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Wow, that sounds like a real day m8. We've probably all had something similar but it's still riveting to read it. I was thinking you were going to say you had dropped her, thank goodness I didn't read that. You know it happened, pictures or not. Keep it coming.

The VIN tag was my Canadian bike, not @Sirbike. CMSNL lists silver as a Canadian color for '98. https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-vfr800fi-1998-w-canada_model5742/settype31_64320mbg000ze/ Probably just a US bike that put on some Canadian/EU silver bodywork. Either way nice bike with some nice upgrades.

No kidding!!!

Man I would like to know the history on that VFR The serial number label makes me think it is a Canadian bike The image of the EPA label makes me think it is a US bike If the body panels are not a respray than my guess is that they are Panels from Europe, how they got on that bike is the story of the week, maybe an accident and original panels ( red ) were not available anymore in Canada?, the previous owner had more money than god, really liked the silver and ordered a set from Europe?, maybe a serviceman stationed in Europe sent them home?, who knows Now to find that box of old Honda sales brochures.

Well got side tracked. Will try to finish this up. It had rained the night before and was a steady drizzle at 38F as I pulled pulled out onto rt 132. Almost immediately i saw the construction sign and stop sign. Not sure how to describe it, but I was at the crest of a blind hill, no tarmac just gravel and could not see more than maybe 100-150 ft before, well nothing. Found out later this hill is a 17% grade, yikes. One of the workers walked up towards me. Monsiuer, Attention, Frais! then kicked into the gravel to show it was indeed fresh, unpacked gravel, then waved me on. It was steep enough I used a bit of throttle to start out, then just kinda coasted and just used my clutch to slow when needed. It was just about a kilometer like this and I was painfully slow. The car behind me was far enough behind to clearly show its not "if" this guy dumps it, but "when". As I came up to the end of the gravel, all I saw was mud, about 1" on the road. Of course rain, fresh gravel, 17% grade will do that. No gas, bumped onto the tarmac and was fine for a second or 2, then the rear started to come around to the right, so a little gas, and kinda got straight for a second or two, then repeat until clear. To be perfectly honest, I am that guy who on a nice sunny day, in a perfectly level and maintained parking lot has dumped his bike. I really have no idea how I did not that morning. A whole 2 kms after turning onto 132, I wanted a break.🙂 No where to pull off so keep going. Ran into more constructionup near the town of Gaspe and stopped to chat briefly with a Mountie. Who confirmed, yes there is more on 132. So looking g at my map, I decided to cut the corner of the peninsula and take 198, a long lonely road I was last on maybe 20 years ago. Things hadn't changed much as I saw the signs, no services next 85 km, in fact there is only one town, Murdochville before you reach 132 again. About 50 kms in I still the only person on the road when I saw the construction sign. There was a car in front of me, he had been there a while. I was obvious the were improving the sightlines on the road by cutting back abot 50 ft either side. This involve cutting about half a billion trees it seems. Eventually just shy of 50 minutes later we were on our way, behind an escort vehicle, it took a while. I stopped for gas at Cap-Chat. The road between the junction of 132/198 and there is beautiful. My hands were so numb by then, I stepped in side this 2 pump station to warm them up and dry my hands so I could put a different pair of gloves on. I came out to see a school bus oariently parked behind my bike waiting to get to the sole diesel pump. I made a quick apology the thr driver and headed off. There was more rain, construction, cold, a bit of highway, occasional nice views, then I finally made it to my destination, Riviere du Loup, which my schoolboy French says is Wolf River. My motel was old school one story, but I could not find where to check in, in the dark. The was a St.Hubert restaurant directly attached to it so I parked outside and walked in to enquire. The restaurant was paced at a bit after 7:00, they were a sit down with a bar and was about to go ask a hostess where to check in when I looked straight in front of me, the register to my right said take out orders, to the left said motel reception. Well thar was a first. Finally in front of my room, I put the kickstand down over 10 hours after leaving Perce, and the door next to mine opened. He was Tom, an older guy from Nova Scotia, started asking questions and telling me about his Harley and FJR. He eventually noticed my CAF look and said, you must be ready for a hot shower. He was right. After getting cleaned up and warm I walked across the road to a Normandin restaurant. I ordered a bowl of soup, Burger and a beer as big as my head. Finished with the food and nursing my beer, I reach fir my phone. It wasn't there. I tried to remember when I would have lost it till it dawned on me, it was still in my tank bag in a plastic bag where I put it this am. It was one of those days. The old saying is, "pics or it didn't happen" Guess i have to say this time, "It happened, therefore no pics" 😁

@Sirbike ... You probably have the rarest 5th gen in the US.... Take care of that one! There's zero chance of replacing any of the bodywerke...

Every 10k miles on the street bikes the aftermarket filter gets a clean, dry, and reoil. Once a season on the track bikes. It is very conservative as I never notice any difference.

Here, takes a little work but do-able.

Definitely US red bike originally. Looks like it has a Penske shock too!

Early Christmas present arrived today. Inside this A 1986 RC24 rear head, looks healthy to me, at least the camshaft I need from it 🙂

Hi all, Question. Has anyone fitted a 6th Gen Fuel tank to a 5th Gen. Thanks for any advice.

Just for reference check this site , it may help determine the body work. For what it is worth ( not much ) but I have never saw a 1998 VFR in silver/gray here https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/800-MOTO/VFR/1998

Hello! I know this is an old post but did the 3 clamp solution prove secure enough? Looking at doing something similar. Surely the 4 bracket solution was "tongue-in-cheek" 😄

R157 is definitely code for Honda’s ubiquitous red. So your VFR almost certainly had a bodywork swap.

Head scratching....pretty sure R-157 is red. The same tag is on my bike. Only thing I can figure is a previous owner paid the bucks for the silver body and tank.....???

VIN tag doesn’t have any French. Here is the color code and something special. It has Throttlemeister bar ends but the throttle side uses a plastic extension that has collapsed under the end of the grip. If I remember right an st1300 throttle tube is longer and will contact the friction thingy.

I alsways inspect the air filter if I buy something new (to me). This was my VTR1000F which was sold to me as "having had a recent service". I noted on my first ride home on my new acquisition that the power felt a bit underwhelming...

So Honda recommend you change it at the 16K miles service interval. I use K&N so check it annually if I have a bunch of miles or more recently with not a lot of miles every 2nd year. It really depends on miles & conditions those miles are run in. I once ran through a few miles of spray & pray road surfacing, where they spray hot bitumen on the surface & roll in loose gravel & pray it sticks. It was later on same day it was laid when the weather was really warm & with other traffic it was like riding in a sand storm. I had a pile of it around my crotch when I got off the bike. I checked the filter & it was full, so it had a hoover, then a complete clean & re-oil. As always YMMV !

Jeez, this makes my "restoration" look like amateur hour! Which in fairness, it is, I'm no engineer! Fantastic work @mello dude

Looks like Canada had one silver in '98 and a different silver in '01. Either way, it would be stated right on the VIN tag. I changed the speedo face out on my import for mph, easy swap. There is a place in Colorado that will reprogram a used LCD to match the mileage of your original LCD if you want to swap that out also. Supply them a mph odo and they'll set it to match the mileage from a KM odo. They provide a cert and say it's all legal. I never did dig in far enough to see if the F and C temp senders were the same part.

Good luck with your project, natnif. You and Burger definitely chose rough examples to recommission, my hat is off to both of you.

Exact same.

Well put Captain. I ride 100% paved roads, usually out through farmland or forests and generallly not in traffic, and our climate is pretty mild, so I mainly have dead insects and grass/leaves in my air filters, not very much dust or dirt at all.

Air filters are typically "as needed", aren't they? Do you live or work at the bottom of a strip mine or do you live in a mild climate with inherently less dust and a paved driveway? The same mileage will yield VERY different results and intervals.