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With family obligations checked off., and a few days of nice weather to start off I decided to head north. I do usually do a solo trip in Oct. but it's only for a nite or two as it often in the mid 30's when I leave my house, topping out at maybe 50 during the afternoon. This year is different as it way warmer. Left the house at 7 am and headed up rt. 52 to Belfast, jumped on rt one to the outskirts of Bangor, and jumped on rt 95. Yes, that rt 95, the rt I refuse to use south of Bangor. Just above Bangor traffic does not thin out, it disappears. Speed limit is a respectful 75 mph, and well you are on your own to Houlton. I got off before that at the Millinockrt exit and turned onto rt. 11, one of my favorite roads. Not white knuckle twisties, but a curvy, quiet road along a river for about 30 miles. Just outside of Patten I took a photo of the bike with Mount Katahdin in the background. Katahdin is in Baxter State Park. The benefactor of the park, Mr Baxter stipulated that motorcycles were to be prohibited. This was in the 1920's. Sheesh. Stopped in Patten to gas up. Thete is no reliable gas for about the next 80 miles to Ashland. From there it's up to Fort Kent. From Patten to Fort Kent is about 114 miles of single lane, no breakdown lane, and more logging trucks than you will ever see again, so no stopping for beauty pics. Shame as the colors on the trees are peak. Got to Madawaska to find my motel was deserted. Had a message on my phone that they had staffing issues, but I could have a room 2 miles out of town at another place. I was a bit disappointed as I usually like to park the bike and walk to dinner. Turned out 2 of the places I would usually go to were out of business, the other 2 are no longer open on Monday's. Madawaska was going through hard times when the timber industry moved on, but Edmunston across the river in Canada is about 20 times larger and was a huge user of goods and services here as everything was cheaper,gas groceries, whatever, and that kept a lot of people going on this side. Not now, as I stopped at the "new" border crossing to see where I needed to go tomorrow am. and did not see a single car in either direction for about 10 minutes. There used to be a line of cars each way waiting to cross. Shame, as I do like This area, hate to see it suffer. Have a room booked in Perce, on the Gaspe tomorrow. Weather, like today supposed to be nice. Rain on Wenesday and the temps might fall off the cliff. Will see if I can make it around the Gaspe one more time (#7) See if I get the order right. 1. 80 ish miles north of Bangor. 2. Mount Katahdin in the distance. Never to be defiled by a motorcycle. 3. Fort Kent, the end of rt 11. 4. Full moon over St. Agatha Maine. Next door to my motel.

Sweet looking bike. I like the black/silver more that the red/silver that first came out.

Already looks better than 90% of the 1200's on the road--not that I see many on the road. Nice work Terry.

Information on the 1200 suspension seems a little sparse so thanks for that. I have been in contact with the esteemed Mr Daugherty and he confirmed that the CBR600F4 shock that I have being rebuilt (new spring, piston, shims etc) should be a a straight swap if I choose to do so, i.e. I can use it interchangeably with my VFR800 VTEC or 1200. He wasn't 100% on the upper shock mount being the same but I note YSS list the exact same shock for either the 800 or 1200 so that tells me the clevis must be the same dimensions. I'm quite looking forward to taking a decent ride on this now, but I have the recertification hurdle to overcome first. A few more pictures of the (nearly) finished project. But are they ever really finished??? I still need to diassemble the nose cowl and pull the screen out for a proper clean and polish, but the rest is looking pretty good now. A lick of paint and you will never know it has had a few lie downs...

I believe that is where the suspension wire was that supported the rear when they put it hanging from the roof of Joey's bar. I remember seeing it there a couple of years ago. It was just a useless old 750 race bike once 1K's were allowed! They just hacked a hole in it to run the wire through to the subframe 😳 OK it was worse than that they used a chain 🤷‍♀️

Got this part back from the anodizer...... funny how giddy I am about it. More assembly coming...yay!

The "while you're there" syndrome. Or "Now is the time to do it, everything is out of the way." Been there way too many times. All of a sudden it's a frame, an engine and a limp wire harness hanging from each end. But it feels so good when it starts going back together and getting "big" again. Nice!!

I wonder what happened. Stone chip?

My '98 is apart on the way to reassembly... .Here's photo of the 4 hoses I have for the tank...

Hello everyone, Anyone ever use Nicecycle.com for getting fairings/plastics? I was thinking about it for my bike for a color change and to be able to get all the decals clear coated into the paint. Trying to make the bike look factory again. Would love to hear what everyone has to say about them.

I’ve had similar overheating with a few bayonet style fuse holders, some to the melting stage which is too close a call(fire!)for me. My current solution is to use bolt on types which is working well, pia to change but way less likely to develop the resistive “hot” pocket(s) occasionally found in conventional holders..

Hi Terry. Project 1200's comin along nicely. Bit of useful shock info/dimension etc for transplant purposes. (K-tech part finder) shows: Showa (46/14) mono tube/ dividing piston shock: Some years use a remote pre-load adjuster. (Length mm) (Stroke mm) (Spring N/mm) 800 (1998-01) 325 58 130 800 (2002-10) 325 58 150 800 (2010-14) ? ? ? 800 (2014-19) 317.5 54 160 800 (2014-19) 321.5 50.50 160 (Crossrunner) 1200 (2010-25) 321 50.50 170 1200 (2009-25) ? ? ? (Crosstourer)

I had a truck clip the right side case on my 2015 VFR 800. Luckily no other damage or injuries, bike didn't go down. It looks like they're pretty difficult to find online and a repair is going to be very difficult because both mounts are ripped off and the front cover is cracked. Hoping anyone might have a right side case they're looking to sell?

I would not be too hung up getting that specific hose right; it is just an overflow, so not in regular contact with fuel, and likely to get rinsed through with water in rain or if you wash your bike. Pretty sure I just went with fuel-compatible hose of the right ID at an auto-parts store.

And the "Parts Not Available" fun begins. That fuel tank hose is 17544-MBG-000 and is not available from the big parts sites I have checked so far. The funny thing is that I don't think my hose is OEM. It is supposed to have a 90' bend near the end, whereas mine is straight, making me think mine was a non-OEM replacement to begin with. Seems like the easy fix is to find the correct diameter rubber tubing and make my own replacement hose.

Thanks, Terry! That sounds feasible. I will follow that idea and look in my SM. It's been so long that my memory is no help any longer, and I forgot to label the parts! 🫤 I know better than that now.

Is that the tank overflow with the angled joiner? If so, that runs inside the R frame spar by the rear head, then along the top of the clutch cover, then around the front of the motor and terminates in the bracket near the sidestand, so that all the fuel that you overflow doesn't run onto the header pipe! if you grab the service manual, all the hose runs are shown in the first section.

Thanks Lorne; who doesn't love a good oil discussion? In this case the 1200 specifies 10W-30, whereas all my other bikes (both VFR800s, my ST1300 and the MT-10) all specify 10W-40. The 40 will be marginally more viscous when hot than the 30, which maybe means a little more internal drag and heat generated. The diagram below is from the 5th gen owner's manual (although the service manual just says 10W-40). The 40 certainly covers a wider range of riding temperatures (over 40! No thanks, I will stay home by the pool). I just wondered whether other 1200 owners were fussy about this or had been using 10W-40?

I took my '01 apart 3 years ago to do some deep cleaning and minor sprucing up. I'm one of those doesn't know when to stop and keeps going whenever they see something, and before you know it you have basically a frame with an engine left! In my case I removed everything from the frame apart for the engine and the front forks. Plastics, tank, seat rear wheel, rear swing arm, rear shock all were removed. Life events got in the way, plus having another bike to ride, meant that the project really stalled out. I have finally taken on enough enthusiasm, mixed with equal parts of shame, to really tackle the rebuild and get the bike back on the road again. Aside from thoroughly cleaning every part removed, the following work has been done so far: Seat recovered and new foam New chain New front sprocket New rear sprocket Spark plugs replaced Air filter replaced Engine oil and filter change Clutch completely flushed with new fluid Rear axle cleaned and greased New thermostat New O rings on the T-stat housing New O rings on the coolant hoses connected to the cylinders New O rings on the water pump (cover and drive shaft). I have refitted the rear shock, swing arm and wheel. Rear subframe back on the bike and rear panels fitted. Coolant pipes and radiators refitted. Getting ready to deal with the nightmare of installing the throttle body unit. Before I do that I have a hose that needs to be replaced. The rubber is in bad shape and there is a gash in it. I need to identify the hose so I know what to order, but I am also not sure where either end of this hose attaches to. This hose is pictured and is somewhat unique because at one end is an angled T-piece. Any help is much appreciated!

Ooh, can't resist jumping into an oil discussion. Fwiw, I've used Motul 10W-40 since the last century without any issues. Of course, my 3rd & 5th gen owners manuals suggested a number of viscosities: 10W-30, 10W-40, 20W-40, 20W-50. My 6th gen says 10W-30 or 10W-40. That said, I think the more important consideration is the additive package because of the integral gearbox and wet clutch.

And why was the original fuse hot? My only experience in this area is the alternator wires and their connector, and I know they got hot when the connector got wet, started to corrode and that caused high restance. High resistance causes heating. So maybe your issue was as simple as a dirty fuse connection, and the action of switching that out has cleaned the contacts enough for the problem to go away?

Interestingly enough, I did follow this advice. I swapped out the fuse for a brand new one before I left, checked it part way, and kept going. It didn’t get hot. I’ll still do all the electrical checks and replace the scorched fuse holder regardless.

Kept cracking away on Sunday as the weather dictated staying home, not roaming the highways and byways of this fair land. I did a trial fit of the bodywork again with the bellypan reinstated. This highlighted that I am missing a good number of the "5x11 special screws" which hold the bodywork on. I think I will get those ordered but may also look at bodging something up using cut-off bits of aluminium tube as spacers. The body panels obviously need painting and I will get a Real Painter to to that; I did spend time with my brush putting rust neutraliser on the tank rear bracket which did not enjoy its previous "Outdoor Lifestyle" very much. Fortunately all the rust is superficial, unlike the wave washer on the gearshift which had been eaten half through. In spite of my best efforts, the frame still looks a bit scruffy,being faded and with a bit of alloy crusts in places. Any suggestions on how to improve this? I am leaning towards a lot of masking and a light spray of satin black at this point, at least on the exposed bits. And lastly-an Oil Question! There's not alot of 10W-30 MC oils available here (I found one). What are other 1200 owners using? All my other bikes (including the MT-10) have 10W-40 specified. Would the bike explode if I use that instead? I also got as far in as the air filter; predictably ugly but at least serviceable.

My vote goes to MRA Touring Vario.

The merges for the VFR model seems to have gotten better. They were pretty shitty on their early versions iirc. The neck-downs at the head stand out. Don't know if the larger diameter after is actually doing anything except looking bigger.