The Phantom

Love the Deals Gap pic... tell us more Seb!

Hey Seb This article on BikeEXIF, "How to make a living building custom motorcycles": http://www.bikeexif.com/build-custom-motorcycles "But: full disclosure here. Chris asked me to contribute this article, and I wasn’t going to turn him down. Maybe this becomes my first advice: If you get the chance to appear on Bike EXIF, take it."

Finally Awesome work mate.

So now that I have worked out your name, I suspect that I now know the bike a little better - when I first got into VFRs in 1997/98 I also did some online searching of RC30s/45s, and NRs. You've got to know your heritage, right. And I'm pretty sure I recall finding some stuff from you... you were still Down Under at that stage. So do I correctly remember this bike being all red? Awesome pics and videos. This sort of stuff is what makes the internet cool.

^ Pics!

Well, it's a big forum... and 1984 is a very long time ago... we have many members, tens of thousands perhaps, who could have owned multiple VFRs during the 30 years since - and who whould have no reason to be aware of the issues the earliest V4 Hondas (may or may not have) experienced.

I'm confused - I see a Panigale, and nothing else. OK I now see post #4 - yowser! You and I will get along well... although let me state now that I take a stupid amount of time to get anything done. But your topic has coincided with a rare spurt of activity on my own project, so thanks for the inspiration and keep it coming! and I'll try to do the same.

So you built a house... does it happen to look anything like the house John Britten built? Loved that last update with the drag strip photos. Not only built, but used

No. I can feel the surprise from here :unsure2: Things are still happening, however.

A ton of space? Like a few cubic inches in areas where it's completely irrelevant, and no weight savings to speak of Some VFRs don't have a few cubic inches of space...

The triangular black panel between the frame and the tank cover, is my guess.

Looks like stock kit to me.

Bumped, for CornerCarver and Mohawk. You're welcome

Great job!

Some of the OzVFR guys were running a 4th Gen trackbike at Eastern Creek for a while, and they experimented with ram air - they ran tubing from the 'intakes' above the front indicators, under the frame and up into the snorkel hole, and sealed it all up. The bike choked at high rpms when at track speeds... so they ditched the ram air. As said earlier, it's a bit more complex than just forcing air into the airbox.

Nice bars. I have a set of old ones somewhere for really skinny forks.

Rider weight and preferred riding style may have some bearing on this. The VTR is a bit lighter than the VFR so yep it probably runs a lighter spring.

I recall seeing that mod done where the four factory holes were welded up. A bit of work, but not particularly difficult for a good welder.

Great photos, it's good to see the close-up stuff that shows what the builder actually did. A few things I noted: - the steering lock stops look to be well done - the subframe that holds the headlights is interesting! looks like a factory item - centrestand frame tangs have been cut off to give more room for the exhaust (a mod I am about to do myself so great to see) - solid front brake rotors (unusual) - cable tie on fork leg shows that previous owner knew a bit about suspension set-up - rear coils mounted to frame where rear panels are normally bolted up - good spot for them - twin lines to front right caliper? - exhaust headers - I can't quite work out how they are set up but looks like 4-2-2, with front bank and rear bank paired?