ShipFixer

Are you thinking of their 500 parallel twin? If I had to pick between the Aprilia and the Honda today...probably the Honda based on it being an I4 and a Honda, but if the Aprilia revs smoothly (a big if with a parallel twin), then maybe...

Totally true, you can check the gap but not everything else, and this is something that's sitting in between some radical temperature and pressure differentials! I've had plugs that go the distance and some that don't, and all were "best of/most expensive variant of" with lots of consensus that they are the best bet, and I am in no way an engine-flogger. I also no longer have vehicles where it's relatively easy to pull plugs to check them out, so my new philosophy is ~75% of wear. I just replaced a set of iridiums in my Nissan Pathfinder when I got the dreaded exhaust code on one bank that almost always leads to new primary cats, new O2 sensors, or both. I got lucky because I replaced them right away (in the middle of a long road trip) and it was in fact the plug (why some people don't start with plugs for P0402...anyway...). This was around 80% of the 100K mile life of the plugs, and in this case one was visibly worn on that bank and "probably" the culprit. But generally...while I don't see much point in replacing plugs right and left, I also don't see a whole lot of upside to letting them be until the 100% mark or "until there are issues" if it's not simple to check them regularly. I have a lot of higher concerns than squeezing as much cost performance as I can out of spark plug life! 😄

I liked the looks of this until I saw it's a...parallel twin 650? I see Aprilia's manufacturing story there (half of the V-4) but I'm just not sure I'd want one based on that. It's pretty clear it's intended competition is the Ninja 650R as well, which is not exactly a VFR, but could fill some of the same niches. When I bought my VFR in 2002, the choices I had at Honda were the VFR, a CBR 600RR (still a pretty new thing), or an F4i. Pretty close race between the F4i and the VFR for all of the riding I intended to do that year. This could also be in that niche and I could see getting one...if it were a V-twin or a four cylinder something or other. Obviously I'd want a V-4 but I would take a twin from Aprilia here.

I'd like to try one...but I don't think Honda is this adventurous.

I think the silver center piece in the upper cowl is the giveaway. Unless there's a model I'm unfamiliar with, in OEM Honda plastic it's black and shiny. In the Chinese fairing kits it's painted the same as the rest of the body color (i.e., painted as one piece). If that's not some kind of cosmetic add on or specifically painted to match the rest of the body work, then likely Chinese fairings. But otherwise, it "looks" good in pictures and you'd have to check all the usual crash stuff to see if it's been wrecked. One other thing since I am going through this with my "old" recently retrieved bike...sometimes you just replace plastic because it's faded and ugly 😄 It's possible the previous owner replaced it all for non-crash reasons and there's nothing wrong with the bike. I am going the OEM route and it's waaaaay expensive compared to a $500 or so kit from eBay.

Did some further test riding last night, lots of steady RPM riding at different speeds. Makes a difference on my bike for sure, and means I don't feel the need to go buy a Power Commander or Rapid Bike unit right away. I'm mostly annoyed because I wish I'd known this might be a fix ten years ago when I was routinely doing big rides on long highway stretches. Other good news, after doing no more than fiddling with the cables my brake lever light switch works again. I have a replacement coming in though. Aaaaaaand new plastic starts arriving today 😄

I found it here and on VFRWorld in the last few days. Not sure if it applies to 5th or 8th gen, but basically turn your bike on (key and on button), let the FI pump charge the injectors (complete the whine noise), then turn off with the key. Turn on again and hit the starter *before* the whine stops, or right away (the injectors are still primed). Someone stumbled on this and a bunch of other people have tried it. It's not in a manual. But it sure seems to work on my bike. The FI closed loop behavior is particularly bad right now because none of the things that would make it better have been done in 10 years or so. I was annoyed with the FI on Friday because I'd forgotten it was a thing and got tired of feeling like I was fighting the ECU in a low RPM ride around DC. Today, wasn't an issue at all. I was riding right in the range where closed loop normally happens and I never noticed it, not once. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

So I dumped a double-dose of Seafoam in the tank and rode around this afternoon to start getting the "sitting still too long" disease out of the bike. I also tried this "on/off/on/off" business to defeat FI closed loop mode. YHGTBSM...Honda had a cheat code to turn off closed loop mode this whole time?!? 🤦‍♂️No weird fights for dominance at cruise, I was able to hold ~4500 RPM and sit at ordered speed for looooong stretches. No weird throttle transients mid-corner either. How was that a secret for so long?!?

Just found my 2002 and got it back last week, I know how you feel! Good luck!

Ahhhh that sucks! That was of course my first question to the seller, has it been down since I've seen it? Rode around a little last night in Arlington and DC after installing a stock-replacement ZG screen. Forgot how annoying the closed loop FI business is when you haven't done a starter valve sync, etc. in a long while! Probably doesn't help that the plugs are 18 years old either. So I have new vacuum gauges coming in (did I mention I got rid of a bunch of motorcycle stuff just a few months ago?) as well as new Iridiums. And while I resisted the PC III before, now I'm very interested in this Rapid Bike business. First things first though...the plastic situation is pretty dire, I can't wait for the new pieces to start arriving next week! After I get that done and the engine within baseline, then I'll look at how badly I want to try RB before I move to California. Those Oury grips are pretty sweet though, definitely a step up from the standard ProGrips.

Oury grips! Love these on my mountain bikes, won't ride anything else. Don't know why slightly wider diameter grips aren't common, I've never really liked what we could get for sportbikes. Even the widest ProGrips available are pretty meh.

Do you mean on mine, or replacement tail plastic? The 2002 in the US did not have "VFR" on the fairings, that came later. A couple of the rear cowlings I've looked at on eBay did not have "Honda" and "Interceptor" on them. I can get those labels from PartZilla, but not sure if I will. Probably the Honda label but I was never excited about "Interceptor" in cartoon script anyway.

You're not wrong! I have a very slight red/green color vision deficiency so the pink kind of hides from me under certain lighting, but the plastic is definitely faded. The tank seems to be the same old red color to me, thankfully. I have some brand new plastic in R157 coming along with "best I could get on eBay," will see what the difference is soon. Hopefully not much! There are certain things for which there is no "new" source, like the front fender and tail (you can get it unpainted, which helps me not). My front fender seems ok and I have two tails coming from eBay...one for $50, and then I jumped on a $300 one assuming it must be awesome. Hoping the $300 one is obviously new-ish.

Some more. It looks ok from a distance, in person it's somewhat pink! After looking closer, the chain and sprockets are indeed very new as the previous owner said. Front tire is kinda low on tread and cupping a bit, but isn't terrible. Rear is brand new. Overall not unhappy! He did fix something electrical and I think I found it. It's not the RR, or the ignition cable where I thought it needed to be fixed. Will need to investigate that one a bit more. My bike never exhibited any weird electrical issues, or for VTEC surging for that matter. But who knows.

I'm just too used to what it "should" look like 🙃 It's responding really well to Formula 303 plastic protector on all the black plastic and vinyl bits, but I still have new stuff inbound. What I thought was a scratch across the tachometer is actually a fracture on the inside of it. Won't get better, so glad I ordered a new gauge cluster!