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CornerCarver is 101% spot on there is no point fitting a shock that isn't setup for your individual application so the bottom line is always you budget. I don't agree with VFROZ comment about the VFR never being a Fireblade which implies can't make use of the very best suspension. Unless you have ridden a VFR with suspension in the high range you will never now what the VFR can really do just like a Fireblade. My VFR suspension is what some deem overkill but the transformation is amazing, the proof is anybody I let ride my VFR doesn't matter if there VFR riders or any other bike for that matter I have to fight to get my keys back. Yes the suspension on my VFR cost a bomb but the cost for me is offset by the added safety it provides & bike + premium suspension still is cheaper than upgrading to a newer stead which in most case will still need suspension modifications to suit your individual requirements.

My question was answered, thanks. I have zero experience with the TBR headers on a 6th gen mainly because there unattainable at present unless your really lucky like CandyRedRC46 so his impression of those on his 6th gen is worth the read. As far as fitments I feel shipping/handling of all the headers mentioned probably causes problems, I have fitted 3 sets of Motad & they all bolted up perfectly. Seeing people have an example of TBR headers & know details has anybody approached a custom exhaust manufacturer & asked price to replicate in a more realistic production run. You just need a computerised madrel tube bender & a jig made for the welding, the cost would be more than the TBR with a production run of 100 units but would happen sooner than maybe not at all.

"The motad made no noticeable or measurable difference in real world riding" that is not correct at all mainly because the difference fitting any header over the standard is the removal of the cat which makes an instant difference on real world riding. If you find any combination that works for your setup that is a bonus, I found the Laser cans worked better with the Motad headers than the LEO. It also would come down to what your after low/mid/high performance & from what I read the TBR is aimed at high. I also have zero idea if dyno I supplied is calibrated perfectly, in fact any dyno you have done final fig can be out unless dyno was calibrated just before your run. I'm sure finding the best possible out come is finding what combination of parts/mods work the best, it would be great to have Motad, Delkevic, TBR headers & then allot of after market cans to test different combos on a dyno.

There are allot of posts in this thread which I haven't really followed so what I'm going to post may have already been covered or posted but I'll fire away anyway. I have ridden a 4th gen with the TBR headers & wasn't impressed at all in fact I would go so fare as to say the bike lost performance, yes the bike was jetted to suit but it lost so much punch down low. I would say pc & dyno tune with a EFI gen TBR would probably perform better down low. But I have to ask the question why do people want the TBR headers when the Motad headers are aval now & they also provide a good performance increase & fit well. Bellow is my dyno with Motad & LEO cans, my original map (red) was old dyno map I had with Motad & Lasers & it's a shame I can't find the print out because that combo made 115hp (I lost power with the LEO's). I would still have the Lasers but sold bike with that combo & when I bought bike back which had exhaust back to stock fitted LEO's for the weight saving (I was surprised the Lasers had better performance). Just some food for thought. Bike with Motad & Laser Bike with Motad & LEO's

You have just answered your own question, is it practical to trade a good 6th gen for the 8th gen "noway in hell" but if a person feels the need why not. The only upgrade I would like from the 8th gen is the dash, I don't need traction control on a 100hp V4 & I don't need ABS so the 8th gen has zero to offer me. If your a person who can do some mods yourself & own a 6th gen & thinking of upgrading to the 8th gen I would delink the brakes, fit after market rear shock & do a inverted fork conversion. Then you will have better suspension than the standard 8th gen, just as good radial brakes & allot of money left in the bank.

Because you asked here are my thoughts: 1. Bodywork off and resprayed. Colour undecided, any ideas? What would you do with a blank canvas? #Great idea a new paint job always makes any bike fell special, have zero idea what colours but you can use low tech to try out some ideas a picture & colour it in the colours your thinking. I would also go the clear indicators that look so much better than the orange. 2. Powder coat the centre stand, side stand, bottom yoke, fairing and rear sub-frames in Black. Wheels will be done (colour undecided), but rims will be polished. #It's not very costly to powder coat those items, sorry hate polished wheels rather one solid colour. 3. Handlebars, heat plate and top yoke to be shot blasted, then powder coat or respray. Which would you do, and why? #Powder coat as low cost & looks good. 4. Exposed alloy (footrest hangers etc.) to be polished. #Again polish is a pain unless you have them clear coated but the clear coat has to be alloy specific or it will go yellow over time so cost is high, I would keep on the powder coat theme. 5. Engine and swing arm out. Engine will get shims rechecked and done where necessary (43k on the clock). #Engine out just to do valves is pointless as you can degease & clean without doing that unless you want to also paint engine or frame. Swing arm I would leave same as frame just a good clean (if painting frame do swing arm) 6. New bearings throughout, plus its coming up to the point where it will need a new C & S kit soon. And new brake pads. #Only needed if there is a problem but if your painting wheels, frame, swing arm then replace those bearings. 7. New stainless exhaust system, but want to fit a high level silencer. Do I buy Motad or Delkevic down-pipes? I want the exhaust to be close to the bodywork, but not touching it obviously. #100% motad they fit better & the build quality is better, I would also consider jet hot coating the headers. 8. Replace all exposed nuts and bolts with new items (This seems to be cheaper than having existing bolts polished or anodised). #Have you priced Honda oem fairing bolts etc, take your bolts to a chroming place & have them re chromed will be much cheaper same effect.

You want rear grip only nothing else but the largest problem at drags with a motorbike is the small contact patch & even with a burn out if you do one before start your tyre will still be cold & there not designed to achieve max grip until warm. Things you can do are run lower pressure but not too low your tyre will spin on the rim, use a tyre warmer for your rear so tyre hot at start line, run the rear suspension soft so will squat more & dig in. As you do it more you will find a happy medium with clutch slip & rpm at start, just dropping the clutch with high rpm doesn't mean a fast start due to wheel spin. Good luck have fun.

PCV will work fine on any vtec, power commander don't list it for models under 09 because that was PCV release date. I have a PCV on my 04 (originally had PC3) you can even use the PC3 map which is compatible with the PCV. The maps however aren't backwards compatible you can't use a PCV map on a PC3. So in other words if you want to try the PC3 maps made for the 02-05 you can as they will load onto the PCV.

I have uploaded a map you can try from my 04 file name vfr800doin It is a PC3 map but can load to PCV as I now use a PCV, it was dyno map. I use Motad headers so close to same as catless 99 All my other mods are same except my mufflers are LEO

Thermostat problem very easy to diagnose without having to pull your bike apart, the only parts to remove are one side fairing so you have access to one radiator. Start your bike from cold & fell the radiator it wont start feeling warm till your temp gauge is around 70-80C (don't feel neck at filler cap that will warm up) if you can get access to a laser thermometer for an exact reading all the better. The radiators bypass when thermostat closed reason they should stay cold till temp gauge is in range above, if they start to feel warm before that range you have coolant flowing past thermostat. My bike doesn't get great fuel economy & motor operating bellow above range can cause that but my thermostat is operating perfectly, I also don't have fuel leaking pressure reg which is other cause. I do use high rpm when I ride because don't commute bike is for fun & don't really mind low fuel mileage it's just friends bikes seem to do allot better with same motor mods. I run a PC with dyno map but even with zero map using default ECU mapping my mileage is no better. It is the main reason I haven't fitted the Torro charger sitting in my garage because I don't want to be stopping large amounts of times on long trips filling up with petrol as my ride buddies would get annoyed. The thing is my bike runs & goes very well (pulls like a train) & the only thing I have left to see if there can be an improvement is have the injectors flow & spray pattern tested, so the meaning of all this none relevant information is each VFR can have it's own idiosyncrasies. I would put money on a fix for your bikes problem but not legal for emissions & that is remove the cat, my bike every now & then had hesitation & surging on/off throttle, fitted Motad headers & haven't experienced that problem since. Without hesitation I would say out of every mod my bike has except suspension the cat removal changed the bike the most for the better, doing pair valve block off plates, flapper mod, 02 eliminators, after market cans, pc with dyno did nothing to fix the problem like removing the cat did. The other mods helped in small ways to limit the problem but removing the cat fixed the problem completely.

CBR1000RR forks on a 6th gen so will work on a 4th gen you just have to use 929/954 triple clamps for the lower top clamp gullwing mounting point & use clipons like convertibars as have to be mounted under top clamp. Wheel wise you can use the CBR wheel but is 3 spoke so not a good match or modify a RC51 front wheel to fit. The 06 forks means standard CBR axle spacers are all you need no custom spacers as those forks use same spacing as the 929/954 clamps (the CBR1000 clamps use 5mm less offset which is a bit much for trail setting).

Fuelling issues can be very intermittent at times, I don't have a solution as you seem to have already started a process of elimination doing the basics first. As your problem tends to come & go but come off throttle back on throttle low rpm I would inspect the 02 sensors just do the resistor trick & remove them from the system as a test, your cat could also for some reason be overly restricted which will also effect 02 sensors which really only effect low rpm which is your problem area. You may even need to remove the injectors & have them flow tested.

I have owned many bikes & deceleration shimmy can happen but the only times my bikes have had front end wobbles with no hands on bars is due to the tyre, certain tyres even when balanced just tend to do it & it's not a characteristic of one particular tyre. You can use the same tyre brand for years with zero problems & then one tyre will just cause the problem, yes there can be other reasons like steering head bearings, wheel bearings, tyre not balanced, warped brake rotor, binding brake calliper, etc but every time I have experienced the problem a tyre change fixed the problem. You don't have to change tyres just keep your hands on the bars, the only time you may have a larger problem is if you experience wobble with your hands on the bars. Every ride I have both hands off the bars for short periods of time mainly just to stretch out & again have never experienced deceleration shimmy myself. Not every tyre is perfect even in motogp low volume produced tyres with massive quality control so the mass produced tyres you have to expect a few to act strangely.

I won't offer riding tips that is what professional rider training is for, what I will offer & from personal exp is what NTRabbit has mentioned always leave a margin for the "shit happens scenario" on the road. The place to push your skill level is rider training/track/closed road which weeds out allot of variables you might not have left any skill to deal with when pushing limits your not used too. Enjoy yourself but don't scare yourself is a good rule of thumb when finding limits.

Like any manufacturing it might be just a bad batch so could be a very limited number of wheels but it would be very disconcerting because a wheel failure can cause major rider damage so if there is a problem you would think Honda will action something very quickly. They do extensive testing & if the wheels had a design floor surely it would have shown up during testing because they don't just ride on smooth hot mix.

Don't use locktight on suspension bolts/nuts, the nuts are nyloc & they don't even use a high torque. If the nuts just spin too freely then replace them.

Good reviews from true vfr owners & what pleased me reading them is the underlying statement there personal opinions & people should ride the bikes there thinking of purchasing & gauge for themselves. I'm a 6th gen owner & prefer the better handling over the common vtec complaint over the 5th gen motor, because I have owned a vtec for so many years my riding is adapted to the characteristics of that motor, so if I was to test ride the 2014 vfr my opinion would differ from say a owner coming from a 5th gen. It is more or less the same scenario that is documented all over this forum comparing the 5th gen to the 6th gen. As a comparison I hate the 5th gen handling compared to the 6th gen & it really is a well known fact a bike that handles well will always be quicker in the long run that a bike with a bit more power that doesn't handle as well. But it is also why there is choice in the market place as we aren't robots so each individual prefers different things & it's simply a good thing we have choice. Just to put it out there my fav motor is the 4th gen :-)

It's a strange thing the performance bug & always wanting more, the VFR all gens are such good all-round bikes yet owners tend to never be satisfied & more power is always the go too point. I'm like everybody else & wanted more power, too the point I have a 6th gen torro charger kit sitting in my garage but since buying the kit have fallen on my head so to speak & have had a change of heart so the kit just sits in the garage collecting dust. I really should fit the kit but honestly I don't need the power & extra weight on my bike for the riding I do because I'm already at the limits of the bike/skill so can't go any quicker. I have built my bike with top shelf suspension & tried to shed as much weight as possible without going radical building a light weight subframe (like the new 2014 VFR) so through corners I'm already at the bikes ground clearance limits even hanging off like a monkey to change the centre of gravity. That means I can't go any faster through said corner which will increase lean angle past the limits I have so increasing the power output will only be a benefit in a straight line which isn't my buzz. I admit if my painful left knee let me ride a sportsbike I would own a ZX10R which will leave my VFR for dead even with a supercharger fitted just because of the specific nature of a sportsbike weight & ground clearance wise, you simply can't get a VFR through a corner at the same velocity. Granted nothing makes me smile more than my VFR putting sportsbike riders to shame, but that's due to the different skill levels between riders. There was a comment about the supercharger kit price, well the kit for hp increase is the bargain of the century, just price up the motor work needed to try to gain the same hp from engine modifications which will never yield the same results & also be far less reliable & you will then realise how cheap the kit was. The problem with the limited numbers sold is more to do with economics, most don't have that sort of money just sitting around especially considering the demographic of a VFR rider who is probably married with kids & is doing well anyway just able to own a kick ass bike like the VFR. The few like the OP who are able to modify there bikes due to passion & enjoying the project/challenge are few & far between but are inspiration to the rest of us so we have something to dream about doing to our bikes even if not really practical.

Just to add some info, with older bikes with carbs there is a air bleed at fuel cap that does become blocked over time with swelling rubber gasket etc, it is very important as if blocked the tank goes into vacuum & can cause carb floats to stick as well as fuel starvation. Also the most common reason for popping or back fire is air leakage into exhaust system.

I have Kriega gear & it is the best I have used, zero movement on your back http://www.kriega.com/ the price puts some off but then when it comes to needing a back pack for motorbike riding I don't want to know it's even there.

I haven't bothered to read whole thread just some parts & this might have already been mentioned but trail braking is a term used for continued braking into a corner which can be front, rear or both brakes used. I tend to get the impression with what I have read that some feel it is only rear brake, it is used to enter corner quicker due to the benefits of later braking & pre loading the suspension especially front brake, it is a real art to get the timing correct & not getting it correct is shown very well watching racing when riders have front end slides though corners. Riding advise isn't my thing I leave that up to the professionals because when learning new skills you need to know the basic structure to start from & all riders tend to change that to suit there individual way of doing things. Just use the top riders in the world as an example motogp, they have to adapt there riding style to different bikes, tyres & weather conditions. I have been riding along time & still every few years go do a basic rider training course because bad habits creep in when you think you know everything & I still learn things I had forgotten every time. I also feel anybody that rides should do a few track days, some feel it has no relevance to street riding but there wrong, there is no safer place to hone your skills & find your limits & the limits of the bike & then use that knowledge that on the street those limits should be decreased big time to add safety for reaction time for the ever present shit happens scenario.

That is a very long list of parts for a garage ornament, even people that buy vintage machinery that zero spare parts can be bought & anything they need has to be fabricated from scratch complete there projects in under 12 years. If you spent 1/2 the time you spend on forums working on your project the other 1/2 of that time you could be riding lol

If you buy a 954 complete front & happy with the 3 spoke wheel then it is a simple bolt on job except for the bars. You will need to use bars that mount under the top triple due to length of forks there is no other way as there simply wont be enough fork length even through gull wing top 954 triple to safely mount above. You need to find what will work there are converibars for example or do a conversion like Veefer800Canuck posted. I use more or less same length forks CBR1000RR & no way with fork length to achieve decent front ride height can bars mount above top triple. I would also look into an F4i master cylinder which matches VFR & is correct size for 954 callipers.

The 60 profile will have same effect as when you raise forks through triple clamps to quicken the steering, the only way to know if your going to like them is try them. I don't feel you will like it if your rear tyre is a touring profile as the different profiles could counter the feel your after. I normally run the Metzeler M5 but at times fit a racetech K3 front which I really like it's just I wear them out a little quick but there a great feeling tyre for what you seem to be after a real turn in swooping feel. Also the Metzeler racetech only comes in a 120/70 front from memory, the M3 you can get 120/60.