JZH

I used to do a lot of parts sleuthing re the NR and I never saw anything other than red parts in the Honda parts catalogues (I have both the Japanese one and the ROW one in my study). French dealers at that time sometimes re-sprayed bikes in custom colours (i.e., lots of "Rothmans" RC30s somehow got discovered in France), so I'm sure that's what happened with that particular bike. Also, of course, Visordown doesn't employ the most rigorous of fact-checkers... [Yes, it is an RC30 "brake torque arm", but it is only on my bike for the bling.] Ciao, JZH

Good eye, pardner, but that's a French-spec FL or FM, based on the "Carat" emblem on the upper cowl. There might even have been different fonts for the two years, but I'm just not bored enough to check! Ciao, JZH

I have a Healtech GiPro on my 3rd gen. I started with a cheap knock-off, but the real thing (although expensive) is a solid piece of work and won't fall apart on you... The 3rd gen VFR has a mechanical speedometer, so the easy plug-n-play the 4th-gen and up guys get is not happenin' for us 3rd gen guys. Healtech, however, sells a mechanical speedo adapter kit (GPX-WSS), which is also robustly made, but is actually something you could make yourself if you're familiar with Hall-effect sensors (which are cheap as chips these days). The adapter is usually installed at the front whee

Honda has weird distribution channels, but I've found that if you have the part number you can usually order it from someone. But that someone is usually overseas, so it's just weird that a US Honda car dealer can order it and a US Honda motorcycle dealer cannot! Ciao, JZH

My guess would be a "broken" battery, too. That's the updated OEM reg/rec, by the way, which I've not previously heard of failing. Ciao, JZH

Not without a lot of work, but it fits! Finding a spare RC30 swing arm is part of the fun, however... Ciao, JZH

If that's the "HRC" kit, note that you can sometimes fit different plastic fittings to the master cylinder. Various NISSIN OEM masters had the reservoir hose pointing in different directions and some of those had different ODs for the hose nipples. I have swapped them around in the past. Look at the pics on eBay. The hose is polyurethane, IIRC, aka Tygon. Everything else will sweat or discolor in contact with brake fluid. Ciao, JZH

Pro-Bolt is okay, but I've bought most of my UK stuff from places like RaceBoltUK, RaceTI and Titan Classics. The latter mainly does the special Honda fasteners in TI, and the former two mainly the standard TI fasteners. I haven't bought anything TI for a couple of years, though, so there may be more suppliers out there now. Ciao, JZH

Short answer is I don't know! But I can tell you that if the stand had been directly swappable between the 5th and 6th gens, Honda probably wouldn't have given the latter one a new "MCW" part number. The "50500" just means "main stand" and the middle three letters identify the model for which the part was originally designed. Which means that parts that are truly interchangeable from earlier models carry the earlier model's part number. That's just how Honda usually does things. However, sometimes parts which are not identical can still be swapped--trial and error is the name o

Nah, it's still there. Not turned a single rotation in anger since it was fitted, sadly, but it's there! Ciao, JZH

You can also buy proper stainless steel replacement exhaust studs on eBay these days. I've never seen stainless steel OEM-shaped long flange nuts, however. Maybe they're out there. Ciao, JZH

Nobody uses solid-core wire in automotive applications. Ciao, JZH

Aluminum bolts on anything other than cosmetic stuff? Asking for trouble. Titanium is what you want... Ciao, JZH

Not many NR parts crossed over to any other Honda model, apart from the CBR1100XX Super Blackbird, which got the mirrors. Ciao, JZH

FYI, the UK-spec 3rd gen does have two bulbs on low beam (unlike many of the European-spec bikes, which just have one), but unlike the US-spec and (I think) the Australian-spec bikes, the headlight circuit is not routed through the starter switch (because UK bikes have headlight switches and not always-on headlights). Makes it a bit simpler to diagnose. This isn't the best scan, but it is readable: Ciao, JZH