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  1. Past hour
  2. Skids
    Ok, that sounds positive. Maybe I have this the tongue way round, though I still dont understand how.
  3. Skids
    Mine dont hurt.
  4. FromMaine
    On that note. If you manage to lose the lug nuts that hold your rear rim onto the Swingarm, your CRV lugnuts you use when you swap out summer tires for snow tires are the same. Part number is different because of the finish, but got me by for a summer about 4 years ago until I finally found my VFR's under my lift.😁
  5. Today
  6. Terry
    Ventura is a product of a local manufacturer in Hamilton, Dold Industries, still very much in business. There was a time where it almost appeared that fitting a Ventura rack was a legal requirement here...
  7. keny

    Anything goes!

    Images added to a gallery album owned by keny in Member's Gallery

    Other VFR and other pics....
  8. mello dude
    Bike's looking pretty sweet! Is that a Ventura pack on the rear? Was wondering if they are still in business? Cheers
  9. mello dude
    General questions.... Does any Ducati wheel fit? Figuring choices.... Is changing the rear caliper and rotor a requirement? Again, looking at options... If I do the rear, well then, I have to do the matching front... An F4I? would do it? For me, this would have to be a winter 2026 job... I have already used up all my "while I'm at it cards" ($$) this time around on the refresh I am already doing...
  10. mello dude
    Fortunately the guy did mask the wheels in the right spots.... I did another ceramic coat job on them and again, when I stick my nose on the work, I am again less than happy....mbe I need to learn how to paint.... Or.. pay the extra bucks for a pro that knows what to do. Front Rear
  11. Bren
    The plugs don't cut out all sound just some frequencies, you can still hear the engine, beeping, etc. They just cut out wind noise, for me anyway. I use speakers in the helmet pockets, close to the ear with the supplied padding/spacers, and ear plugs. I find I can hear the music much better with the plugs in, much better bass. I have tried without plugs but the clarity and volume is noticeably less. I have a Cardo and I can clearly hear music up to and over 100mph. Shoei Neotec.
  12. Captain 80s
    md, I was going back thru some of your pics, have you started working on your wheels yet? Did the powder coaters mask ANYTHING?! Looks like you have some pretty serious work to do on the front wheel. Don't think I saw a pic of the back of the rear wheel where all of the machined surfaces need to be free of pc.
  13. MBrane
    I've done it both ways, and prefer helmet speakers with foam plugs to in-ear phones. Wearing the plugs compensates for the poor EQ curve of the tiny speakers. In-ear phones make my ears sore on longer rides.
  14. Dutchy
    Time has come to put the wee one up for the winter and get redslut back on the road.
  15. jim v
    A few things I remembered about the conversion - -1098 parts will allow you to fit a larger rear tire, 848 parts let you remain with a stock size -you will need to purchase a special socket for the Ducati rear (38mm? 42mm? I can't remember). If you're on a road trip in the middle of nowhere bring that socket. If anything happens to the rear tire there might not be a Ducati shop close by and the locals might not have that socket available.
  16. Gaz66
    Bike's looking pretty good now compared the sorry state you bought it in, turned it around quick too. I was never a fan of the styling when these first came out, but it's defo grown on me, quite like em now, not seen one in this colour scheme before, looks a bit similar to one of the Blackbird paint jobs, not had the chance to ride one yet either, heard they're a bit of a rocket, quite fancy one myself, Fazer 1000 would reluctantly have to go tho, don't have the garage space for 3 bikes.
  17. Terry
    Today I decided to install some Oxford Hotgrips, the Helibars and a USB/voltmeter to charge my phone. This sounded reasonably easy but turned into a bit of a mission. The bike does have OEM heated grips but I think crash #3 also destroyed the heater control unit, although the sub harness for this survived. So the grips were inoperable and I decided it was time for them to go, giving an opportunity to tidy the wiring up at the same time. Well, the left grip came off as expected but the right grip...turns out the OEM heated grip is built into the throttle tube. So as I was happily slicing and dicing, I was also damaging the tube. I need the bike functional next week as I am taking it to the repair certifier, so I scratched my head for a bit then decided the throttle tube was "probably" the same across many bikes, so I used my parked up 5th gen as a donor. I was correct, so that tube (with a Hotgrip already fitted) is now on the 1200, and the 800 is sitting unusable until I can find a replacement. I cut the plug off the OEM grip harness and soldered that to the Hotgrip wires (keeping the Hotgrip fuse) then pulled the wires carefully up through the frame, joining all the components in the void behind the headstock where they are nicely concealed. Some creative cable ties and the job was done. The USB port is just double-sided taped to the triple clamp. The Helibars were a nice fit although there seems to be just one position for the right bar where it clears both the tank and and the fairing, so I hope I like that. I am now officially ready for inspection on Tuesday!
  18. keny
    Spaghetti incident part 2 And a lovely way to put sprocket in chain line And it's a 520 front sprocket (orginal on the Zephyr 550) whit a 525 chain as rear sprocket.... Oh my....
  19. Skids
    Thanks Randy, I have a GT-Air, though I've been considering getting a new helmet. I just dont understand how putting sound reducing material between your ear and the speaker is a good engineering solution. Sound has to fight it's way to your ear. Far better to put the speaker in your ear with sound reducing material around it. Surely?
  20. vfrcapn
    I’ll dig it up, I know the Marchesini forged wheel was a little lighter (8 lbs?) than the OZ (8.5 lbs?) by a 1/2 pound or so. The less rotating weight just on the rear made the bike feel 50 lbs lighter, best upgrade I made to the bike.
  21. Yesterday
  22. Terry
    Both my 5th gen and 6th gen have some side-to-side play on the bottom pivot, which is the clearance between the clevis and the fork leg casting I think. That won't be a cause of vibration, certainly isn't on either of my VFRs. There should be no force acting on the SMC bracket in that plane, everything should be fore-aft.
  23. Gaz66
    Bit of side play in lower SMC allen bolt mount is normal, it all pivots on this bearing in the fork leg, upper mount is teflon bush/steel sleeve affair, strip/clean/check needle bearing & inner sleeve for excess wear, regrease if it looks ok ... 31N.m on allen & upper bolt. Manual omits key points on SMC repairs, no mention of plastic return valve. Bit of info if you've not serviced an SMC. Some points you may not agree on, below is my experience of SMC issues seen multiple times. Confirm the SMC is fit to service & shows no wear where the pad ends sit into the stainless thrust shim, seen a fair few ruined when the stainless shim has been lost, pads muller the alloy making the whole assembly scrap metal, this can potentially occur to some degree if the rubber bushes are worn out & slide pins are badly corroded, excess slop in caliper under braking can jolt pad ends adrift & wear SMC pad interface if shim is adrift or missing, all the braking force goes thru pad ends into alloy mount, hence it needs a tough stainless shim. SMC bore has a service limit of 12.76mm, difficult to measure accurately, I don't bother, just ensure it's not scratched by a shagged piston, I lightly hone hydraulic bores with a red scotchbrite wrapped around a wooden dowel, same idea as honing an engine cylinder, just enough to take the shine off the bore. Poking anything metal down the bore is bad Juju, scratch the bore, it's scrap metal, use wooden picks or ice lolly sticks & paper towel, plenty of brake cleaner, clean clean clean then clean again inside the bore, same applies to green plastic return valve. Treat yourself to a "Tourmax" SMC repair kit, OEM spec, best kit available way cheaper than Honda, only kit supplied with a new clevis mount that I'm aware of, I find it an easier install removing the clevis mount & dust cover, makes installing the circlip a breeze, ensure u grease up new seals & backside of piston where pushrod contacts it, circlips are pressed steel, one side has a sharp edge, needs to face "UP", coat circlip in assembly grease before install, degrease where dust cover sits in bore or it'll keep popping out. Dust rubber is easily torn, I use thick card rolled into a tube & push the dust rubber squarely home till it bottoms out, before fitting clevis mount onto pushrod, squeeze some assembly grease thru the centre hole of the dust cover & wind on clevis mount, locknut is preset with loctite, no need to measure & adjust as stated in manual. Front brake is totally independent of the rear, treat it like a conventional system, bleed as normal, front right then front left "Upper nipples only"... good time to replace em with stainless (M8 x 1.25) Rest of the bleeding must be done in a specific order as per manual or you'll never get the air out, easy job, can be time consuming. Once the SMC is serviced & bled up, it may fix your issues, you'll know for sure SMC is good & not causing you any shit, I'd also drop discs out & clean disc to wheel interface, then check disc run out is ok. If u get stuck PM me anytime. 👍
  24. mello dude
    I'm really liking this thread...may as well keep this going... what different parts will fit on what bike.....
  25. mello dude
    Guys -- stop it, stop it.... credit card is looking at me.... lol .... ok really, what is the weight savings? Damn that looks good.. Weighed a bare OEM wheel... about 13 pounds... bleah...
  26. keny
    Sometimes helping others is for your benefit, well it's mostly in the long run. Helped neighbors kit as he had issues whit the running of his moped, a old Suzuki PV50 50cc 2-stroke ( had a blown magneto side crank seal) and as they have a second that they are rebuilding, it turned out it had have a universal aftermarket speedometer, this And as I looked at it he asked "do you need it?" I was "could perhaps fit my cafe Zephyr" he was"it's yours now" So I did take it home, and even a bit on small side, it actually fits better than the bulky ZR-7S clock's. The speedo cabel was plug and play, did even find connection diagram for it's electric cables online, it doesn't have a oil light however, but guess that can be sorted, neutral as turn signal as high beam light it has. Only one thing bother, I would like the twin headlights closer to the fork, but the speedo cabel don't allow that in this location....have to see
  27. ChasingNolan
    I'm highly interested in this topic as I am having this exact same issue with my new-to-me 5th gen I picked up this summer. Thanks for all the advice and please post when you figure out your root cause and solution. Thanks, CN
  28. 34468Randy
    My experience with a Shoei GT Air and an AGV Adventure helmets riding the VFR and an Africa Twin. Did not matter which bike I rode. If your lid is not designed for proper placement of the speakers, you have to find and probably cut your inside helmet liner so that the speakers are right next to your ear. I have two, both with the same Sena. My Shoei GT Air from around 2010 is very poor, especially if you get on the highways. I wear foamies BTW. My newer AGV works far better. But still, wearing foamies, and travelling at higher highway speeds, fairly often the wind noise will out shine the music, but it is far better than the Shoei. Maybe the newer Shoei helmets, the cut outs for the speakers are better positioned.. But if you are just riding at city speeds or say under 80KMH/50MPH, they will work much better.
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    1. HispanicSlammer

      A blog by HispanicSlammer in General

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      HispanicSlammer

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      Juniper Pass

      I took a day off from work and also from my bicycle training to take out the Veefalo one last time before the weather turns ugly, supposed to snow the rest of the week and possibly start sticking to the ground along the Colorado Front Range. I took a leisurely pace up hwy 105 toward Morrison and got reacquainted with the bike since its been over a month since I took any sort of twisties on it at all, hwy 105 is a scenic ride along the front range between Denver and Colorado Springs, its mostly easy fast sweepers and lite traffic so its a favorite road of mine when going north. Then I have to negotiate a bit of traffic near Highlands ranch and up hwy 470 into the mountains. I decided to take the Morrison Exit and try either Lookout Mountain or head up Golden Gate Canyon - this time it was Lookout Mountain, I was sort of making it up on the fly as I went along. Lookout Mountain is my old bicycling haunt from my days while I was working at Coors, its a killer ride and all uphill - I don't think I could do it today If I had to, not quite there yet! I saw a whole bunch of riders doing it though and wished I was in shape enough to be there doing it as well. 30 more lbs and I will be able to do it! On this day I would do it on the Veefalo instead.

       

       

       

       

      I took a video from the gateway to the top at the Lookout Mountain State Park, getting past riders, the guy in the green jacket actually pretty much astounded me with how far he had gotten in the short time it took me to set up my camera, some 3 miles at least and up to the gateway from the turn off at hwy 6! Amazing I thought. I took the first two turns slow then got more comfortable as I went up further, till I was doing well, I made some gearing mistakes and took the tight 15mph marked hairpins in the wrong gear so I lugged it a bit on one or two. Still enjoyed it though and then got off at the top and hiked over a rock outcropping for an overview of the road for the pictures below.

       

       

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      Lookout Mountain - Golden Colorado

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      Zoomed in

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      Lookout Mountain Park top of the mountain

      From there I headed up interstate 70 to Idaho Springs for a beer at the Tommy-knockers brewery, I was the only customer in the joint - slow day for them so they treated me like a king! I got a nice tour of the place sort of impromptu, they made me a nice Pastrami sandwich on rye and with the brown ale it was fantastic. I must say the beer is much better there than in the bottles - its always good at the brewery. I am glad I stopped

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      Tommy-knockers Brewpub Idaho Springs

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      Idaho Springs Colorado

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      Mashtuns and fermenters

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      Rows of fermenters

      I finished my lunch and since the road to Mount Evans is right there I headed up Squaw pass hoping to get in some nice pictures I wasn't expecting what I found, ICE IN ALL THE SHADY PARTS

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      Icy patches on Squaw Pass definitely taking it easy on that road

      There were some section where the ice covered the whole road for 300 yards or so I had to roll through it with my legs out to help keep the bike from sliding and falling over, I took it real slow. A Ford pickup was right behind me so I pulled over to let him pass but the guy was going slower then even I was so I pressed on - in places where I could see I just cut over to the oncoming lane and out of the ice where the sun was shining on the road more, but some places there was not alternative so I just had to go slow, good thing it wasn't slick but rather they tossed some gravel over the worst parts so I had some traction!

      I did stop for pictures in all the best spots

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      Echo Lake at Mount Evans showing off my new plate

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      Elephant Butte Park and Denver

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      Close up

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      Veefalo on Squaw Pass

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      Juniper Pass

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      Juniper Pass

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      Mount Evans

      My route A is home B is Tommy-knockers

       

    2. MartinkaP's Blog

      A blog by martinkap in General

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      martinkap
      Latest Entry

      I Am Back !

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      Not that it matters and not that I expect anyone had noticed, but to those who sent me "where are you?" I would like to say I am back. Not only that I am officially returning to VFRD after nearly 2 months break but I have also ridden my Hawk last weekend and had FUN! Let me restate that; I had major fun riding! Something I have almost given up on.

      Most of you have been riding your whole adult lives and riding is not only a hobby to you, it is part of you. But I started riding three years ago and even though I have encounter some setbacks, till this spring I loved riding with whole my heart. However, I have always considered riding as my hobby. As a hobby which suppose to make my life better, more fun and more rich. Life is too short to do something which we don't fully love.

      My love of riding received a first major scar this spring: I lost a friend on the racetrack. He was a total stranger who offered me his help after I lowsided at CMP track last year. I still remember hearing his "Hi, my name is Todd, do you need help?" while I was duct-taping my roadrash from ripped jacket. He helped me straighten up the shifter and we kept in touch. The next time we saw each other was the day he died.

      With 9 months delay, I can say that Todd's death shook me more than I have realized. It rooted fear in me which was fueled by seeing and hearing about others getting hurt over and over again. If I was to summarize this year - it would be one big accident report. I became sensitive to every broken bone, every roadrash, every lowside. And even though I did 10 track days this year, I became slower and slower and slower. Suddenly, I have acquired this 'grandma' riding style on the road, frozen with fear that behind every corner there is car standing in my lane, or major sand trap or deer staring at me ... I was crippled with fear not only for me about also for my fellow rider.

      So, at the end of this year, I rode more and more by myself. I could not bear the feelings of responsibility for others on the road and my lines were crippled by my own fears. It all culminated this fall at WDGAH. In a freaky accident Love2rideh82crash was taken down by a truck crossing into our lane. I was done. I finished the weekend, locked the VFR into a garage and took a break.

      Until the last weekend, I pretended that motorcycles do not exists. As a last instance after 2 months break from riding, I decided to go to CMP track to see if I can still have fun. I also felt like I should go for the memory of Todd. I went and I had fun! I had much more fun than I expected and the most fun on track I can remember. Suddenly the whole track connected into an uninterupted line of turns and I felt one with the bike riding around! I was giggling like a little girl in my helmet and keep on giggling ever since smile.gif

      Granted I was not the fastest one and through out the weekend, I have never exceeded about 60% of my riding abilities, but I had no "oh-shit" nor 'blond' moments. I could have maybe go faster, I could have brake later for the turns and I could have lean further, but I am no Rossi nor Stoner. I decided to ride for fun and I had amazing blast riding well within my comfort zone.

      I was proud of myself when, after bandaging Ricks arm, I was able to distance myself and go back to riding without the year-long fear. I did feel bad for him but the feelings were not crippling my lines nor my mind. And when a total stranger came to me and said "Hi, my name is Todd", my heart stopped for a minute though but I suddenly knew that my life went a full circle. I probably will never win MotoGP :idea3: , but I am back! :wheel:

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