Beck

it's strange that the usual fix is just repalcing the CCT's with new ones. Did the noisy ones that were replaced look to have any wear or damage to them at all?? Sure replacing them works most of the time, but replacing them 4, 5 times just does not sound right anymore. I guess the permanent fix to this continues to elude VFR owners.......... (Do the aftermarket manual type adjuster work??)

Could be just a dead/damaged battery. They can show a high enough voltage at your voltmeter but no cranking amps to get the motor going. Have the battery tested at your local dealership or cycle parts store and buy a new one if it does not pass testing.

Tail faring pieces would be the one to look for, for back up fairings as the tail fairings on 4th Gen bikes tend to be the ones to crack and fall apart from age and vibration. I have a one piece fiberglass "race" tail unit that I might eventually replace the OEM one before it starts to crack up and fall apart on me.

Unfortunately, the PO did not do a proper fenderectomy on the bike, He/she went too far and just lopped off all of the fender and not leave anything to mount the license plate on like I did with mine. I got rid of the US DOT license plate light fixture by Dremlling a rectangual hole under the tail light bezel, where there is a hole on the bottom of the tail fairing that matches it. Got some prysmatic light fixture plastic lens material from Tap Plastics and cut that to fit the rectangular hole and glue/sealed it on the tail light bezel with some clear silicone glue. The result is a very clean tail end on my bike, and the ugly license plate light is gone forever!

Dutchy, Here's something to look into: http://www.dykesonbikes.org/ A local bike group here in the Bay area. Just in case you run into such a gang on your next trip to the US.........

Closest brake fluid would be the hydraulic clutch line and reservoir. I'll check that, but have not seen any sign of my reservoir losing any fluid so far. I wonder if it all started when I did my last clutch system flush and maybe didn't notice spilling it on the radiator tank....but that was quite a while ago.

Trenclad...... I'll look into that! Thanks for the feedback and tips guys!

Coolant hose rubber eventually dry up and shrink a bit after some years on a bike motor, so the hose clamps on them loosens up as a result, so it's normal to have to tighten them up to stop the resulting leaks.

It's actually not flaking off........yet, just almost like big loose paint membrane covering the left radiator tank tank the paint has not fallen off yet but there is like air under the paint. No signs of dried up or wet coolant anywhere, otherwise.... I think I'll take your advice and take off the paint and see what's under it. It might be the only way to find out what's happenening. If the metal is clean, then it 's most likely just a paint/heat separation thing going on. If I see a lot of corrosion and maybe remnats of dried up coolant, then it's probably a leak somewhere on the tank......

4th gen all the way if it was me, After the 4th gen, things just kinda took a left turn with the VFR, I was raring to change out me 4th with the 5th when it came out, but styling on the 5th just did not click with me at all. it just looked kinda thick and bloated looking to me, I thiought the 6th would do it, but then we lost gear driven cams with it plus VTEC was always a quesitionable item. Sure the 5th and 6th gen bikes were more modern and had a lot of traits that could be considered as real improvements to the 4th,........but those were just never enough to pull me away from my 95...... When the 7th came out, I just totally gave up on my personal VFR dreams and figure I'll keep my 4th for good and maybe just compliment it with another bike in the future. JMO's

Noticed last time I recently took of the fairings to do maintenance that the black paint on the left side tank of my radiator seems to be lifting off (actually air between the paint and the tank surface). Should I worrry about this? Could it be a pinhole leak on the tank letting out pressurized coolant between the paint and tank, although I have not seen any sign of wetness/coolant leaks coming through the paint. Can this just be the paint lifting off from the heat? The right side tank where the filler cap is on does not have this problem. I'm thinking of just removing the radiator next time I have the fairings off and cleaning of the lifting paint then re-painting the left side tank/end of the radiator with hight temp paint, but I;m worried that I moght be ignoring some sort of radiator leak in the process. I've also seen a few 4th gen radiators for sale at eBay with semmingly the same exact thing going on.... Anyone else have this happeingin on their 3rd or 4th gen VFR? Beck 95 VFR..

Is there a "limp mode" with the EFI system on the 98? It might be what's causing the non-availbility of full power from your bike's motor?

Nice muffled support you made there! I wish I had the talent an tools to do the same. My solution on my bike is to just "shave" a right passenger peg bracket I bought off eBay: It was the quick, more affordable approach for me and I guess it worked out OK so far....

My experience with fiddling around with front fork travel limits is, if the travel is there, especially on the street where road conditions can never be predictable on every ride, eventually your bike will find that bump or pot hole that will use it all up, even if you crank in all the preload you can, the front forks will eventually get bottomed out, somewhere, some time on the street. So it is still best if you can find a final, permanent clearance solution to the radiator/fender/tire encroachment issue.

Looks fantastic! First mod to consider would be a proper rear "fenderectomy"..... and if the Regulator/Rectifier is still original, seriously consider replacing it asap. Plus I think you might still be missing the liitle piece of fairing that mounts on to the sidestand...... A 3rd gen without that and the rear seat cowl you can take on and off is not complete.

+1 on the crankcase oil getting into the cylinders when you crashed. Your engine's "tilt" kill switch should have mostly prevented such from happening, but maybe it did not quite cut out the engine quick enough and enough oil got pumped past the rings into the cylinders to cause fouling. Check your plugs again to see if they are oily and black, if they are, that's why your engine stopped running all together as they are fouled. Just change them over to new ones and see how it goes. It would be the first step I'd do to fix the bike.

One word to describe the Ural 750 Rig....."Agricultural".. I guess one can get used to it eventually, like my brother did, he took it to work every day for like four years...Weird thing is, his Ural previous to the rig which was just a regular bike with no sidecar, was even worse to drive with al sorts of bad behavior like really really really grabby front drum brakes (till you get them warmed up), to the point that it was almost dangerous to ride, the gearbox was recalcitrant and would not change gears unless you literally stomped on the two ended shift lever, and it vibrated even worse than his sidecar rig (I guess the sidecar was helping damp out some of the engine vibration on it)......... Literally painful to drive, his first Ural was.....And those really squeaky shock springs, even when new!...... Ughhhh...

Even though it looks simple, riding a sidecar rig takes quite a bit of learning, as it can get you in trouble quickly if you do not know how to set up for turns, especially off-camber braking turns, as one can be surprised how easy it is to loft the sidecar and get you out of control, if you get into a right turn too hot and have to brake hard at the same time for a stop or an emergency., especially if the sidecar happens to be empty. I found this out when I first rode brother's Ural sidecar rig a couple of years ago..... Lucky there was no car going the other way on the road that day.....

We should look for a permanent metal alternative to these fragile plastic clips that have prongs that break upon removal after a few years on the bike. I'm thinking the shortest aluminum "Chicago screws" that we use to bind construction drawings at work could be the the answer...... I'll give it a try and report back if it works......

I love the feel of my old Held gloves too. I still remember when the store owner at Helimot sold them to me more than ten years ago and he made me wear them, put my gloved hand on the counter then proceeded to hit the top of my hand with his fist very hard, and I hardly felt it because of the special gel type foam on in the tops of the glove that dissipates shock..... I still have the gloves as they held up really well all these years, I'd still be wearing them today if only they had some sort of retention strap at the wrist, as the elastic in that area the glove has can never keep them on in a crash maybe I'll have them added on by a leather shop this summer........

Problem with most gloves these days is they tend to be much stiffer than older design gloves and much slower to break in to the shape of your hand, because of the rigid plastic armor and "shingled" leather plates they put on the top of the gloves/fingers. The gloves are further made stiffer and harder to break in by the liberal use of imitation leather like Lorica and even vinyl on some accordioned flex areas considered not to be in danger of abrasion. I have SP-1 Alpinestar gloves from a few seasons ago that still feels not broken in even after years of use. Looks really nice, even up to now, but because of the materials I mentioned above, it's probably the most uncomfortable gloves I have owned so far.....

True but the mechanical issue that causes excessive aeration is not a 100k spinning ball bearing... the problem relates to crankshaft speed at the rate of higher and higher RPMs... Isn't it that's why a lot of race engines are dry sumped??

The double rear incandescent bulbs for my 95 VFR tail/brakelights were big power eaters, judging to how really hot they get. I manage to burn my fingers bad removing them from the bike after having them on for only a very short time. I actually saw a nice voltage jump on my voltmeter after I replaced them with LEDs the slight reduction in voltage when braking also disappeared with the LEDs. So pretty much, my LED bulbs are close to transparent to the electrical system. I'd like to change over to LED bulbs for the signals and front running lights too, but I think I will need some sort of resistor in the system to make them blink for the signals?? I'm just too lazy these days to deal with it, so the front and rear signals and front running lights still have incandescent bulbs, but definitely in my long range to-do list with the bike.

The shock unit not being used for over a year does not have anything to do with it possibly needing a nitrogen gas re- charge. If that is true, then every nitrogen gas charged shock out on motorcycle parts dealer's shelves over 12 months would also need a recharge. It could be that the shock might have developed a leak..... and it's the sellers's way of you possibly buying it "in as-is condition".....

Condom-less mirrors will make you bike 5mph slower because of increased turbulence around the stick-like mirror stalks. This is a scientifically proven fact in the internutz...........