93 VFR750 RC36

On 1/14/2024 at 7:04 PM, 3rdgenred said:

I just wanna know  whose idea it was for that yellow? I KEEP LOOKING AT IT! 

I had it in Camel colours after I dropped it on the track in 2006.  When it got damaged by Canada Customs, I wanted it in the yellow I'd seen on VFR800s, which turned out to be the Goldwing Pearl Yellow.

On 9/4/2023 at 7:06 PM, Hingley said:

The Pearl Yellow looks good on that 93, 

Do you know who made the left hand exhaust by chance

I  got a 91 that needs a restore and I like your combination

Sorry, missed this.  Sandy Bike Spares in the UK.  Terrible joints, had to cut, grind and reweld.  Look for a Two Bros if you can.

Trip to the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park today.  710km (438 miles) round trip.  Averaged 49.8 mpg (Imp Gal).

Seat was great, can't complain about a seat that's still comfortable after 438 miles. 

Left side shown for the exhaust needs.

Very nice bike!  Just rebuilt the carbs on mine this spring, all new ethanol resistant parts.

Refurbished Corbin seat too.

Mine has a left exit exhaust, 4-1 by Sandy Bike Spares, not sure if they're still around.  It was terrible when I got it, but with a lot of cutting, grinding and re-welding, it produced 97hp at the rear wheel with a modified airbox and jets.

Just thought I'd share photos of my bike with it's new seat.  I found an old and seriously decaying Corbin seat on FleaBay for not much.

Got it to Carriage Upholstery in Lacombe, AB and they refurbished it and re-covered it for me.  It started attracting comments as soon as I put it on.

Looks pretty nice and is fairly comfortable.  Long ride into the mountains on Sunday, so I'll know how comfortable it is for a full day of riding soon enough.

Stew

I feel terrible too! Here I've been searching for a Two Bros system for 4 years and I get to thinking, 'maybe I can find a Yoshimura, Kercher or similar, that'd do for now.'

Then along comes a 'Yoshi M4 system for '94 VFR'.

I think, 'well, it's not a Two Bros but worth a punt.'

Then I turns out to be a Two Bros mis-ID'd by the seller.

If anyone is looking for me, I'll be out drowning my sorrows in a fine glass of Bushmill's Distillery Reserve.

Anyone have a genuine 'Deep Snow Kit' for a 1980-1984 John Deere Liquifire 440 snowmobile? I'm building a vintage cross-country racer and the way my luck is going lately, I figured I'd throw that one out there. Worth a punt!

Sorry guys, I meant right exit.

I thought that's what a Yoshimura system looked like. I've just had a search through some old photos and I've picked up a Two Bros right exit system labelled as a Yoshimura.

Could be worse, it didn't cost me much and seems to be in good condition. Still a lot better than the SBS system I have.

I think I've just picked up a full Yoshimura M4 system for a VFR750. I'll know more when it arrives but should it be a 4-2-1 left exit system?

Anyway, if anyone knows anything about these systems, can you please enlighten me? I'm hoping to get a good welder (my neighbour) to convert it to left exit to replace the Sandy Bike Spares unit I've got fitted.

Put a fair amount of effort into the SBS system to make it work well, but I'm sure the M4 will be better yet.

I've spent a lot of time browsing their site and have never seen this part. I could be wrong but I'm not sure how I'd have missed it.

Dutchy,

Do you make those? What a neat idea for a race wheel look, I'd definitely be interested.

This may sound odd but after my daughters and wife went to bed, I just went to the garage door and stood looking at the old girl in her new paint. It's like seeing a member of the family come though a car accident and go back skiing for the first time or whatever.

I'm bloody stoked with how she looks.

When I opened the shipping container and found her smacked around, I was ready to shoot someone.

Now my trigger finger has relaxed and I'm a happy man.

Is it weird to get emotional about a chunk of aluminum, steel and plastic? If so, I'm a total weirdo.

Oh yes, my wife says it's beautiful too but she misses the Camel scheme. I told her that when I get my RC30 hybrid built, I'll do it in Camel colours just for her. 'Build me a house and then we'll talk' was her reply. I'm a lucky man!

And to think my buddy Dan told me to part it out when I dropped it in 2006. What a shame that would have been looking at her now.

I have no idea how to photoshop.

Any volunteers to help us out on this wheel colour thing?

I'm curious about gold like on the Duhamel Camel RC30. That could work without overdoing the black but I'm not set on a particular colour yet.

Maybe I'll have to go for black on the RC36 and then the full Camel treatment on the RC30 hybrid when I built it up.

And now . . . drum roll please . . .

On Dad's driveway:

On his lawn next to the spruce tree and apple tree:

Not bad for a beat up 54,000 mile track bike eh!?

I am still not sure about the wheels, I'll have to spend some time looking at it. They need to be done though, the silver is peeling in places and a good strip and powder coat would work wonders.

$1600 CAD for the paint, about $50.00 for the decals (can't remember exactly).

You're right about the winter/summer bit. I should be riding the bike and working on my '72 292SS Elan and '80 John Deere Liquifire in the summer.

What tyres do you run on your bike? I've got BT023 on my bike and have been really impressed but that was a mix of road/track in the UK. I can't imagine a sport tyre would be any good here in Alberta, they'd flatten off in no time on all the straight roads and mess up the handling before you found the first twisty bit.

I put a few more photos in my album but figured this was enough for the thread.

Pennzoil eh? Not too shabby but the only car scheme I really saw transferred well to a bike is the Powder Blue/Orange Gulf scheme on an RSV4.

Vinyl looks really good now so we'll see how it wears over the rest of the summer.

Final assembly photos:

Seat on:

Seat cowl on:

SHE RUNS!!! That beautiful bass rumble is back! A bit of smoke and roughness to start with but she's been sitting for six months so that's to be expected. Warmed up and a few blips of the throttle and she cleared her throat and started to roar. That beautiful V4 howl through a race can . . . I'll be smiling for a week.

Put a half bottle of STP fuel system cleaner to help make sure the carbs stay clean but I ran a shot of Seafoam through it before it was packed and then drained the carbs and tank so it should be pretty clean.

This is what she looks like now:

The seat and cowl pad are off as I just re-coloured them in black to match the bike. Three coats of Dupli-colour vinyl paint. Looks great now, time will tell how it wears. I'll let it cure overnight before putting the seat and cowl on properly.

"Anyone know the thread of the nuts on the carb end of the cable?"

Ignore this last one. On closer inspection I had all the right nuts, the lower end assembly had just been put together incorrectly. Five minutes later and the throttle feels like a Moto-GP bike.

OK, perhaps not, but a good Veefer.

Of course I'm a V4 guy through and through and would never ride anything else (well, perhaps an Aprilia RSV) so why expect my sister to.

The VFR400 has something none of these other bikes have:

The V4.

Perhaps that's the key!

I could just get her a VFR but I'm not sure she'd be happy with the weight or size of the bike. An old round headlight CBR400 might be a nice bike too. Looks great in HRC colours.

I want to try to keep her away from Cruisers. He'll only end up entering plowing competitions and getting tattoos that she'll regret when she's 45 and we'll all regret when she's 60.

Throttle fixed! Just some over-tightened cables pulling the geometry out of whack.

Anyone know the thread of the nuts on the carb end of the cable? I'm missing one (not sure how but considering my bike came back from the cam shim work missing the carb heat shield, I have my suspicions) and need another. Last time I let anyone else work on my bike, I get it up to 99.5hp at the wheel, give it to someone else for work and it comes back sounding like a bucket of rocks in a tumble dryer. Several hours of careful stripping and re-assembly later and she runs properly again.

Enough of my griping about rubbish mechanics. My own fault for being lazy and not doing the work myself I guess.

I know a bit of the C&E trail that has about 5 nice corners strung together . . . speed limit? 60kph. Flipping 'eck! I could get my knee down and do a 360 at 60kph and never leave the road.

It'll have to be BC, although my 'Best Biking Roads' App on my phone show up a couple twisty roads in the foothills that I'll have to explore.

Alberta needs a decent race track. Someone needs to copy the Snetterton circuit here, they'd make a fortune!

In 1998 I was in flying training and had no desire to ever own a bike. I'd just built a Sylva Striker kit car that could outbrake, out corner and out accelerate (to about 110mph, then aerodynamics let it down) a 911 GT3.

However, one of the senior instructors on base had a '95 VFR with a Micron can and I remember thinking that it was the only mechanical sound better than a Merlin engined Spitfire or Mustang on take-off.

In 2003 I was on leave in Canada and decided to learn to ride. Several buddies had eventually convinced me that the bang for buck was way better than a car and considering I had to wear waterproofs and a helmet anyway (my car only had a 4" aeroscreen), I may as well go the whole way. So I bought a CB450 and learned to ride.

I returned to the UK and found a Squadron buddy was selling his old VF500 FII. I threw him some cash and rode the tyres off it for two years including a couple of track days. At full throttle there was a beautiful but muted V4 howl that needed to be let out.

After a year I convinced my wife that I needed a VFR and found a nice '93 for sale with every receipt and MOT from new. I handed the man some cash, added a Scorpion can and I had a mistress my wife allowed provided she didn't come in the house. The VF went to a friend.

I then crashed it on an airfield track day so rebuilt it with a left exit exhaust, a bit of tuning, upgraded forks, rear shock, upgraded brakes and Camel racing colours. She's since seen several airfield track days, Mallory Park, Snetterton 300 (my favourite), Thruxton, and Pembrey. She's taken me down to Le Mans and across Normandy and Pas de Calais on a battlefield tour, where we averaged about 85mph for three days straight. Yes, France has some great riding and the Gendarmerie bikers generally just join in the fun.

Now she lives in Canada and despite her charms, I'm still happily married and my wife says I can have an RC30 when I've built her a house. The Honda V4 howl . . . despite what she tries to tell you when you've shrunken her blouse in the dryer, your wife/girlfriend wouldn't want any other sound coming in the driveway.

In summary:

She sounds better than a V12 fighter from WWII.

She forgives me when I push her too hard.

I can ride the chicken strips right off and ball up tyre rubber around the tyre edges.

My wife secretly likes her too.

She sounds better than a V12 fighter from WWII.

Are there any others out there whose track bike has electric hand warmers, a Scottoiler and fits a Givi Wingrack?

Sorry, she's got a CB450 to start on.

I accidentally posted this thread in the wrong forum, can someone move it to the 'Older and other models' bit?

Of course I'm now going to hit the problem with moving back to central Alberta from the UK; finding a road where I can keep the chicken strips cleaned off my tyres.

Ah well, such is life.

My sister wants to learn to ride when she's done chemotherapy (she's fighting a lymphoma). I think a NC30 would be perfect as she's only 5' 3".

Can they be found in Canada or should I be looking overseas? I have lots of friends in the UK who could look around for me and crate one up.

Veefer,

I've got a mechanical inspection booked for Wednesday in Red Deer. Hopefully I'll be back on the road after that. New baby and house build limit my time but I'm keen to get out on the road. Half the season is gone already and I've yet to turn a wheel!

I'll PM you my cell so you can text me next time you're nearby.

Thanks, I love the yellow too. I painted it in 'Sandglow Yellow' and Camel decals when I rebuilt it first. However, I decided to go back to stock decaling this time so went with Craig's suggestion of 'Pearl Yellow'. Available on Goldwings for years but only one year on the VFR800 (2002?).

I've run into another issue that I'd appreciate advice on. The throttle I sticking open from about 3/4 to full throttle. Open it to half or 2/3 throttle and it snaps back closed like normal. A bit more and it sticks. Plenty of penetrating lube and ACF-50 has eased it a bit but it's still sticking.

Because it's at a particular point that it binds, I'm thinking that it might be a cable geometry issue somewhere from when I had the cam buckets re-shimmed. The carbs were in and out three times so maybe something wasn't put back in the same.

Any ideas?