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Quiet in the office at 07:15 Still a looker 31 years on..

Cool thread, @Gaz66. Sounds like you’re in the UK, and I’ve just gutted a Factory Pro star kit to my 5th Gen. if you want my old star and arm you can have them free - just cover postage. I’ve seen people modify these by rounding the peaks. This helps the shift happen faster, but you need a stronger spring to stop it popping out. Roller bearing also helps. Guy on YouTube does it freehand - it’s not rocket science. I’d just use a bench grinder with a flat plate. PM me your details and I’ll get it to you. Send your number and we can talk it through.

It’s been a while since I posted due to “life” happening. Thought I’d update with some winter maintenance. Oil-and-filter change this season after 5,000 miles, including two track days and a dyno tune. Using good oil pays dividends when you’re bouncing it off the rev limiter. Motul 300V still looks good despite the thrashing it got this year. Still smells like bananas! Oil still kind of yellow… Few flecks of fine metal at the bottom of the oil pan, as expected… With the oil out, it’s a perfect opportunity to fit the Factory Pro Shift Star and Detent Arm kit from our last group buy. Another member changed his mind after I bough it for him, so it’s going on my bike! I leaned heavily on @kaldek post here for directions. Big thanks, mate! Kaldek’s guide is great so I’m not going reinvent the wheel. If you’re fitting one of these, use his awesome guide. Here’s my kit, which includes the shift star, detent arm, detent arm spring and gasket…and some cool stickers! First job is to tear away at the shifter housing to get at the clockwork. Clamp to keep the clutch slave piston from popping out… Marked the gear shifter with a punch so it can go back on at the same angle. Look at the filth from a British winter! If it was filthy outside, it was grotesque inside. All that chain grease and road grime congealed together. Chain looking poorly too… The inner shifter cover is a BITCH to get off but I found one spot you can get a screwdriver behind GENTLY… After finally wrestling it off, I realised there is one good spot you can put your fingers behind this cover and pull it off. Bit of a cleanup with WD40 and some rags… New shift shaft bearing and seal while we’re in there. You can see a little piece of the inner cover broke off (right end of the crescent) More of that later… Old seal and bearing removed. No science here - just screwdriver and hammer on the inner race of the bearing. Torching the outer housing helps get it out a bit easier… Used a socket to drive the new bearing in. Again, some heat to expand the hole makes it easier. Seal just pushes in with a slick of grease. Pushed some good grease in to the bearing… Back to the broken piece. I tried to braze it back on but failed as the sliver was too small. JB Weld to the rescue! Here are the OE parts (top) vs the Factory Pro parts (bottom). The new shift spring is a bit firmer. The shift star has rounded edges so gears click in better. The arm has a ceramic bearing on the end, as opposed to the plain bearing on the OE one, so should roll over the start points nicer. Some good grease thumbed into the shift bearing. You can see the little post on which the shift star orients itself. I turned it all the way clockwise (1st gear) Shift Start bolt gets threads cleaned and loctite applied. Few notes not on Kaldek’s thread: 1. You don’t need to put the bike in gear to loosen-or-tighten the shift star bolt. It just rolls all the way to 6th gear when you undo it, and rolls all the way to first gear when you tighten it 2. The shift star has a single hole in the back that fits on the shift post. BUT, the star doesn’t go deep enough to make good contact and it can slip out of the post. You have to be gentle and make sure it goes directly on the little post 3. You MUST cycle through all the gears when you’re done to make sure the shift star is in the right position. It’s the only way to tell as you’re working blind and by feel Here are all the parts installed, in 1st gear position. Once the star, arm and spring are installed, I put the shifter shaft in and the temporarily fitted the gear lever to cycle through the gears. Unfortunately the old gasket tore as it came off, so it needs to be replaced. Used a new razor blade and a wood chisel to scrape it all off. Hateful job but needs to be smooth for a good seal. Don’t worry about polishing, though: paper gaskets need the little scratches to adhere. Looking decent after 20 minutes… Now to do the same on the engine side. Will this nightmare never end! At long last! Make sure to clear all bits of gasket from internal areas and I blocked off the water pump hole. Time to dit the new gasket. I don’t want it tearing again if it ever needs to come off again, so I smeared the engine side with some copper grease. This way it’ll come off on the cover side, which is easier to scrape if necessary. Replacing bolts with stainless as I go. Brake fluid leaks of the past aren’t kind to OE bolts. Pulling the sprocket back on to the shaft is ALMOST impossible if you don’t slacken off the chain but it can be done if you’re stubborn like me. Would have been quicker and easier to slacken the chain but…yeah, stubborn! All back together. FINALLY! Whilst covered in muck and crying on my knees, thought I’d clean and adjust the chain. What’s a bit more filth, eh? WD40 and a toothbrush to clean, followed by chain lube and a rag to finish. Then, whilst covered in even more muck, what’s a little bit more, eh? So I thought I’d give the rusting exhaust a coat of black stove enamel. This is a tip from @Dutchy, thanks mate. Looks much better than rusty brown! Here’s a “before”… Compare the coated tube to the uncoated one behind. Big difference. Im a little disappointed the black heatproof paint didn’t last even one year. After sandblasting, coating and oven baking I was hoping it would perform better. Anyway, the bike is almost ready for next season. Just needs a bath and an ACF50 rubdown. Roll on 2026!

Shiny only proves they're, well, shiny. The bike does not look lowered to me. Here is my stock suspension 95 before I started modding it. What the preload/sag is set at, how heavy the rider is, and the resulting laden geometry /ride height is also unknown.

Sounds like you might indeed have a lower setup — that shiny linkage is a good clue. I don’t have exact ride-height numbers, but measuring from the floor to the top of the rear subframe or swingarm pivot and comparing it to stock specs should tell you if it’s been lowered. If you get those measurements and share them, folks here can help you confirm before you order the Thurn riser links.

V4 is heavy & complex=expensive. IL4 is lighter, less complex=cheaper. iL2 is cheaper again with same complexity. Now they have applied the engineering to twins & singles that was applied to multi's years ago, they make good power, have great torque & cost less to make. V4 in motogp is more about power delivery & aerodynamics than anything else. Over 100mph, the drag saving from a thinner bike is worth more than HP due to diminishing returns from HP as speed increases drag becomes the challenge. Road bikes don't regularly travel faster than 100mph, so iL4 or Twin has more than enough power to get you there & drag is irrelevant. The VFR's made sense when power is equal & everything else is optimised the V4 should be faster than an iL4 !

Beyond all-day comfort. I've done a bunch of stupid endurance riding with standard/ADV ergo. Like having my VFR in Pacific and East Coast time zones in under 48 hours kind of stupid. After so many hours I'll need to start stretching my legs (why I prefer a cruiser now for this kind of dumb riding), but back and upper body with standard ergo no problems.

All adventure bikes are equal. But some are more equal than others. -Animal Farm, George Orwell

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I get the dislike of the ADV looks, the beak is pretentious and not functional, the designers hoping to give the impression of taking on any road or any trail. But to paraphrase Skids, I'll take function over form. My ADV, owned for eight years now and with a silly beak, is just a great sport touring bike for me. 140hp, weighs less than any VFR made in the last 30 years, more luggage capacity than I need, has 7" of suspension travel, rips the canyons and is comfy on the freeways. The bars are just the right height for all-day comfort.

are you laying down on the tank? From what I've seen of Crossrunner ergos hands should be at or just below your sternum.

Haha, no surprises that there are differing opinions. Lord help us if we all liked exactly the same things. The Crossie is all-day comfortable. You can ride fast or take it easy and the miles can just vanish yet it is equally at home in the twisties. Yes, the suspension could be better for this (the same for every VFR) but the wider bars give you a lot more leverage for turning and your view ahead is better with a higher head height. And despite the higher drag from the upright riding position, I've seen well over 50mpg (imperial gallons) at high cruise speeds which gives nearly 250 miles to a tank. Looks aren't something that bother me too much, it's the bike between my legs that's important and the VFR800X, which has exactly the same engine as the 800F, ticks my boxes for what I need it for. 68000 miles, never failed to start first touch and with nary a cough or a splutter, all weathers, all year round for 6 years. However, I shall be sad to see her go come the spring as my commuting days are over and I cannot justify keeping her. YMMV, as always.

The adventure bikes are quite ugly...not to mention that my shoulders are on fire about 1.5 miles in. It is very unnatural to have your arms WAY up there.

As someone who only ever rides on the road, I just don't get the adventure bike style attraction (looks especially). For me the VFR800F is almost perfect. Sure, I'd prefer it to be rather lighter for the dynamics and the ergonomics only work in 1.5hr segments but it suits my purposes.

The 1st Gen was very much "meh"... Test rode it when introduced...

MotoGP is quite a few years ahead of the consumer market but you can see the pendulum swinging back to the V4 configuration.

MotoGP is a whole different world from the American consumer motorcycle market.

I don't doubt that at all, but it still doesn't have the same handling unless you've made some mods we are unaware of.

This is what cmsnl shows for a 2000 vfr. I've been keeping an eye on this thread, thinking it might be a down the road project.

I think you'll find that's not a 5th Gen shift star, looks nothing like one. Looks like its for an old 750,

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The 750 responds VERY well to substantial ride height increase in the rear and dropping the front. Much quicker steering, not a hint of nervousness.

I haven't ridden a Crossrunner (we no get 😠), but I have done 80K on 5th gens with Crossrunner equivalent ergonomics 🤩. I completely understand your assessment.

"It's never going to handle like a CBR600" Not sure on the 750, but my 800 beats 600's & has matched 600 club racers on track days 😎👍

I've done nearly 70k miles on my Crossrunner and though I haven't owned an 8th Gen but have test ridden one, the Mk2 Crossrunner is the best VFR800 Honda produced. IMHO of course.