Ownership Verified: Two Wheeled Bliss ['99 Honda VFR800]

[Der Stig]

I'm in love

1999 Honda VFR purchased from the second owner (who bought it in '01 with 4k on it). It has 71,600-odd on it now

Spectre and I drove down to Houston yesterday, I handed a nice gentleman some cash and when he began regretting his decision, immediately rode off. We then had an early dinner at my parents' place before setting off for Dallas.

The bike isn't perfect and needs a little bit of work (new chain/sprockets and new front discs, the current ones a really warped and pulsate a lot). But, it's a great motorcycle and doesn't look nor ride like a 15.5 year old bike! It was very well looked after and I'm really happy. He also has an ?hlins rear shock that I'll be buying off of him later.

It has a slew of typical VFR farkles: Staintune exhaust, 3/4 Genmar riser bars, Givi top rack/case, Corbin seat (which I hated over the several hour ride back-my first 200+ mile ride and first in Houston, I just do not have prodigious ass or baby-birthing hips), radar detector GPS mount, apparently also has Race Tech front fork cartridges as well-it even has the complete, original toolkit!

Grinning fool

At my parents' house

First fuel stop before departing my home town

Requisite Bucky's photo

Last fuel stop in Corsicana

Home (with stock seat on the Givi rack, shortly before it was swapped back on)

Proof pic:

Also, the BMW threw a code on the way back :lol:

 

[Rossco]

Nice!

Man I need to get on the EFI bandwagon.:lol:

You gonna buy a topcase? And is that an Olympia Stealth suit?

 

[BlaRo]

Great bikes, from all the proselytizing. They're too tall for me.

 

[argatoga]

Great buy.

 

[Crazyjeeper]

Looks like a fantastic example. Not gonna lie, I'm just a bit jealous. I've been on a 5th gen VFR and it was sublime.

Don't have too much fun.

 

[Spectre]

Great bikes, from all the proselytizing. They're too tall for me.

Nah, they're the right size, you're just too short.

Amusing thought occurred to me - we drove basically across the width of France to get this thing.

 

[KaJuN]

That's a very beautiful bike! Add me to the list of those being jealous. Now go ride the crap out of her and get up over 100k miles.

 

[Der Stig]

Thanks for the compliments, guys! I definitely plan on doing at least 100k on this thing. I've been planning on doing a California road trip for quite a while...

Nice!

Man I need to get on the EFI bandwagon.:lol:

You gonna buy a topcase? And is that an Olympia Stealth suit?

Already got a Givi, guy threw it in. It's not the best thing, but it's better than nothing. He also threw in some old soft bags like my last ones that, er, got ejected.

Yup, that's my Olympia Stealth Suit. Picked it up on clearance last year for $200 and I've loved. It smells like gas, oil, and road grime from the filthy GS :lol:

 

[Redliner]

 

[Der Stig]

Just tore it open to start with chain and sprocket replacement.

And this is what the clutch slave cylinder looked like

No surprise, again, 71k on the thing, but of course, this will hold up my riding for a while as it appears none of the local dealers have the parts in stock.

 

[Der Stig]

FUCK YOU METAL SNAKE!

 

[Redliner]

Should have gotten a Harley. No messing with chains, bro.

 

[Blind_Io]

Great bikes, from all the proselytizing. They're too tall for me.

Did you have a problem riding mine?

 

[Der Stig]

Small update

Behind the local cigar lounge-word of advice, stow your gear in a friend's car to avoid the dreaded cigar helmet

Finally ticked over 72k.

Ordered new front wheel bearings/oil seals, got a basically new rear tire (Pilot Power) courtesy of Spectre, and have newer, non-warped rotors to install in the coming weeks. Going to swap out the front as well. Currently, the Pilot Road 3 out back is on it's last legs, although the front one is still good.

Oh yes, and my Valentine's Day present, an ?hlins rear shock, model HO 801, which is now out of production. Not my picture, as mine's got 50k on it and needs a rebuild, but it was $250 (picked it up from the previous owner of "Harriet," as she is apparently known):

 

[Der Stig]

Fixed the warped brakes (due to previous owner's Harley-Rear-Brake-Only-Or-You'll-Lay-'Er-Down (tm) on a CBS bike) finally, got the new tires on, and the wheel bearings done.

Hoverbike, now with additional hover!

We were done on Saturday morning at around 2 something, then the valve core decided to be a defective pile of leakiness, but it's all sorted now. Got my first "rainy" ride in on the way back and all is well.

She now wears Pilot Powers fore and aft, I'm sure I'll chew through these faster than I chew through gum, but should be fun

 

[Spectre]

You forgot the idiot's idea (we're not sure whose idiot idea it was) to partially shim the brake rotors so that they had to wobble back and forth slightly while rotating. I'd really like to find out who thought that was a good idea.

 

[Der Stig]

You forgot the idiot's idea (we're not sure whose idiot idea it was) to partially shim the brake rotors so that they had to wobble back and forth slightly while rotating. I'd really like to find out who thought that was a good idea.

It was 2 AM, I can't be expected to remember this shit :lol:

 

[Spectre]

Heh, point.

 

[Der Stig]

So, Spectre and I put new headlights in the thing (60W vs. the lens/battery/stator murdering 100 watters in there before). We attempted to remedy the wiring to the Givi bag on the back with it's additional brake light, but being Italian, it didn't work. Unfortunately, I managed to break one of the rear brake light wires in the process, but it's sorted now. The previous owner went hog wild with the scotch locks, damaging a few wires ( ). I've ordered frame sliders and next up are replacing the instrument panel lights with LEDs.

Bike makes excellent scotch transport

 

[Anesthesia]

A friend of mine had one of these a few years back. Never missed a beat.