Beck

If you bought the bike new, it should have come with the seat cowl... :beer:

I hope you can still get it from the PO if you bought it used! Dang, I really can't believe that Honda can charge $118.00 for a simple shaped piece of painted ABS plastic! Maybe that's why I'm getting so attracted lately to minimal or non-faired bikes like the Ducati Hypermotard. Cause all this plastic is just turning out to be so superficial to the basic function of motorcycles. I think I have a subconcious feeling that I'm on an expensive and fragile egg, everytime I go out riding my VFR.

Beck

95 VFR

I'm surprised not more people do the Hawk GT bar conversion instead of the aftermarket Helibars. They look like OEM after being painted and the rise on the Hawk bars seem to be enough to satify most needing a more upright position on their VFRs.

Nice Work!

Beck

95 VFR

Note: some exotic metals actually degrade with age. Magnesium is one that does. You are not advised to use older magnesium wheels because of this. I don't think that this is the same for Titanium though.

Oxidation, fatigue, or something else? I'm not aware of any reason that a mag part that's been protected on the shelf for many years would be any weaker than a new part of the same construction. What other metals are you thinking of?

I doubt Ti is a good material for brake rotors, but it may be OK for a little-used rear brake. I've even heard of aluminum rear rotors being fit, but man, I bet you'd burn through them in a hurry.

Here's some info from:

Introduction to Gray Cast Iron Brake Rotor Metallurgy

Mark Ihm, TRW Automotive

Properties Desired for Brake Rotors

• High strength and durability to sustain torque loads from braking

• Stable mechanical and frictional properties through range of

expected service temperatures

• High wear resistance through range of expected service

temperatures

• High heat absorption capability to absorb braking energy

• High thermal conductivity to transport frictional heat away from

braking surfaces

• High vibration damping capacity to minimize NVH issues

• Minimal thermal expansion to minimize performance variability

• High degree of corrosion resistance

• Excellent machinability

• Inexpensive material and processing costs

It's really magnesium's poor corrosion resistance and fatigue life that ages it quickly with use and just regular exposure to the elements.

Here's an excerpt from Blackstone wheel's "Tek" page:

http://www.blackstonetek.com/faq.php

(Quote:)

Q: How does Carbon fiber compare with Magnesium and Aluminium alloys?

A: Wheels manufactured from metal are either cast, forged, machined, or manufactured as a combination of the three processes. Aluminium wheels have been around for many years. They are relatively easy to manufacture and also relatively cheap, but they are heavy because of the density to strength ratio of Aluminium (how much strength you can get for a kilogram of Aluminium). To improve the weight you can either choose a material that is lighter or one that is stronger, or one that is lighter and stronger. Using magnesium, which is lighter but not necessarily stronger, you can improve on weight slightly.

The problem with magnesium is two fold: first - its fatigue properties are poor and so are the corrosion properties, so a wheel may not last very long even if perfectly cast and machined. The second problem is worse - very often micro-porosity occurs during the casting process, which has a negative impact on both fatigue life and corrosion. So magnesium wheels can be nice and light but may not last very long, sometimes less than a racing season. This makes magnesium wheels good for racing but unattractive to the man in the street. The only solution is to find a material that is lighter, stronger, fatigue free and corrosion free - Carbon fiber. As an engineering material, carbon fiber is far superior to Magnesium or Aluminium alloys.

(End quote.)

So as explained, once corrosion takes hold in any way on a mag wheel, it tends to go wild and destroy wheels or any other structural mag component in short time. That's why a lot of racers would dispose or take mag wheels out of service after a set legnth of time (much shorter time than aluminum wheels) in use.

My uncle found out about mag wheel deterioration the hard way when he had to replace the four expensive Halibrand wheels on his vintage 1966 Cobra 427 a couple of years ago. A collector car that what pampered most of it's life and most likely never even been driven in any wet conditions. The moisture from the atmosphere actually rotted the wheels to the point that they started cracking and breaking up. This process could be accelerated on regular street vehicles that encounter harsher conditions.

Beck

95 VFR

VfrOEM is probably the only guy who would buy one of these, they're $250 apiece!

http://www.yoyodyneti.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=H024T

I'd have bought one, if I'd seen this in 2001. Back then Yoyodyne didn't have any Oh well...I got some tasty Brembo radial master cylinders and a super-trick brake light switch gizmo from them (back in 2001, and only just put them on a month ago!).

Yes, you have to age fine equipment like wine before you install them.

Note: some exotic metals actually degrade with age. Magnesium is one that does. You are not advised to use older magnesium wheels because of this. I don't think that this is the same for Titanium though.

Beck

95VFR

Sooo, we've been trying to raise the tails and mufflers and cleaning up that gap between the tail and tires on our bikes for years, and now we are starting to see so many new bikes with the low stumpy pipes ala-MotoGP bikes. Do we need to do a polar shift on our ideas on how to improve our bike's looks?? IMHO High and clean still looks better as you see in the pics of these de-fenderized 6th gens! :thumbsup: They can have their low MotoGP style clunky pipes!

Beck

95 VFR

The inertial drag of 1lb additional weight, calculated in a 17 inch wheel translates roughly to a 6-8 hp loss against the 8 spoker wheel, compared to the 4th gen "Superleggera" five spoker!

(Calcs performed on 2007 IBS computer)

Beck

95 VFR...Superleggera

?what if i turned that part of the fork down to the proper diameter? i have access to that kind of equipment.

Could work, but removing material could mean removing strength/stiffness on that part of the forks. I'd check it out for feasibility/safety first before diving into it.

Beck

95 VFR

I realy like the look of my 6 gen with-out the rear peg brackets.

I never carry passengers, as my bride rides her own bike.

I do some long road trips 3,000 -6,000 miles and need to carry my rear sport bag. The rear brackets offer an ideal attaching point for the bunge hooks.

I just purchased an extra set of brackets off e-bay for my bike and intend to cut off what I consider to be extra metal. This will allow me to hook my bag, have a handle to help get the bike on the center stand and clean up the rear of the bike - imo.

Have any of you fine folks done this? Got any pics of this mod? What did you use to cut it with? Thank ya'll.

If you have a good compressed air source, the ideal tool is a pneumatic rotary cut-off tool that you see used a lot by the Tuetles in their "American Chopper" shows. Good fast clean cuts. But if you're more like the most of us that have only a Dremel with cut-off discs, that will work too, but it will take you about ten times longer to do the cuts. You can also use a hacksaw to complement the dremel to speed up the bigger cuts a bit. I know, I cut down rear peg brackets i bought from eBay for my 4th gen about two years ago. Very nice results, but I wouldn't want to do it again on another bike anytime soon

MVC-014F.JPG

Beck

95 VFR

VFR with ZG DB Right side Right Side view

VFR with ZG DB left side

the SS packing visible in my Staintune can seems to be of the coarse variety.

So coarse grade must be OK.

I heard that the heavy duty stuff gives and additional 10HP on any bike because of the harmonic resonance that develops between the heavy coils of stainless steel. It helps drive the exhaust pulses out of the can much faster, thus creating a negative pressure that helps the engine breath better. :unsure: .........really! :goofy: ...............and it should also last much longer than glass batting.

Beck

95 VFR +10HP really!

So i got rid of the harely looking airbrushed crap. I really didnt hate it but It never did turn out how i had pictured in my mind. So what do you people think of the pearl white?

Its a long ways from this

I am still polishing things, swing arm, fork tubes, front rim and new 8 spoke rear rim. More pics to come as the bike starts to go back together. I am hoping to get it onto the dyno next week and get my PCIII tuned in.

Looking at the pics of your nicely painted fairing pieces gave me an idea for a suggestion.

What if you paint the triangle under the windshield, all the way down to the pointed tip at the middle top of the headlight lens, a nice flat or satin black to give the front some accent.

Otherwise the pearl white paint looks really classy. :thumbsup:

Beck

95 VFR

Love that keychain Dutchy!

Is that some sort of mouthguard, or does it pacify your hunger for riding your VFR when you're sitting at your desk at work? I should try that!

BTW, the reservoir mount is looking better and better. I think you're almost there with it.

Beck

95 VFR

I finally had time to get the space heater in the garage (laugh, you Southerners!) and spend a half-day of quality time working on relocating the shock reservoir.

I'm getting much quicker at the disassembly and assembly process on the old girl. This time the fuel petcock even worked! I did lose a knuckle somewhere early in the process, though. It was still cold in the garage at the time, so I didn't notice until there was extra red everywhere that didn't match the paint. Nothing a shop towel and electrical tape couldn't fix, though. (We're out of Band-Aids )

Reservoir mounting bracket Here is the bracket that Klaus from Wilbers USA sent. The only modification I had to make was to make the slots a little taller to fit the bolts from the footpeg mounting bracket. A drill bit and a file made quick work of it.

Dutchy,

You now have a picture of what Klaus sent me, so you can pressure Wilbers or Thurn to cough it up. You essentially paid for it. It's included with the shock for other bikes.

Hose routing With some careful twisting, I got the hoses to leave the shock at a better angle. They easily reach the reservoir and preload adjuster on the bracket. The reservoir hose may still be a little close to the headers, but I'll have to try it out and keep an eye on it. I used some creative zip tie routing to pull them away as much as possible.

Reservoir mount Klaus from Wilbers USA recently sent a bracket for mounting the remote reservoir. I had to make the holes a little larger to get the bolts for the footpeg bracket to line up. Also, note the heatsink from my old Pentium Pro CPU (remember them? :lol: )

Final 1 This looks and works much better. I can reach the adjustments easily, and things are out of the way.

That looks better, but it's still kinda messy in there with all the hoses, clamps and suff around the reservoir, going in all directions. That will also not work with high mount pipes that a lot of us have. Makes you think whether it might have been better if they figured out some sort of piggyback arrangement to the main shock unit instead. I wonder if that all fits in the well where the tool bag sits in under the seat. The tools can always go sowhere else like the tank bag or any cavity left in behind the tail side farings........maybe??

Beck

95 VFR.

Nooooo! :o don't face the trumpet opening forward and exposed like that.

You WILL end up with water in the horn which will kill it in no time, never mind the pathetic gurgling sounds you will get when you use it. Only do this if you have the opening on the trumpet well covered from direct air flow and rain with fairings.

I have already killed a couple of Fiamm snail horns making this mistake.

Safest way to install horns is to point their openings down or back as most horn makers say on their instructions. Watch out for the heat coming from the front head/headers too. It won't be friendly to the horn assembly plastics and electrics.

Beck

95 VFR

I was thinking the same thing... this was just the easiest location to mount it sine I just used the stock horn bracket. I bought a bracket and salvaged a bit of screen door mesh to use on the trumpet. I was thinking about moving it to the little open space on the right side of the bike, behind the battery. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll also see if i can get a weight on both horns.

Maybe consider just flipping the horn to face backwards. That horn should be way loud enough so that facing it back will not make too much of a difference.

Mine faces down behind the side of my upper fairing. You can just see the horn on the left side in this pic, next to the left fork tube:

MVC-010F.JPG

It's a single Fiamm low (low tone/frequency, so that you do not have to direct or focus the sound for it to be heard well) tone snail horn and it certainly gets other driver's attention.

Beck

95 VFR

I just finished mine today, and it is one loud mo-fo!

That picture is deceiving... is that as close to the front fender as it looks? Doesn't really look like there's much clearance when your suspension compresses. At least Ken's looks to be much higher... just curious?

Also, with the trumpet pointed forward like that are you concerned with bugs and debris getting caught up in there? I like the screen idea KK has on his...

Nooooo! :o don't face the trumpet opneing forward and exposed like that.

You WILL end up with water in the horn which will kill it in no time, never mind the pathetic gurgling sounds you will get when you use it. Only do this if you have the opening on the trumpet well covered from direct air flow and rain with fairings.

I have already killed a couple of Fiamm snail horns making this mistake.

Safest way to install horns is to point their openings down or back as most horm makers say on their instructions. Watch out for the heat coming from the front head/headers too. It won't be friendly to the horn assembly plastics and electrics.

Beck

95 VFR

I think I'm a bit too late for the Wilbers group discount, but how much did that full boat looking shock for your 4th gen cost you, delivered. I came acrss some money lately and I'm trying to decide whether to join in on the Wilbers or go for a Penske or Ohlins for my 4th gen, instead.

Beck

95 VFR

Now how are the bugs gonna fry themselves on the manifold?!

Now they have to slow cook against that grill. No more charbroiled insect/small animal smell after riding?

Nice job BTW, Very clean. Looks very OEM!

Are you selling a CF version soon?

Beck

95 VFR

Fantastic!

Finally, a good thread on a 4th gen front end upgrade in the works, for maybe us NACA lovers to follow very soon(?)! And it's an excellent R1 radial braked front end to boot!

A million thanks Phantom! for going to bat for the 4th gen fork conversion for us!

Good luck and keep the excellet engineering going!

Beck

95 VFR - seriously longing for a modern front end.....

"JC Whitney" carries two models at less than 30 bucks per set (2 trumpet and 3 trumpet models). Check out their site and look in their airhorn portion of their catalog.

You have to remember though that you will still have to find enough space for the pump unit. It should be easier to find a space for it, because it is smaller than the Stebel integrated pump/horn/ unit that is shown installed by the OP.

Good luck on your winter horn project!

Beck

95 VFR

Hey Beck-

Do you know of a model or retailer? I have come across a couple online but they didn't have any dimension information. I like the idea...

Maybe the older air horn design with the separate air pump and trumpets might work better for a space defecient 5th gen. The horns are ususally small, thin and light plastic affairs that could be squeezed into tight spaces within the 5th gen's tight fairings. Supporting the light trumpet units should be very easy because it does not need heavy support brackets. In fact you might even just zip-tie the buggers on to anything solid enough. All you need to adjust is the legnth of the air tubes. The air pump unit should be small enough to find room for, somewhere in the near vicinity of the trumpets.

Regarding the Vtec and Stebel horns, I think you can even mount two of those Stebel units on a 6th gen, one under each of the fairing "boobs" , immediately above the radiators. That could make for a trian like sound to blast away those pesky Volvo Estate drivers.

Just a thought I'd like to share.....

Beck

95 VFR

The ridiculously wimpy horns that most Japanese motorcycle and car manufacturer's put on their vehicles maybe stems from their culture's fondess of cute things like Hello Kitty toys and characters and Pokeman themes that seem to permeate even through the country's adult population (note the continuing popularity of "manga" cartoon movies, though voilent and gorey most times, will always have snippets of cute character introductions.

I wonder when the Japanese companies will finally realize that the whole world really prefers loud, ungirly-man-like tooters on their bikes and cars?

It never fails, everytime I buy yet another new Japanese vehicle, I always have to change out the horn to get it ready for the BIG American Highways!

JMOs

Beck

95 VFR, audio-fortified with low-tone 130+ db Italian Fiamm Snail Horn!

Maybe the older air horn design with the separate air pump and trumpets might work better for a space defecient 5th gen. The horns are ususally small, thin and light plastic affairs that could be squeezed into tight spaces within the 5th gen's tight fairings. Supporting the light trumpet units should be very easy because it does not need heavy support brackets. In fact you might even just zip-tie the buggers on to anything solid enough. All you need to adjust is the legnth of the air tubes. The air pump unit should be small enough to find room for, somewhere in the near vicinity of the trumpets.

Regarding the Vtec and Stebel horns, I think you can even mount two of those Stebel units on a 6th gen, one under each of the fairing "boobs" , immediately above the radiators. That could make for a trian like sound to blast away those pesky Volvo Estate drivers.

Just a thought I'd like to share.....

Beck

95 VFR

I like the red plad tablecloth under the tankbag, It really makes a bold statement!

Woot plaad tabel clots!? Deet's de bluudy geys kelt et es! Ya doon't ekspeekt de poorr maun te reid hes beyk widewt et! Doncha?! :blink:

Beeck

95 vey EF errr

I dunno, I think the Castrol paint scheme does not seem to work too well with the 6th gen's angular lines. I guess I got too used to seeing it on the 45s all those years. Didn't look as good either on the 51s.

Maybe something more like the Repsol MotoGP scheme would look better on the 6th gen.

JMO,

Beck

95 VFR

Uhhhh, taking off those right side peg heat shields will cause right side hot foot syndrome, specially during summer season rides. Not fun. As it is, my right boot sometimes gets very hot (specially in stop and go traffic) even with the heat shield on.

But it does look really nice without it though!

Beck

95 VFR

Haven't used my carbtune balancer for a long time, but I think I remember that there could be small plastic inline restrictors in the tubes, in addtion to the manifold adapters to limit the amount of vacuum in the system and maybe prevent the (in my case) mercury from getting sucked through into the cylinders.

Maybe you should add those to further avoid the suck=hydrolock china syndrome with your engine.

Beck

95 VFR

Thanks for the great writeup Blue Viffer! :thumbsup:

One big question, do you think everything applies for a 4th gen bike like mine??

This would be the ultimate mod I'd like to do on my baby, but Unfortunately I still have my helmet out waiting for some money to fall from the sky before I can even think of doing it! Maybe I should go on my old poor college boy diet to make it happen! (Ramen and Hotdogs...yuk!) :wheel:

Anyway, I printed this post and put it in together with my shopmanual binder just in case that lump of gold does fall from the sky soon!! :thumbsup:

Beck

95 VFR with the weedy RWU forks