Cherryriver

Now that would be quite an exotic remedy. Further down the road, I've ordered a new EK chain after having a really good look at the one on the bike. Visually, it looked pretty good and was well-lubed, but upon closer inspection, not so good. I see where Honda has the wear gauge indicator on the swingarm, which seems pretty imprecise to me compared to the usual method of tensioning the chain and measuring 20 links. Yet in this case, it seems to be indicating more than the limit of wear. Yeah, but then I really checked closer and discovered a clip-type master link. No dice, for me. It will be in the dumpster tomorrow. I ordered the EK this time instead of my more usual DID VX series one, as I am very interested in the screw-type master. I have the Motion Pro chain riveter set but somehow I never get fully confident with my riveting. To my old carpenter's eye, the mushroom never looks large enough even if it measures the proper width (and, fingers crossed, have not had one come apart on me). I did re-work the Heli Multi-Tours with a longer riser from another set and that, unexpectedly, did ease the vibes a bit. Let's see if the chain is a factor.

To the suggestions of fuel treatments: already done. Since I had reason to believe the bike had been lightly used in recent times, as soon as I got it home Sta-Bil Marine went into the tank. I'm not convinced the Marine version is better at curing ills than Seafoam, which has worked very well for me in the past. But, it does work wonders for winter storage. My carburetted ZRX sat, unfortunately, for six months without the carbs being drained but with Sta-Bil Marine in the fuel and when retrieved, it started instantly and ran every bit as well as I remembered, which is pretty darn well. A pleasant surprise. Spark plugs will be in the to-do list shortly. I should note the vibes are present in the pegs and seat to lesser degrees. The worst of it is 5000-6000rpm, which is the range normal, non-frentic road riding takes place. By 7000rpm it does smooth out a bit, if not completely. Part of what keeps the topic in the front for me is in comparison to my two recent Kawasaki fours: a ZX1100E and a ZX-9R. Both were very smooth at 75-80mph in top gear, the GPZ almost eerily so: it came close to the GL1800 I also had in terms of not finding any vibration in cruise. That was a heckuva bike- it went 106K with no repairs ever and was running near-perfectly when I foolishly sold it three years ago. I was looking to the VFR as a lighter, handier version of that bike as I get older and nearer the end of my riding days. While I no longer expect to do 600-800 mile days on my "sportier" bike (as opposed to an FJR or GL "touring" bike), I still would like to see 300 a day on it from time to time. Here's hoping it can step into that role.

Having looked through all the replies, I have a bit more perspective to add. I'm approaching 2000 miles covered with the bike so far. The vibration, again primarily in the bars but also in the pegs, is RPM-related. It becomes noticeable right around 5000 RPM and increases with engine speed. To hit some of the points above, the tires on it were good but old. I had Pirelli Angel GT2s installed at the local shop where the tech is not only very experienced but a VFR fan. The tire change made no difference in the vibration level. The chain appears good, is within stretch service limits, and is not showing kinks. The countershaft area was well-splattered with old and new chain lube, suggesting there had been maintenance. I remounted the Heli Multi-Tour Sport handlebars on different adapter risers and it did lessen the vibes a little. I have medium-weight Throttlemeister bar ends installed. Past experience with this Heli bar on other bikes shows they usually reduced grip vibration over stock, so I don't think there's a problem there. It does appear I will need to get after the starter valve synchronization.

Now I've had my new-to-me 2000 for two months. As with any used bike purchased, one always wishes for more information about its past life and what's been done, but that's just life. I've put on about 1500 miles so far and the bike has been a mixed bag. It arrived with 30K miles and in very good overall condition. I like to look for tells on what level of attention a bike's gotten, and this one sports Galfer stainless brake lines. That's always a good sign to me, one of the better ones. My take is that the previous owner rode it some but less in recent times. It starts perfectly and idles well, albeit right at the high side of spec and can't be adjusted any lower. The throttle response is good all across the range, although I'd rather have less snatch in the first portion of the range, like pretty much everyone else. So far I have two main problems with the bike, the first being the ergos, specifically the bars. They are simply too low and far forward for me. I'm not as flexible as I once was and have an old neck problem that hasn't allowed me to use lower bars since the mid-'80s. I've installed longer throttle cables, rerouted the brake and clutch lines, pulled out more length on the handlebar switch leads, and am experimenting with higher bars. But the bigger bug is the vibration. I'd been told many a time how smooth the VFR engine is, but this isn't the one. Now, I'm no sissy- I put 50K on a BSA twin once upon a time- but the hands are taking more of a beating on longer highway stretches than I care to take. Specifically, at 70+mph, it's enough to bring discomfort. On a conventional four-cylinder, such as the ZX-9R I sold to buy the VFR, one starts with a valve adjustment and a carb/throttle body synchronization. On this bike, the valves ought to be near enough to spec since they were supposedly done at about 17k and are only coming due now, and I am not seeing a TBI sync procedure in the factory manual. I have some ideas, but I would look to the conventional wisdom first to decide on a path. GIven that there's a half-dozen other bikes in the garage, there's only so much wrenching time to be had. For heaven's sake, the Missus has just informed me she's interested in a GSX-R600 front end graft on her SV650S. If that isn't an inhaler of time, I don't know what would be (besides a BSA crank bearing upgrade job).