Terry

As coolant heats up it exands, so running the engine with the radiator cap off will lead to overflows when some heats gets into the system. The point about hitting 107C at idle suggests that the radiator fan is not coming on. That should be cycling on around 101C and off at 98C and you should be able to hear or see that happening. If not you may have a broken wire, blown fuse or stuck fan blade. The thermostat sounds like it is working normally 78-80C is the normal opening point.

That's much too pretty to ride. Great work, I love it!

Dude....you've got so many bikes! I think you win.

Sorry - slight thread highjack. I just had a decent 400km test ride on the YSS shock. I also fitted a Pirelli Angel GTII rear tyre and reworked the fork Gold Valves. The old ST13000 (2004, 126000km) is handling very sweetly indeed. The YSS has been a good investment. Surprisingly plush and well controlled.

Oxford Hotgrips for me. I'm way too old to enjoy cold hands. They are perfectly comfortably for my endless rides (longest about 14 hours non-stop). My knees and butt are much more at risk of being show-stoppers than my hands.

Nice birthday present, but I bet it was a bugger for someone to wrap. Welcome!

That's looking fab, Mike. I took your advice and bought myself a YSS shock for my ST1300 recently. Only ridden for 50 km so far but is a night and day difference to the 120,000km original...

This is my current bike. I painted the triple clamp myself, the bike got named Bumblebee by my kids. I have some preload adjuster knobs fitted just to tidy up the stock adjusters which were a little marred. They work well with the stock bars but the brake/clutch hose interfere on these raised bars.

I used 6G triples and bars, CBR600F4i forks, CBR954 master and calipers, CBR600F4i fender, Racetech Gold Valves and 0.9kg/mm springs, stock wheel, discs and axles. All bolts right up, just needed to space the ignition lock down a few mm so the steering lock pin could engage the frame socket. All that was on my last VFR. My new one is stock except for the VTR1000F damper innards, Racetech parts and some raised bars. The larger forks did make for a steadier feel and maybe less stiction (I think the bushings are better in the CBR fork).

Honda marine make a nice 12v voltmeter. I had one mounted on my ST1100 that looked like a factory fitment.

I'm not qualified either! Inline fours tend to have fine high frequency vibes due to the secondary crank imbalances, which can be countered using one or more balance shafts and/or rubber mounts. The 90 degree VFRs don't have any balance shafts as they have perfect primary balance but as my learned Australian friend suggests, they do have a more uneven power pulse which may feel like vibration to some or character to others. My argument completely falls apart with my ST1300 which is a 90 degree V4 and with balance shafts; the previous generation ST1100 never had the balance shafts, but that also used a steel tube frame not alloy beams like the ST. My MT-10 is an in-line four with balance shafts, and a V4 firing order. It is nice and smooth at a cruise, and a bit "characterful" (shuddery) at low revs (<4k) under power. It sounds just like a V4 and I love it!

The nuts under the throttle housing are just to orient the elbows, there's no adjustment to be had there. Looks like no grease on the handlebar. Some silicone grease would be a big help to allowing the throttle tube to rotate freely.

From the photos, you already have as much slack as you can get as the TB adjusters and the grip adjusters are as short as the can go (the outer is as close to the drum as it can go). I'd be taking a look at the routing of the cables to make sure they follow the prescribed path. The General Info section of the service manual has the helpful pictures. You might also check that the throttle drum has been lubricated where it turns on the bar, and that the bar end is not clashing with the grip rubber and causing binding. If you really get stuck, you could take nut 2 out of the equation and snug the big adjuster nut up against the bracket with just nut 3 as a locknut. The big question is how much slack do you have at the twistgrip? You need a few mm of freeplay, but do you already have lots?

If you have to, the PCV can be easily diassembled for cleaning. It just held together with a circlip and o-rings. I'd certainly suggest as a minimum you need to do a very thorough flush and bleed of the brake hydraulics. It would seem there is at least one piece of crud floating around that can block stuff up. The brake masters have a teeny tiny compensating port that is the only way for fluid pressure to release after applying the brakes, and when that clogs you get at least binding and over heating. The SMC on the left fork leg is very prone to this and it also contains a one-way check valve and mesh screen that gets gunged up. Before you ride, press the left calliper hard forward to activate the SMC, this should apply the rear brake, and the rear wheel should rotate freely when the SMC is released. If this test fails you need to get it fixed before riding, or you risk an overheated rear brake or an unexpected lock-up.

You need to crack the bleed nipple at the callipers to release the pressure and get rolling. VFR brakes are special and need careful attention to avoid this sort of thing happening. Looking on the bright side, it is better for this to happen in your garage than when you are braking hard into a hairpin bend. The service manual is available on the downloads section of this website. Read this and service the brakes properly. ST1300 brakes are very similar and there are some good resources available https://www.st-owners.com/forums/threads/st1300-maintenance-brakes-avoiding-the-pitfalls.135125/unread

I just know that when I pulled my 86's starter clutch apart (it was making some terrible noises) I had my heart in my mouth that I was going to find it horribly cracked (it wasn't). I am mighty impressed with your ingenuity to this point and wish you great success!

Sounds like you are inventing a whole new sideline business modifying later starter clutches to keep the 86 bikes on the road. Go fo it!

I'm sure that is only when you are clearing a tabletop jump.

The power to the relay is as follows: Battery to starter relay fuse (Main fuse A) Red wire from Main fuse A to ignition switch Red/black wire back to fuse box Fuse C Black/brown to turn signal relay Grey wire to indicator switch You should get 12V to earth all the way to the turn relay; if not you have a broken or bare wire somewhere.

That's a bummer. All I do know is that you cannot substitute any other year's starter clutch if you replace it. The bumps on the starter clutch case are triggers for the ignition and the 86/87 bikes are unique, compared to later VFR750s.

Check the position of the front brake light switch contacts; if you rotate the brake lever too much these can make contact with the handlebar and cause a short which takes out the fuse.

Have you checked to see what position the linkage triangles are in? There's an arrow on the plates that should be pointing forwards, however I know that some have lowered their VFR by rotating these triangles to a different position. The PO of my VFR was a shorter lady and she had the triangles turned, the Nitron shock was at its shortest length and the forks were slid through by 10mm. I found it very easy to hit the centrestand in that configuration. If you have adjustable compression damping, turning this up can reduce the shock compression on bumps and help a little with clearance.

If I read that correctly, you are not hearing the fuel pump prime. When you turn the key to on and with the kill switch in "on" position, you should hear a whine from within the fuel tank for 2-3 seconds. Do you? If the fuel pump is not running, that is your first symptom. It definitely won't start until that is sorted out.

Not really. The MT-09 is a triple but the MT-10 is an in-line 4 derived from the R1 supersports. Has been retuned for torque and midrange and is as wild or mild as you choose. The R1/MT-10 engine is unique in having a crossplane crank which gives the exact same firing order as a 180 degree V4. It is light, taught and naughty.