Darth Bling

Thanks for the update Keith! I was actually just thinking about Rich a few days ago. Looks like I'm going to have to do a Mary's Peak ride this summer.

:goofy: Forcefield makes great stuff! I've got the Full back protector and I love it. Can't ride without it now. I've also got the underarmor shirt with elbow, shoulder, and chest armor too. Plus a separate chest protector piece for the track.

There's no real performance advantage to the 1100XX shock. It's a tad longer at 320mm, so that would be nice. Besides that, you would need to upgrade the valving in the XX shock at minimum in order to see any improvement. Since the 6th gens use a 315mm long shock you are kind of out of luck when it comes to options. I put a blackbird shock on my 6th Gen and it's was pretty much the way Jamie describes it. It was nice that it was a tad longer, and it was nice that the spring was a tad bit stiffer. Otherwise, it was the same POS crap shock that the OEM 6th Gen has. I eventually upgraded to a full Elka shock, so I sold the shock to Silver788. He found that the shock was a nice improvement for his 5th Gen since the Blackbird shock with its stiffer spring supports his weight better than the stock VFR shock.

:comp13:

Ha ha ha!!! Glad to hear I'm not the only fooled with the LH threaded bolt. :blush: And, the icing on the cake... I drilled a hole in the what remained of the bolt so I could use a bolt extractor to remove it. Yup, I broke the bolt extractor off inside the bolt. :huh:

ATV Handlebar Mitts Cheap, effective, easy to remove and install. :cool:

The suspenion on my VFR is set up for the track and it works fine for the street/touring. IMHO, all you're losing out on is comfort. You'll just have to deal with a rougher ride and a tad bit more fatigue after a long ride, but that's about it. Numbers wise, I'm running 0.95 up front and 18.8 in the back.

Yes, the stem is larger on the SP2. If you get your hands on an SP2 upper triple, I don't see why you couldn't make a spacer to make up the difference. I think it should work just fine. :goofy:

It was probably 108 links. Going 1 down on the front would only increase the distance between the sprockets by 0.146 inches over stock. Wouldn't going down in the front decrease the chain length needed? Techincally, yes. But, remember, links have to be added and removed in pairs. Since they don't make chains with 107.5 links, we use a 108-link chain. Therefore, the sprockets are further apart because our chain is "too long". You could use you a 106-link chain with the 16/43 combo for the 5th gen, but thene your sprockets would need to move 0.48 inches closer together than stock.

It was probably 108 links. Going 1 down on the front would only increase the distance between the sprockets by 0.146 inches over stock.

ATV handlebar mitts! Only costed me about $15. Actually, I found these things to be quite annoying. At highway speeds, the wind would push back on the mitts enough to slightly tap my brake lever, which would cause me cruise control to disengage. Around town though, these things were awesome. After trying heated grips for a bit, I've moved on to heated gloves. :biggrin:

The 6th Gen VFR has a calculated top speed of 168 mph (that's 11500 RPMs in 6th gear). Of course, the real top speed is closer to 147 mph. Like Jeremy said, the VFR is drag limited. It just doesn’t have the power to pull redline in top gear. But by going with a 15/45 sprocket combo, your calculated top speed would be 151 mph (again at 11500 rpms in 6th gear). So, if anything, you might actually pick up a mph or two in top speed.

Here's my Blue Sea fuse box:

No. The offset on the 1000RR (04-07) is 25mm. For 2008, the offset was increased to 27.5mm. The fork offset on the 929/954/RC51 is 30mm. For comparison, the offset on the 6th Gen is 40mm. To mount your Renthals mounted, you'll need to use an RC51-SP1 (00-01) top triple. Or, you can buy a new top triple from Spiegler for an arm and a leg.

A bunch of money! RC45 parts are not cheap! Plus, all the little parts that'll probably need to be custom machined too. I'd go with the Carrozzeria wheels (linked above by BayAreaRider). A lot less stress and headache, and it's guaranteed to work. Looks absolutely sick too! :fing02:

Somebody (I don't remember who) also makes a set of frame sliders that bolt to a bracket that's installed on top of the radiator. Sounds like a great way to puncture your radiator. Now that is a great buy! Does that include a singing clown that shows up on your door step to sing, "Your so Vain"? Seriously, those look so cool but that is some serious cash! JD Yes, it's actually a great buy! Considering you get a custom-machined rear axle that allows you to convert to a single-nut rear wheel, it really is a bargain. Plus, I believe the $2450 price tag also include Galfer front wave rotors too.

For the VFR, it's a spendy farkle. I don't think the front end of the VFR is aggressive enough to warrant a dampener. Yes, the bike will headshake at around 35 mph if you take your hands off the bars when your decelerating, but that's usually a symptom of a worn front tire and/or aging steering head bearings. New tires and tapered steering stem bearings seem to be the cure. Bikes like the CBR 600RR and 1000RR have much more aggressive front ends (steeper rake, shorter trail, shorter wheel base, etc). These bikes excel at cornering and maneuverability, but they lose some of their stability. With the more aggressive setup, the CBRs have a tendency to headshake if you come down on the front wheel wrong or are blazing at triple speeds. This is why they come stock with dampeners nowadays. But, if you just want piece of mind, then by all means get the dampener.

I'm assuming you're having trouble removing the lower race on the steering stem. The prescribed method is to use a chisel and work the race away from the top of the lower triple. Then you can employ various other methods now that you have a gap between the race and triple to remove it. When my father removed his lower race, he used a Dremal and very, very carefully cut the race off. Once he got the race cut, popped open and he removed. Whatever method you use, be careful not to damage the steering stem. As to torque the top nut, you can buy the official Honda socket for $60, or you can buy a regular socket and cut it up with a Dremal to make your own steering stem socket. The method I used (which I don't recommend) is to grab the nut with some Channellock pliers and tighten it until you think it's about right.

I'm really surprised their isn't more info on this. With 6 years of engines now, and so many people that complain about it, I can't believe no one has experimented with this. I know it would require modifications to the fuel input, but their are plenty of people that have the equipment to do that. Actually you wouldn't even have to put a pin in it, just figure out what solenoid or whatever needs to stay on. This would only work if the oil pressure at lower RPMs was sufficant enough to mechanically engage the pins in the VTEC valve buckets. If the oil pressure isn't high enough, it won't work and that's why nobody has really tired it yet. Nobody want's to potentially damage their engine with half-engaged pins...

Nothing like some rattle can spray paint to get the job done! :unsure: Looks good Marid2apterbilt. I'm also a big fan of spray paint: Before After

Tim knows that. He's just trying to be funny. Try harder next time, Tim... :dry: Ha ha ha, that's funny stuff right there! BTW, the bike looks good Loni!

If I'm not mistaken, the 6th gen lower triple and steering stem are welded together... :fing02: Anyway, Ebay might be your cheapest choice for a replacement lower triple. Nope, no special tools required to remove the triples. The hardest part will be removing the lower race from the steering stem (unless you're not going to swap out the bearings, which I don't recommend). Since you'll have it apart, might as well replace the bearings with some quality stuff, like All Balls tapered-roller bearings. You could take it to a shop, but it's really not that hard to do yourself if you've got the patience and time.

Do you mean this: http://www.zgoutlet.com/

I remember reading about that. Rumor was the new VFR800 heads were actually better than the RC45 heads. Since the engine molds for the VFR800 engine were actually the old RC45 molds, Honda couldn't make any more RC45 engine parts. World Superbike rules don't allow parts from other models to be used on production race bikes, so Honda had to get a exemption to use the VFR800 heads. Honda's claim: they ran out of RC45 heads and couldn't make anymore.