Stray

This is SUCH a cool project!

Very impressive! I think Mohawk built some sort of air dam to recreate a ram air effect. Trick is to seal the rear of the fuel tank to the airbox, trapping air in the pocket. I’ve been thinking about cutting up the airbox lid and making it bigger than stock so more air space inside. There’s a bit more room for a taller lid under the fuel tank, but it’s a tricky shape. Good thing about your design is you’re no longer going to be sucking super hot air from the oil cooler. You’ll be getting marginally colder air from behind the frame instead. Really cool work!

Thanks for the pics and write up. Really cool roads, landscapes and locations. Your VFR is AWESOME too!

Very, very cool! Why super-short stacks and not dual-stacks a la Mohawk? Does your airbox have a lid or are you running it open?

Wow! New owner says says he’s only going to ride it around the occasional parade lap - very sad. That’s like marrying a nymphomaniac supermodel that’s eager to please and only having gentle sex every Valentine’s Day.

Ha ha, good find! 5.1 gen with condom mirrors - classic!

Very cool project and I like the overall look! Is the chain guard metal or plastic? Where did you get it? Really cleans up the rear. Try running the rear brake line through the hollow swingarm. Will clean up the rear even further. There are a few threads on here telling you how.

I’m personally not a slave to OEM. What’s the point? Top trumps? No, if I were you I’d build the bike I want. The one I dream of. This is your chance to do just that. I can understand keeping original spec on a well-preserved vehicle but this one presents you with a blank slate. Race fairings on AirTech look really cool...

VFRs hate weak batteries, as you’ve already discovered. Have you got a parasitic current draw that is killing your batteries? If it starts every time with a fresh battery then I think that’s your problem. Next time it goes dead try connecting a car battery (need to wait a while for a charge) and have another go.

Very well done!

I’ve fitted a ZX6R front using those All Balls conversion kits - works just fine. I had my steering stem pressed out, shortened and reinserted as it was too long. Needed to cut a groove for circling too. All of it can be done with hand tools except for pressing the stem out. It took 20tonnes of pressure to budge it! Steering stops are not not a big deal. Many ways to get that sorted after fitment. One point to note - VFR has really long fork distance from stem nut. Newer sports bikes have a smaller distance so forks are closer to the rider than standard VFR. Your 675 clipons will also be lower. Lower and closer clipons will foul the tank easily if you don’t get your steering stops sorted. One easy solution is to fit superbike bars and risers which puts your bars wherever you want. This solution also gives you back a bit of the fork (where the clipons would bolt) so you can drop that through the top clamp and gain back some fork length. Just some ideas. Stray

Does anyone know of this new header fits the RC45? Technically the architecture is same but I believe the cam chain is in a different place (so maybe exhaust ports are too far out of alignment to match. I know HighSideNZ (Phil) fitted an RC45 header to his 5th gen engine but the archived thread mentions lots of welding and bending. Stray

Marvelicious is right: 5.1 has 9 friction plates. 7 identical in the middle and two different ones outside. Buzzner is also right - 8 steel plates for 5.1 gen. Also lots of different parts form 5.2, 6th and 8th gen. That’s 17 plates all together for 5.1 gen. 5.2, 6th and 8th gen appear to have 15 plates all together (please correct me if wrong?). Toro said the 6th gen had a better clutch for his supercharger but not sure if that’s down to stiffer springs? Theoretically the higher number of plates on 5.1 gen should be better. Not sure it really matters either way as VFRs don’t make the sort of power to overwhelm a gearbox. Apparently BMW S1000RRs are tearing chunks out of their gearboxes...scrap after 30k miles!