brainwashed

After a few weeks of riding around the city, the chicken strips are definitely smaller and there's evidence of being on the edge a few times. I will try to lower it a bit more from the front, not sure what other side effects that might induce. Hopefully just an incremental improvement. Saw a Nürburgring run with a stock VFR on YouTube, that guy really knows what he's doing. With a DCT it's even more impressive as those (including mine) are pretty slow to shift compared to a manual shifter. You can only trigger a shift every 500ms-1s. I think the initial instability was caused by a tight grip on the handlebars, which was needed since the bike was really slow to turn in. Ideally there should be no handlebar input needed during a turn, right now a tiny bit is still required. Front wheel skipping was completely eliminated, rear wheel skipping almost completely, rear wheel sliding is now uneventful. Just wanted to share my update, but the suspension changes definitely made it a new bike and allows rider progress.

So I did the recommended suspension settings (overall softer rebound and preload) and it improved the ride a bit, but not drastically. However the rear tyre "skip" stopped. Tyre pressures were indeed a bit low, but updating them to the standard spec did not make a lot of change. What it did make a lot of change was lowering the front by about 4cm. The turn-in behavior changed from "heavily resisting" to neutral. Some history about the bike: it was purchased new by a friend of mine, he said it was riding like this since day one. He has since switched to the VFR1200X which he says it's night-and-day difference. I put new tyres on it which were only ridden for about 3000-5000km and perhaps only 10% highway straights. The old tyres had a completely flat portion in the middle since he did not have the confidence to lean too heavily and also did a lot of highway. Both of us have almost 20 years experience with motorcycles. Years ago I had an old VFR750 which I rode to the pegs. Never thought of tyre skipping but I will mark it. If it does not happen under heavy acceleration I doubt it can happen in a lean. Once I need to change the rubber (next year?) I will consider the options enumerated by others, until then it remains a 'satisfactory' ride, significantly improved after the new settings.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I was expecting I would get an email notification but never did which is why I'm responding so late. I'm used to burning the rubber on edge on most bikes, but don't feel safe with this one. Just had a talk with the previous owner who switched to the X variant and he said that that bike feels about the same, just a bit more maneuverable. He also loses grip on the back wheel with no rider input. I will try lowering the front and also some recommended suspension settings. The most disconcerting feeling is the loss of grip on the back, it happens quite often to me which I think it means I'm close to the limit, so it's either the tires or suspension. The bike should be able to lean down to the pegs, I refuse to think that it was never meant to do that. I also have some professional riders turned bike mechanics near me, will try to get an appointment with one of them and will report here if I have something interesting.

I have a fairly low-mileage (~28000 km) 2015 VFR with fairly new tires (<5000 km) but haven't actually been on a long winding trip for years. Went with a few friends with 800-900cc adventure motorcycles and they kicked my ass on the winding roads. I have ridden the really old VFR750 to the ground and had much more confidence in it, but that was years ago. I really lack the confidence of going into blind corners since there I don't really consider this bike flickable Suspension is probably stock, haven't messed with it. I only remembered to check the pressures afterwards, they were 2.2 and 2.6 instead of 2.5 and 2.9 stock, not sure if that makes a huge difference. I had to switch the bike into manual mode to get some stability with higher RPMs (~5000). Rear brake is very weak IMHO but both Honda and the inspection guys said it was within spec. Tires are some Continental SportAttack 3, I think. I'm not the greatest rider, I admit, but the bike seems somehow hard to steer and hard to flick compared to other bikes, I'm getting a real workout. Suspension seems to do its job just fine, though not sure how far it is from factory or stock performance.

I'm collecting several questions at once. Is there any way to get hold of a transponder for a key or a full uncut key? I only see keys without transponders and would like to have 1 or 2 spares. I think Honda wants about 150+ EUR for a key, including programming, but I saw them on Amazon for ~20$. Is there a good place out of sight to mount 2 USB sockets? The only place I found is to place a small charger under the left tank fairing and run the wires up front. Also, I've searched for 1h for the elusive "white accessory plug" but was not able to find it. I'm now running the wires directly from the battery but would like to have them switched. I'm still waiting for the mating 6-pin plug to arrive, hopefully by then I will find out where the plugged plug is. Looking for something other than handlebar sockets. How do you handle phone mounts? I have a RAM 24mm ball afixed to the steering stem center, but it's out of sight. I 3D printed some hoods for 2 phone chargers, which keep the phone out of sun and slightly out of water. But it's unsightly, at best. Looking for something with Qi capability, if possible. I still have a TomTom that gets mounted to the same RAM mount, but it's a bit long in the tooth. Looking for something other than handlebar mounts.

Just to be clear, I did not test acetone on the motorcycle, just on some random plastic piece to see how the paint lays down and how it looks. I'm washing the surfaces to be painted with soap+water and then isopropyl, before laying down the paint. On the test piece, acetone was starting to remove the base coats (both of them) but did not touch the clear coat (lacquer?).

Well, I played a bit with the paint, it came in 3 parts. I managed to put the first layer (base coat / primer) in 2-3 layers and below are the results. From my tests on a piece of plastic, the clear coat is required, otherwise the paint can easily come off with some solvent (mild acetone). I'm afraid that the clear coat will ruin everything, because right now it looks almost perfect. Be aware that the pictures don't show exactly the reality, a movie would capture the flaws more easily.

Wow, I did not go they can go so cheap, I haven't looked out for them in years though. I ordered a cheap touch-up kit with 20ml with R432C a couple of days ago, it should arrive tomorrow. Looking more carefully today and studying some youtube videos, I have my doubts that I will be able to improve anything. I mostly just want to make them slightly less visible from far away. I might try to fill the thin deep scratches with a syringe or a toothpick. I doubt the large areas can be improved, they will probably look somebody put nail polish on them. Maybe I can lower the contrast and get rid of the black and grey showing up.

I'm tempted to leave this one alone, but asking anyway: I bought the bike with heavy scratches, highsided at low speeds, both sides. Since they guy I bought it from is a friend, I just told him to repair it to a functional state and leave the scratches alone. Now I have to deal with them 🙂 It's a candy red, possibly "Bourgogne" (R-107C-U). Anyway, I know a perfect touchup is not possible and I'm not willing to buy new fairings for cosmetic blemishes. Painting everything is out of the question, as I would need to do the 3 cases as well, and they wouldn't match with something else if I have to sell them (for example). I used a touch-up marker on my car (which has an even harder color to match, 20 layers or something) and was ok with the result, better than the bare plastic color. Did anyone else try this and has any suggestions? I'm just tempted to buy two of those one of those touch-up markers and blend the color a bit so it's closer to deep red. Perhaps I can also work some of that paint into the long scratches and buff the excess off. EDIT: found a thread with the color codes https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/83335-red-vfr1200-paint-codes-10-plate/ OK, this is silly, don't know how to delete a screenshot uploaded by mistake

On my old scooter it was the same rubbish. Since then, I've started carying hair ties in my pocket, the elastic kind, that I would wrap against the brake and handlebar. I haven't had any issues with bikes rolling downhill, but I'm worried some kid might climb up to snap a photo or something. Plus, my rental apartment is on a hill, the bike really wanted to roll with the unadjusted parking brake applied. I don't have any other ideas, other than the things that truckers use when parking their trailers.

At the motorcycle safety course they told us that on the street it's better to be on top of the bike as you are more likely to be able to shift the bike fast than your body. Obviously, if you race, it doesn't apply, but for the basic riders I think it's good advice. It also teaches you how to stay relaxed, which means more control. For beginners and even intermediates, going down with the bike usually is coupled with clutching the handlebar and target fixation. It also allows you to more easily take an invisible road bump. For me, I guess an intermediate, it takes a LOT more skill and preparation to lean than to stay on top: I need to consciously not hang on to the bars, brace my knees, prepare for the next two corners, shift the weight slowly, make sure there is a way for that weight to quickly go back up without upsetting the bike, etc. Not disparaging anything written here, I'm just saying there might be a sense to riding on top while on the street.

I got the new tires installed, it's indeed a new bike and now handles as it should. Too scared yet to try the limits with the fresh rubber and the weather took a turn for the worse here. But I know the old tires did really well in the wet, while doing the motorcycle course, so the new ones should be even better. Sliding seat - I've researched everything, did not find a satisfactory solution. I ended up buying the bathroom shower anti-slip pads and will try them out. If they improve the situation, I will cut a VFR or Honda logo with my cutter-plotter and make them look "stock". Except the slipping part, I find the seat quite ok otherwise and don't want to do irreversible mods to the bike, be out a few $$$, wait a few weeks for the modified seat to arrive and perhaps not be happy with it. I would also then need to modify the rear pegs and it quickly spirals into a rabbit hole. Had to adjust the parking brake, did it at the rear wheel, surprised there is no mention of this in the owner's manual. I'm saying this because my old scooter had exactly the same system and the manual described how it should be periodically adjusted.

Funny, after I bought my 7th gen just saw noticed another one that was always parked, less than one km away from where I live. I always thought it was strange bike looking at it from far away. This is Germany however, not sure how many of these units are on the streets. Other than the one parked near the corner, I don't remember seeing one in the flesh.

I think now the bike has Road Attack 2 on it and they are certainly not bad tires! During the training course it was raining heavily and I was able to brake from 50-60kph (35-40mph?) within 2 bike lengths without taking any risks. They braked like it was dry - obviously in a straight line. The funny thing happened - today I was riding a bit more and I decided to try and flick the bike at ~80, which previously took considerable effort - it took my entire body to do it (hand, chest, shoulders, core, knees). Now I could flick it only with the palm of my hands, almost without effort. I believe the previous owner did not deviate too much from the middle line and this ruined the tires. Sure, you can go ape (Bubba) on them and reform them with something abrasive, while they are spinning on the central stand, but I'm too old and well-off to do that. My younger myself however... On a different note, took my GF for the first time on a ride with this bike and she's (slightly) complaining that she's too far behind me and always slides forward even under light braking. Any tips for passengers? I would guess knee bracing would work, but she says it's not so easy on this bike.

Thank you all again for the replies. I managed to find a tire shop that can deliver the rubber and mount it within a week. I took your recommandations into account but could not find matching pairs of the recommended brands. For example, I could find Angel ST for the front but only GT for the back. In the end went with Continental Sport Attack 2, the shop (which is also an official reseller) assured me that all tires are not older than 1 year. Not sure what happens to the older ones though. As it was a safety issue for me, I just went with the option that provided the least amount of hassle - go into the shop, make the order, make an appointment for next week to have them changed, done.