bmart

One less person to chime in. Excellent! 😛 On a serious note, PSI isn't as important as folks think. You should see the variation at a track day for people who are all much faster than we are.

Mileage/longevity vs. grip...always the same. I run 36/42.

My '98 got the annual wash and wax, and it is looking goooood.

Glad to hear that you're on the mend, despite a little setback.

Hey all. I didn't see a note about radiator guards on here so I thought I'd just post on my bike thread. Do folks use model specific stuff, ro just some kind of mesh cable tied on like most use at track days? After another friend got a hole in his recently, I thought I'd put them on all of the bikes...so making them out of one piece of mesh would likely be a lot cheaper! Any info would be really helpful. Thank you.

That's magical mileage. I have 3k on my Roadsmart IIIs and I'm monitoring closely.

They look like old Dunlops, D207s were they?

I think that we should require captions. I do not what what this is, what bike it is, or what may have been done. Regardless, I hope that you're happy with it. Also, can we not allow stupid thread subjects like "guess what" and "you'll never believe!" 🙂

Lovely. My FJs were always a pleasure to ride.

Is this the spot to order the kit...still? Now I have to look up evap canister and did the flapper mod. You guys are not good for my list!

I'm learning to trust no one...which I don't like the feeling of very much. Humans can be pretty crappy. It got shipped back to be fixed earlier today. We'll see how it goes. Unless it needs Italian parts, I hope to have it back in a few weeks.

Just a ruler to verify...and the reseller. They always set to stock length.

The stock and Bitubo were both 325. Stock "length" was increased wish external shims on the mount. Bitubo was increased with adjustable bottom mount; 5 turns, 5mm. I had to shorten it 3mm to get the bolt in.

You're right, Cap'n. The stock shock I removed is 325 plus the 5 mm of shims I added between the frame and the clevis at the top. 330 out and 330 back in seems easy, right? I'll be crawling under there while the shock is being repaired. Hoping someone who set up a 00/01 can tell me how 330mm went.

This is a silly question, but is there any reason that a 98/99 shock can be longer than a 00/01 shock? Silly #2, is there anything that would be in the way of allowing the swingarm to lower enough to accomodate this 330mm shock? My alternate option is to lower the front a bit to make up for the variance. Sending the shock back this week for repair, hopefully under warranty...at 0 miles.

"But we're not finished yet! Tell him what he's won!" So, I go out to set sag today, turn the spanner, and apparently the top, that should not move (locked from the factory), moved. It broke the hydraulic hose. Oil everywhere. Stay tuned. I've asked for a new one under warranty. This one seems lemon-esque. I've never had these problems with a shock before... Really, you just can't have nice things anymore.

Considerably cheaper if you can find a deal from a reseller.

Hoping to get in a few miles this week so I can set sag warm. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

I was... and no one understands why, including the reseller...or my other VFR. 330 is not long by any means in this bike.

I'll try to remember some of the gory details. Stock shock removal wasn't bad. I took off the Delkevic can, but left the midpipe (not the smartest, but it worked) and the rear wheel. I had ~5mm of shims between the top clevis and the frame to get to my preferred 330mm shock lengh (eye to eye, 5mm more than stock). I assumed that the top pivot would...pivot. It would not. I recommend loosening the nut/bolt holding the top of the stock shock to the clevis first. If you do that, the rest will fall out with plenty of room. Bitubo was set to stock length, so I adjusted it 5mm longer on the bench to make my life easier (read that as much harder). It should fit right in where the 330mm shock just came out...right? Just like the 330mm long shock in the red VFR, right? As my New England buddies would put it. Yaaaa...nooo. Bitubo suggests taking off the exhaust shield on the right side to route the canister over the large tube, I went behind it. There is no way this is anywhere hear the exhaust, any moving parts, or the metal shield. We'll see who is right on this one later! The rear bodywork must be removed also in order to get to the right passenger pegs which is where the canister braket is mounted. Do do this, of course, I had to remove the luggage rack. This is when I realized that the luggage rack bracket is also mounted to the right passenger peg bracket. Once I got all of the removal sorted and the new shock length set, I fed the canister up through the hole, ensured my routing was adequate, and had the tools and bolts ready...I fed the shock in and bolted it from the top. Keep in mind that I'm doing this between other bikes and a bunch of trays with seeds/seedlings that we're trying to grow. I can get two bolts in with the triangle plates, but not three. Any two, but never three. A lot of things were tried and in the end I was stuck with shortening the installed shock 3mm to get the last bolt in. Not a big deal, but now I had to lengthen the shock 3mm to get back to 330mm. Easy, right? Yaaa...nooo. Apparently the factory did not tighten the top lock nut enough, so when I turned the height adjustment, the whole shock would spin, risking kinking the canister hose/fitting. A lot of creative work to keep from doing a full uninstall...as the knucklehead mechanic (looks exactly like me) reassembled everything else (tank, bodywork luggage, etc.) to "save time" when I finished on day two of a 60 minutes job. It is now set to 330mm and I can't wait to try it. As it came from my pasta making people overseas, it feels a lot different than the Penske. I can't believe that it is as good or better, yet. If I get to ride it this week, I'll take some measurements cold before, and warm after, and get it in the ballpark. The Bitubo manual suggestions in this area aren't very good, so I'm on my own with settings. If I were to do it again: I would not adjust the shock length until it was installed, and I would notice that I could use the tool supplied instead of trying to fight with the 6 sided nut I would double check that the top lock nut on the shock was TIGHT I would put a jack under the small section of the swingarm just in front of the rear caliper instead of being lazy and lifting it over and over with one of my own appendages (the jack is 20' away, but there are 4 bikes, a car, a lift, and some other things in the way) I would take off everything that I needed to at the start and not put it back until the shock install was complete I would buy/borrow the proper wrenches for the lock nuts on the shock as reaching these when installed really bites with big straight tools (never thought I'd type those words) I would beg for a not red spring. Most will love the look, but I much prefer black! I'm open to all tom mockery and helpful suggestions. Adding some pics:

Search the forum. You'll find the answers you need. VFRs need some AC/DC love from the factory.