Marsman99

That's the fuel pump. Perfectly normal.

New tires are great. OEM seat isn't. You'll need to go custom to make it comfortable for a passenger.

Best not to mix brands if you're swapping out a front. Better to replace both at the same time too, though I eat fronts faster and have on occasion replaced the front with same make because the rear was still near new. I can vouch that both Micheln PR's and Dunlop Roadsmarts work very well with the 1200. Great steering, grip, brake stability and mileage. Might give the Angel GT a try next as I spooned a set on the Gen4 and love them so far. I have never felt the 1200 was hard to steer, except when new...the OEM tires were crap. It's a heavy bike, but remarkably nimble for its heft. Try a new set of tires recommended by other 1200 owners and you should be ok.

Wow. This is a paradigm shift for Gen7 owners. Good info indeed. I assume he can eliminate the top speed restriction, install maps and adjust coolant temp. too?

The cat is the rectangular can under the bike. See photo. Removing or altering it would almost certainly be detected during an emissions test...that's the point of a catalytic converter. No fuel controller such as the Bazzaz unit will fix the 1-2 gear restrictions, it's coded into the ECU. For the DCT, Guhl is the only solution. I believe Guhl ships worldwide, so the logistics are really just shipping to/fro. If you can get all the body work off and tilt the tank up, you can easily remove/replace the ECU. You'll love getting the bodywork off the first time... Buy some of these in advance.

Doc, The OEM rear tire is a 190/55. If you have a 190/50 on the rear you'll observe roughly 5% higher readings on the speedo. Add normal speedo error and you could be as high as 10% off. The 50 profile is probably going to make the rear turn-in a little more effort as well. Sounds like you're sorting out a plan for your bike. In that context, I offer what I did. Perhaps you'll find it useful. After getting to know the bike, and reading all the input from the Gen7 pioneers on this site, my mod priorities became: 1) Suspension - OEM suspension was terrible. OEM tires the same. I went DMr reworked forks and DMr BD-40 shock. IMO best bang for the buck in the US. Any upgrade to suspension will be worth the effort. 2) Comfort - Bars and seat. I went Heli bars and custom seat. Bought it with all the OEM comfort accessories: heated grips, deflectors, etc. 3) Radar Detector - This became a priority midway thru... 4) Performance - Not really a priority, but hey...who can resist more power? Guhl flash, decat, DAM muffler, Bazzaz FI and mapper, K&N AF, PAIR, etc. The decat and DAM combo resulted in the most significant increase in HP. Since no one has dyno'd the FD model, the dyno'd F model map (for a modified bike) provided by Bazzaz works well on the FD...at the expense of mileage. So, the 2-map switch option with the AFM mapper allows one to build an economy map and use their performance map with the flick of a switch. I wasn't too concerned with weight, this is a heavy bike and you just aren't going to make it svelte. But, ditching the boat anchor muffler was easy...weight, looks, sound and performance, and the DAM muffler works with the OEM panniers.

Thanks for clarifying this. I left my servo on too when I removed the cable to install an aftermarket muffler but wasn't sure if the flapper stayed open on an OEM muffler if you just removed the cable.

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Hey Doc, I like your choice in bikes. I've got 78K on my 2010 1200FD and believe it is one of the best bikes I've owned, though not without some idiosyncrasies. There is lot of content on this forum from 1200 owners that you can search, but I'll give you some quick answers to your posted questions. Yes, Sport mode does have odd shift points sometimes. It does hold 3rd for quite a long time when I use it but it seems to vary depending on the circumstances. For the most part I don't use S mode. I find it easier to paddle shift when I want to be sporty and then click into D when I'm done. As far as the speedo, like most bikes it is inaccurate. Check to make sure you have the correct tires. If that isn't the issue you can buy a speedo corrector such as the one from these guys: https://www.healtech-electronics.com/product-advisor/ Unfortunately, you cannot use the Z-Bomb, or anything like it, on the FD model. All these devices cross gear position indicator wires to fool the ECU into thinking the bike is in third gear when in 1st and 2nd. The DCT needs to know the actual gear to coordinate up/down shifts, so these devices won't work on the FD model. What most of us have done is have our ECU's reflashed by Guhl Motors: http://www.guhlmotors.com There is a long thread on this in the archives. No other way to recover the restricted HP in 1st and 2nd, sorry. It's about $500 US if I recall. There are several makers of gadgets that fool the ECU into thinking the exhaust servo is still attached, including HealTech above. These allow you to rig the flapper open without the FI light coming on. The OEM seat looked cool, but was slippery and was poorly designed for a pillion. I had a local seat guy redo mine to address these issues and make it suit my riding geometry and it came out great. You should be able to do the same. Again, there are some threads in the archive on the subject of pegs and bars. I'm only bothered by hot air on my right foot. It seems the air flows pretty closely to the fairing though, so if I move my foot to the right side of the peg it helps. BTW, going from a Monster to a VFR1200FD is a pretty big change...literally.

Make sure you replace and position the PAIR o-rings properly. If you notice you're burning oil afterwards, that'll be the reason.

You basically have three options: 1. Use a box end wrench and estimate the torque. Torque spec is 9 lbs-ft...not much. 2. Use a torque adapter, which might not be long enough. 3. Use a Motion Pro adapter that allows use of a std. box end wrench as an adapter. You'll need to do the measurement of wrench length and requisite math. I went with 1 and it's worked out fine.

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The manual provides the gaps spec's for either side of an exhaust rocker arm. You can use either gap spec. to make your adjustment via the adjuster screw. The adjuster screw is the only adjustment for an exhaust rocker arm. #1 is an intake cam lobe for cyl. 2, gap adjusted via shim. #2 is an exhaust adjuster for cyl. 2, set gap at the valve end or the roller end per the respective gap spec. #3 is the roller end of an exhaust rocker for cyl. 3. Follow this rocker arm to the right to find the adjuster, adjust using respective gap spec for either end.

Rocker arm is not removed. Start at the red circle and follow the rocker arm to the other end. There is a locknut and adjuster screw there...clearly visible in the photo. Use them to adjust the gap between the cam lobe and roller. Just like a see-saw...right side up, left side down. So, if you have too large a gap at the cam/roller, just loosen locknut and screw the adjuster CW. Did I mention the PAIR o-rings...

There is a set screw and lock nut on the other side of the exhaust roller arm that adjusts the exhaust valve roller/cam gap. Be sure to replace the PAIR o-rings and use grease to hold them in place during install, or you'll end up with this: