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The stock suspension is not horrible, but leaves a lot on the table especially for us heavier riders. I am currently about 210 lbs. I do not regret spending almost as much on suspension bits as I spent on the bike itself. It was transformed into a bike that will do whatever I ask of it. It is way more capable than I am. A couple things I learned riding my '87 ZX600, and '98 VFR with the stock suspension was leaving the throttle cracked open slightly, and using the rear brake to scrub off a little speed on corner entries, and help settle the bike. Makes for a much smoother transition without the off/on throttle lag/snatch.

Again, many thanks, I am much appreciative for all the reassuring posts. Since I'm still quite novice in regards to working on my own bike, basics down but no real proper understanding of geometry... I was thinking of bringing my bike for a suspension specialists for a treat... There's 'PLR Suspension' in Newtonards here in Northern Ireland, and from what I've read online, the guy is supposed to be very very good... lots of good things said about him online, and also, apparently his service prices are very reasonable. Been really enjoying getting more accustomed to the VFR Gentleman's express hahah. I guess the bike has to be treated a certain way in regards to throttle... aiming to have a long relationship, while being able to use the engine and suspension properly, just love the sound of the engine and the feel of going up and down those gears haha... thanks guys

Is that the video where the rider runs into some oil on the track? I think I've seen that one... Maybe...

I really enjoyed this video. Saw it shortly after buying the 5th... "That's sweet as a nut mate!" hahaha loved it

Installed new fuel filter and in-tank hoses.

Do you mean the yellow one between the bearings ? If so, I haven't used it, as I assumed it's not meant to go in that configuration (2x standard bearing vs tandem as the original)

Mapping is available here. I've got an extra PC2 you can have, not 100% sure it still works though. PM me. Edit: see you're in Italy, shipping might be expensive, may be easier to find one over there. It does use a 9-pin serial port, I've had hit-miss luck with the serial to USB adapters. I have an old tower running Windows 10 and no problem running the PC software or connecting to my primary bike's PC2.

Really nice all black Corbin seat. $150 Left red panels (upper and lower) $75 These are not perfect. Bike had a VERY slow tip over and there are a few scratches. Good 15 footers. Solo seat cowl (missing mounting tabs) $50 Parts are located in LaGrange, GA. I can possibly meet in the Atlanta area. Can also ship but these are odd shapes and shipping won't be cheap.

Glad you got it figured out. I would keep an eye on it anyway.....

Thanks so much for the explanations! So I'll focus on a PCII or PCIII. The USB port is definitely more practical, but the serial port isn't a problem for me (I love collecting old computers of all ages, 386, 486, and even older ones, including later generations; each has its own quirks). Between the two, I'm probably more interested in the PCII; I wonder if you can still find something out there. I think the mapping software is available on this site.

Well I got to tell you, I have read the story of the RC45 find and the bike life of member ( Busy little shop ) many times and it still puts a smile on my face What a life centered about motorcycles and to find an RC45 collecting dust in Mexico is just wild. When I read about the RC45 having the very low serial numbers and started thinking about the bikes I have had and their production numbers, I was never below 000010 but it was sure funny looking for 0001. As I read the article I was instantly taken back to around 1996 when I was working about 2 hours from home, in those days I was always driving the back roads looking for the shine of chrome in the open garage door or stopping into every small bike shop I could find. One day I stopped at this little backyard garage to ask if he had any interesting bikes for sale, I roamed around a bit and here off to the side was a banged up 1990 VFR750. I always wanted a VFR750 since a demo day with Honda in 1990. I almost fell over when I saw the serial number was 0001, to say I held my excitement would be a lie, of course I asked if the VFR was for sale and got the old, well not sure, it is here for repairs etc etc. I left the shop with the understanding that I was to drop back in a week and he would know more. A week later I made a special trip to the shop and of course the VFR was gone and the shop owner would not tell me where the bike went, who owned it or anything. I was almost sick from missing that one, and in the past 30 years I have never found old #1. The RC45 article was just like being in that little shop again and I can still see that beautiful banged up VFR sitting there, Thanks for the memory flash Not as impressive as many here but here is a short list of my life CT70 1970, new, my first bike, wish I had this one here CT70 1970 have CT70 1971 CT70 1973 XL100 1974 XL125 1975, The first bike I bought new from summer job money, wish this one was here CB350F 1973, Was bought new by my dad, his first street bike at age 54 and my first street bike when he upgraded to a new 1976 GL1000, still have the 350F CB350F 1972 have CB350F 1973 have CB350f 1974 have CB400F 1975 have CB400F 1976 have CB400F 1975 Vintage Racer, have RM125 1978 CR125 1983 CBX550 1983 XL600 1983 XL250 1983 have KZ900 1976 RD400 1976 CB750 1975 Z50 1993 have XR100 2000 have CRF150 2003 have CB1 400F 1989 VFR750 1990 have VFR750 1991 have VFR800 1999 have I think that is about it for a list, I hope to have a couple of more to add before I call it a day, enjoy the hunt and the ride As a side note I think I should add that the 1990 Honda VFR750 #1 I found was no where's near as rare as the RC45 found in Mexico, I believe the RC45 had a very low production run which I think was world wide, the 1990 VFR750 #1 I found however was a Canadian bike and I believe their production run started with 0001 and the United States started with their own 0001, Europe Asia etc all had Honda Production runs starting with 0001, due to the different DOT rules and laws, correct me if I am wrong

This, 100%. They look like aftermarket HID ballast connectors.

Where theft is a problem (like in the UK), you need a garage, a cemented in-ground anchor, a massive chain and lock, and some means of detecting some miscreant buzzing away with an 18v battery powered angle grinder... Out in the wild, your bike is always in danger if it's within van-distance of two blokes carrying it/rolling it. Even carrying a chain with you which is big enough to be worth carrying with you is always an issue. For the garage I have some serious Pragmasis stuff--16mm I believe it is. But there's no way around the fact that carrying a 16mm hardened steel chain on a bike is a huge pain by itself, not to mention using it properly when there are no proper ground anchors. I have a smaller chain I used to carry with me, 13mm, I think it was. If you park at work, you can sometimes leave the chain there to avoid having to carry it on the bike... Ciao, JZH

Some sorta LED or HID wiring, looks like. They look vaguely like the sealed connectors between the xenon igniters and ballasts on my van. Are those non-OEM wires coming out of the headlamp unit? I'm not familiar with the VFR1200X. Ciao, JZH

My impression is that many of the PC units themselves are identical (at least within the same manufacturer's line-up), but the wiring harness connectors differ by model. Safest thing is, therefore, to only buy one intended for your exact model VFR. I have a PCII, a PCIII-USB and a PCV, so I know they all fit. The PCII plugs in at the PGM-FI unit; the others plug in close to the throttle bodies. My PCV was not intended for the 5th gen (I think it is for a 6th gen), and it did "sort of" work, but not properly. I have read elsewhere that DynoJet has released or enabled a fix to allow it to work properly on the 5th gen, though I have no experience with that so far. The PCIII-USB does work fine, however. The old PCII also allows ignition advance to be manipulated--the others do not. My PCII came with the bike, and I'm not even sure I could make it work anymore--doesn't it use a serial connector? Who has a serial connector on their computer these days? Software could also be an issue. Ignition advance is probably not enough of a reason to buy a PCII, unless you're really into tuning. I've kept mine, though, thinking it might actually be possible to run both a PCII and a PCIII-USB... The PCV can work with an Autotune (which is why I bought it), but as I said, I have not played with it since the "fix" has become available, so I don't know for sure if Autotune can be made to work now. Good luck! Ciao, JZH

It's not clear to me what voltage the bike was charging at (at 5,000rpm, per the manual), but if it was a high voltage (anything over 16v), the only possible cause would have been a bad reg/rec--the one part that wasn't already replaced. The reg/rec may have been already damaged before you zapped it--that's why your battery was dead in the first place. In any case, a new MOSFET reg/rec should fix the issue (assuming the wiring is not damaged). Ciao, JZH

Where did the plastic spacer/washer go? The one described in you first post and shown on the photo. If you tighten the axle around the inner rings it should propably not be between the bearings. Inner rings need contact. At least as far as I understand the function and the issue. If the original bearing is angular contact type and replacements are 2 x deep groove type bearings the original may be slightly better for angular loads which would matter if you have a sidecar attached or race. For common use and good quality bearings rather insignificant.

So after putting back the old sprocket bearing in place and playing around I may have found the culprit. The dust seal on the bearing carrier is sticking out by 1 or 2mm. BUT : It seems that there is no need for a dust seal on the left hand side of the bearing carrier, as it is actually not shown on the Haynes schematic nor on the CMSNL one and even the part picture on their website shows the carrier without dust seal on the this side, when the other side as one fitted on. Does anyone had noticed this ? There is one in the kit I bought and I know I took one out, which makes me confused about the "no seal" thing.

You’re right, it was a fleet charger, and I 100% agree in hindsight. I work afternoon shift and it was 1:00am so I really wanted to get home. I figured if I hook the charger negative cable to frame ground, the starter would only draw what it needed. But the aftermarket voltmeter on the bike that is wired to the harness, not the actual battery, was smacking the max voltage needle. So clearly something bad happened, I’m no scientist though. The lights were very bright and the bike immediately fired into high idle. I disconnected it after 5 seconds of it running. Seems to have cooked the regulator anyways though. It tested fine when cold but probably couldn’t handle much heat after what I did.

For sure. Thanks a million for the help so far. I definitely couldn’t have figured it out without your help. The voltage dropping with the brake light was a red herring. The volt gauge was plugged in to read voltage on the green return path. So any load caused that branch of the circuit to drop voltage. Verified this through tests. With the new CBR500 regulator and 10ga charging wires it’s handling loads when hot at idle. Like a champ, not dropping below 13.6v with rad fans kicking in. I ended up hooking the R/W wire from starter relay directly to B+. Did a lot of reading on the bike circuit diagram. From factory the R/W wire comes from RR positive output. Seems to work fine after a spirited ride, if this will make the bike spontaneously combust at some point please let me know haha. But as I mentioned before, the previous owner had the RR positive output wire spliced to hook up to the R/W terminal at starter relay, and act as the charging cable at B+. Which is a LOT to be asking of a 16ga wire, basically charge at upwards of 25a if needed and send power to the fuse box for any loads. In short, redoing the wiring with 10ga wire and the FH020AA fixed the issue.

This afternoon was unexpectedly sunny & dry, so I hopped on my VFR for a ride up to Mill Bay and around Shawnigan Lake. Mt Tuam on Saltspring Island is in the background. It was too late for a longer ride, but still totalled about 100 miles. I'm still quite rusty from the long layoff of riding, gonna have to practice to regain my skills.

@VFRscrub ----- I cant really figure waht you got going on there. I am to the point of gotta be there.. That said, someone may chime in on this, but me, I dont wanna mix the starter relay harness with the R/R harness if I got that right of what you are doing. Also, any harness work, I prefer using 12 ga at a minimum.... Maybe someone in the peanut gallery can chime in to help....

Are you sure you dont have a short circuit in the brake light circuit ? It also sounds like you used a 24V truck battery charger. Something labeled 350A shouldn't be connected to a motorcycle battery.