Darth Bling

Quite a while back, I bought some Kisan vecrtoLights from a member here at VFRD. They were nifty little lights that attached to the bottom of your mirrors. They acted as a second pair of running lights, as well as brakes lights and turn signals. They worked really well and I got a lot of comments on them.

Kisan V-10 vectroLights

Then sometime last fall, my right mirror got snapped off. It was at this point I decide to try out a set of aftermarket mirrors made by Thurn Motorsports. I've seen the mirrors on ebay a few times and decided the quality looked fairly decent. Huge mistake. I have to say that these mirrors are absolute crap!

Thurn Mirrors

The problem with the Thurn mirrors was the ball-and-socket joint was way too loose. Only after a few minutes of riding on the freeway, the mirrors would fold inward from the force of the wind. Even large bumps would knock the mirrors down. Even though the looks of the mirror eventually grew on me, I hated them. I tried tightening the socket joint up, but I ended up breaking the plastic on both sides. <_<

Don't mind the dead bugs

One good thing did come out of my purchase of the Thurn mirrors, and that would be the mirror mounts. As you can see in the picture above, the mounts provide a nice flat mounting area. And that's when it hit me... GSXR mirrors!! :goofy:

GSXR mirrors!

As you can see, the GSXR mirrors require a flatter surface to mount to than does our VFR. So, I figure I could remove the mounts from the GSXR mirrors and then bolt the mirror stocks directly to the Thurn mounts.

The GSXR mounts

After taken the little caps off the GSXR mirrors, I notice the mirrors used a hollow rivet to secure them to the mounting bolts. A few moments later, I'm using my power drill to drill out the rivets. It's also worth to note that the Thurn mounts don't use a standard or metric thread pitch. The bolt guru at my local hardware store said that it's some kind of special pitch only found on motorcycles and that I would have to special order the bolts. Hmm...no thanks; I've been dying to try out my new tap and die set. :P I ended up drilling the Thurn mounts out with a 3/8" bit and then tapping it to 7/16".

I end up running the wires from the mirrors through a tiny notch in the mirror stock down on the end. The notch is where those little caps snap into. I figured that once I get everything torque down, I can secure the caps down with a sealant instead of snapping them back into place. I also had the grind down the head of the 7/16" bolt I used to mount the mirrors. The caps don't offer much room underneath them. I end up sticking the bolt into my drill and then spinning it on a metal file.

Compare to the Thurn mirrors, the new GSXR mirrors are sharp!! And I thought I'd reinstall the stock mirror just to see a comparison.

Comparison

And of course, the new mirrors in all their glory!!!! :D

Bling!

I switched my stacks to this configuration which seems to be how the manual depicts them and how they are installed at the factory.

Left Front: Short

Right Front: Tall

Left Rear: Tall

Right Rear: Short

I don’t know why this makes a difference, but it does seem to affect how the bike runs. So if you’re running the stacks as front/short and rear/tall, and are experiencing low speed high rpm surging, then I suggest trying the stacks in this configuration. It worked for me…

Very interesting. I know when I stuck 330 ohm resistors in my O2 sensor wires, the surging was absolutely horrible. Almost to the point of dangerous when traveling around town in 1st and 2nd gear. The only work around was to get the bike to start in default mode, which involved turning the bike on and off quickly a few times before starting it.

After putting on quite a few miles with the resistors in place, the surging has gotten better. I can still tell it's there, but it's no where near as bad as before. I always figured the ECU just "relearned" everything and fixed it for me. I'll have to give this velocity stack swap a try and see if it eliminates the surging for good. :thumbsup:

Nice!!

I'm so excited now. I can't wait to put my cat-less headers on now. :D

NICE!

Looks great.

Let us know how your dyno numbers work out.

Tommy I got your number and will call you for the dyno day. Lonny plans to get his done too

Dyno day??? I need to hit the dyno too. Well, not right now, but around mid-May I will.

George, the new paint job looks sweet!! :thumbsup:

Nice pictures tinyminds! :thumbsup:

How do I get the rubber grips off of the handle bars? I have everything else removed, but my Clymers manual doesn't say anything about getting the grips off.

WD-40. Stick the straw between the grip and the bar, squirt. The solvent will help loosen the adhesive.

I perfer using isopropyl alcohal (rubbing alcohal). It evaporates clean and doesn't leave any residue (unlike WD-40 or soapy water). Of course, if there's grip glue under there do what thx1139 recommends and use WD-40. :thumbsup:

And when it comes time to put your grips onto the bars, lube up the grip with isopropyl alcohal first. It'll slide right on very easily. Then with a can-of-air (like for your computer), stick the straw under the grip and shoot air in there. This will quickly evaporate the alcohal within a few seconds and your grips will be securely installed! :beer:

Here's how it all looks installed:

So clean and tidy! :D You're inspirering me to clean up the wires I have going to my fuse box. :P

Here's a different version of the Thurn mirrors:

Thurn markets these ones mirrors as 6th gen mirrors and the ones veefer800canuck posted as 5th gen mirrors. Of course, there's no reason why you could put either set on the 5th or 6th gens since the stock mirrors are compatible.

radardetectordetectors (hows that for scrabble)

Thats gotta be about 400 points !!! :o

I had to looked it up. :P Radardetectordetectors only comes out to 29 points.

Here's the website I used to found out: http://www.solfire.com/scrabble/.

You can enter other words and it'll give you the score for them.

Hi. I am new to the forum and new to the VFR but not at all new to bikes. I found the cheapest solution for the loss of power in the 5k range at constant throttle.............twist it a little bit more and keep it up in Vtec mode! If its too fast try a lower gear.......free and seems to work well for me! :idea3:

Free?! What about all the extra gas you burn up? Besides, I don't think running down the freeway at 8000 rpm is the most fuel efficient way to travel. It's a great idea if you're tearing it up in the twisties. :thumbsup:

Besides that, 330 ohm resistors are only 99?. That's probably way cheaper than a 5-10 mpg penalty to your fuel mileage when running 7k+ rpms.

MFP, when I first put in the O2 sensor eliminators which I purchased for 30 bucks on my Vtech I had the same problem as you described as did a few others on the board. The lurching was terrible. However, I discovered that by turning the ignition on, letting it go through it's whine, then turn it off and then back on and then start the engine, the surging and flat spot are completely eliminated. Why does this happen? No f ing clue. Some think that the computer resets itself after you shut down the bike each time. By "rebooting" the computer it seems to read the open loop. I think Das Bone has documented this too. So leave them in and just on/off/on your bike each time. Beats spending 300 bucks on a PC111.

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:blink: Ok, I'll give it a try then. :thumbsup:

I take it you don't have a PC?  Again, there's no reason  to remove the O2s unless you do.

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Yup no PC. I was under the impression that the O2 eliminator merely kept the bike from enter stoichiometric mode when holding a constant throttle. How does a PC keep the bike from stumbling if the ECU is always trying to adjust the air/fuel ratio at constant throttle? I thought all the PC did was allow you to dump more or less fuel into the cylinders at given throttle openings. Wouldn't the ECU still try to fight with the PC then? I'm confused. :unsure:

From everything I've read, most people seem to be happy with o2 sensor eliminators or 330 ohm resisters. So, I decided to try it. My results were less than favorable. Now when the bike stumbles/surges in the 4k-5k range, it feels like I lose all of my power. When I twist the throttle a bit to get out of the stoichiometric mode or when the RPMs get above 5k, it feels like someone just rear-ended me as the bike lurches forward violently.

My pretty sure I plugged the resistors into the correct spots since the FI light doesn't come on. My only guess is that I grabbed the wrong resistors from Radio Shack. The package says 330 ohm, but I'm going to check the colors on the resistor just to make sure. :huh: Until I can figure it out, I'll be removing the resistors and plugging my o2 sensors back in. <_< YMMV.

Wonder if I could do that to my 6th gen.

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http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=12148

the Mobil 1 filters I get at AutoZone. I order Purolator Pure One online by the case as they are not a west coast item. East coast folks should be able to find them readily.

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We've got Purolator up here in Portland. :D It's only a 5-minute walk for me to the local Fred Meyer, which is nice when you start changing the oil in your car or bike and find out you've only got oil filters for the other.

So far, Fred Meyer is the only place I've found that carries Purolator. Autozone and Schuck's (that's Kragen or Checkers for you non-Northwesterners) don't seem to carry them. <_<

how easy was it getting to the red one?

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As far as I can recall, it was pretty easy actually. I was able to get a 10mm wrench on it and from behind the heel plate thingy without any trouble. You just don't have too much room too work; you know, moving the wrench 1/6 of a turn at a time.

MFP,

Again, great write up. I just got finished with the mod and thought I would share a few comments. Please don't take this as a thread jack.

The part numbers you specified were spot on.

I was most concerned about the bushings, so I made my own. I got some 7/16" drill stock and drilled out the center to make the bushings. It was a little tricky, and my holes aren't perfectly centered, but they're pretty darn close (what can I say...I'm a wood worker not a machinist). I marked the center of the piece to be drilled with a centering tool and an awl. I then drilled out a 7/32" hole and then went back through with a 5/16" hole. The 8mm peg fit through the 5/16" hole so I didn't even need the 8mm drill I bought. The holes on the Buell pegs needed to be drilled with a 7/16" drill to allow the drill stock to fit properly.

Once I made the bushings, I held them in the Buell pegs as I sanded them to shape to fit in the stock location (one in the picture hasn't been sanded yet...that is why it's longer). I just used a cheap belt / disc sander combination to do all the shaping. A few sanding / shaping iterations for each peg and I was done. It feels very solid with the steel bushings.

Follow MFP's adive for adjusting the pegs. It was also spot on.

The drill stock is cheap, and I have a bunch left over. (I bought about 3 ft and used about 4 inches.) PM me if anyone wants me to send them a piece, although buying your own from a local store may be cheaper than paying shipping.

I may be doing this over the winter.? I was out cleaning the bike today and noticed that dropping the left footpeg ~1 inch might cause some interference with the sidestand.? Would you please comment on this?? Maybe the angle of the new peg still allows clearance?

Thanks.

Kickstand Clearance.JPG

There really isn't any clearance issues that you need to worry about, unless you're using a kickstand that's shorter than stock.

Are these part numbers correct I ordered a set from our local dealer in Canada and they came up as a straight peg not even close to what I want. Thanks in advance fro the info.

Here are the boxes my Buell pegs came in:

Part Numbers.JPG

As you can see, the part numbers are N0520.1AD and N0521.1AD. I'm thinking the dealership you went to gave you the wrong parts, or there was a mix up somewhere and the wrong pegs got put into the wrong box.

Here's where I found the part numbers for the XB9 footpegs:

http://www.suzukihayabusa.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=26913

Here how to adjust the brake:

border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Brake Lever Adjustment

First, loosen the nut that the yellow arrow is pointing at. Then, adjust the brake lever by turning the nut that is behind the foot guide plate where the red circle is drawn. This will move adjust the lever up or down. When you're done, tighten the bottom nut (yellow arrow) back down. The green arrow points to the brake light switch adjustment dial. Because you're moving the brake lever down, the brake light will constantly be on unless the engagement point is change.

Hope this helps. I believe the bottom nut is 12mm and the top nut is 10mm.

After doing some research, I decided to add some Buell footpegs to my 2002 VFR. After installing the pegs, my first impressions were very good. I can definitely feel a difference in my knees and the bike's overall feel seems less aggressive. I'm very happy with my choice. The Buell pegs are about an inch lower than stock.

If you've been thinking about adding Buell footpegs but you can't decide to take the plunge, hopefully this little write-up will help you out. I know I was hesitant to buy the pegs because I wasn't sure what needed to be done to make the Buell footpegs fit. And to make things more difficult, nobody's posted any pictures yet of how to install the footpegs. Well, let's see if we can do something about that. :D

I believe the footpegs I used are for the Buell XB9S. The part numbers are N0520.1AD and N0521.1AD. The total cost was about $34 or so.

Now, the pegs are not a? perfect fit. As you can see in the first picture, they are shaped differently.

Also, you'll notice that the pegs are too tall.

The solution: grind the excess away! You can use a Dremel, but would take quite a bit of time (3 grinding bits and 3 hours to be exact). You could probably also use a regular file to shave down the pegs too (might be even faster than the Dremal actually. Of course, if you have a real grinder, this should only take a few minutes.

Now, the stock bolts and mounting holes are 8mm. The Buell footpegs holes are 7/16 (You can see the difference in the first picture). So, you'll need to find some bushings/sleeves to fill in the gap. You have a few different options here. The easiest way would probably be to find a bushing with a 8mm inside diameter and, using power drill increase the diameter of the Buell footget to fit the bushing. Here are some before and after pictures:

Right Peg Before.JPG

Right Peg After.JPEG

Left Peg Before.JPG

Left Peg After.JPG

Left Peg 2 Before.JPG

Left Peg 2 After.JPG

The Buell footpegs sit about an inch lower. As you can see in the next picture, the feelers on the Buell footpeg and VFR footpeg extended down to roughly the same height. Since I don't grind my pegs when I ride (I usually lean off the bike when I go around corners), I shouldn't have any ground clearance problems at all.

All that's left to do now is adjust the shifter and brake lever and we're ready to ride. The shifter is super easy to adjust. The brake lever is another matter. Since I'm not exactly sure how to adjust the brake lever and it looks like it could be messy, I left the brake lever alone (for now). Otherwise, this mod was pretty simple and straightfoward. Just be patient when grinding down the pegs, and everything should be fine. It took me about 6 hours total to install the new footpegs (using a Dremal), so it's quite possible it'll take you less time.? :P

As others noted in the original thread, a grinder or file is the best way to go. I used a Dremal and it took me hours to grind away enough metal. Others used a grinder or file and managed to grind down the pegs in only a few minutes.

Quick Question. Is it necessary to pull out the starter valve screws while turning them? I turned one a little a heard it click. Is this normal or am i working against a lock mechanism? Any help would be appreciated.

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Nope, no need to pull them out. The clicking is normal. :thumbsup:

After reading this thread though I wonder about the odometer.  I had compaired trip meters with buddy's after we went for a ride and mine seemed about 10% high leading me to believe the speed sensor itself was off throwing off both the speedometer and the odometer but I'm going to have to do some more testing to find it out.  I'd rather have my speedometer accurate than the trip and odometer as long as I know the trip and odometer are off.

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I find it unlikely that both your speedometer and odometer are exactly off by 10%. The speedometer on the bike usually has a built in error (between 5%-10%) and the odometer is suppose to be dead-on accurate.

More Info.

The VTEC engagement point has Never been an issue for me! :huh:  Not in the last 30,000 miles anyway. :thumbsup:

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Me neither. I was just thinking out loud.