The Phantom

Right, well you know who will be keen to grab your R1 hardware then! Good luck with the potential new arrival.

I suppose I should update this sometime : ) Roy did you get the pics of the spacers I sent you? I was having problems with attachments at the time, but forgot to check in with you after I sent the emails off. Smithy will knock the axle spacers out for you, just get a pair of OEM ones from a wrecker (I paid $5 for a pair, cheapest Ti you'll ever find) and mail them to his place of work at Chester Hill. I've got a template for the one-piece rotor spacers, am probably going to make them with a jig saw and a drillpress. Don't make the 10 individual ones like we did, they are too fiddly to fit.

Hi Neil, welcome to the forum. IIRC the Airtech gear is not the most asethetically pleasing bodywork around - it's pretty much raceglass - although I suppose there's very little out there that's going to be comparable to the OEM bodywork for quality. Thurn in Germany make some stufff for the 4th Gen VFR - http://www.thurn-motorsport.de/html/verkleidung-rc36.html Here's their RC45 kit: Back o/t - Hobie, where's the fully-assembled pics??? : )

I agree with the above, you can't get too stressed about the possibility that someone *might* take your bike. Insurance is cheap. Some people dispute that fact, claiming that their comprehensive insurance premium is too much, well you're paying not only for replacement of the vehicle in the event of theft/accident, but also for peace of mind. Remember what that was? : ) Keep it secured, insure it, forget about it. Braided steel cable is better than chains, you can't cut it with bolt cutters and not many thieves cart oxy kits around. Most bike shops will stock decent braided cables with hardened steel ends that you can fit padlocks through (I have a 3/4" x 6' cable for the VFR and a 3/8" x 4' cable for the Cannondale MTB). Also, don't forget that when/if your pager goes off, your response might end up leading to a worse outcome than just losing a motorcycle.

I like that bike lift! You made it yourself? Nice work. I saw a commercial one at the Sydney Motorcycle Show which lifted the bike from the front. And recall seeing something that lifts the bike from the footpeg area? which would make working on fr/rear suspension a piece of cake. Your other mods are all very sharp too - taking care of the VFRs achilles heel. No point spending on suspension etc. if the electricals are going to strand you.

Nice grass! : )

Mine cost $400AUD back in 1999 and the guys who did it said they'd never do it again for less than $600AUD - they were used to doing flat disc Fatboy wheels... there's a lot of work involved, even with machines.

Looks pretty good although flash photography doesn't do polished alloy any favours! If you want to seal them, I've recently heard that POR-15 has a good clearcoat available - but I know nothing about it. I use Nyalic, which is fantastic, it doesn't go yellow over time like most clear finishes. And it's super easy to apply. Only problem is that it's pricey, but the cheaper stuff just isn't up to the job. Looking forward to the assembled shots.

Marty, given the work rate to date, I'm sure you'll do it. Forget the rear end for now - it doesn't need to be done for TMac. Just finish the front... good work on tracking down suitable brake/clutch reservoirs, another useful datapoint for VFR Mods Inc. :thumbsup: (no, no - Lewis, Kevin, Rob - sit down). I haven't seen all the pics (dial-up) but what I have seen is impressive. But why Convertibars, wouldn't stock 4th Gen bars work ok? Or F3/VTR bars, both are lower than 4th Gen and work ok with the tank. I think the twin discreet headlights are a good idea (more wow factor! : )

Now THAT is how the 4th Gen should have come from the factory! Congratulations DTC - fantastic job. You and DBG have kicked it hard! I hear ya about finishing mine - just had four days off work and didn't have time to hit the shed even once... sigh... this week I have some 'quality me/bike time' locked in, and I'll be making up for it.

There's an R1 racing in Australia which has been modified to use a 'big bang' firing order - they did a cut and shut on the cams, rotating one half of the cam 180 degrees to change the firing order. It now fires two cylinders at once, then the other two (sorry I'm not sure which ones are paired). It puts out similar power to other comparable R1 engines (it's not modified all that much apart from the cams) but is apparently far easier to ride hard. I think it's hanging together ok, but it's not racing at the top level so is only making 150rwhp. If they went for 180+ it would probably lunch itself. The BSB Virgin Yamaha team did it too, but in a slightly different way in order to alleviate stresses: http://www.crash.net/feature_view~t~Exclus...~18~id~6850.htm BTW you can easily change the firing order of 3rd/4th Gen VFRs by lifting the front cam, spinning it laterally 180 degrees, and dropping it back in... which creates the Twin Twingle [TM] :thumbsup:

Holy crap! It's a Quad Twingle :idea3:

Nice one Baketech, that's probably the most effective presentation of how the 180-vs-360 firing order works that I've seen :thumbsup: Interesting to see th I4 pattern against the V4s as well.

OK! I will get an update this week (not much as of right now, but a bit going on in the background that should come to fruition by midweek).

Yippee! Very pleased for you. Looking forward to pics and futher impressions.

Glad to see you guys both progressing, wish I could say the same - kids have been sick, wife has been sick, still gotta go to work... there's not a lot of motivation to get out to the garage, till I log on here and see what you're up to : ) DBG your front end (first pic) looks fantastic - most of the Frankenviffers don't look all that remarkable after the swap, until you look closely. Not yours - that front end and guard leap out at you like, well, an NR front end would do. Think it's the shiny hardware against the black wheel and guard combo. Very very nice! The $ spent on the guard were well worth it.

And planning... I had my axle spacers made without stopping to think about which side of the original spacers the custom ones had to go... they will work, but it's not as 'perfect' as I'd like it. Pics will show what I mean.

Fun, innit? :goofy: No recent updates from me/mine because the spacers I had made for the R1 hardware are proving difficult to fit - more in my own topic when I get around to it...

There's a topic somewhere that shows a few option (taking an anglegrinder to a big socket is one). Have a look in the Maintenance section.

Slide a very thin screwdriver between the bar and grip, then squirt some water in there and it will help slide it off (use soapy water if plain water doesn't work). Another way is to blow compressed air into the gap while pulling. The throttle grip is harder to get off, but the same techniques usually work. Hope this helps. I'm also in a holding pattern waiting for some parts for mine...

:unsure: Sorry about letting that cat out, John... glad to see you back on VFRD though :thumbsup:

I'd be most surprised if the NR wheel is lighter than any VFR wheel, esp. the 4th Gen. Looking at JZH's pics it has a multi-piece hub assembly which probably uses steel for absolute strength so the actual spoke/rim section can be a bit lighter? But the 4th Gen wheel has a highly machined hub section which looks like it marries strength with low weight. I'm sure he'll post up weight info when he can. I'll post the relative weights of 3rd and 4th Gen rear wheels (minus tyres) in the next day or two.

Cool, I was a Cub then a Scout, but we didn't have this over here.