TimC

No, I never listen to music while riding, but I did try it with earbuds a couple times years ago. I don't have anything against it; it's just not for me. Instead I sing tunes inside my helmet during the longer, boring sections of road during long days. Thankfully I know a lot of songs! 🙂

I'm planning to arrive by early evening on Thursday. Looking forward to seeing a few old friends and making some new ones. Oh, and riding. A lot. 😉

Congrats on your 8th gen. and welcome back to VFRD! 🙂

And to get back to the hotel unscathed each day! 😉 I haven't attended the spring ride for several years. But if I remember correctly, just talking with various folks the night before will give you an idea who's going where, what roads they want to hit, about how many miles they're planning to ride (or number of hours out that day), and - most importantly - what kind of pace they're planning to run. The groups tend to form around those parameters. I think most groups back then were 4-6 people, maybe a few more with the more leisurely pace group. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Like I said, it's been a while since I did this ride.

I agree with @tbzep for the most part. My 6th gen. was okay cruising down a rural road in 6th at 45 mph, but the rpms are too low to get any decent acceleration in top gear at that speed. Drop down a gear or two like tbzep said. The bike will be happier and you'll have more fun! 😉

*NOW* it's a party!

Most years I averaged 8-10k miles on my VFR, so I cleaned and recharged the K&N air filter annually. There were a couple years I only did about 1,500 miles, so the following pre-season maintenance I just re-oiled the filter instead of seriously cleaning it. Also, that's in NE Ohio, so not a dusty environment.

Congratulations on your 6th gen. and welcome to the forum from Ohio, USA! 🙂 That air filter, wow!! The last several years I had my 6th gen. I would open up the airbox to check it for critters and nests before firing up the bike for the first time each spring. I had to clean and recharge the K&N air filter anyway, so it was best to check it out before starting the bike after it had sat in my garage all winter.

Sounds like a great start to the season, and those white wheels look terrific on your 8th gen! 👍 I rarely get to enjoy having both front and rear new tires at the same time, but it is a great feeling when it happens. I'm getting a later start for 2022 than I'd hoped. Between the crappy NE Ohio weather and my busy schedule, I've only had my bike out for a couple short rides this month. But the forecast for this Sunday looks amazing. I'm hoping to get out for at least 2-3 hours!

Very sorry to hear about the fire and damage. Good luck getting her sorted again!

I can understand honest mistakes by people who aren't mechanically inclined and maybe tried something no rational person would, but some of those really made me shake my head. I'm sure fixing the mistake is much more expensive than if they'd just taken the car/truck to the shop in the first place.

Congrats on the new acquisition! Looks to be in decent shape cosmetically. I hope the same is true for what we can't see. 🙂

Thanks for sharing your terrific introduction and photos! Nice work you've done yourself there, too! 🙂 Removing the side fairings starts to feel more routine and less worrisome after the first several times. It's still a pain in the neck, but you won't feel as anxious once you have more experience with them. One tip: after you've removed all the bolts and just as you start to pull the fairing off to the side, rotate the rear of the fairing upward slightly. This will help dislodge the connecting and overlapping tabs from the upper (middle) cowl. Of course be careful doing this. Do it slowly and with minimum force, and the front edge of the side fairing should pull out easier. By the way, wrestling with my old VFR's fairings 2-3 times a year (or more) had me promising myself my next bike would be a naked, and indeed it is. I miss the wind protection some, but not messing with those fairings!

Just made my hotel reservation for Thu-Sun! 🙂

The last several years I had my VFR, before firing it up for the first time in the spring I would check the airbox. I had to crack it open anyway to clean and recharge (re-oil) the K&N air filter, but I also wanted to make sure it hadn't housed a family of mice over the winter. We never had a mouse problem in our garage, and thankfully neither did my VFR.