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  2. That would be two of us! Bear in mind that this is not a current DMr product but does contain a new piston and shims. The refitting was a giant PITA; I came pretty close to just jamming the original shock back in a few times. The modified clevis has a particularly long threaded shaft, and that makes it tough to get into the socket in the frame while the bottom of the shock is constrained by the swingamr and exhaust system. I assume the length of the shaft allows one to add more shims to raise the rear end, not something I want/need to do.
  3. Ooh, inquiring minds want to know 😉 Looking forward to your verdict, and some pics of the test ride.
  4. Today
  5. D'oh! A few days after your's was my 20th, which I also missed. Though I wasn't active the whole time when I dropped out. Many thanks to Miguel for creating & maintaining this little playground for us.
  6. wow is right, started this thing in 2002 on some forum platform that no longer exists too. registered a real website 2003, thanks for sticking around for so long!
  7. Shoot! I missed my 20yr Anniversary! Joined November 16, 2005. Wow.
  8. My buddy built that bike with my help, just down the road from me. It is solid. Not sure what it might need from sitting now for a couple years. The only thing I knew it needed when I sold it for him was one of the fork seals was starting to leak. The shock has been rebuilt by DMr and had a longer res hose installed. Probabaly has 1000 miles max on it. Pretty sure we put 1.0 straight rate springs in the front. It did not get Emulators. The carbs have aluminum cross over tubes with all new o-rings and viton float bowl o-rings. New clutch and springs, new brakes and new chain and sprockets. Brakes are probably fork oil soaked by now. He did new seals when he built the bike but must have picked up a rock ding or something. Oh and pretty damn sure tapered steering bearings were installed. New Bridgestone BT45 were installed. He got rid of the stock mirror holes in the cowl. That was simply a personal thing he did, it wasn't from crashing. The lowers are either Cobalt Racing fiberglass (aka VFR Chuck Crites) or Meier Mfg ABS. Both are very good aftermarket versions. It should have a new seat cover. Toggle switches on the left are fan and fuel cut override on my recommendation. It ran, shifted, charged and stopped perfectly when I sold it. The only reason he sold it was his old ship wright knees couldn't take it any longer. I had a hunch that was the bike when I saw a small pic over on VFRW. Was the seller's name Stewart? I know the he barely rode it after purchasing it, but said that he loved it.
  9. Hey everyone, I just picked up this 1986 VFR750 for $1500 and the previous owner was nice enough to tow it back to my place for just a tank of gas! The bike has around 45k miles. Short term plan: - Battery. - Install the rebuilt clutch lever. - Sight glasses. - Clutch fluid refill and bleed. - Basic fluids change. - Figure out why the seat won’t latch all the way because I can just pull it up and hear it un-click. - Install new cowl with mirror holes and mirrors. Long term plan: - Restore to original color and graphics. - Possibly strip to bare frame and restore due to some surface rust showing in some places. This is all the photos I have so far since it’s been a busy holiday weekend! I’ll include future updates! Hope to keep this Honda forever! Anyone else in the Pacific Northwest?!
  10. Today was the continuing saga of the DMr shock absorber. In May I spotted a used item on eBay, recognised correctly as DMr-modified CBR600 shock, and bought it for not too much money. When it arrived, it was a bit oily and when I fitted it up, was apparent that it was free of damping (little oil/gas) far too hard (wrong spring) and a bit short. EBay refunded my purchase but I lost the freight. Jamie advised what I needed to do, and a local shop quoted me more than NZ$1000 to swap the spring, replace the seals, re-oil and regas. Jamie offered to do that for about half, so I shipped the shock to him. Unfortunately due to misplaced honesty, our post office decided the shock was a prohibited item, held it for 8 weeks, then returned it to me with lot of DANGER/EXPLOSIVE type placarding. Morons. And I lost the freight that I had paid. Again. Then I had a chance encounted with an old mate now running a mountain bike suspension business in a nearby town, we got talking and he agreed to do the rebuild for me, so I got the parts shipped from Jamie, and had Norm do the rebuild. Norm took his time and so many, many months have passed since I ordered the shock. Jamie supplied a new spring, seals, piston, shims, and a modified clevis (to correct the length). Today was Der Tag, I got the spanners out and fitted the rebuilt shock to Sakura. That short sentence does not tell about the finger trapping, knuckle scraping, knee breaking and sweat-inducing work that probably takes a mildly skilled Honda employee about 30 seconds on the production line, but took me more like 4 hours. Does it work? Is it worth all the effort? No idea...it is hosing down outside and I have no interest in getting wet. Stand by for next weekend!
  11. I maximize (or slightly over) my tire pressures. With a center stand not such a big deal, but 99% of mine do not have one. Maybe not a big deal at all, it's just one more easy thing I do to help against possible flat spots / deformations from sitting.
  12. What a shame! Sounds good though; I only bought mine in September, and the previous (and only other) owner had mentioned that he changed the oil every spring.
  13. Yesterday
  14. No longer living in a store-it-for-the-winter locale, but here's a couple things: -do not do the "running for a few minutes" no matter how tempting. Either ride it for 20-30 minutes minimum to boil out all the crankcase moisture, or let it sit. (I get that you ran it to move the stabilizer into the fuel system) -change the oil just before storing in the fall. Others will chime in but I think you're good. Seems like half the threads here now are restoring bikes left outside or in a barn!
  15. Hi - I just winterized my bike before putting into storage, which involved: 1) filling the tank, adding Honda OEM fuel stabilizer, and running for a few minutes; and 2) pulling the battery (to keep on a tender). Anything else I'm missing that is seen as vital? Storage is in a warmed environment with no direct sunlight. Planning on changing the brake pads and air filter over the winter as well, and then giving it an oil change in the spring.
  16. Hi, I wanted to share how I mounted a Givi V47 top box to my VFR. I used the Givi Monokey universal plate (product code E251, currently on offer at SportsBikeShop - apologies if "plugging" not permitted) together with an official Honda rack, which I recently picked up on eBay. The first step was, naturally, fitting the Honda rack which was very straightforward. After taking several measurements, I planned to order a 5 mm thick aluminium plate cut to the required dimensions. I found some very reliable sellers on eBay and chose The Aluminium Shop in the UK, who supplied and cut the sheet to specification (+-2mm), not leaving any sharp burrs. I aligned the piece on the rear rack carrier and marked the drilling points. Next, I mounted the aluminium plate using bolts that were intentionally longer than required, as shown below. This setup provided a solid base for attaching the universal plate, which was secured using the same bolts that fastened the aluminium plate to the rack. I did have to make a slight cut out to the honeycomb to accommodate aligning the rear bolt hole. Showing from underneath: The finished plate ended up looking like this: Happy to say this is a very secure and stable solution! I'll update this post with a picture including the box at a later point. I'd like to say thanks to those who documented other solutions on the forum as they contributed towards this design. Hope this helps someone else! Jason.
  17. I think you'll find quite a few earlier Honda's use the exact same fan motor. eg) Bike breaker on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/197876731073? Cheap, may even ship overseas? Just trawl eBay breakers.
  18. EBay UK https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167240351105?_skw=vfr+800+engine&itmmeta=01KB7SJPAVF5CRPXJQXPHV4MWX&hash=item26f04d3d81:g:sIEAAOSwJ25nflJ0&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1fFXqtohbCDlR1MqvCrhcuj1Gaz2XWrApYaYvzBm8uh8ib86g74WqfWqZbMn%2BDCMBNGepYyyAq8grnMEm%2BgvK4GPtVHdbiDlX3qWglbUKz52mwikyj6jryfqlEem0%2FRMC7NCl9R8y2oHTO2Ld5myR5pPiI%2BLuTZzVx03RZhAQq4ZdFUjd9rrpyaWA1SSXjaduJ3XMM8sZhyK0%2FYC29lH7U7P72%2FZod0EI4okOKnXdDGWIVU3f4uw3VyFsanqskbd9UD8NMPUp11fbgJxIw1gG75OwJJvAqHDl4Lr2JaGnlWpg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9rlyvnZZg
  19. Hello everyone! The name's Chris. Been lurking around these parts for a couple years since I got my 2008 Viffer back in 2023. I'm located in Singapore, where the VFR population is slightly under a 100 (we have exactly 1 known 8th gen here). Currently in the midst of doing a front end swap to take the 8th gen lower and doing a handlebar swap to replace the clip-ons. Had a Laser Deeptone installed but the super strict Land Transport Authority here almost fined me since I didn't have any legal documentation to get it approved. Looking forward to learning more and meeting more Viffer owners! Picture of my stallion below!
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  20. It’s painful when the issues are partly electrical too. But this is a good lesson to me, always disregard what other people say when it comes to maintenance and verify things yourself, don’t be afraid to ask for help… and don’t trust a lousy frenchman! I hope to be up and running again soon, but im sure it’ll be awhile. If anyone has ANY leads for an engine i’d be very appreciative. Cheers!
  21. The rear tire was skidding, it did it before when I didn’t get enough momentum when bump starting so that’s just what I figured for the most part. As for the engine turning over I guess I was mistaken. I plan on taking this engine off the bike and tearing it down, and maybe finding a donor engine I can run for a season or so while I rebuild my engine, that way I don’t miss a season or two. The best way to learn something is to get so far into it you have no other option!
  22. I do not know off hand of any aftermarket alternative for 6th gens. But if I were to go down this road I would check eBay first. If no luck there, there are plenty of dirt cheap universal radiator fans on Amazon. I would measure the stock fan's size and then shop for something sized similar with airflow direction I want.
  23. Last week
  24. Sorry to hear your news. You have a major project in front of you. Sorting out dead engine issues on a neglected bike is difficult, time consuming, and intimidating. And getting advice from experts on VFRD can be intimidating also, but you have handled it with grace. Best wishes, please post an update in the future, hopefully a spring ride pic north of Ottawa.
  25. That was really the only explanation for why the starter would spin up fine on the bench, but draw massive amps when trying to turn the engine. I had my suspicions too, but thought for sure you had verified the engine turned over (easily). I take it the rear tire was skidding when you were reporting it wouldn't bump start? Sorry dude. Take the time to find a used engine in my opinion.
  26. Welp, it’s finally been figured out. The motor is seized. I had my suspicions leading up to it, but ended up being a combination of electrical issues and the engine being seized that were causing the symptoms I experienced once the bike died. They said they found copper in the oil, even though I drained the oil after the bike died and I didn’t see any fragments or shavings, but I guess I could have missed something. Anyways, they want over 3+ hours of labor at $180/hr to tear it down so im just going to take the bike home next week and i’ll tear into it myself over the winter. Any advice for where to source a rebuild kit (if there even are any) or a new engine? I’ve looked around on Ebay and Facebook Marketplace but I haven’t had much luck. I want to thank you all for your insight and advice, I guess I should have been more thorough in my diagnosis. The bike died after only 20,000km in my ownership (I bought it at 40,000km and got it to 60,000km) with regular services (Oil change, airfilter, brake pads, fluid flushes, etc) every 5-6,000km’s. Till next time lads! Cheers!
  27. I agree, not trying to throw parts at it. The fan was initially stuck which caused the first couple fuse pops. I replaced the fan blades because it was lopsided would get stuck on something. Couple days later, fan worked sometimes and and sometimes popped a fuse. Tested the fan switch, it was not operating correctly per the service manual, so I then replaced replaced that too. Everything working fine for a couple rides; now it's popped a few times due to me needing to use it as a source of transportation. In summary, 3 things have failed in this system so far: Fan blade was lopsided and getting stuck (fixed), Fan Switch was no longer grounding at correct temperature (replaced), now fuses are popping with a seemingly working system (I assume the fan motor is damaged due to the first failure). Ill bench test the fan to verify that is pulling too many amps, but regardless I would need to replace the fan motor. Do you know of any replacements I could use outside of the OEM part number that's not $300? If I have to buy it then I will, just wondering if there's another drop in replacement I could use or pull from a salvage yard.
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    1. med_gallery_491_3463_298783.jpg

      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
      Latest Entry

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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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