

Headlight is originally a Yamaha MT-03 item. You can find them on ebay for much less than ordering from yamaha but still made by the same supplier. It's a good quality light, but mounts usually need to be fabricated.

I plan to build on a VFR 750 after being inspired by your bike, and was wondering how much work it was to get the new fork to fit?

Thanks!

Ronny Sweden

Not sure how I missed this… Sorry man, and thanks to Zefarton for answering

If you run the complete front end (forks, triples, brakes, wheels, discs, axle, spacers…) it is pretty much a direct swap. I drilled and tapped the stock steering stops and installed small allen bolts to limit the forks from hitting the frame. I used an RC51 upper triple clamp so I could drill and mount handlebar risers. Because it isn't a gullwing design my front end is actually a little lower than Zefarton's. With the radiator tucked up close to the frame with custom brackets I have just enough room to keep the wheel from hitting the rad.

Good luck!

I also figured out how to get the low fuel light to work with the Koso LED indicator panel. Here is a little diagram I made if any one is interested:

For those who are curious about this stuff…

The stock gauge uses a 7w Bulb which has the correct "power requirement" to work with the low fuel "thermistor" in the tank (when the fuel drops below the level of the thermistor it heats up and lowers the resistance of the circuit). With the Koso LED indicator panel the low fuel light will always be lit as the LED requires such little power to activate. I tried different resistors but there was alway a tiny bit of power getting through and that was enough to light the LED constantly. The relay allows the LED to be on a separate on/off circuit from the thermistor. I tested it on the last tank and it worked, time will tell if it continues to function properly.

So now I have a fuel gauge and a low fuel light, just like stock :) Going without the low fuel light on the Koso gauge isn't really a problem as the fuel level is consistent (thought not necessarily accurate to percentages of the actual tank level) and the Koso gauge has a user adjustable low fuel warning. However it takes over one of the gauge readouts (for example, if you wanted to have the gauge on engine temperature) and starts flashing when you hit the specified percentage of remaining fuel. A little annoying… now I can postpone the fuel level warning until 10% and rely on the low fuel light.

-End of long winded and probably unnecessary explanation.