zupatun

I have large hands. Not a huge, but not a small person either (6'1"). I reach in, and replace by feel...dont remove anything to get access. Matt

Looks like a trackday bike to me! Sweet buy! Just a little jealous.

I've had Fox (4th gen) and Penske and Ohlins on my 5th gens. ZX-10 on my old SV650 and I've got a Nitron double clicker on my XSR700. Properly sprung is the most important aspect of the shock. Any shock will lose performance over time, but a shock (and forks) not sprung correctly will not work well for most situations other than sedate, single riding. Penske is wonderful, graceful degradation. Ohlins is very responsive to comp, rebel changes and works till all of a sudden it doesn't and needs a rebuild (pogo stick over 4 months of riding after 11k mi). You get what you pay for! Matt

Hi zupatun, Thank you for your donation of 15.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks VFRDiscussion

You can get connectors from roadstercycle.com Easy peasy...

I have made my own custom fit earplugs, and they work OK, but in my new helmet the depth of the speaker slots is shallow and they get shoved into my head...my ear canals actually bleed...which sucks. So I've switched back to foam. Also my left ear canal is much narrower than the right... I've used these from Surefire in the past. They are relatively shallow, but do an OK job of sound attenuation. The nice thing is they don't sit too deep into the ear canal and the outer ring holds them in place. Not sure they will pull out or stay in putting a helmet on, but I don't think they are super expensive to try. https://www.surefire.com/ep3-sonic-defenders.html ou can see they have different sizes...I would order a Large and a Medium set and mix and match to get my left ear fit better.

I paid $2800 for my VFR with Ohlins rear shock, with 76,000 miles on the ODO. Cosmetically, the bike had bodywork repairs and repainted at least once, maybe twice. I didn't think twice about it...and picked it up in Portland and rode it home to Virginia over the next 4 and a half days. Now the bike has 98,000+ miles on it and runs like a top, but I've dinged it up going down in Turn 1 at Summit Point raceway so I had a SebSpeed clutch cover put on it. IF you can talk the guy down to at least 3K...you have a great bike for a great price. The $35K bike at half the asking price of the garage queen is a Good Deal IMO.

No Frankenfork for me. I used 6th gen triples, F4i forks, fender and calipers with my 5th gen wheel. Matt in Haymarket.

F4 and F4i forks are not the same. F4i forks total length are shorter than VFR forks. Also, the brakes from your VFR and fender wont work either. The F4 ('99-'00) forks are indeed 795 mm in length to the VFR's 800 mm (funny that). The F4i forks are 785 mm. The end result is that the fork tubes sit about 10 mm below the handlebar top edge, but more than enough for the bolt to clamp, the handlebar-to-fork mount being 33 mm in height. VFRworld threads are where I started my research: https://vfrworld.com/threads/vf4ir-the-project-begins.20085/ And https://vfrworld.com/threads/vfr800-5th-generation-a-gearhead’s-delinking-brake-saga-and-the-interceptor-ss.3617/ Matt in Haymarket

I remember the tab/bodywork nightmare that was my 4th gen...but it was a lovely bike til someone hit me... Your work looks exemplary! Matt in Haymarket.

If you're going from Montana through Colorado, you might swing North and go through Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest...riding AND vistas 130 and 101...it's on my bucket list and it's Just North of Denver Colorado etc...so not too far out of your way... Matt in Haymarket, VA

It doesn't bubble. It will soften and you can bend it. It is hard to get it evenly to higher temps because its thermal conductivity is low. Good thing about that is you can heat (sort of) select areas with a temp controlled hot air gun to move it into position. I've done this...but it takes a while for a large area to cool into shape. However cooling can be hastened with a damp shop rag or squirt bottle/misting with water to set or fix the shape. Gloves may be needed...but will leave an imprint in anything soft. Matt in Haymarket

I use the clear 3M protective film to protect the tank from my tank bag and zippers...not sure if that's the reason you're asking but that's what I do.

Plasti-fix, Plasti-Aid, Plasti-Weld all give you the option of making or repairing parts, but can require some skill at fashioning/forming missing parts... https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22655 I've used ABS glue to fill/glue thin cracks and it works well. I've used ABS glue to weld on a backing/reinforcement of ABS onto a part to strengthen it. I've also used ground up ABS with ABS glue to do the same. The most successful and simple method I've used is employing a temperature controlled soldering iron to melt ABS to repair cracks, along with ground up ABS and larger ABS parts to fix, fill and reinforce ABS. The welding of ABS with a soldering iron is probably one of the best ways, because you're keeping the material properties essentially the same, not relying on a chemical bond between two different materials. ABS does not easily crystallize, unlike other polymers, with applicaiton of heat and welding. As long as the temperature is not too hot, it will weld and regain most of it's strength and resiliency. Just my two cents. There are plenty of ABS welding "How To" videos on YouTube if you want to decide if that's a rout you might need. It is difficult to replace parts with ABS welding. That's better done IMO with the above products. BUT repairing cracked or broken pieces and quickly reinforcing them, Welding with a soldering iron is fast, effective and cheap. Matt in Haymarket

most excellent. Can't wait! Matt in Haymarket