cassandtim

Good to hear from you Keith. It's really special looking at the picture that V-Fore posted of your garage and daydreaming about the magic of that meet at your place. I often think about that weekend. It seems so distant sometimes but I remember so many little details and It's been too long since I've been up to see Rich. I definitely need to make time to visit this summer. Cheers, -T

I just measured and modelled a set of bases for Magellan before I set off for the Summit Meet. Definitely a P.I.T.A. as the arm's base shape doesn't use what I'd call "normal" geometry. The arcs on the base are spiral curves (constantly changing radius). I think Magellan will be sending off the .DXF files to his CNC machinist this week to get a set knocked out. Hopefully we can nail the design (correct angles and such) on the first try. Cheers, -T

Great to hear that you are still attending the Summit. Can't wait to meet the man that created the RCBVFR and will create the RCBVFR Version 2.0. Cheers, -T

Super glad to hear you're ok! Most people haven't had the luck of walking away from a 75 mph crash on the road. Too much stuff usually gets in the way! As for the bike: if anybody can fix it, you can. As for the Summit Meet: I can totally understand why you wouldn't attend but I sure hope you do! Take care, -T

I totally agree with this. As someone that has been down a couple of times and have witnessed a few bike accidents; the number one thing is to get back on and ride as much as possible. Sometimes it can take a whole season or more to get back into the swing but take it easy, ride well within your comfort/safety margins and put those miles on!

I don't think that WSP is going to agree with your removal of your front signals!

I was fully prepared to deal with a bunch of dealer malarky after my blue connector caught on fire on the way to the Canada Meet this summer. I was stranded in the mountains outside Yakima, had to get a tow into town (thank God for AAA) after a 4 hour wait, cooled my heels at a Holiday Inn Express for the evening, and finally fixed the issue the next morning with hardware from ACE Hardware Store and continued on to the meet. I was told the same thing by my dealer when I enquired about making the trip knowing that I could end up stranded and having to fix the issue myself prior to the recall work being done. They said that Honda Techline would debit their warranty claim if the harness was found to be tampered with. I, personally, find it pretty hard to believe that Honda has hired a lackey to sit in some back room and tear apart every harness that comes in to see if it has been altered. I'm sure that the expense of this recall has been great enough. I was, however, very careful to solder the wires back in place and make it look as though I hadn't repaired a thing. I had the recall work done about two weeks ago and with a little additional wiring work to the new harness everything is fine. If they had caught on I would have read them the riot-act and immediately contacted someone at the NTSB. It is, after-all, a NTSB SAFETY Recall. If I were you I would remind your dealer of that and ask them how they will respond to your attorney and any appropriate consumer protection agencies should something drastic happen to you and the motorcycle upon failure of Honda's junk wiring and them not pursuing the recall on your behalf. I would be polite and professional but incredibly unrelenting in the pursuit of what is due you. Accept no other answer except "we'll take care of it for you". Rant off, -T

Wow!!!! Magellan and I just finished adjusting the shock reservoir bracket (the 1/8" aluminum plate that the CNC'd mount clamps to). What an incredible P.I.T.A.!!!!!! We had a friend (big fella) sit on the bike to see how close the bottom of the reservoir was to the brake lines/chain guard. Way to close for comfort even though the shock has an 1100 lb (19.64 kg) spring. We quickly realized why Elka wanted to mount that thing on the passenger footrest bracket. They obviously didn't want to let us have 1 extra inch of hose length though :goofy: . I'd be more than happy to converse with anyone wanting to do this mount; even give you the CAD file to get it machined. I'm not so sure that I want to go through trying to mass produce them though. Not to say that this build hasn't been rewarding but, as most of you that fabricate stuff for your bikes know, it's been extremely frustrating at times too. So, onto the bars issue. I knew that I wanted to go with a taller and wider bar set-up after spending some time in the twisties with my wife's 2002 BMW R1100s. I could carry more speed through the corners on her bike than the VFR (10 mph or so, that's quite a difference). I knew that a lot of it had to do with better suspension but felt that some of it had to do with a more upright riding position. I'm not sure if any of my ideas on it are valid or fool proof, I just feel that it has more than a little bit to do with it. Another upside is that my upper back won't be killing me after a few 300-400 mile days :beer: . They are definitely wide though (more leverage = less effort to counter steer). I put the taller riser blocks (17mm vs. 7mm) in today and it even feels better. At first I worried that it would detract from the look but after checking it out from all angles I think it looks pretty sharp. It's kinda like that CD that you may have bought for one song but eventually you love the whole thing because it grew on you. I'll let you know about the change from stock bar postion after I see a few 6th Gens at the "Kootenay Hootenanny" later this week. I'm hoping some attendees will want to take the bike for a spin and give me some feedback. And lastly, I'll leave you with some food for thought: I used to ride with a friend that had a scary fast 'Busa. He is/was a damned fine rider (fastest & smoothest I've known). He eventually got himself an R1 and was able to eek a little more speed out because of the weight decrease. He finally ended up on a custom 650 motard and when he rode that bike it seemed like he was twice as fast than he ever was on any race replica. I'll concede that his technique was superb no matter what bike he rode but even he said that it had a lot to do with being more upright. Maybe something, maybe not. .......and no, I'm not going to paint the fender. Mostly because I love to be annoying .

After Much toil this past week we finally have lift off............ Stoked does not begin to describe my feelings right now. Almost a year to the day (August 25th, 2007) after Ol' Red and I suffered a mishap because of a cager's inattentiveness she is back on the road and better......Oh sooooooo much better..than before. Here's a couple of hard working mugs..... Magellan & Tim: Loni & Tim next to Ol' Red I took the bike for a very short shakedown ride late this afternoon. Still has that awesome VFR turn-in. The suspension can only be described as very authoritative. It eats up the bumps but seems firm at the same time. It definitely feels planted. I'm going to check sag on Tuesday. The bike tracks very well. No wierdness at all. I locked the Throttlemeister on at about 45 mph for about a mile or so and easily road the bike no handed (in a straight line). It tracked very nicely. The completed front end: New Front End Complete, WOOT!!! Upper view: Upper View Side view: Side View Final cockpit view: Final Cockpit View A peek under the fairing: What's under the Fairing? The shock reservoir clamp finally mounted: Reservoir Clamp Mounted! I really want to thank all of the people in this VFRD community for the inspiration to even undertake this project. Without the forum I may have given up riding after the accident or at the very least gave up on Ol' Red and replaced her with another bike. Some people that helped along the way (not in any particular order): Busy Little Shop, veefer800canuck, Kanadian Ken, silver#788, Opus, and many more that I'm forgetting. A massive THANK YOU to Magellan for doing the majority of the reassembly work and getting the bike running (I owe you much my friend :wheel:) and to Darth Bling for the vast farkle knowledge (is it called "Farkle Fu"?), parts, tire mounting, and just hangin' out at the garage. Now off to Canada for the PNWVFRD "Kootenay Hootenanny". WOOT!!!!!!!!