Duc2V4

It is with a saddened heart that I'm writing this but feel the need to share with you all. This past Monday evening I received a Face Book Messenger message from fellow VFRD member sfdownhill's cousin. The gist of the message was, "Wanted to let you know Lance (His real name) was in some sort of accident and had to be airlifted to Chico Trauma center. He's being intubated at the moment but that's all I got. I'll keep you posted" I reached out the next morning for further status and essentially got that he was still unconscious and intubated, and had suffered a "catastrophic brain injury". This is where my heart dropped. I was able to hear from his uncle later in the afternoon and he was trying to give me more details of what happened but I was having trouble hearing in the noisy environment I was in and essentially almost a zombie at that point. He basically todl me a little moer of what they new that they were waiting and hoping for some good news but it wasn't promising. As of a few minutes ago, I heard back from his cousin again and he basically spelled it out, Lance was declared deceased a couple of days ago but they are keeping his body going so that his organs can be donated. If that doesn't say what kind of person Lance was, I don't know what would better say how giving he was. I have tons of stories and fond memories from the time I first met him, the time we went on our first ride together, to him attending my wedding. I guess my wife liked him too, as we had a very short list of attendees, but Lance was one of them. I initially met him as an independent contractor whom he needed my services. At first we had a business relationship, but that quickly grew into a great friendship. Not only did we collaborate with work but with motorcycles, and other fun interest. I think our greatest collaboration was the WyLD header project. It was only after a few big jobs that we did together that he said he had a big surprise gift for me, he told me that he bought us classes for the California Superbike School. I didn't know what to say and could hardly believe it, but again, that's how giving he was. I continued to work with him on and off for a few years until I got a full time job but still lent hand from time to time, he was my friend after all. I could go on and on but not only is it hard to write this without tearing up but I also don't want this post to become a novel. I'll post some pics for those who may not have met him face to face and leave with this. Lance was a great friend and one I hope others can pattern themselves from, I will miss him. Godspeed Lance! Here's Lance prepping his 5 Gen for our time working with the California Superbike School at Laguna Seca He and I posing for the camera at turn 6 at Laguna Seca after our work was done. It was a great day of working/riding. Here, I think I am explaining to him about my lines around Angeles Crest Highway. Looks like I had his interest. On the same Angeles Crest Highway ride, the "Three Amigos". Mr smiles in front there is my brother Niel. The three of us did a lot of riding together, as well as attended that California Superbike School class together. As happenstance has it, Niel came up from Mazatlan to attend to a few things here in California and we were all supposed to celebrate tomorrow me getting my license reinstated. Lance was planning another great celebration for us but alas, it did not happen. 😞

Well folks, the rain of pain is OVER! Just received my notice from the DMV that my license has been reinstated! Still in shock at the moment but I'll be OK.

THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY! I just have two left to deal with. These are the one's going outside the US, but I should have these out later today or tomorrow, different shipper and process along with a couple of I's to dot and T's to cross. I just want to thank everyone for being so patient and understanding of the circumstances but we all persevered and the rewards will be received very soon! Cheers, D

Well, as you can see from omgvfr's post, the headers are here, he's just lucky that he lives in So Cal, so was able to stop by and pick his up first hand, rather than wait for shipping. On that topic, I'm flying solo right now as sfdownhill is away this week, so I'm trying to tag team this with my day job and doing the boxing up at night. There's a few on here who have not responded to my last post yet, but rest assured, they'll be boxed up and ready to go along with the others. I was able to get them all boxed up last night but need to get the shipping labels done and then get the boxes dropped off, so they can get to their destination. Here's what the front of my garage looks like at the moment. And a peek at what to expect once your box arrives (if you're one who has a set coming). Hoping to get all the labels printed and onto the boxes tonight. I know, I know, "Hurry up Duc, we've been waiting so long!"

Hey all, I just sent out your totals with the balance due amount just a few minutes ago. Sorry it took me a while, doing 12-14 hour days at work last week and busy weekend catching up with the wife, kind of kept me a bit busy. On a positive note, I was finally able to get my FedEx account squared away, so I could finally get my discounted rates. Cheers, D

Hi All, looks like I didn't have to hold on to the headers I bought to get the build going. A few late comers to the party have relieved me of them, even before I took possession of them. So if anybody is or was looking to buy them, it would appear that it would be too late at this time. On the topic of the actual build, all I can say is that we are getting closer and we hope to hear back from Wade real soon. That said, I would like to thank everybody who were able to grab a set and for being so patient with this, we obviously didn't want to have everybody to wait this long, but sometimes we have no control over that. Cheers, D

I'll let sf know to look out for your deposit. Cheers, D

Hey All, wanted to update everyone, although we tried to work around getting the minimum order in for the headers to get built, seems the builder had some orders in ahead of us. It doesn't mean they aren't getting made, just means we still had wait a little. But getting the minimum order in was still crucial, we are up next in the queue and will be reaching out to those who purchased them for the remaining balance and shipping cost. So hopefully you'll see a PM and/or an email real soon. Sorry for the long delay still but we're getting there, I know the wait is painful, but I'm sure the reward will be worth it! Cheers, D

Same question for you Andy, what rear wheel is that from?

Slo, what rear wheel is that 8 spoke from? Is that from a VFR400?

Yeah, me too. Had to grab one before it became a "Wish I would have bought one of those" moment. Having gone through the seizures and brain surgery, I felt no better time than now, I may call it my "reboot" bike, as I feel my life did get a reboot.

Nice work Capt.! I have a set of VTR 1000 forks, triple clamp and just acquired a set of calipers and fender from a friends VTR 1000. One of the receipts the seller had was from the prior owner. The bike looks to have a Hyperpro 460 rear shock, and the specification reads rider weight at 240 lbs.! Aggressive street riding. When I saw the receipt he posted online I was expecting this huge Marine to show up on this little bike, although he is a Marine, he was smaller and shorter than I am. Definitely going to have both front and rear suspension done up for my weight and riding type. I'm pretty sure this will be a keeper bike, so may have to change my screen name to "Duc2V4-v2" 😉 As for rear wheel, I do have a few, but all of them are the 5.5" wheels. May look for the VFR400 8 spoke, but like the 750 8 Spoke, they're probably going to be hard to acquire. As for front wheel, I do have a 5/6 Gen front wheel I might look at fitting with the new fork setup, since I have the wheel already. In terms of the stock wheels, do you know what's the widest rear tire you can put on? and for that matter, the front as well? I would assume the front can run a 120/70-17, yes? I joined the Hawk forum but I've not been cleared to post anything just yet, waiting for admins to approve me.

Well, got my paperwork for the DMV ready to go, next the Dr. will need to do his part and then DMV should be getting a hold of me to have a discussion. So what happened in the mean time? This little bird followed me home on Saturday. Yeah, I need another bike, like I need a hole in the head, oh wait, I already got one of those back in January! The hole, not the bike 😉 Actually been a bike I've been wanting to get for some time now so I decided to grab one when the opportunity struck. So Saturday the owner rode up from San Diego, met me at a mall parking lot right off the freeway, I gave it the once over, took a little spin in the parking lot and then bought it. Talked him down a few hundred, because there were some bits that needed attention and he was aware of them so we split the difference between my offer and his listed price. Until I can legally ride again, I did need a new project, so this one became that project! Any Hawk Owners here on the forum?

I was wondering how 33 was going but figured you’d chime in on it if it was ready to ride. Considering it’s the DMV I’ll be dealing with, that “take your time” may also not be my choice! My wife is still dealing with the EDD trying to get paid for taking time off work to stay home with me while in recovery…yep, 6 months down the road and they’re still giving her the run around.

Been there before too. It was actually on my first visit to Belgium. Got a bit too involved with Duvel, was barely able to get up and catch my plane to England. Not fun traveling when you’re head is still spinning!

Well, hard to say, I miss riding in Malibu but have not gotten much intel on how that area is currently, also thought about Angeles Crest area, still up in the air. I know it’ll been an all day affair, that’s for sure!

Figured time for another update about me and my condition. On the good side of things, all of my last Dr. visits and test since my last "episode" say I'm pretty much mended and I am now getting to the last days of the 90 wait period that got reset back in April. What does that mean? I finally become eligible to submit my paperwork to the DMV to see if I can get my license reinstated! I have to say, I know there are other members here who have had to put off riding for one reason or another, although mostly seem to be based on physical issues and recovery. However, feeling like I'm back to normal and feeling like literally nothing happened to me has been the hardest thing I've had to deal with. Riding has been such a HUGE part of my life, starting in my teens and ultimately being suddenly being interrupted in my mid 50's was a shock to my system. It was all just too foreign to me, something I hope I'll never have to deal with again, and I know those other members feel the same. Even though I'm only days away from submitting my paperwork, it still feels like an eternity away. OK, enough feeling sorry for myself, I'm almost there and feel so grateful that, not only can I share my story, but can tell it to you all personally. As some of you may know, I'm also part of the crew that is involved in getting the "WyLD" headers to our valued members and as such, know the pain of "hurry up and wait". Being that this was a big part of my personal "pain", I had to do something. If you follow that thread, you'll know that I opted to purchase the last few headers, that for one reason or another, just didn't get purchased. "F" that, this is going to happen sooner rather than later! In other words, you can thank my personal situation for getting this moved forward sooner rather than later. I'm not looking for praise here, I'm just saying, I didn't want fellow members to have to go through what I've been going though for these last few months! Trust me, it's not a good feeling. Although I have been keeping myself busy, not only with personal projects but some projects for my friends and friends of friends. Another passion to riding, is working on bikes, I'm no Sebspeed, but I have my moments and have been able to help many members and friends get their issues resolved. I'm not one for making money from this but more the satisfaction that I could contribute and help others and this alone has helped me keep myself occupied enough to not think about my situation, so there is some benefit to me there. Being that I have limited travel options, I tried to spend a lot of my time stuck at home in my garage (D's Garage as I like to call it) and work on little things I never got around to doing when I didn't have this travel issue. Some of which are for fixes/updates to my Ducati, 01 and 09 VFRs (Re: my name Duc2V4). All in all, I am feeling really positive and hope to be able to ride "legally" again with those I have shared rides with in the past and possibly other members I have not met personally yet. Oh yeah, in order to get things moving along faster, I've might have made a deal with the Duvel... Cheers, D

As for my update, I did speak with SF last week but he was traveling, so our conversation wasn't a complete one. That said, I did offer to buy the remaining 4 units and hold onto them for anyone who either couldn't grab them this production run or for those who just came late to the party. Essentially, the 4 non purchased units would be in my possession and available for sale on a first come, first serve basis. The cost would be the same and of course any additional cost for shipping. My initial thought was to have them all be made as 5 Gen units, that way even 6 Gen buyers could use them, just remove the short amount that makes them slightly different than the 5 Gens. The only issue with this, is that no 8 Gen units would be available for anyone looking for an 8 gen version. If anyone has any thoughts on that topic, please feel free to chime in. I'm hoping to get with SF sometime today or tomorrow to discuss this further and get back to you all. Again, sorry for the long wait but these things too are out of my and SF's hands. Cheers, D

No disrespect intended but your response is kind if what I was saying when I wrote that. Really what I was trying to say is that most folks on FB are not looking to spend the money on headers like ours, but would rather pay a much cheaper price and get what they get and are OK with that. Most think that the "can" is what gives them the performance, in reality, it's mostly the sound that changes from it.

I did a few times but seems most folks on FB are looking at Delkevic or, dare I say it...Black Widow. Go figure?

4 orders short. SF and I are going to get together this weekend and figure out a plan. We really want to get this going already but have the small hurdle. We'll keep you all posted, please bear with us a little longer, it will pay off, I'm positive.

I get it. When I bought my 09 back in 2011 (346 miles on her), I thought I would keep it stock, but slowly and surely a mod here, a mode there and in all honesty, the headers were going to be my final mod...so I thought. After 100k plus miles, the 6 Gen engine started to burn coolant, rather than get the motor fixed, I bought a used 5 Gen for the motor and stuck that in the 09 frame, so now I have my 09 with a 5 Gen motor, it's still my commuter and sometimes canyon bike and in all honesty, she is no slouch! I actually use to use my 5 Gen at the track a lot, as I use to do corner working for the California Superbike School and the 5 Gen just became my "play" bike. Lots of canyon carving and then lots of track riding, both bikes seem to hold their own, but the BMW S1000R bikes the school uses do haul a$$ but I'm not far behind and usually pass them in the corners (a weak spot with most students). Anyway, it's your bike and your call. Cheers, D

And from the 8 Gen run...Bike pic to show 8 Gen version, which is slightly different.

From the 6 Gen run...

If I recall these came from some Dyno runs done by sfdownhill with his 5 Gen and a friends 6 Gen, and a fellow member who loaned his 8 Gen for some test runs. Unfortunately I don't think there are before/after, but I'd have to check with SF, as these were done right after the first production run. These are from 2019. The images I have say "comparison" but I don't remember the details, it was a while ago and before my brain surgery, so I do question my memory sometimes now. This is the 5 Gen run.