Marvelicious

It's not as dense, so it wouldn't deflect the gas in a torch to that degree, but combined with a thin piece of tin to deflect the flame, it will keep up until the tin melts. Depending on your application, the carbon felt might be much easier to work with. For example, fitting it to the back side of all the existing vfr heat shields: drill rivets, trim to fit felt with scissors, spray glue in place, re-rivet.

That's an interesting machine... On the off chance anyone is looking for a good high-temp heat shield material and not just looking at the cool bike, I've found carbon felt to be really amazing stuff. Good to 400C in oxygen and much higher without, it feels like a soft wooly blanket and weighs almost nothing. It isn't the cheapest thing out there, but it's impressive stuff.

Were the counter people trying to convince you to wait for the OEM parts? I don't know about interchange with 8th gen, but my experience has been that it's a super easy job on both the bikes I own. A non-mechanical friend has done Pazzo and Puig levers on a couple of his bikes and had the same experience. His only complaint was that Puig took forever to ship the levers, but this was mid 2020, so Covid was a factor. Basically, if the company that makes the levers says they'll fit your bike, they probably will, or they wouldn't stay in business long (ebay mystery sellers excepted). Sorry to hear about the side-stand failure. Hell of a way to start a ride.

I definitely like the Pazzo shorties on my VFR. At the other extreme I recently tried a set of no-name ebay shorties on my 690 Duke, just out of curiosity, and they aren't quite as nice, but they're like 90% quality at 20% of the price. Fitment was easy in both cases. EASY. Like, pull the package out of the mailbox, walk into the garage and fit them in a matter of minutes...

My personal technique that seems to work well for me is a sparing application of oxguard on the terminals themselves. I also use some dielectric grease on the plastic bodies of the connector, but this is all a "little dab'll do ya," kind of job. I've also noticed something that looks suspiciously like oxguard in use on some of the higher current connectors in Toyotas I've owned. Take it for what its worth...

I had a scare a few years back with my car and a kid on a skateboard. Full dark, foggy, there were some of those super bright LED flood lights but they were pointed to blind rather than illuminate. Smallish teen skater kid, dressed in black, moving fast down the sidewalk. I never even saw him, but suddenly heard a loud thump under my car. Turned out to just be his skateboard... he jumped back off the deck, landed on his ass and the board went under my wheels. Talk about relief. I talked to him for a couple of minutes to make sure he was okay, but I think he was just terrified I'd find something wrong with my car to blame on him and obviously wanted to get out of there. I'll call it a win... I didn't kill anyone that day!

Yeah, the cops have really backed off on traffic enforcement, especially in cities like Portland... where there is more than Covid to consider (not to open that political can of worms - you can find enough ugly behavior on all sides of that fight to justify whatever opinion appeals to you). I generally don't commute on the bike (I often need to carry gear and associating my leisure activity with work just spoils it for me) so I don't ride much on major highways. Still, I've noticed it when driving the cage. I've got a longstanding tendency to set the cruise control at about 10 mph over. It seems to be the consistent limit where cops won't bother to pull you over. Lately, I'm getting passed like crazy. I drove past an Audi the other day that had decided to shorten their following distance to about 3 feet less than the Audi standard... i.e. 2 feet deep into the SUV they were following. Dead center too, no attempt to swerve. Looked like it had spoiled everyone's weekend, but it didn't appear that anyone was badly hurt.

It's part of the startup diagnostic. I'm betting you're right... It is probably a holdover from the aviation industry. They have all the cool gauges first.

This is the Pipercross... Snagged one off ebay while the dollar to pound ratio was fairly friendly.

Not sure I can help with the engagement point... I don't have small hands, and I have Pazzo levers, but I agree that the engagement point wasn't ideal. What improved it for me was swapping to a 5th gen slave cylinder. I'm not sure it changed the engagement point, but the feel is so smooth you won't care... Longish thread, but worth the read.

Maybe the previous owner was blind? 🤣

I bought one of these for my VFR a while back... https://www.guglatech.com/en/prodotto/honda-fuel-filter-m12006-arm-00/ Either it works well, or I've had good fuel... Peace of mind anyway.

I don't think the international border is quite as friendly as normal to tourism, but I could be wrong. I just assumed it was out of the question.

Possibly helpful... https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap This weather site has a coronavirus map at certain zoom levels. Not that your odds are high of contracting or spreading it on a bike, but it's a lot easier to find open businesses in areas less affected. Also, it's a really good weather map... I've been trying for 3 years now to make a 2 week loop through western Canada, but it doesn't look like 2020 is going to happen either.

This is like finding out someone you know is a furry... I don't have a problem with it, but don't expect me to understand!

I used racetech fork springs, f4i cartridges and Jamie's rear shock. It took a shit load of head scratching and a lot researching old posts to get the damping right on those cartridges and I feel like I got lucky to get what I did as quickly as I did. The two options as I see it are - spend money, or use a lot of time and maybe get lucky and not spend quite as much money. I wish I could give you better advice, but even the shortcut isn't cheap.

At least the millionth time... Still, bandwidth is pretty cheap these days. The snorkel and flapper... I guess my take is that if you don't have at minimum something like the performance headers that are being made, it's wasted effort at best... Unless you like a noisy intake, in which case, have at it. The pair valve on the other hand is worth your time. There are a lot of ways to go about it... From marbles in the hose to block off plates. I left the stock reed plates in place but put a couple of those rubber vacuum caps on the nipples. That was the least effort that still allowed me to remove the solenoid entirely. Just my opinion, but I think pair valves are utter nonsense: the motorcycle equivalent of the smog pump. They're only lingering on because bike emissions laws lag WAY behind and they just haven't bothered to rethink it.

With the exhaust... It's a simple way to slightly enrich the mixture across the board. Basically, it fools your bike into thinking the air is colder (and therefore denser) than it is. It's a quick and dirty compromise. Dyno tunes are all well and good, but unless you have an unlimited budget or own the dyno, you're going to pay them to try and spit out maximum power at wide open throttle, which isn't necessarily ideal for other conditions. Also a quick and dirty compromise. Meanwhile, your stock map is neither quick nor dirty, but it's definitely a compromise with emissions laws written by people with little understanding of actual combustion, leaving your engine running on the lean side. Pick yer poison... I prefer to stay away from overly lean conditions and I don't have the time or budget to pay for my theoretical ideal tune... The Booster Plug is cheap and reasonably effective.

I've got a Leo system and a power commander. It might be a bit on the lean side without it, but I'm not sure it's quite as drastic as it is often thought to be. The previous owner installed them both and had the bike dyno tuned by a well regarded shop. I got curious about my poor mileage and installed a pod and the dynojet wideband controller and started logging the mixture... Crazy rich. So yeah, it made power but at the cost of efficiency. If I had it all to do over again, I might buy a Booster Plug and be done with it. If you aren't familiar with them, go give them a look. They do work and they're definitely a much cheaper option. I also feel they're a bit overpriced for what they actually are, but I guess it represents 1% parts and 99% working out the details.

I've had a Joe Rocket mesh jacket for a couple of years now. I'm quite happy with it. Sizing on coats is so all over the place anymore that I don't even know whether to say whether it runs true or not, but I would hope that they at least run true inside their own brand.

I know there are a lot of "OEM only" types here, but I've had excellent luck with Napa filters. Never had any leaks and I've never had any issues with removal. I use this technique that I've developed: I grab the filter with my hand and I turn it counter clockwise. Admittedly, I'm a bit of a moose. Interestingly, I'm still stymied by the occasional pickle jar...

A triple that doesn't sound like a coffee can full of ball bearings? Madness!

My mileage definitely varied: the Sargent seat on my 6th gen was almost as uncomfortable as the stock seat. I always prefer lighter, but not at the cost of my ability to walk! @sllik Have you tried a Sargent before, or do you just like the look?

@Skids We're probably comparing apples and oranges. The UK has 20 times the population density of my home state, so we probably deal with different kinds of traffic. I spend most of my time on two lane country roads. Your story does illustrate my point though... the guy driving the car right next to you didn't see you. If I have a car right next to me, I'm looking for a way to be somewhere else because I assume I'm invisible to him. I'm probably spoiled since there is generally another option. I mostly raise the point about noise because I think it's worth considering the effect on other drivers. The EU didn't change the law without someone finding the noise objectionable. I doubt the Akra is really all that loud even with the core removed and I doubt I'd have a problem with it, but it's still worth giving it thought.

Well, when I said "carefully considered", I meant it. I have thought about my decisions and my motivations. I have no problem with doing things that actually make me safer, but I have zero interest in safety theater. You say I'm deluding myself, I say you're allowing your hi-viz to give you a false sense of security. We all make the choices we are comfortable with. The "why you would NOT do more to ensure your own safety?" argument could be leveled right back at you: why ride a motorcycle at all? A car is safer. If safety is the trump card (ughh... It's getting hard to use that phrase anymore) then clearly we should all be on public transportation. As for using safety as a justification for loud pipes, I'd say any arguable increase in safety is at best in a dead heat with the amount of Ill will it generates from everyone else who doesn't want to listen to it. I'd rather fly under the radar and rely on my own self-preservation instincts than be obnoxiously visible. We're a tiny minority on the road and that is worth considering. Not everyone is interested in our weird little hobby (from their point of view) and we get to ride our two wheeled rockets at the sufferance of everyone else. Granted, my objection to the "loud pipes save lives" philosophy is primarily aimed at riders of one particular brand of motorcycle, I'm sure you can guess which. As for the "fashion statement" comment, you'd have to know me to know how laughable that is. Suffice it to say, I'm not confusing any aspect of my life with a fashion show. Agree to disagree I guess...