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Bourbon brings wisdom 😎 Nice move 🤘

Hi, I'm happy with the MICHELIN RoadClassic 130/70B18. Joe/Germany

@FromMaine Thanks for your input. I'll take the grease seals out and try to press them again. Hopefully that is gonna do the trick.

Step 1 is the Voyage of Discovery where I get to learn just how many parts I need to buy. It is clearly going to need some panel and paint work, and given the price of new OEM bits I am looking for some lightly-used bits on the net. I also puhsed the button on some Helibars as reaserch shows the ride position of the 800 VTEC and 1200 are near enough the same, and I enjoy the higher bars on my 800. I will also splash out on a centrestand. I think I will keep it generally stock except for maybe a slip-on muffler to replace the "unique" stocker...call it a sympathetic refurb constrained by price. A lot of the bolts are showing surface corrosion; what would be the smart way to deal with those (other than just buying new)? as thinking to start with a soak in Evaporust but after that? The brake and clutch levers are super furry, what about those?

Yesterday was the annual Vintage motorcycle show at the Owls Head Transportation Museum here in Maine. It's a one day event, and fairly local. About 120 bikes showed up less than usual, but a fair showing considering the weather forecast for severe thunderstorms and hail. There are no awards or trophies given, so the Trailer Queen crowd stays away in droves. 🙂 These are just a few pics. I was not the only V4 there as there was a Yamaha VMax, but I was the only VFR in attendance.

"One too many bourbons" will get you every time....lol! Looking forward to see how you do... Good luck 👍

So, back to stock or do you have something more exotic in mind? Either way I'm looking forward to your new project. best wishes for a successful build.

the california model is perfectly legal in the other 49 states, therefore it's the 50 state version. mine's a 49 state model so this is rather all a moot point.

I was looking for another project and this 2015 1200 hove into view; after one too many bourbons I hit the "buy-now" button and had it shipped to me. It has done 23000km and was an insurance write off; it was bought by the PO with the intention of powering a dune buggy but that never happened. It appears to have sat outside for a couple of years and has quite a bit of surface corrosion and the obvious crash damage. My guess is it was dropped on the right side at reasonably low speed in a collision avoidance, and then slid under the object that was being "avoided". Scuffs on the right side, left middle cowl completely missing and a severely bent radiator look to be the major offenders but the time parked outside has not been kind. Anyway the chassis and forks appear perfect, the brakes a bit draggy but not bent, and it starts and sounds mechanically great. I've owned many VFRs but never the 1200 so this is all new territory for me. Watch this space! Wish me luck!

sometimes it helps to bleed front calipers while theyre held UP to the max at the end of the brake lines to get some lingering bubbles out.

There is no 50 state version. I so rarely get to show some expertise on VFRD that I had to jump in quickly. 😎

The symptoms you describe and the fact a large bearing was replaced by two smaller ones make me think the bearings may not have seated properly. My 4th Gen does not appear to have a gap where yours has one, another indicator the bearings are proud and need to be seated.

Handy that some 6th Gen parts are the same as 5th Gen, I got pissed off of my steel hose guide spinning out of alignment when torquing up eccentric pinch bolt, bugged me that the tang digs into the alloy on swing arm, it's a shit idea so it had to go, binned mine yrs ago, drilled wheel side of plastic chain guide & cable tied brake hoses to it, looks factory & scabby bracket is no more, then decided upgrade all visible bolts to Titanium, most aren't much more spensive than oem bolts, they weigh next to nothing, lots of shiny shiny bling on display, not a scabby steel bolt in sight.

Sadly I am offering for sale my 2014 VRF. Flawless condition, lightly modded with all the original parts included as well as front and rear stands, cover, Misc. additional parts. This is my 3rd VFR and in many ways the Best I've had... In Southern California Mods list: Zero Gravity Double Bubble wind screen- Stock screen included Shorty exhaust- Stock can included SebSpeed Clutch cover BLS peg lowering blocks Factory bar risers Private Message at PACIFICMAN

Stator and flywheel conversion?

My Bad.😔 I'm that used to seeing & replying to 5th Gen posts, I just assumed, well we know about assuming don't we, makes an Ass outta, ya know the rest! Never clocked it was an 8th Gen question? Re: Master cyl seals potentially fitted wrong way around? bad Joojoo is that. I'm assuming it would piss Dot4 everywhere & little to no lever pressure. Obviously both fluid seals need to face towards master cyl pistons direction of travel, suppose it's possible to fit em wrong, but why would ya? I've heard it's possible to turn the master cyl seals over if reverse bleeding, I don't buy it, it's bollox, not possible. I never reverse bleed nor do I advise it, never any need to imho, it's not the correct way to bleed hydraulics. It's possible there's an ABS pump issue? but you'd likely see a DTC trouble code of some type or an ABS light flash code, dealer diagnostic laptop HART programme will be able to test the bikes ABS pumps statically, personally, I'd rip out the ABS pumps if proven faulty & bypass em, make my own pipework up if pumps not covered on warranty. I don't like or trust ABS on bikes, I wanna be in control of brake pressure, not some gizmos interpretation of what pressure it thinks I want. If you suspect some master cyl booboo, obviously it needs stripping for piece of mind, then persevere bleeding as per manual for this model. 👍.

Gaz66, the OP refers to 8 gen. No linked brakes, 2 pistons per caliper and ABS. Terry's suggestion about a pad catching on a spring sounds a possible cause, but beyond that I'm just guessing about the strange symptoms described although they sound potentially dangerous. I've never heard of one failing but could there be an issue with the ABS control? Then again, it does a self test and the ABS light on the dash will go off if it passes and even if it fails that simply makes the ABS inactive. The only other thing I can think of it if the new seals on the master cylinder were installed the wrong way round - I confess I haven't checked the manual but have a vague memory of that leading to unreliable hydraulic pressure. If I'm way off, I'm sure someone will correct me

Macgyvering is fine; the guide has two functions, holding the brake hose in place, but the second function is to act as a washer for the eccentric clamp bolt; if the washer is not present in some form, the bolt bottoms out without really clamping well, and chain tension will change on its own...

Thanks! Mine broke and I Macgyvered something up but will order up the 6G part.

Well I decided to dig into the Transalp clutch. 2 reason, had a odd noice while pulled in a few times lately and the clutch pull do wary a bit I think. So apart Did actually not find anything wrong, all friction plates where inside new spec according Haynes manual, metall plates had marks from sitting but no wear you could see or feel. It's a bit odd the outer friction plate has its own spot But this is how should be mounted. The small spring inside outer friction plate, don't know what way it was mounted but now correct according Haynes manual. Did put the orginal springs back as they came whit the bike, the onec in was stiffer after market one As I had to have crash bars off, decided to take both off and lighten the bike about 5 kg! Aslo mounted off the side case holders, don't know what they weighted, didn't weight them. The see if any difference you need a ride The clutch works better now I think, at least the pull is more consistent as much lighter, a thing I really like whit Transalp/Africa Twin's! The Transalp has company whit a Kawasaki ZX12R that was in stunning condition! And a ice cream was spot on in summer like September weather.

Yes for the 50 state version. I bought a CA one and it is much less excellent as it does nothing at lower RPM.

fuel pump would be my first guess. my four wheeled honda was recently having a random shutoff problem; it was happening so quickly and suddenly that i was convinced it was losing spark (coupled with the fact that it's an older one with a distributor, the igniters on those are an annoyingly common failure point), but it turned out to be the fuel pump relay. so fuel problems still can cause hard shutoffs. if it's the original pump it's probably pretty tired by this point anyway.

as i get closer and closer to wrapping up my fifth gen resto, i'm thinking more and more about things to do to it after it's running. one of the things that crossed my mind is a power commander. couple questions first though: -with regards to smoothness and evenness of power delivery, not necessarily max power numbers, what sort of improvements are there to be found over stock fueling? (with and without mods; i do plan to add a full exhaust eventually but don't know when that will happen.) or rather, how bad is stock fueling, and how well would a PC improve it? (my bike is unfortunately still not running so i can't find out for myself) -the new PC6 can take an input for coolant temp; i'm assuming the intended use is to enrich the mixture when cold. since my new engine is from an '01 and has the maligned thermostatic choke, would this allow me to just delete the choke entirely?

So stock is 130 70 18 rear and 100 90 16 front. Struggling to find tyre sizes locally.I can get a 150 70 18, will this work for the rear and what effect would it have on riding amd handling. Any suggestions for the front as well will be greatly appreciated.