Hello everyone!
I wanted to share my story of becoming a VFR owner and some of my early struggles.
I started to browse this forum as soon as I understood that my next purchase will be a 6th gen VFR – a noticeable upgrade from my humble Honda NTV ’93, which I loved, but felt the need to upgrade for sport-touring type of vehicle.
At the very start I set my eyes on the 5th gen model, since I liked the sound of gear driven cams, riding comfort and the looks. Which is why I searched everywhere for one and since I’m from Latvia, “Everywhere” meant nearby countries and Germany. While I was still figuring out my finances, one popped up 70km from my hometown, but since I wasn’t able to buy it outright, I pitched the idea to my friend, who was aiming for a 6th gen at a time. We went to check it out and he bought this beauty with 30k kilometers on the clock:
Now he is in love with it and it’s understandable – great motorcycle in perfect shape.
Afterwards I got a chance to work overtime and earn the much needed cash for trading up – the hunt for my new bike was on!
While looking around I was still mainly interested in owning a blue 2001 VFR800, which looks great in this color and has no choke lever or bulky mirrors. But since budget had grown and I could afford to spend 4000 EUR on my new ride (that includes selling my old girl), I started to take liking to the 6th gen models – that rear end is juicy 😄
After three weeks of searching, one popped up in Lithuania, 140km from my home – it was right on the budget, leaving me nothing for unexpected expenses, but boy was it mint.. This 2003’ blue beauty had only 14K kilometers on the clock, no rust, OEM side luggage and aftermarket windscreen.
Test ride was rough, since it had been raining, but I felt out what I could and even tried out the VTEC system, since way too many people have complained of it being to rough on 2002 model.
(side note, after a couple months of riding my VFR, I can confidently say that I love the VTEC transition – it is addicting and makes me smile)
Even though I had some doubts about this bike being heavier and bulkier than my starter motorcycle and a slight worry about maintenance since I’d have to disassemble the fairings, which was a first for me – I pulled the trigger and bought it.
Purchase was made in July, so I decided to just change the oil, oil filter and enjoy the season. Fairing removal was very scary for the first few times 😄 The only upgrade I had to do was purchasing a PUIG attachable windshield extension, since I was getting pummeled by turbulence. While it was expensive, it improved the riding comfort immensely.
First few months were slightly worrying since I was now in completely different riding position and the bike hadn’t broken me in yet – I had back aches and was even contemplating selling it if nothing changed. Luckily I got used to my new partner and had an amazing fall season.
In late autumn I prepared the bike for storage approximately 5 times since I kept pushing the season longer 😄 But after winter came I parked it for good and started to make a to-do list for maintenance.
I knew about wiring issues which were present before 2006 so I ordered the VFRness. An expensive but necessary upgrade. I think I paid like 160 EUR total to get it shipped to me. Also I couldn’t look at my fork dust seals for they had cracks in them from prolonged storage (14k of riding for a 03’ motorcycle has it’s downsides). Wiring in general had to be refreshed buy cleaning all the accessible connectors.
While working on a stripped bike and adding the VFRness I noticed many damaged rubber grommets so they had to go. What also reared it’s ugly head, was the fact that my bike had been in a collision which damaged the plastic mounts on my speedometer. Now I knew why it had a fancy new windshield..
So I kept working on refreshing or fixing everything I found to be less than perfect and after adding the switchable circuit VFRness I started to wonder on what accessories could I add and how to mount them. Which is when I found out about the elusive HISS bracket 😄 Why elusive you ask? Because the only guy who makes them, doesn’t ship to my country.. So I made one for myself using Fusion 360
Once the bracket was mounted, I had to fill the new mounting sockets with something 😄 So I bought a gear indicator from AliExpress and a Voltmeter / USB charger (both light up in green so they match). A friend helped me to 3D print a holder for the gear indicator and did a terrific job of it:
After adding both VRFness and HISS bracket, I opted to also install heated grips, but in the cheap way 😄 I ordered a kit from AliExpress which had to be modified to fit, but I am used to soldering so it was fine. (These are only useful on high setting, but they do help a lot when I’m riding off season – 5 degrees Celsius is perfectly fine for me now).
While at it, I also added aftermarket levers and figured out a way to fit a RAM mount. I took the idea from this forum, but had to make my own ball mount since original one was too low and I risked damaging paint on my gas tank. I also decided to strip paint from my bar-ends 😄
And that’s all folks – now I am already sneaking in a few spring rides in anticipation of an approaching new season which will no doubt bring me many great memories with my mates and my beloved motorcycle 🙂
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