douglasthecook

Very nice!!! How about some rear sets, that would be another unique mod to add to your list!

The front fork swap is fairly straight foward if you have any mechanical know-how. I believe that if you do a search for "Frankenviffer" you will get alot of results. I have also done the swap, so between the two of us (MrMatt) I'm sure we can get you squared away!

Nice, I hate waiting for parts. Which axle/wheel combo are you going with? I suspect the VFR400 might be an easier swap, plus without the cush drive it should be lighter. How mine looks all together with stock bodywork. The 5 spoke looks a lot (almost exactly) like the 5th-6th gen VFR, I think it looks good with the design of the bike. If I want something more radical and lighter there's always more options now (with a price) DSC01775.JPG So did you notice any handling difference with the wider rear tire? I had a stock VFR rear axle modified, sent a new one off to SAFE-T, and he knew a machinist that could do the work. It's so good, I can't tell where the stock axle ends, and the new part begins!!! This is something that I seem to have pestered him about every winter for the past 3 winters. Well this winter I finally did it. Phase II is almost complete, gimme a few more weeks for the rest of my parts to arrive, and I'll post up pics!!!

Thanks, I matched the temp sensor with the year of gauges I got, so its from a 98 CBR900 (about $30). From riding today, I'm getting a warm bike temp of 165-175 F, is this the normal operating temperature? It looks very reasonable to me so I believe its accurate. Thanks for the offer, the tire is just what came with the wheel and it seems to hold air have have some tread left. Tire types represent a large hole in my mind where there should be information, I was planning to wear it out and replace with a Pilot Road 2 or Pilot Power since I've heard a lot of people around here like them both. My Ducati rear rim also came with the Pirelli. I have a new Conti Sport Attack mounted to it. The pirelli has about 85% tread life in it, I don't really know what to do with it. I'm a fan of the Conti's so far. I've done trackdays at Assen, Valencia and Sachsenring on the Conti Road Attacks, but I want something a little stickier. Perhaps like you, my next set may be the new Pilot Power 2CT's or something similar. The Bridgestone BT-016's look intriguing as well. I still need to install my new rear axle, courtesy of SAFE-T, and am just waiting for my final 2 pieces of parts to arrive. More than likely it'll be the weekend of the 13th, of June that is. I'm envious, yours is ready to go!!!

Look pretty good, stock/factory installed even!!! Any year on the CBR 900 in particular for the temp sensor, or is there a specific year that needs to be ordered? It looks like you have Pirelli Sync tires installed, I have a spare rear that will fit your rim, so if you need it, perhaps we can work something out...

Talking of CF you can either buy flat sheet avaliable fleabay for example, altho the price has shot up since i last did same exercise. As my last job was a boat builder,(good place to pick up a kilo or two of resin!) we used general purpose resin in some of the CF and kevlar layups i did, so shouldent be a problem if you wanted to lay up some carbon mat for this job, prob backed by some glass fibre or a sheet of kevlar behind for more strength. Glass tissue for backing/ first layup for carbon top will be fine tho. Wonder if you ever did sort out that front clocks thing? A simple honda race exchange would be nice, but nothings as simple in the end. lol I'll probably wait to do the gauge swap out this winter, as I'm trying to limit my downtime, and maximize my riding time. I did consider doing the main panel in fiberglas, then covering it with a sheet of CF. We'll see though, it all depends on what I can get here. I have enough material to make a vertical support link, but again, want to wait for a few months before I tear into her again. I gotta let the patient recover between surgeries after-all!!! Thanks for all the kind words. I wasn't really sure of this would work or not. FotoMoto was a major source of inspiration on this project. Heck, all the work that has gone into my VFR is the fault of VFRD and VFR World, as without all you helping me out, and pointing the way, none of this would have been thought of, or even attempted!!!

Hopefully. My mechanic already has the parts, he just needs to check compatibility. He wasn't 100% sure that the fork lowers were interchangeable, and he didn't want to take mine apart and not have it work, so he ordered a bunged up 954 fork leg to see of the 1000RR fork lower will screw on. Hopefully I'll do this mid to late June. That'll probably be the last upgrade for the summer. Does your Akro pipe have the EU stamp on it by chance, and where is a good place to source EU compliant exhaust?

Good to see you have rear subfame on and plugged in. Just looked at your pics and am thinking have you simply added the four lengths to extend the subframe so it attaches? And for strength, have you added any cross struts between the extension legs,(top to bottom on either or both sides am thinking) as im guessing if its just held together with the strength of the four bolts it might poss flex and fail at the wrong time?(just a thaught) Have you tried using sheet carbon fibre before? Gaps and bodywork are siple to make as carbon sheet is stong but flexable all at the same time. Oh and unpainted looks the nuts corse.(just another thaught) I am thinking of making a CF panel, just gotta source the proper resin here in Germany. So far I had done track time at Valencia, Spain, with the RC tail installed and didn't have any flex issues that I could feel. I also checked the bolts for security after, and they were still all tight. I did think of adding some verticle struts between the horizontal struts for additional strength, but don't really think that is necessary at this time. I will re-evaulate this after more time just to see. The four links were to take up the difference between the RC-51 frame, and the VFR frame, as the RC has an extension that faces aft. I also wanted to keep this a bolt-on mod, so I could go back to stock if it didn't look right, or work.

Give me some time, and I'll have that gap sorted out. Just looking for the right material. As far as the license plate mount and light go, I'm still looking at creating a better mount as well, just not had the time lately to attack it like I want to. I also have a few more tricks up my sleeve....Watch this space in around 45 days...

Ok, here's my attempt at doing a "How to" thread, so please forgive me as this is my first try... http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m317/douglasthecook/ As you should be able to see from the album, I made some links out of 195mm X 195mm square extrusion. I took it to a local machinist for cutting and drilling. The proto type link was/is just that. The final links were/are a little different in the way they are cut. There is a 5mm gap between the front of the seat when installed, and the tank. I'm still debating on if I want to have shorter links fabbed up, or just install a seal on the leading edge of the seat and be done with it. I also have to make a cover panel to cover the gap where the stock fairing goes flush to the tank and main frame of the bike. I also am debating on if I want to make an aluminum battery box to mount the battery in the stock location, or leave it where it is. I am currently using the stock VFR battery, if I were to get the battery for the RC-51, then I could use the battery box cover which I have. The most difficult part of this was determining the proper length of the links, and setting the angle of the tail section to where I wanted it to be. This is a complete bolt-on mod, no cutting of either sub-frame was required. I could go back to stock in about an hour or so if I wanted to, but why should I? This saved me right around 17 pounds in weight. The weight savings is a total to include sub-frame, seat, seat cowl and inner fender. I'm also trying to sort out what to do with the fuel pump and filter. I'm looking at getting some new hoses and fittings and possibly relocating them to where the battery used to reside. If you have any questions, just ask, and I'll do my best to answer them. Please keep in mind that these are also my track day plastics, and a really beat up RC tail fairing, as if I couldn't get this to work, I didn't want to sink alot of $$$ into parts that I don't really have a use for. Ok, so it wasn't really a how to, as more of a this is what I did...

Nice work!!! I'm going to try and take some pics of how I mounted my RC-51 subframe so you may be able to get an idea or two from what I did. How I did it, it is completely bolt-on, and can be changed back to stock in around 1-2 hours. PM me your e-mail, and I'll send you the pics directly if you want, once I take them.

Good point, how about a radiator from a Triumph? It's an 3 cylinder, although it might be harder for him to find, but it'll be narrower...

I wouldn't worry about the size of the rad affecting your running temps. We have a thermostat that allows water to flow in and out of the rad, so get what will fit, and leave the cooling to the components. I am planning on retiring in Phoenix when my military career is over. When I was in Vegas for 3 years my VFR would run warmer than I wanted it to, so I have been considering running an additional radiator. Remember, all the rad does is hold the water and cool it, the thermostat allows water to enter and leave the radiator when the temp is appropriate. You might be able to augment with a rad from a suzuki or something else like that as well. I'd go down to your local used motorcycle dealer with a tape measure, and start mapping out dimensions. Another thing you have to take into consideration is how the front exhaust headers will affect the way the rad mounts. Hope this helps!

Perhaps I'll figure out how to post pics here, and take some of my RC-51 tail implant. It just might give someone else ideas, like all of you have given me. I wouldn't be attempting this w/o assistance from guys like fotomoto, mrmatt and a few select others. Good luck, and keep the pics coming!!!

And make it a left exit?? :biggrin: This I would buy!!! I'm sure it would be easy to make these for us 4th Gen guys, as the only real difference from research is the flange where the exhaust pipe connects.

Right on!!!!!

I used a dremel tool to remove the steering stem bearings from the steering stem, and had a local garage press on the tapered roller bearings. I have the 954 front end installed, and I like it alot, it does lower the front of the bike a little, but if you use the 954 top triple clamp you'll be fine, just get some clip-ons that mount below it. You'll find that turn-in is a little quicker with the 954 set-up, but I haven't had any issues with stability at all. I'm getting my bike more set up for the track than anything, and the RC-51 tail is a one piece unit, and is quite alot lighter than the stock rear tail. If you have any questions about the 954 front end, PM me, or ask here, and I'll do my best to get back to you

. CBR900 dashboard is from memory a plug-in which just needs some tweaking, there may be some info in old topics here. And the CBR900 headlights leads me to this - I reckon you can use the whole CBR900 (1st Gen) as a basis for what you are doing - just do some mods between the lights to add the bodywork that is scalloped out on the CBR, fill in the little holes each side of the headlights, and you're nearly there: Single nut rear wheel can be achieved by combining a VFR400 hub assembly (fits into the 4th Gen SSS) and either an original RC30/45 wheel ($$$) or a modified 3rd or 5th Gen wheel (or an aftermarket wheel, more $$$). For the exhaust you need a TBR left exit full header... Good luck with it! Ok, so I'm kinda doing the same thing to my VFR, but in a round about way. I have already converted to an CBR 954 front end, and a fully adjustable Wilbers Shock out back. I'm looking at fabbing in an RC-51 tail section. The part that I'm really curious about here is the CBR900RR Gauge cluster, and how much fab/mod work is required to swap out the VFR400 hub assembly. I already have a Duc rear wheel, and can have the wheel pins put in the required locations. What else in involved with that??? TIA!!!

Very nice...very nice indeed!!!!

I really, really like the tail section, undecided about the frontfairing though...perhaps this tail with FotoMoto's CBR Mod...could someone phtotshop that, as I don't have phtotshop, but am curious to see what it would lk like...

Very clever, how easy/difficult to work at speed?

I had to go TDY from Nellis AFB in Las Vegas to Hill AFB in Salt Lake City UT for 2 weeks. All I took was a tank bag similiar to what you have and a decent sized back pack. I had to have 2 sets of clothes, the military stuff to include combat boots and off-duty clothes. You shouldn't need too much stuff for a 4-5 day adventure, just the basics. Pretend you're flying on Delta and you're only allowed to take one bag worth of stuff...

Thanks for the pics, still waiting on my Wilber's shock. I'm gonna call tomorrow and see if I can get a status.

Dang it, pics would be a huge help here, as the Wilber's shock I'm getting has the same set up as yours, however both Dutchy and I have high mount exhausts, so in that case how do I mount my other remote reservoir???

It looks hot now, I can't wait to see the finished product!!!