marriedman

I've taken a small bird to the chest while at speed and it hurt like hell, I cannot imagine what a bird of that size would have felt like. Really glad you are unscathed, sorry about the bike. But you realize it could have been worse and wisely called it a day. Smart man. Good luck on the repairs! Heck, maybe this is an opportunity to do some modifications?

I have never read a positive thread or review in regards to the Chinese fairings. At best they are "good enough" but more often than not they are brittle and ill fitting and people wish they had just bought OEM.

Well, my first 2 wheeled conveyance was a scooter, 2004 Honda Reflex:

That was originally bought for my wife since I had no interest in riding those damned death machines. But less than a year later I bought my first real motorcycle, the venerable 750 Nighthawk:

After than I bought my 5th gen and I've been on this site ever since.

Now swap out that cam!

Traction control, fuel gauge, fuel mapping, and LED tail lights. That is all that is different between the years. Traction control has never really got rave reviews that I have seen/heard. Most say that it is overly basic. LED tail lights you can convert yourself if it means that much to you.

The fuel gauge would be "ncie", but honestly after a year I stopped looking at the fuel gauge and just went by the mileage. Fill up at 150 every time. 175 is the furthest I have ever pushed it. 

Fuel mapping, pfft! Don Guhl ECU flash regardless of what year you decide on.

The REAL thing to focus on is whether you want DCT or manual. I wish there was a DCT within a 100 mile radius of me when I was looking. I still want to ride one. 

Honestly, I have always loved the Kawasaki Plasma blue. 

It really catches the light so that it looks like there is some depth to the paint. 

11 hours ago, mello dude said:

I just did my own r&r and would have used the SH847, but I didn't want to invent a mounting for now. 

You had to redo your R/R?! I thought you had that thing done years ago. Or did you just finally redo the wiring like you were talking about in my garage when we did my 5th gen?

That was a big concern of mine in the beginning. The whole reason I started looking at other bikes years ago was because of the inherent buzziness of the inline 4. I sure as heck didn't want that on my VFR, so I went with the BLS blocks. The V4 design is inherently smoother so it wasn't really an issue but I wanted to be sure. After I bought my 6th gen and it had the MRA version of the adjustables with a teeny tiny thin strip of rubber I realized it made very little difference whether I rode with my boots or just regular shoes. On my 7th gen, I just went with the Buells since they were cheap and gave me the clearance.  The i

The knurling on the Buell footbegs is not very aggressive:

I would bet the the toe of the shoe would receive more wear from shifting than the sole from the pegs.

Just to clarify or expand on my previous post, I bought the BLS blocks for my 5th gen and loved them! My 6th gen came with the adjustable pegs. I would have bought a pair of blocks for my 7th gen, but no one ever visited BLS for him to make some. That left the Buel footpegs.

*edited once I made it to a computer to be more descriptive.
 

I had the MRA version of those footpegs on my 6th gen. Hated them. While the ability to adjust them was nice, the fact is that they moved your foot out away from center. So when shifting gears or braking, you would have to point your toes towards the inside. Several missed shifts occurred because of that.  I have the Buell footpegs on my 7th gen and love them. 

Here is the original post about the Buell footpegs I used:

I think $45 is about what I spent too.

<edit>

Found them online:

https://shop.newcastlehd.com/part/n05201ad - left

https://shop.newcastlehd.com/part/n05211ad - right

I had the MRA version of those footpegs on my 6th gen. Hated them. While the ability to adjust them was nice, the fact is that they moved your foot out away from center. So when shifting gears or braking, you would have to point your toes towards the inside. Several missed shifts occurred because of that.  I have the Buell footpegs on my 7th gen and love them. 

Here is the original post about the Buell footpegs I used:

I think $45 is about what I spent too.

69 and looking to buy a VFR for the first time? Damn, you're awesome! I have a friend who is 74 and for the past 15 years he has been on ST's and FJR's because he wants the comfort. 

I have owned a 5th gen VFR800 (98-01) and a 6th gen (02-09). Honestly the only necessity is the beefed up charging system. A MOSFET rectifier and in my opinion (and @mello dude's) the stator connection should be replaced with beefier wire and molex connector. Add a voltmeter and you have the necessities taken care of. 

If you have a little extra money and want a wise improvement, @JamieDaugherty at http://www.daughertymotorsports.com/vfr800.html can tailor your suspension to your needs. Weight and riding style is what he will need to know and he can make it as stiff or plush as you need with custom valving and springs for your forks and rear shock. 

After that, the only thing (IMO) that you should really consider is a Fuzeblock http://www.fuzeblocks.com/ . And you really only need that if you want to have accessories. Warmers, GPS, etc... the fuze block will allow you to have switched power and some semblance of control of your accessories.

Best of luck and happy riding!

I wouldn't go so far as to say "unique", but the RR & Stator is the weak point on just about all Hondas from the 90's and early 00's. The VTEC engagement is allegedly more pronounced in the early 6th gens and that was address after 2006 I believe. Some people love it, others hate it. 

As for the fuel injection, I can't really say as I am not that educated about such things. I did read something about closed/open loops though. I would wager that no one is able to tell the difference in them though. If you are talking about throttle response, both the 5th and 6th gens are a bit snatchy when speeds are low and you are in 1st or 2nd gear.

Well I just returned from a brief 20 mile ride and everything seems to be OK. I removed 10ml of fluid from the rear reservoir. That took it from level with the top line to level with the bottom line. I can only assume that it was too much fluid and that was not allowing the pistons to go back into the caliper. That being said, I have no idea why it was sporadic over the past year though. 

On 7/15/2017 at 8:28 AM, Darrenk said:

May be time for a brake fluid flush and change...

That's pretty much what we did. All new fluid after we rebuilt the caliper. But still, it's always a good idea.

7 hours ago, andy said:

Perhaps the internal lining of the brake hose has deteriorated allowing the fluid to apply the brake, but obstructs the "backflow."  Happens often in older cars where the outward appearance doesn't belie the delaminated inner liner.

 This would be the perfect excuse to give the boss lady to buy braided lines...

5 hours ago, Terry said:

All the previous posts refer to working at the caliper; what about the master cylinder? If you get a little bit of dirt in the relief port in the master, this stops fluid flowing back from the line and allowing the pistons to retract. Next time your brake drags, try cracking the bleed nipple to release some pressure; if the caliper frees up, then you can be fairly sure your problem lies at the master cylinder. 

That is an excellent idea. If it frees the caliper I have my solution and I can get the bike home without burning up the rotor.  I should probably go ahead and buy the rebuild kit. I've never done it before and it might be a good learning experience.

lshark - my pedal never felt unusual either. I thought perhaps a dirty slide pin might have been the cause originally too. However I literally poilished the darn thing then applied rgease to it. It was slicker than snot When that did not fix the issue, I bought the rebuild kit thinking perhaps the dust seals were not allowing the piston to return. But they were fine and the pistons were smooth as well. 

cracker - yeah, I use my rear brake a lot when I am riding a very curvy area as a trail brake. Prevents a lot of nose dive in sharp curves. I really like using the rear brake as it is intended. 

I forgot to mention, I found this thread and it was similar but there was no resolution:

I don't know if it is relevant, but my bike only has about 16K miles on it.

I've got a recurring issue that I cannot seem to figure out in regards to the rear brake seizing. Rather it is not releasing at random times. It first happened probably around a year ago. From my driveway to about 2 residential blocks away, the rear brake would not release from a stop. I tapped it with my boot several times, but I am unsure how long of a time period I waited before riding back to my house. After letting it cool down, I polished the slide pin and greased it and put it back together. Everything seemed fine.

Later in the summer, pretty much the identical thing happened when I was preparing to go for a spirited ride with a friend. After that last time, I haven't had an issue until about 3 weeks ago. I've probably put 3000-ish miles on it since the last time I noticed any brake drag. Three weeks ago it seized up and took me twenty minutes at least before it would release. I was tapping it with my boot; I don't know if it does anything, it just makes me feel better. This last time it had seized so hard that it ground off a good amount of brake pad. The disc is a pretty hue of blue now too.

So this past weekend my dad & I took the caliper off and rebuilt it and put in new pads. Put everything back together and bled the brakes. Pedal feels good and I am 100% sure that there are no air bubbles in the line. Well tonight I finally had a moment to take the bike out for a shakedown. Made it as far as the main road out of my subdivision and the brake was dragging. I thought perhaps I was just imagining it, but by the time I got a few stop lights further it was apparent that the brake was seized again. I pulled into a parking lot and just was tapping the rear brake pedal. I never got off the bike, but it seemed to release. 

After typing this all out, it appears that this happens on hot days and right when the bike first starts up. Each time this has happened I have cleaned the rear brake. I promise you, the rear caliper has not been this clean since it was new on the bike. 

I have a late night tonight, but I will try and get out to the garage and snap a picture if you think it helpful.

I ended up just using stainless cap head bolts. I never take the top case off anymore it seemed anyway.  Also pay attention to where the arms attach to the bike. I lost one bolt there and decided to do the same thing as before. Stainless. Not as pretty, but it's been over a year and no issues anymore.

@SCguy - that picture is gorgeous! Looking through all the shots is what is going to keep me sane the next several months since I won't be riding. Damn family wants all my free time!

I only got to stop by briefly, but it was really cool to see so many VFR's. Far too long I was the only one around except whenever scguy & I get together. I wish I could have stayed longer and talked to more people about their bikes. They were all so well taken care of and tastefully modified to the owners. 

The best part was running into my old 6th gen! The owner after me sold it Sweeper. She didn't look as good as when I sold her, but now that she has an owner (Sweeper) I am betting she will get the attention she deserves. 

On 5/17/2017 at 10:29 AM, ECX585 said:

The 1200 is a dramatically underrated machine.  

I swear I could have written your post. Spot on with the 5th & 6th gen. However I would say that as mych as I love my 1200, I would improve just a few things: 

1. The headlights suck as soon as you lean IMO. Highway ramps or curves, the headlight shows nothing down the road.
2. The fuel gauge on my 2010 is ridiculous. I don't mind the range really, but the first half makes you feel as though you can go forever while the second half drops at an incredible rate. And with the range varying so much depending on the type of riding, that becomes pretty important. Sometimes I get 41mpg but I have gone as low as 33!

Actually, that's all I can think of at the moment. But that is a testament to the brilliance of the bike, thats a pretty small list!

Aha, I found the picture I was looking for earlier:

The orange bit is the jumper to tap into the tail light for switched power. The other one was the battery to FuzeBlock wire. I cannot find the receipt from when I bought the stuff, but I am thinking $6 or $7 in "materials". I wanted to find the receipt so I could give you the part # of the plugs more than the cost though.

Just curious, where are you wanting to use these? The reason I ask; when I added a FuzeBlock I was going to use a PosiTap and a friend of mine whose opinion on all things electrical I trust very much insisted that Posi's should not be used "willy-nilly" (his words not mine!). He recommended making a jumper. Allow me to quote him:

Quote

<snip> ...Like positaps. I loathe them, just like a despise t-taps and any other connection that breaks the insulation, because usually they also break a few strands of wire and I am nothing if not obsessive about the quality of my wiring. I would rather butt splice wires together than use a t-tap, at least there I can use all the strands and wrap the whole mess in adhesive lined heat shrink. I would much rather take the time to make a jumper harness or find a spare spot in the stock fuse box than cut into stock wiring with a connector. 

So I saw his point and we made a jumper to plug into the tail light and connected to the battery. I tried looking through an old album but cannot find a decent picture of it. Just this one:

Top of the image is an orange plug. you just unplug the tail light and add the jumper in between the existing connection.