skant153

Hey folks, I’m going to be taking a 2,741 mile road trip from Redmond OR to Rochester, NY this summer. My thought was to try and team up with a charity like 22 Until None or Wounded Warrior Project to organize rides and meetups along the way and raise money for them. I’m not really sure how to organize anything of that sort, not sure if anyone on here has experience with it and might offer some suggestions. I’ve sent an email out to the charities so I guess I’ve got to wait and see if this is the sport of thing they want to participate in. If not, maybe I can do it myself and set up a charity link through some social media site. The plan is to depart Redmond on the 13th of July heading for Sturgis. Spokane, Butte, Boseman or Billings might be reasonable locations for a meetup/ride along the way. After that I’d head for Chicago. Maybe Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Chicago would be places to set something up. Then there’s plenty of places from Chicago to Rochester along 80/90. What’s prompting this crazy endeavor? Well my dad is having his other knee replaced this spring and says he won’t be able to ride anymore so he’s passing the Valkyrie on. The paint job has a military (unfortunately air force) theme and, as a vet of Iraq and Afghanistan, doing something to benefit a veteran charity would mean a lot to me. If successful, I’d like to make this an annual thing picking a route somewhere across the country (US-1, Appalachian Trail, Pacific Coast Highway). If nothing else, I’ll try to document the journey for posterity if nothing else. Anyone live along the way interested in seeing some sights?

If I may offer a few critiques on the video posted above from a bodywork standpoint.. 1. It's not a good idea to skip more than 1 grit. Going from 600 to 2000 is a big difference. Sanding creates a valley and ridge pattern, the next grit knocks the ridges down but doesn't get the valleys. With the right grit, you slowly approach the valleys. If you skip too much grit, you're hardly impacting the ridges but leaving deep valleys. This will impact the light diffusion in the final product. 2. I'd use a 2k clear coat. That evaporative cure stuff doesn't have staying power. It'll flake right off and come off in the rain. Spraymax makes a rattle can 2k. Press a button in the bottom and it'll release a hardener. This will create a durable, solvent resistant clear coat that will last quite a long time. 3. Just not a fan of the swirling sanding motion. If you can, get blocks from an auto store too, your hands are the worst sanding blocks. 4. Don't wax for probably a week after clear coating. You need to allow for off gassing. It's also funny he said you wouldn't need wax at the start then waxes it at the end.

That was the plan, I've got access to some newer ones as well but I thought this would be nice to show the beginning. I have a 97 blade and did one in those as well. It was the feature bike but I know a guy in MA with a 93 and a local guy with a 954 and 1000 so I could show the evolution.

That's what Facebook does with motorcycles if you post the add on mobile. It's just weird. The toggle switch is maybe for a r/r fan? I've also heard of people doing it for the radiator fan but yeah, that's a weird place for it. Guess I'll never find out since you guys have talked me out of wanting to kick the tires.

Thanks for a couple folks for telling me classifieds can't get responses. There's an 83 available near me, 37k on the clock. Owner says it starts and runs and is asking for offers. I'm curious what the value would be. I think this would be a cool bit of history even if it spent most of it's time torn apart in the garage. I do write-ups and videos on motorcycle histories and was going to shoot a vfr one this spring so this would be a nice touch. Any suggestions?

There's an RC15 for sale near me and I'm wondering if it's be worth a shot. No idea what to offer but it's a piece of history and I think it'd look great in my shop even if it hardly went out. The add says it starts and runs. Cosmetically, it's 37 years old and wasn't a show piece. Still looks pretty good for it's age. Any thoughts on price?

babbits online is a great place to start. www.hondapartshouse.com. i wouldn't order anything from them unless you have to. they don't stock anything but they'll order from honda then send to you, takes about 2 weeks. i go there to get the part numbers and then just plug them in google. for the 5th gen, you'll probably need to stick to used parts on ebay.

i'd like it to look more like a sport tourer and less like a... crane (the bird)?

sanding body filler into shape is really pretty easy but you don't want your bondo to be thicker than 1/4" because plastic and metal expand at different rates with temperature (and you'll see a lot of that between fresh fuel or sitting in the sun). pound out the dents from the inside best you can. many dents can also me massaged from the outside if you hit the right spots (youtube). that dent puller is good for non-body line areas. just make sure you use a 2k urethane clear when you respray (spraymax makes a rattle can 2k) so it's solvent resistant. here's my CBR tank for example. tank was like that when i bought it so i have no idea how it happened. previous owner did a terrible job with the repair (bondo over 1" thick).

that startup sounds fine. full "choke" on start till the engine hits 3k rpm then drop it. completely normal.

Hairspray is the way to go. I've seen people use gorilla glue and swear a good hard twist cracks it to make it easy to remove. Never tried it myself. Soap doesn't leave it sticky. Hairspray lubes it on and then gets sticky. Great stuff.

I thought the vfrness was for 6th gen vfrs, I didnt know it was compatible with 5th. I put in an after market r/r and added a computer fan. No problems in 20k+.

At least they retained the passenger handles

i've got to tear the front off mine this weekend to replace the switch set, starter stop. i'll take some photos/video if you don't get it ironed out.

my 5th gen had 50k when i bought it and i paid $2100. It included a new in box corbin seat and unmounted NiB tires. Look for maintenance records and know you're in for clutch, shocks, lines but that's pretty minor stuff. the engine won't let you down.