house

And here I was excited about getting new tires ....

On the edge of my seat!!

I like it... black will make it blend for those who don't want to see it. BTW guys... if you don't like it... don't buy it. Just a thought.

Rock on Trav!

That guy copied me!!! Only I used a curling iron. I'm a bit embarrased to admit that I even know what a curling iron is

to my knee I finally got my new riding brace in yesterday and used it this AM. It was a bit cold at 18 degrees, but did the job (I guess?) This thing cost more than a really nice exhaust system, so it better keep my knee safe :laugh: It's even made of carbon fiber, but I had it painted black cuz you know I'm a fool for black. The doc said that should be the last knee brace I ever need... he obviously has never seen me ride. So this is what my xmas to me was... unless I can find something better.

I know how jealous you all must me. :biggrin:

My daughter wanted to put stickers on it (yellow and pink hearts) so I gave her a deals gap sticker to put on instead (can you imagine the hell I would get from the guys at work?)

will, at your size and assuming weight to go with it, have you upgraded your suspension? while all said previously is correct, if your suspension is setup factory, it will be quite difficult to keep the bike settled as you ratchet up the speed.

Nope... I'm all stock... haven't adjusted anything yet. My friend down the street works for Traxxion Dynamics and offered to tweak the stock settings for me if I can drop by the shop. I think I will start by letting his team look me and the bike over, dial in some good settings, and then see what aftermarked suspension stuff the reccommend. I gotta pay Dymos2000 for a set of Lasers, then I can put some cash into the suspension. I don't know if Butch had suspension work done, but I loved the way his bike rode. Hard to believe that I have put in over 21,000 miles on VFRs and never touched the suspension... but that's how it's played out.

Now you can say... "Yeah, I know that guy! He rides much better now that he changed the settings!"

Watch out Vespa riders... I just might pass you out on the road :rolleyes:

WOW, thanks for all the advice!! I made an important discovery yesterday... it was like a light bulb going off. I was taking Butch's bike back to him (done with this round of mods,) and he has lowered his bike a bit. That coupled with my new riding stance had me whipping through the turns on the way to work about 5 MPH faster than usual. I didn't want to push too hard (I wasn't on my bike after all,) but I noticed how much more confidence I had with a lower center of gravity. I am about 6'2" and just naturally throw the VFR center of gravity up there a bit (Jeremy probably knows what I am talking about.) So today I worked really hard at getting my center of gravity lower (by following the posted advice.) It definately made a difference. I have been just sitting way up on the seat with my head in the clouds and leaning... now I feel like I just slip through a turn instead of dragging the bike around a corner... the difference is HUGE I feel like I can keep up with the Vespa riders now :laugh:

OK, I should have qualified this... I'm not hanging off like Jeremy or anything like that. I am nowhere near that level... Just moving my butt to one side of the seat or the other, getting my torso over the tank, and my head near the mirror that's on the inside of the turn. I am going through corners faster doing this, but when I move to the other side, sometimes it's not smooth... most times it is. I cannot figure out why sometimes I mess it up. Maybe I will have to just keep experimenting to figure it out, but I thought I would ask.

BR - I ALWAYS need schoolin

I am fairly smooth most of the time... I just need to figure out this annoying little thing.

Now that the effects from last year's wreck are starting to subside, I find myself starting to hang off the bike in turns (which is new to me.) I did NOT practice that at TMAC since I don't know the roads well enough (and didn't want to push my luck with the wife who didn't want me to go racing around the mountains with you guys.) Anyway, when I switch sides in quick corners, I find myself upsetting the chassis just a little and the bike wiggles. My knee is on the tank, my butt is off the seat, and my weight is not on the bars... so what am I missing? That little wiggle in the back end of the bike is not bad, but I feel like I can make it stop if I knew what I was messing up.

As usual, thanks in advance for the help :fing02:

Well, Butch's bike is finally done. I charged it up yesterday and rode around the neighborhood to check everything. While I don't really like the convertibars, I have to say that the riding position on his bike makes it incredibly manuverable at low speed. I was doing U turns at 4 MPH inside of a 12' radius! Nice!!! Anyway, the bike finally goes back to him this weekend and I hope he likes it. Here are the final pics...

Doesn't EVERYONE need two VFRs in their garage?

Check out the gold sprocket and chain

You can turn on the Volt Meter even when the bike is off

Check it out... Wonder what took them so long?

I still prefer Radar's and R&G...

5th Gen Sliders

4th Gen

6th Gen

Butch, here's another thought... you can pull the Throttle Meisters and have them coated too. I think that might look better with the levers, but up to you. It's really easy to do, so you can do it if you decide to, or let me know and I'll drop them when I go later this week to get my swingarm and get fitted for earphones. If not... or you want to wait, you can always pull them and ship them to the powdercoater.

Also, I have another set of rotors you can borrow if you want yours coated

Ken, I want to coat the extra set of rotors, so I will bring them to you later this week!

OK, we are just about ready to go. There is a small punch list:

1. I still have some electrical connections to make, but didn't want to do them until the harness is replaced under warranty

2. ABS Light is on (but the bike has bee sitting there for months. If I remember correctly, it was doing this before I pulled the bike apart. Again, I will address once the shop does the factory replacement if it persists.

3. One headlight is out, but I think I know why... will address when the bike gets back

All in all, it's looking good and running solid. If I can beat the rain, off to the shop it goes tomorrow

Quick disconnects for the volt meter

The other end of the disconnects (you can't mess it up)

Here's how the wheele turned out...

Check Ken out!!! Always looking out for others!

Hey Butch, I made a lot of progress over the weekend, you can check the pics below. I should wrap it up tonight and be ready for the dealership on Tuesday. I think you Kissan headlight modulator is shot... so here's what I propose: Order a new one and I will get it mounted. Then we can put the old one in the box and return it. I think this is the fastest way to get finished. I messed with that thing for about an hour and finally got tired of it. Your bike is now really clean too

Painted the center of the wheel

The wheel will look like this when done

Rear Wheel mounted

Cleaned the swingarm and stuff

Re-Wrapped this luggage support (it was looking scrappy)

Notice I cleaned and polished the staintunes as well

Note the heated grip wires are wrapped for looks and protection :thumbsup:

More wrapping and a GOLD Pazzo!

Front end buttoned up and a bug buster too! Looks good Riv!

Another shot... the paint matches nicely. Check the Pazzos. Cleaned the MRA screen too

No flash shot

Garmin mount and power cord run

I believe they are powder-coated... Ken would know for sure.

I should be putting the bug buster on tomorrow. Thanks to Travis for all the awesome work and Ken for hooking me up and saving me many trips to Athens!

Butch, I got your wheels, but as discussed, the centers were hand painted a different gold than the rims. So I got some black paint and will touch them up tonight unless you change your mind. Check out the pics...

Wheels

And the "slightly off" touch-up gold

Did the stickers show up yet David? Did you put one on your helmet? LOL

Oh yeah.... David, please send me your address so I can send these to you!

Found this in the local Cycle Gear today!!!! You KNOW you want one for your bike (especially David)

Be sure to run out and grab one

MOD of the year - 2008

BTW, the wife wants a set of those Big Ears... so I will bring the girls with me when we get it all ready so she can be fitted if that is OK.

No problem at all. Does she want ear plugs or stereo plugs for music?? I've made several sets for women that have husbands that snore. B)

Ear plugs for her ipod... which only gets used at the gym... so it's terribly important that she can hear well

Well, I can sit around no more. I'm getting ready to go ride two bikes on 80 mile twistie runs in 32 degree weather. One bike has heated grips the other doesn't.

I'll just layer up, enjoy the empty roads then fill up the hot whirlpool tub... :goofy:

Rode before daylight (26 degrees), then it had warmed up to a "toasty" 33 degrees after I got back after sunrise......a little "nippy"............... :goofy:

Me too... rode in the 25 degree weather this AM... but I was not cold with the gerbings gear I got some weird looks from the cagers...

OK, bearings are on the way for the swingarm and three sets of wheels (I have another set to coat when these are done All I may need now is the seals and bearings for the thing in the center of the rear hub

She is actually just a girlfriend, but seems like we are married sometimes. :goofy:

Hey, I got the bolt out of the bracket today. Since I drilled the first hole all of the way through, I was able to use a punch and get the extractor out from the other end. I then drilled the hole one size bigger, got the MAPP gas out and heated the part up (I think I got it about 250 degrees), then put the bigger extractor in and it came right out. Funny thing though, it is a left handed thread. That is probably why it was broke in the first place. Whoever you got it from was turning it the wrong way to get it out and snapped off the head.

I went to Pep Boys today to get a press, but they were out. They said tomorrow the truck comes in and it should have more on it. Hopefully it will be no problem pressing in the new bearings for you. Oh, and thanks for the excuse to buy another tool. :goofy:

Got the tires, valve stems, weights, and bearings off the wheels today as well. They are ready to go to the powdercoater tomorrow. :beer:

You rock!! Just let me know how much I owe you! BTW, the wife wants a set of those Big Ears... so I will bring the girls with me when we get it all ready so she can be fitted if that is OK.

Guess I better get busy and buy some bearings!

That would be me (turing it the wrong way)... but I tried turning the other way at first and it wouldn't come out that way either. So I tried backing it down, which is when it broke. I thought about trying to find another one, but that part was really hard to come by believe it or not. There are tons of swingarms, but none of the thing that they mount to. It took about 15 emails to a dealer before he understood what I was looking for :P

I met with WERA803 to drop off the parts for powdercoat yesterday... though Athens was an hour away, but forgot about the fact that I live up in Canton... so it's about 1:45. All I can say is it's a good thing he and I don't live near each other... we would build some crazy stuff!!! He has the same modding sickness as me and the coolest shop I have ever seen!! He's got two of everything I want Many thanks to him for helping me take the last few pieces of the swingarm apart, I owe you for that!! He is a super nice guy with a killer garage and a very tolerant wife. Anyway, the part should be ready to go in a couple of weeks or so, then I will head up there to pick them up. I will try to get the rest buttoned up (holidays permitting.)

Confirmed your BB should be on the way soon from Travis

Just got off the phone with Ken, I meet up with him tomorrow.

I will order the bearings and seals over the weekend.

MotoSports is supposed to call me Monday to confirm that they have the parts for your warranty work.

Man, we are getting close! Did you order your MagKnight tank protector? Also, did you want frame sliders? If so, we need to order them quick, they take awhile to get across the pond.

Also, did you want to powdercoat the passenger or rider footpegs and mounts? (keep in mind that the stuff next to the rider pegs will remain silver - so you may want to leave them silver; the passenger pegs might look cool, though.) Take a look at pics of my bike if you need to see what I am referring to.

One last question - we are going with the GOLD, correct? Just double checking.