Beck

Tried parking my Honda Hawk GT650 in my studio apartment living room back in the 90's and was sorry I did so when I woke up the next few nights with a pounding headache....because of the gasoline fumes that came out of the gas tank vent (I bought the bike in WI, so no evap can) and filled the apartment. Cool having the bike where I could see it and fiddle with it so easy, but just not the healthiest/safest thing to do....

True about the suspension quite weak when you push the bike on the twisties. It pretty much limits the bike and can go much faster and more confidently if it had firmer legs...... I think I finally convinced myself to treat my 95 4th gen to a new rear Penske shock......if they still sell them for the bike..... The bike really deserves the upgrade.

Uhmmm....not really....... "Chain driven cams....."......

Don't bother with Dunflops, they tend to cup badly after just a moderate number of miles. +10 for Michelin Pilot Roads. Went to PRs after many miserable years with Dunflops on my 95 VFR. Will never get anything less than PRs in the future!

About using a wider tire than stock on the stock 5" rim, don't do it! Had a Dunlop on my 4th gen that ran wider than stock even though it was labeled as a 170 (they measured at 180mm). It really screwed up the bike's handling and made it feel like it was falling into corners. Worse yet, low speed stability was really affected badly. And even slow parking lot maneuvers became a nerve wracking experience. I'm sure it was because the rear tire profile was pinched by the rim. All the bad handling went away after I switched over to a later Dunlop than did not run wider than the 170s they were supposed to be........handling got bad again though after the front started cupping, which is a typical flaw with Dunlops. Switched over to Michelin Pilots and I haven't had any handling problems again, since......

What also does not help is the required hole on the fairing is usually not in the best place and ruins the aesthetics of the bike...... especially on the 4th gen where IIRC, cuts right into the edge of the NACA ducts....

All I can say is just try a fork brace before taking the word of a few people here that swear off them...... They either had a fork that was so crapped out already that a fork brace would not have made any difference anyway, or they just did not have a flex problem on their bike to start with, or they bought a brace that's not designed correctly, so they could not feel any difference. Regardless, majority of people I know that added them on their bikes, definitely felt a difference for the better....... Heck the worse that could happen is you can return it to the seller for a refund if you are not satisfied......

The 4th gen forks definitely has some flex in it. Just look down the fork leg through the front fairing from your saddle, squeeze the front brake, turn the bars with the wheel against rigid object like a wall . look at the plane (edge of rim) of the wheel and you will see it easily go off plane quite a bit from the fork leg with not much pressure on the bars. I could not believe what I saw when I did this the first time and had to do it a few times to confirm that the front fork was flexing so easiy. I remember how much I improved the feel of my Hawk GT's front end when I added a Telefix fork brace on it and decided to do the same with the VFR. I got the same good results doing so. More compliant/responsive fork action on rough surfaces and more stable handling at high speeds.

Also consider that the heat from the headers will not be good in the long run for that nearby rear brake light switch assembly and the rear brake master cylinder. I suspect that Honda installed the heat shield to protect those too......

Have the same thing happening on my 95 now, whenever I take of the tank from the bike. I suspect it's the seals in the petcock just getting old and starting to give out. The petcock is "non-servicable" unless you drill out the two rivets that hold the face plate to the valve body and replace them with small screws and nuts like they had them in the past. IIRC, I did find petcock overhaul kits at eBay you can use if you want to repair your petcock, but Honda assumed when the riveted them together that you just replace them with new ones when they break....

I wouldn't remove those heat shields if I were you. Doing so will result in the inner side of your right ankle area and lower leg burning up, especially during hot summer rides. Even with the shields on, I can feel the burn already when slowly trickling through traffic during summer. I couldn't imagine how worse it would be if I remove them......

Cowl bump pads as we knew them, have pretty much dissa0eated from most sport bikes. The now have bump pads that are more integrated with the design of the cowl and seat, instead of the pads just stick on the flat leading edge of the cowl. I got a nice bump pad (made by a company called "CCS")for my 95's seat cowl from a Lockhart catalogue many years ago. It was actually meant for a Yamaha 400 sportbike, but fits the 4th gen cowl perfectly. I suggest you search for a similar bump pad not specifically made for an 800 VFR that might fit as they did not make that many, if any at all for the bike. A few should still pop up but they are getting quite scarce for sure....

High octane gas is only useful in high compression ratio engines as higher octane are meant to avoid pre-ignition in such engines. It's kinda sad that the oil companies continue to sell high octane gas to people with "regular" vehicles with "regular" engines, always hinting that they will gain more power by using such......

Could be a crashed or dropped bike and the owner cannot afford the OEM fairings??

Looks OK, actually...... Except for maybe the headlight. These multi LED headlights just does not look as good an a large diameter "traditional" round headlight with a single bulb in the middle of single big parabolic reflector. This new stuff might be a lot brighter, but it looks to much like an insects eyes. Otherwise the styling is definitely better than the previous, standard CB......