MidTNJasonF

Never followed back up on this post. Problem has been resolved. I had on hand or ordered, get this, not 1, not 2, but 3 used rotors that all had issues. They all had some degree of warp or bend in the carrier. Sucked it up and bought some new wave rotors and they are running nice and true. Front caliper movement is virtually non existent now and there is no odd drag when freely rotating the wheel and rotor.

Flush and bleed. My clutch was giving me some weird feel issues. Engagement was not what I would call "normal" or consistent. I vacuum bleed the system with all new fluid and it is like a new bike again. Much better feel and engagement. Actually lower lever effort as well. The old fluid was not low and did not look particularly dark or contaminated but the fresh fluid still did wonders.

Not sure what the honda manual directly describes but tube depth in the clamps was measured with digital calipers. The axle fits through cleanly so no binding i.e. one fork lower sitting further forward than the other.

My 98 was down and some point in its past before my ownership. Something is off in the front right fork tube, brake caliper, or wheel and I can not seem to sort it. I thought a warped or damaged rotor was the obvious simple culprit. but I swapped a known good rotor onto the bike with new pads and the issue remains. I even went so far as to check it for runout and flatness before it was installed (lathe and a dial indicator). I can look down at the front right caliper while riding and I can see the caliper pulse side to side. There is little to no noticeable noise or vibration when rolling forward. When rolling the bike backwards it does make a fairly harsh metallic grinding noise/pulse at a point in the rotation. It is not a constant grinding noise. I have had the calipers and rotors off the bike a dozen times. I have not found anything obviously tweaked. I have taken a stone and a file to make sure no burrs or dings were on the mounting surfaces. At this point I am ready to start throwing parts at it and undergo a front end rebuild/upgrade while I am at it. Any thoughts before I try to source some new forks, a new caliper, yet more rotors, and all the parts to rebuild the forks? Other things. The wheels have been balanced. The left side caliper is rock steady with no pulsing or movement while riding. Currently all parts except the pads are OEM Honda with no aftermarket components. There is no obvious damage to the wheels or the tubes like gouges, scratches, ect.

I have the Throttlemeister units on my 5th gen and I must say I would not use them in a lane splitting commuting environment. While easy to override for the most part it is just not convienent when frequent changes in throttle position or speeds are needed. I only engage mine when the right hand needs a break on the long straight stretches.

I bring you.... http://nashville.craigslist.org/mcy/3089027630.html if that link dies....

Had this happen to a suzuki of mine. Petcock failed and and it flooded the carbs and cylinders in just a few short hours while I was at work. Replaced the petcock, drained the oil, and purged the cylinders of fuel. Closed everything up with a new filter and oil and never had another problem from it. I was not aware the 4th gens had electric pump feed carbs so I can not imagine that the petcock is your issue unless the pump allows fuel to still flow via gravity when not powered. Worth inspecting but probably not the likely culprit.

Mine has been on the bike for almost all of the 10,000 miles I have put on it since October. No issues at all and it is holding up fine. It does not turn as it has fingers or tabs that lock into the ring. I am not sure you could rotate it without breaking something. I actually dropped my bike in a bad dirt parking spot at a campground and more or less held the bike up with the tankbag against my knee. It did not have all the weight of the loaded bike but it had a serious portion of it. It did not come off then or rotate at all. Nothing on mine has come loose but I am a firm beliver it all metal fastners getting blue locktite. There is no way to lock it onto the bike. It is just a quick disconnect lever that allows you to pop it up. If I had any complaints it would be the interior of the bag has the extra material for the expansion option bunched up around the top. I would prefer it to not even have the ability to expand as it is plenty big already and I have never used the expansion zipper. That extra material just sort of gets in the way at times. I also would like it if the rain cover bag on the front was more easily removable as I have never used the rain cover either.

Rok Straps. Only thing I use. I threw away the cheap bungee net and gave my old bungee chords to a friend. Rok straps don't have metal hooks to bend or worse yet scratch your bike. Never had one come loose and I think you could probably lift the bike off the ground if you hooked a couple of the Rok Straps to a hoist, they are strong. Many camping trips under my belt with my sleeping pad, tent poles, and a few other things in a dry bag straped down with two Rok Straps. Tent, stove, clothes, and personal items in one side case. Sleeping bag and small items in the other side case. Small cooler, tool kit, hat, spare gloves, jacket liner, and rain gear in the top case.

Ron at Frame Straight http://www.framestraightsystem.com/

That bike needs a high mount.

I just ran hot lead off the battery itself and a frame ground near the subframe mount point. I ran the wires in a protected flexible wire loom up under the tank along the left top edge of the frame. I brought the wires up near the throttle cables past the triple trees and used wire ties to secure it to the existing wire harness. I wanted a lead right to the battery so I could charge a phone overnight without having the bike switched on or the key in the bike. I was able to leave my phone in the tank bag on the bike next to my tent at the campsite this weekend and charge up for the next day. Inside the bag I just wired up a traditional 12v accessory plug i.e. a cigarette lighter plug so I could plug in any number of items that use that. I have a dual port USB charger that plugs into that so I can power my phone and my GPS off USB chords at the same time.

Frogg Toggs here as well. Made it through several 300+ days of pouring rain and one tornado and one hurricane.

In the past I have used a variety of magnetic mount tank bags on my bikes. I have always gotten minor blemishes or scratches from frequent use but never really cared since my bikes were always well used and not free of blemishes anyway. Since I got the VFR and it is so clean and scratch free I decided to not use any magnetic bags on it. I recently purchased a Givi TankLock T480 tank bag with a mounting ring to use in its place. For those unfamiliar with the Givi TankLock system it currently includes three different tank bags, a mounting base, and a bike specific ring that matches the bolt pattern of the fuel filler ring on your bike. They have the Large bag, T480, that 14 liters (expandable to 22 liters) and includes a top map pocket with a formed cutout for a GPS or spart phone. They have a medium bag, T489, that is 14 liters (expandable to 18 liters) and has a map pocket but no GPS holder. The last bag is the TPH02 Tank bag that is small, semi hard sided, and has a phone cutout/holder. It is 4 liters. They do not list a tank adapter ring for the 5th gen bikes but since the filler has the same bolt pattern as the 6th gen I just bought that which they do list. I am overall very please with the quality of the bag itself and the mounting hardware. I think the side pockets are not as well designed and useful as they could be but they will work well for earplug, pen, and small item storage. I think the port or cutout for the GPS could have been made a bit larger and actually had a foam block insert that was perforated like pelican case foam inserts are that allows you to remove just what is needed to properly secure and cradle your device. Zipper quality is good and the material is thick and tough. It holds shape well and seems to be very well constructed. The mounting setup looks a little dodgy at first glance but it locks solid and I have not had the bag move around, come loose, or give me any cause for concern so far. It turns out to be far more solid than it looks really. It is very easy to remove and reinstall for fuel stops in fact I would say it is far easier than a magnetic bag since you have to line up and place the magnetic bag each time. Since the mounting point for this system are fixed you just drop it on and take off. First the ring itself takes just minutes to install and is very straight forward. As you can see it is pretty low profile and leaves very little on the bike with the bag off. Here is the bag itself with the GPS shown in the cutout for it. Also shown is the bottom side with the locking ring arrangement. You can see that I moved the ring all the way to the most forward position. This moves the bag as far forward on the tank as it will go. Finally a couple shots of the bag on the bike. As you can see there is nothing touching the tank itself. Nothing to scratch the paint on the tank. Now I wanted to be able to power the GPS on long trips and also wanted to be able to recharge my phone in the tank bag while traveling. I did not want to add a lot of wire or connections to the bike so I wanted one simple power lead from the bike to the bag so that the chargers and plugs could stay in the bag. One simple connection would allow me to unhook the bag and carry it into a building with me at a stop for security. I purchased a waterproof power port bulkhead from an RV supply house. It is designed for mounting on the roof of an RV and is a two wire (hot and ground) setup. It came with both the port and a plug with a short bit of wire lead to hook up. I chose to mount it on the front right corner of the tank bad out of the way. I cut a small hole for the wire and the port plug. I then punched 4 small holes for the screws that would attach it to the backing plate I made. Once all bolted down it is quite secure and tucked away. The backing Plate The inside with the trim panel back in place and covering the backing plate. I will be giving it a further test this weekend with a 1500 mile trip and I will report any updates. So far though every sign points to this being a very solid and useful addition to the bike.