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I've ridden Monitor Pass on California's Hwy 89 many times, usually eastbound. Here side-by-side video from my 2003 and 2014 trips, on my '98 VTR1000F and '09 VFR800. The timing was close but I tweaked the clips to better synch them. The early trip used an analog camera recording to a Canon Hi8mm camcorder, while the latter one used a V.I.O. POV.HD setup. Eagle eyed viewers will note the pass looked a lot drier in April 2014 than in July 2003. Click the link: Monitor Pass - In Stereo!

Almost exactly 20 years ago I traded my VTR1000F for a spanking new VFR800. Both were first year models, and the first ones to arrive at my local shop. Over the years I've gone back and forth between VFRs and VTRs. It may be heresy to say so but my perfect bike would be a 5th/6th gen VFR with a VTR1000 motor. First pic is trade-in day, second is atop Sonora Pass, Cal., en route to the 1998 WSB races at Laguna Seca.

I'm starting a thread here for my VTR 250 rebuild. I have a thread started on the VTR250 forums as well. Small crowd, but lots of good information and helpful people. Started Saturday on sorting through the mess of stuff that came with my $250 VTR. I get another bike in the garage in a few days (Track prepped Honda F2), so progress on this one will be slow, as that one should only take a week or two to finish. Started on the carbs. The PO must have not known exactly what he was doing, because he just bought almost everything new he could from Service Honda for them, down to the screws. The first carb was pretty much perfect. The second carb was in pieces. It went together and I had all the parts for it, except for one. The vacuum diaphragm was torn to bits, probably because he just threw it in a ziploc with a ton of other loose parts. So an hour into the bike, and I've already found something to kill it off. Waiting to head if a member here and there (Squirrelman) has a spare one. Otherwise I found someone who makes new ones, but they are thicker than OEM and may not be as good. But it's $20 a pop vs $100 for OEMs that you can't get anymore anyways, so not much of a choice. Here is the link to the aftermarket ones. They are thicker and not as stretchy as OEMs, but it's better than what I have. http://jbmindustries.com/K-72-S.html Moved the VF500C rolling mess in the shed and brought this out to the garage. Put the carbs together as best as I could to reduce the number of loose parts floating around in the bag. Forgot to put the Y pipe in, and a few other things. If your diaphragm looks like this, you will not be riding today. The petcock was taken apart as well. The rebuild kit says it's for a CX500, but the parts looks about the same. Couldn't figure out exactly how it goes together. Something just didn't seem right when I was fitting parts together.

My GF's 2000 VFR with a Superhawk front end has a high speed (above 60 mph) brake shudder. Below 50 or 55, I can't really feel it though. About a year ago I rode it and felt it, so I pulled everything apart, made sure the front end was tight and torqued it all to spec using the Honda steps. She said it was better (I didn't ride it again though) and never said another word. Well, I rode it a couple of weeks ago, and it felt worse now than it was a year ago. Apparently it has been there a while but she never said anything. Maybe it just slowly got worse with time. I bought a dial indicator and set off to measure the rotors. Found one about .010" and the other about .004" runout. I used a cresent wrench to bend them a little back to straight. Seems both are back to about .002"-.003" but I still get a shudder. Spec is .012", so I should be well within that limit. Since the bike has the Superhawk front end on it, I also played around with the calipers a little. They weren't exactly centered on the rotors, so I bought a few washers and tried different ones to get them more centered on the rotors. They seem to be pretty center now, but it didn't change anything. What am I missing here? Do I need to pull the rotors off and clean the surfaces using something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Flex-Hone-Flywheel-Surface-Silicon-Carbide/dp/B00063VDR0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1D22E2FJV7TF4&coliid=I2PEVBKHTUQYBY Maybe pull the pads off at the same time and sand them down? Anything else to check or do?

I had a free Saturday for the first time in a long time. Weather was fair, so I called up a few friends and we went down to Dayton, Ohio to check out the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. Needless to say, it was absolutely awesome and I highly recommend anyone with any interest in aircraft or history to visit it. We were there for 6 hours, and maybe took in 1/3-1/2 of what was there. One of the first engines used by the Wright brothers. We couldn't quite figure it out. It had a push rod for intake and exhaust, but only one valve per cylinder. It either pushed up or down, and the springs centered it. Big wood wind tunnel with wood fan blades. To give an idea of the size of the smallest hangar of six. This is about a third of the hangar, and it is really deep. And yes, that is a full size blimp up there. The first UAV. Sort of. The Alman A-4 Barrel engine. 18 cylinders, 425 HP. Yes please. Mandatory motorcycle content. The Cushman scooter. It was air dropped and could pull a small trailer, sort of. But can you fit it on the back of a Busa? Next time someone complains about having to trace a wire on their VFR, think of the poor souls who had to work on the wiring in the C-133. Proof that flat black IS the fastest color And someone left a motorcycle in the back of the truck. Looks like I have to adopt another one. Thanks to Andy for picking up the bike for me and saving me the trouble of the extra drive. Hope the selection of beer was enjoyable

After reading some posts about changing over VTR forks on this board, I took a close look at my GF's VFR that she bought last year and noticed the previous owner did not change the master cylinder when he put VTR forks on the bike. So it still has a 1/2" M/C on there. I asked my GF about the braking ability and she said it wasn't really that great. This is her first street bike, so she really doesn't have the experience to say that something is wrong and I just haven't ridden the bike much to noticed. The only other bike she has really ridden is my '06 GSXR600 with SS brake lines and is a lot lighter than the VFR, so stops a ton better. She knows the VFR won't ever be that good, but would like something better. I've read all the threads I can find about it, but still not sure which M/C to hunt down and put on her VFR. The VTR has a 14mm stock and she wants to keep the casket style M/C so both sides match. Looks like the ST1100 has a casket style in a 14mm. I also found the F4i has a 5/8" casket style. A lot of the VTR guys are going up to the 5/8" as an upgrade, so would that one be better on the VFR with VTR brakes too? Anyone try either of these master cylinders?

I searched, but either I am looking in the wrong spot or can't figure out the right words to use in the search engine. My GF bought a yellow 2000 VFR with Superhawk forks already installed. The current front fender is a 2000 VFR fender, but it has a couple of issues in the paint department. Also, the mounting holes don't exactly line up with the VTR fork legs so the previous owner made some little brackets to adapt it. Would a 1999 (also yellow) VTR fender bolt right up or is there a difference in the fork spacing? As far as I know, the triple trees are VFR, but I don't know if they are the same dimensionally as the VTR triple trees. Would it look funny as far as the "lines" of the bike?