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Thanks Mike; the divots aren't really any different to a rock dent and I've dealt with those before without leaks so I was disappointed with this outcome. I'm trying to avoid spending too much more money on Earl, as far as I know this is the last mechanical issue that I need to deal with (famous last words...).

I would give it one more go with a new seal knowing that you're not installing/removing it multiple times over the top of the tube and being extra careful by wrapping the lip and groove. Then you will know for sure if you have to source another tube. and it might buy you more time as it may not leak as bad if it starts to leave a ring.

I spent a bit of time on my leaky fork last night. As received the bike had spent 3 years outdoors, maybe somewhere coastal based on the corrosion. On the hidden inside of the left stanchion (behind the mudguard and adjacent to the disc) there was a decent amount of corrosion; the right leg, and the exposed part of the left leg were not near as bad and my assumption is that salt spray was being washed off by periodic rain in those areas. As I was doing the rebuild I carefully filed off any protrusions and then polished further with 400-grit emery paper which has left no "lips" that can catch on the seal but there are a handful of divots that you can just catch a fingernail in at the right angle. The little black specks on the chrome above the obvious oily line are all that is visible of these divots. I was hoping to fill these with metal epoxy, but after application and then sanding back the divots are still there, maybe just too small/shallow to have enough adherence to the putty. So I have given everything another good emery paper rub down, and will hope for a better result with a new seal. I am not ruling out that I may have caused some damage to the last seal when I pushed that over the bushing groove as I know I did that a few times as I was figuring the fork out, so I will take extra care (and wrap the sharp parts in insulation tape) when I fit the new seal. Plans B and C are to buy a used fork (there is a local breaker that has a decent pair for US$320) or I can get a new part ex Webike for a little less money, or there are replacement tubes on eBay for about US$230 (but that will require disassembly of the axle/brake mount from the old tube, which looks a bit challenging). At this point I am inclinded to reassembly with the old part with new seal, and some finger crossing.

With a big engine, torque is where it is at, and it gives you the ability to be a bit lazy with gear changes. My 6th gen 800 certainly likes to be kept "on the boil" above 7k which is fun when you are in the mood but it can feel a little flat otherwise. I also have a Yamaha MT-10 and love the character and punch (and a great riding position) but I'm not brave enough to give it full throttle as you are perched on top like an organic speed brake! I did get it remapped which only improved the low end and throttle response, and it is a blast to ride on twisty roads and makes the best sounds (this side of a V4) as long as you don't mind (or care about) the Yamaha "tick". I think Yamaha are missing a sales opportunity with the MT-10 as it just a larger tank, hard luggage mounts and a half fairing away from sport-touring heaven, but it might canabalise sales from the Tracer 9. Personally I think the two engines give two distinct characters.

And the bill for heating that place in winter came in.....

Same torque, less power but the torque curve is reprofiled for more lower down. Red line is around 9k rpm (I'd have to go and check for an accurate figure) but yr right, I don't recall ever finding a road long enough (or balls big enough) to redline the 1200F so it's all a bit academic.

I don't think I have revved my 1200 past 8000rpm yet and probably seldom will. Is the power on the X notably toned down at the lower end of the range?

True to that point on the range of adjustability options, but thankfully in my use case the bar angles are comfortable to me, just wanted the OEM bronze parts as I think it looks nice against the white paint, while making the riding position slightly more relaxed.

Gained around an inch of lift and roughly 0.25 - 0.50 inch set back. Can definitely notice the difference sitting on the bike though my picture taking skills lack on the ability to show it.

You have taken away one very handy means of dialing in ergonomics for an individual, the ability to rotate the bars but still stay in the usable range without fouling the tank or upper cowl. If it's perfect for you now, that's awesome though! Funny, every time I look at the 2014+ VFR800 I immediately think about swapping in the more traditional upper clamp and bars. Every single one of my VFRs has the limiting lug removed from the bars so I can dial in the bar angles for my riding position.

Just curious... what do you gain by doing that? The riding position looks identical...

Struggled to find much relevant info on it, so I did it anyway. Only things of "issue" were the bars needing new holes drilled for the 6th gen switchgear, and a longer clutch line as it was about an inch too short for my liking. It was a bit tight, and seemed to stretch a little at full right lock. For reference, bike is an 06 ABS model so clutch hose routing was a bit scuffed compared to non-abs versions so it was already seemingly a bit shorter due to that.

One of the reasons I bought the 'X' is for touring. My VFR1200F is a fantastically sorted motorcycle. Upgraded suspension, a monster of an engine, tuned, gorgeous exhaust, world-stopping brakes etc etc but the riding position is becoming too difficult for my advancing years even though I have fitted Helibars, it is still not easy to spend a day in the saddle so the 'X' was the obvious choice as a replacement. I know the power and rev limit has been reduced but it will still make a fabulous tourer especially with the bigger fuel tank.

Plenty of throttle bodies don't have any kind of coating on the trailing edge, seems to be a Honda thing, it's bound to come off at some point, seems the coating is Honda's attempt to minimise butterfly/bore wear, never known anyone replace it after it's come adrift, personally I'd leave butterflies clean & fuel test em, see if they'll hold fuel which will confirm if stop screw needs a tweak, don't be afraid to move it if necessary, it's only a throttle stop screw, butterflies only allow air thru not fuel. Bare in mind everything that moves wears, now coatings missing, factory set throttle stop won't likely be set as it once was, stop screw may need a readjust to compensate.

That's the garage of every man's dream 😎 NO, what am I saying? That's the main residence of every man's dream; if you have that, why moving elsewhere? 😁

There are no headers being produced in the EU. There are UK suppliers like lextek, black widow and delkevic. Delkevic is not good for performance because of the collector design. Black widow has a flat spot in the rear header which reduces flow, dyno proven by modifying it and replacing the rearsets with different ones for clearance. My choice would be lextek, looking at the design it doesn't have any obvious drawbacks. The quality of all of them is probably pretty low because they're mass produced in China but they do a better job than stock. You'll have to pay some import fees of course. On the plus side, I've noticed a tangible gain in performance when I upgraded to an older style black widow header I found used. A good boost in midrange 7-9k rpm, probably in top end too but that's harder to feel.

I used Road 6 GT because I used to overload the bike when doing two up touring. 250kg bike, 200-230kg of me, wife and luggage. Riding fast uphill really strains the rear tire at that load, probably 80% of the weight is on it. Grabbing a handful of throttle in second lifts the front wheel so that's 450kg on the rear wheel. If you're not loading the bike to the max then it's not needed. I wanted to be on the safe side. I switched to Roadsmart 4 GT recently and the bike is much more agile than it ever was with Road 6 GT. They take a different approach with their SP and GT variants. While Michelin increases stiffness with a stronger carcass Dunlop changes the profile of the tire so the GT variant gives more agility to heavy bikes and SP variant gives more stability to lighter bikes.

Terry, so cool to read your eval of the 7th gen coming from your very VFR experienced background. It's different, but it is just incredible. I bought it the 1st year and the following seven were great. Looking forward to more reports from you in NZ.

As I was riding my 1200 in the weekend, I was thinking what a shame it was that this line of bikes has died out. That engine is certainly a thing of beauty with smooth and powerful running, decent economy, a great gearbox and plenty of character, the heat and airflow management is far ahead of the ST1300 (also known as "the Frying Pan") and the shaft drive is neat (as long as it is not leaking). I know the "X" version was produced, but there was so much more potential in this thing, it would have made a superb tourer (as per the illustration) and I assume there was a more sporty, chain-drive version in the works as well as the output shaft looks like it could convert to chain reasonably easily. Ah, well... I know that I will never get to ride an RC213V or NR750, but I have ridden or owned all of Honda's other V4 bikes at some point. Although the 1200 is considered "7th Gen", it really should be thought of as the last generation of VFR, which is a real shame but they did go out on some sort of high note. Just a shame that they hyped the concept up too much and then delivered a bike that was a bit too middle of the road. Under the plastic, this is one amazing machine.

Wasn't a k&n filter, it's a paper hiflo filter! A lot of dirt has got passed though, not necessarily past that filter mind but over the years. dB killer will have to stay, I borrowed it to use of my aprilia on a track day once, rode the honda and it was deafening! Not a huge fan of it tbf, right at the bottom of the list that though lol. Someone's had the snorkel off, I might get one actually. Again, down the bottom of the list lol. The manifold rubbers seem ok, bit hard and the clamps are rusty. Don't think they were leaking though. The butterflies were definitely shut, did make sure of that. I should have covered the throttle bodies before I stripped it apart to see if that affected the running, if it stalled I'd know it was definitely allowing a significant amount of air through. Update for today, the ultrasonic cleaner got them very clean, so clean it took the rest of the coating off the bores! I'll have to try and recoat it with something, I think I'll try some of this molykote stuff and see what sort of finish I get. I'm reluctant to buy new throttle bodies as they're all old now and there's no guarantee the replacement will be much better than they were, before I stripped it all off anyway!

Thank you, going to try this. 🙏🏻

If you had the ignition switched on while the airbox /sensors were unplugged then you will have a number of saved faults that will show up in the blinky light. I'd suggest clearing the codes page 5-7 Self-Diagnosis Reset Procedure then trying to start the bike again, it should then tell you what faults remain. My only suggestion regarding starting would be to check the engine is not flooded; wind the throttle fullly open and run the starter motor for a few seconds; the EFI system recognises this and will stop any injection to help clear the flood (if any). I'd also spring for some new spark plugs if you've not already done so.

hey guys, hope you are all doing good, i think i have aquired all the stuff im gonna need to try and do the headgaskets. gonna try and tackle it myself with a couple of people on standby just in case i get stuck. just waiting for the new head bolts to come should be in a few days. the only thing i dont have is a manual which is fine as they just confuse me anyway. the only bit of info i would need is the torque settings for the head bolts and torque pattern. hopefully gonna make a start in a week or two once work quietens down. gonna go check out a few youtube videos and try and get as much info as i can before i make a start. and worse case if i balls it up it will be an engine swap next year lol

Fuel cut off switch wiring issues

I use these: https://www.screwfix.com/p/essentials-sy5002-white-black-pressure-sprayer-5ltr/7490x 1 for engine oil. 1 for trans oil (ATF). 1 for coolant. 1 for diluted car shampoo. For oil filling, just remove lance & you're good to go, no messing about with funnels & they pump uphill. Label em, or it's OMG WTF did I just do. B&Q do a variety of PVC hose or eBay, I prefer clear hose on my fillers. Also have a hand pump vacuum bottle 3ltr for (Dot 4). Save a ton of mess for little outlay.