TimC

Congrats on that beautiful VFR1200 and welcome to the forum from Ravenna, OH! 🙂 This forum is for all VFRs, but yes, there are probably more 800s out there than any other generations. I'm a former 6th gen. owner myself, but stuck around here because the people are great!

Welcome to the forum from Ohio, USA, and good luck with the purchase! I hope you'll report back on how it went, and post a couple photos of your new-to-you VFR! 🙂

Very sorry to hear of this. My condolences to Duc2V4 and to Lance's family and friends.

I'm only going to chime in here because I believe I have the same SC Project exhaust can (the Conic titanium) as @slo1 on my BMW R nineT. Completely different bike than a VFR, of course, but my experience matches slo1's -- no noticeable difference in performance, but the sound is a little better than the single OEM can it replaced. You can definitely feel a difference in the weight when handling the two exhausts, but once it's on the bike I couldn't tell a difference. I'm running mine with the baffle in, and it sounds just a little deeper than the stock unit did. Of course, it looks better, too. 😉 I have no idea how it is on the 8th gen. VFR, but with my Beemer, one nice bonus is because the SC Project exhaust can is a little shorter and sticks up a bit higher than the OEM can, I don't have to loosen the exhaust to remove the rear wheel. With the stock can I had to loosen it to remove the rear wheel.

Awesome videos - thanks for sharing them here! 🙂 Seeing those really makes me miss riding in the mountains, something I've not done yet this year. But also, NC226A reminds me very much of most of the roads I hit regularly in SE Ohio. Gravel driveways, pavement imperfections, etc. It's a more technical road than many in that corner of Ohio, but the challenges are similar. I'm glad the turnout was good. I wish I'd been able to attend. Maybe next year!

Congrats on your two VFRs and welcome to the forum! 🙂 I bought and installed a QuadLock for my iPhone this summer, and it works great. If you go that route (or with any other brand for that matter) be sure to add the vibration dampener. Even mild vibes from a motorcycle engine and the road can quickly kill a smartphone's camera, and most companies will not warranty the phone due to damage from mounting it on a motorcycle.

Glad to hear you are doing well and are able to ride again, @Grum !! 🙂 Great idea for a way of transporting bottles without breakage! I may have to do the same but on a more limited basis with bourbon during my next ride to Kentucky. 👍

Welcome back! 🙂

I think most dealers' shop mechanics do decent work. But not all them have a passion for it. To them it's probably just a job, like many people feel about their work. Which is to say they might do it well, but when it comes to working on our motorcycles, we probably have much more concern about it being perfect when we do our own work vs. when a shop mechanic works on it. As for plugs, it stinks having to pay a dealer shop for something that didn't really need to be done. But knowing it was done and now won't need to be done again for years is some peace of mind. And if you're doing these things yourself, in the long run plugs and filters are cheap enough that if you do replace them more often that is needed you're not really just throwing money away.

Welcome to the forum! This is the absolute best place on the planet to find the information you need for all things VFR. And if you can't find it via a search, just ask! 🙂

Unfortunately, no. I sold it a couple months after buying my current bike. There have been several times I wish I'd kept it. But I haven't ruled out buying another one at some point! 🙂

Congratulations on your 6th gen. and welcome to the forum from Ohio, USA! 🙂

At least you get to wear out the sides of tires. Very few decent curves where I live, so my tires always get squared off and worn to the cords before I can even try wearing the edges off!

I don't think that's fussy at all. When I was shopping for a bike to replace my VFR, it had to have character. I ended up with a BMW R nineT Pure, which has tons of character in my opinion. Thanks for that information on the Suzuki, and good luck with your search for a VFR1200!

Welcome to the forum from northern Ohio! Also, great fleet you have there! 👍 I'm curious what would lead you to part with the GSXS1000GT+ so soon. I've looked at these, thinking it would make a nice sport-tourer to replace my old 6th gen. VFR I sold a few years ago.

You said the rear tire is now touching the ground when the bike is on the centerstand. Is that a fairly new tire, or a worn one? With my old 6th gen. I found there could be a pretty big difference with how much the rear tire was in the air depending on the brand/model of the tire and how new or worn it was. Congrats on the weight loss!! I've lost 20-some pounds this year, and hoping to lose much more. It definitely makes a difference in how I feel on the bike, and the responsiveness of the bike's suspension. Also, glad to hear Traxxion did great work for a low cost and turned it around quickly! 👍

Sounds like a great trip, Seb! Thanks for sharing some details and the photos here. Sorry to hear about the problem with the rear shock. I don't think I've seen that many blown seals like that. Any idea what caused it to fail?

Sorry to hear about the health issues, but hopefully as you said you can get some riding in before you just can't anymore. I don't know any professional mechanics with their own shops, but if you have to use a dealer shop call State 8 in Cuyahoga Falls. They worked on my old 6th gen. a few times and did fine. Shop rates are high everywhere, so the more you can do yourself the better. Good luck with it! 👍

Welcome to the forum from Ohio, USA! 🙂

I watched my 2004 leave in the bed of a pickup truck a few years ago. I was sad to see it go, but happy it was going to someone who was as excited to get it as I was back in 2006.

I'd love to attend, but I'm already booked for a wedding gig that Saturday. 😞

Welcome to the forum! 🙂 I've never restored a bike, and I'm only a half decent DIY mechanic sometimes, so eternal props to the people who buy and restore old motorcycles. If you have the time, money, and patience for this project you can probably do it. But I doubt anything will be easy with it. Good luck and please post your progress as you go. Hopefully at the end you'll have something special for all to see!

I watched that video when it come out. I watch most if not all F9 videos, which are generally great. I thought Ryan laid out some great points about the pros and cons of each engine configuration. But I do wish he had included some details on ease vs. difficulty of maintenance, long-term reliability, general fuel economy, and service costs.

I don't think the MO review was very negative, but let's call this out: Moto journalists who spend days on the track and on amazing Spanish and Italian mountain roads during all-expenses paid manufacturer launches of Fireblades, R1's, and Gixxers aren't going to get too excited about a VFR. Of course they're going to underwhelmed and unimpressed. Despite the writer saying everything has been improved and it's a darn good bike, that review leaves you feeling half-hearted. The bane of the VFR's existence has always been writers trying to compare it to other bikes. It's slower than a GSX-R. It's less comfortable than an ADV bike. It doesn't handle as well as a supersport. It's more expensive than most middleweight bikes. And on and on. Instead, they should compare other bikes to the VFR. If they did that, they'd say the Gixxer is faster than you need for a streetbike, so the 100 hp VFR makes total sense. It's more nimble than an ADV, and less twitchy than a pure sportbike. You can ride it all day, too, as opposed to bikes with clip-on bars. Its weight is a plus on iffy pavement and in high winds. It's more refined than most other middleweights. When you turn it around like this, some of the 'negatives' are actually positives. I've always thought the VFR was one of the smartest, most well-rounded streetbikes you could buy. But so many people want a bike that does just one thing great, instead of a bike that does several things well. I loved my 6th gen. I used it for commuting, long single day rides, weeklong trips, and corner carving (to the best of my abilities). It was also pretty reliable. Not perfect, but I'd say better than average.

Congrats on your 5th gen. and welcome to the forum from Ohio! 🙂