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Gebruiker

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About Gebruiker

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    Factory Team Rider

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  • Location
    Connecticut, USA and the Netherlands
  • In My Garage:
    1992 VFR
    1993 CBR1000

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  1. Gebruiker
    Apologies Frenchman. I skipped over your address at Montelimar. You see you are not alone. Lots of folks in here have trouble with their english. Like me!
  2. Gebruiker
    ...only if it works... 🙂 I think I can hear the thing from Connecticut. Pretty sure.
  3. Gebruiker
    Uh oh. Frenchman, you've signed up just at the tail end of a complete thread of the horrors that await you. See the thread from 8200rpm. Good thing you have lots of choices in your garage. Are you in the Jura? Those hills look like fun... 🙂 Thermostat replacement - hope to never do this again By 8200rpm, February 19 in Fifth Generation VFR's
  4. Gebruiker
    I could do that. Or, I could inspire millions of generation 3 owners to make their own… I sortof like that idea better. Either way, no worries John. I’ll absolutely make sure there’s a scrap here for you next time you drop by the house... So mine is supposed to be Honda granite blue...aka krylon fusion black stainless metallic… Yeah, that’d look better. That plate has obviously been resprayed with the same indifference as all other colored bits on the bike. I just wasn’t sure what color previous owner had covered up. If I ever take the bike apart for a proper cleaning then that’ll be on the list for a respray. the "Bodie Handstand Dismount"... ...annnnnd, I am unfamiliar with this particular maneuver, but it sounds impressive. And well beyond my modest riding abilities... P:)
  5. Gebruiker
    Definitely room for those in the design. I decided on carriage bolts because I didn’t want to use glue for anything at all. My thought was that glue…any kind of glue…would be the first thing to fail in a final product. The carriage bolts may be obvious but they won't be the bits that break. That was my compromise. Let’s see how the thing holds up… Now rivnuts might also be countersunk to the collar from the face of the PVC. Then the hole filled with epoxy. That would be invisible and maybe strong enough too. The countersink would take away maybe, what, 1mm of the 4 mm thick pvc structure, and it would concentrate stress at that point due to the small diameter of the rivnut collar as opposed to the comparatively huge carriage bolt head. But rivnuts would be a more elegant way to go. My general standard for all my little projects on the VFR is ‘good enough’. From the beginning I never thought to make my bike a show bike. Is this sidestand cover good enough? Ahhhh, for now…maybe. I’d sure be interested to hear if anybody else decides to start with my basic materials and design, then improve on them to make their own cover. We've already seen several ways to go. No fair spending more than 2 dollars. 😉
  6. Gebruiker
    Liquid rubber is another way to go. If I bother tweaking it again, I think I'd just paint the carriage bolt heads along with the rest of it. You can see right now they really shine when the side stand is closed. That's probably not a good thing. But no matter what, paint or liquid rubber, they won't ever be invisible.
  7. Gebruiker
    Now you want it closed? I just can’t please you people. Open. Close. Never good enough. I could close it for a picture but then the motorcycle would fall over. And that would be bad. Also, depending on which side it falls, I might not even get the picture after the fact… ...Hang on... There. Closed. Well yeah. It could be better. I got the alignment pretty good just by tweaking the rubber spacer boss things. But that gap between my home made cover and the lower side fairing is pretty big. Remember I cut the bit away that goes over the side stand swing bolt. And I had to shorten that very section because it was interfering with the shift. Next time, I'll be more exacting. I might just go and run the whole thing over that side stand bolt, no dimple, and recut the top bit off squarely so it meets the front lower fairing. I could try to make another cardboard patch prototype while the sidestand is up. I haven't figured out why those crazy angles are in there on the original in the first place. (...In there, pretty big gap, crazy angles copied from pictures of original, see entries above...) So I could start again with another quarter section of my PVC fence. Now that I'm almost there, I should be able to get the thing just about right next time, but ya know, mmmmmno. Maybe later. Since we’re down there in that part of the bike anyway, does it look like the steel under belly behind my shift and side stand has been um, modified? It looks a little bashed and dimpled to me. But maybe it’s supposed to be like that… Also is it typically black, or is it supposed to be the same color as the fairing? I have to think more. Starting all over with a new section of PVC. That is discouraging. Rats. Dutchy won’t be proud of me now… Aw hell.
  8. Gebruiker
    Sidestand Cover 3 So I stopped by a fencing place not far from home and begged the guys for a scrap of fence. They were more than happy to point me to their skip with permission to root around inside and to help myself to their trash. I was hoping for a black scrap of fence post for my black-ish bike but only found white. This is what I took. It’s a remnant of PVC post, about a foot long (25cm). They had tons of it but I grabbed only enough for the job at hand. No point in being greedy. Just the same, they told me I could come back for more of their trash should I need it. Maybe they’ll have black next time. The stuff is plenty strong as molded. The walls are 4mm thick. I can stand on it. Fencing PVC is treated for resistance to weather and sunlight. That’s good for a sidestand cover. The fence guys said it’s tricky to paint properly. You need to use epoxy paint and a sealant. Yeah well… I was thinking along the lines of some leftover black vinylwrap. Black duct tape? Or I could get the fancy carbon fiber kit, as recommended by Thumbs. After the fence place, I went begging at the hardware store for carriage bolts or flask stoppers but they didn’t have any of those in their trash so I had to spring for them, cash money. About a dollar and a half. My total cash outlay for the sidestand cover project. As you might imagine, a single scrap post section provides enough material for four sidestand covers, so I’m all set for my next three bikes. Dutchy would be proud of me. Here’s how it went. I traced my cardboard prototype, (see entry, above) then cut the PVC with a regular jigsaw. The jigsaw blade worked fine. I didn’t even bother to sand down the PVC edge. I started out with a hack saw but that made a mess of it, and required physical labor to boot. First fitting, still white. Adjust, tweak. I cut out the bit above the sidestand swing bolt where the original cover has a dimple, and trimmed the top a bit to clear the shift lever. Back on the bench with rubber boss/grommet things, cut to the length given by RC1237V Second fitting. It works! Yay. Since the carbon fiber kit was beyond my budget of zero dollars, I had to choose from among leftover vinyl wrap, black duct tape or spray paint. I’m trying the paint first. It’s pretty certain to chip and peel. We’ll see. Remember that Krylon Fusion stuff I used on the fairings? No runs, no drips, no errors? It’s not so bad. The vinyl wrap I think would be far too shiny and fragile down on the side stand. And duct tape would look like...duct tape. If the cover actually stays in place for more than a week or two, then I’ll consider a more presentable finish. I didn’t paint the carriage bolts. Probably a mistake. They are way too conspicuous to anyone who knows what the cover is supposed to look like. But if anybody out there has an original with broken bosses, my solution might be a cheap way to put things in order again. Sortof. So then, where will it fail? PVC cracking? Bolts rusting out? Rubber stopper boss flange thingies? I’m hopeful that the strength of the PVC, and the built in flexibility of the rubber stoppers will give it a tolerably long half life. Longer than the originals even. But I’m not completely satisfied about my design yet. And it’s such a dumb little thing. If it falls off or breaks I’m not likely to bother making another. I don’t know whattheheck Honda was thinking in the first place.
  9. Gebruiker
    Another good tip. Thanks for the thread. Sorry my third generation questions sidetracked your project. That wasn't my intention. Once folks started helping me out it was a little late to change to my own thread.
  10. Gebruiker
    I couldn’t find the hoses through the main menu of ASPerformance, but your link works just fine. And all five hoses to boot. The set would cost $93. Also available through an ASPerformance link at eBay for $90. Thanks.
  11. Gebruiker
    Okay, let’s take this from the top. I checked the manual last night. Something I should have done before wading in here in the first place. You are correct Cogswell. There are only five hoses for third generation bikes. Five hoses is less daunting than 10. Half as daunting. V4Dreams spells out the replacement job on his site. https://v4dreams.com/index.html He had the expensive Samco kit and has a picture of it with four, not five, hoses. (v4dreams pic) There is the upper radiator hose, lower radiator hose, and two jumper hoses for between the heads. The kit apparently does not include a little hose connected to the water pump. Too much to ask for only 100GBP. 😛 It also looks like you do get a key ring! I think the Samco hoses are rubber. Not sure about that. V4dreams then found he could use Gates hose #19746 for the two jumper hoses…again, the hoses nestled between the heads. He was able to cut the Gates into sections, using the elbows. The Gates costs $14.79. But what of the two longer radiator hoses? It’s unclear from his page if he could use other bits of the same Gates hose, which is pretty long, or if he needed additional source hoses. Near as I can tell, you really want to try to find hose that already has most all the twists and bends of the OEM hose. Presumably any generic straight section can be muscled into position, but only to a certain degree. I can see myself, old OEM hoses in hand, perusing racks of Gates hoses at the local automart, trying to match the twists and turns with something intended for a chevy. 🙂 And what of that water pump hose? Hose number 5? For that, v4dreams used a short section of generic 22mm hose. A different diameter, requiring another source hose. Thanks for that Honda. Curiously, Honda seems to have these OEM hoses available. I wonder how long they’ve been sitting in their warehouse? Now, moving on, JZH used fancy blue silicone hose 🙂 Nice. Following his links I got a 404 and a dead source (APMotorstore) but Flextechnologies (Siliconehose.com) is still there. And they are kind enough to explain to me the difference between silicone and rubber: https://www.siliconehose.com/blog/silicone-vs-rubber-hose/ A nice explanation, but I doubt I'll be getting their expensive hoses any more than I’ll be buying from Samco. The next source is from raYzerman. Also nice. Silicone hoses, many colors(!) and maybe for a bit less than Samco, but nothing there for the old third generation bikes. (Ed. Nope, raYzerman is right. The 3rd gen hoses are there, just not on the main menu. See BCAI link, next entry) And I think that’s about it for now. For me, all this remains academic. Allow me to say again, I am really not doing this job now. No foolin. I’m only preparing my head for some future event. 🙂 But for that time, thank you all for the guidance!
  12. Gebruiker
    I'm losin count here. 10, 12, 15 hoses? Last time I looked under the hood of my Accord I think it had 2 (TWO!) hoses. I also note the complete Samco pack of however many costs 106.83 GBP. Ouch. So unless the pound tanks after brexit, I'll be getting the Gates generics and making my own sections, ala v4dreams. But none of that will be necessary for many years yet... many many years. 🙂 Thanks for the Samco source Thumbs. 🙂
  13. Gebruiker
    Oh I get it. Really I do. But there’s no way in hell I am diligent enough to take on that 8200rpm project for fun. I’m going to wait for the leak to develop, or at least for obvious sign of impending trouble. And keep my fingers crossed that I don’t get completely stranded. But whether it happens in my garage or on the shoulder of rte 66 outside Tucamcari, you'll all be able to say…'told ya so'. 😉 Take heart. I will consider flushing and replacing the fluid. I can do that much. A proper flush might give me some slightly better idea of what is hidden in there. If the flush is truly awful, like full of rusted metal chunks, I’ll reconsider my position. Bear in mind, I only have the previous owner’s testimony on the general state of affairs. He wasn’t big on cosmetics, but he really kept the mechanicals in pretty good shape. And what antifreeze to use? Now we’re talkin. This is a great tip from Grum. Ya gotta give Honda powersports credit. It looks like I can spend $13 a quart for their type 2 antifreeze… …or I can spend $15 for a gallon of the same stuff right across the parking lot at their automobile dealership… $15/gal is about the same price as any third party type 2 coolant, so in this case, the genuine Honda label product it will be. 🙂
  14. Gebruiker
    The kits are available here in the States too. Thanks. I'm still not sure what I'd use as a base mold, but good to know there are options.
  15. Gebruiker
    Whew. Thanks Cogswell. Lots to learn about my cooling system. Hoses and fluids. Happily, the hoses I can see seem to be in good enough nick. Definitely no cracks or swelling or dirt. And inside? Is it blue or green? I probably shouldn’t wait long to find out. They say that regular coolant should be flushed and replaced every couple years. Yeah. I'm not sure that’s gonna happen either. We'll see. There are threads of discussion right here on VFRd:
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