Ohlins triple adjuster for a CBR 1100XX that I won (sic) on Epay last week, finally got here yesterday. Here are the highlights from two full days of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace"
Day 1- remove old shock, clean & lube rear suspension, mill billet spacer and fashion new upper mount for Ohlins shock; move license plate to under the can, detail front brake system and change brake and clutch fluid.
I have done a lot of things in my life that really sucked, but the VFR brake system is uncharted territory in Sucklandia. The service manual reads, "If air enters vacuum line through threads on bleeder screw, apply teflon tape to threads". It should have read, "Apply teflon tape to ALL bleeder threads before attemping to do anything". Then it should have said, "Be sure to apply plenty of brake cleaner spray to shiny painted wheels". Guess what happened next... I repainted the wheels...
Day 2 - I finally recieved the shock (4pm) and went to work. Everything on top worked right - billet spacer, new top mount - no prob. The problem came when I needed to raise my rear ride hieght to gain a little more clearance between the underseat exhaust and the rear tire. The CBR shock was about 6mm shorter than the VFR shock, and I needed about 6mm more clearance for the tire. So I made a 12mm spacer. The dog bone hit the bottom of the shock, and the linkage wouldn't line up - at all. That was frustrating. So I gave up for the night.
Day 3 - I took the whole thing back apart and milled 2mm off the spacer. Now the shock has about .5mm between the lower shock mount and the dogbone, and everything fits. Whew!
What I learned: The best laid plans don't always get you laid.
It rained like an MF last night; New tires+new setup+rain = slow down! I ran out for a pack of smokes, both ends need to be dialed in, but not in the rain. Initially it seems to be light years better, but I didn't push it at all.
Yeah, it works out pretty well. Building it was an exercise in patience, though. Turns out there was only one company in Atlanta interested in making the stainless intermediate pipe, took me almost two weeks to find them.
vfrmonkey, Feb 24 2005, 12:16 PMYeah, it works out pretty well. Building it was an exercise in patience, though. Turns out there was only one company in Atlanta interested in making the stainless intermediate pipe, took me almost two weeks to find them.
I like the exhaust too, I was wondering how close the new 600rr up pipe would be to accomplishing the same kind of under tail set-up ? I need to find someone local to do some more exhaust mods too ! You can buy U and J pipe of many sizes and radiuses pretty cheap of either mild steel or stainless which I plan on picking up to play with. Is your post still available on your exhaust build project ? beer.gif
It might be out there somewhere, but I can't find it. The CBR600RR exhaust comes nowhere near working, i bought one for cheap with that in mind, but only ended up using the heat sheild from the top...
I think we need to rename this site the VFR modification forum. I love to see you guys make things fit, with function in mind. Perhaps a best FrankenVFR contest, due at the end of the year. smile.gif
The work looks great, comendable! Did you lose the cat? I would think you should have trimmed 15 pounds or so off your bike.? I'll be watchin for a ride report.
vfrmonkey, Feb 25 2005, 10:04 AMRichmerrill, I'm Brad Merrell ... '99 has no cat. It's actually a bit heavier than TBR hi mount, lots more stainless tubing...
MOM???? zat you? Real nice progres on your scooter, I do like your setup. I'm lookind for a late nintys header as we speek. I think we are all waiting for a ride review and how the mapping might have to be adjusted. Keep it up.....push the envelope...cousin!
Day 1- remove old shock, clean & lube rear suspension, mill billet spacer and fashion new upper mount for Ohlins shock; move license plate to under the can, detail front brake system and change brake and clutch fluid.
Nice job... did you post a pic of your new upper mount that interfaced the Ohlins to the VFR???
No pics, sorry. It wasn't hard- I drilled out the top mount bolt head and cleaned it up with a grinder. Then I used a square rat tail file to make the hole in the "u" square to fit the carriage bolt. I ground the head of a carriage bolt down to clear the top of the shock, and bolted it up. For the spacer, I walked into the local redneck machine shop and asked if they had a chunk 60-61 billet aluminum I could buy. The old guy said, "Hmm, let me go look". He came back about a minute later with a small chunk in his hand. I asked him what is was worth - he said "Go buy me a co-cola from that machine outside and we'll call it a deal" Nice guy.
I cut the billet down in a drill press vise on a miter saw with a carbide blade, then drilled the hole out in my drill press. Presto!
ULEWZ, Feb 25 2005, 04:06 AMI think we need to rename this site the VFR modification forum. I love to see you guys make things fit, with function in mind. Perhaps a best FrankenVFR contest, due at the end of the year.� smile.gif
Maybe not a competition, but how about a Frankenviffer pics topic in mods ? I think we have one of the better collections of truly modified (i.e., beyond the bolt-on farkle) VFR's on this site.
That's what I'm sayin...I'd LOVE to have that look, but the $900+ pricetag of the now-extinct-anyway Wolf undertail system was a bit steep.
Which pipe did you actually use? And like ratfink said, could you get more of those intermediate pipes made? And for how much? Did you have to use the XX shock to get the clearance, or is that just a handling-elated swap?
So a couple of questions come to mind here...would the specific can you used have to be used? Or any can that's the same length? Is there a shorter can that would protrude less from the tail? Would the less protrusion have any ill-effects (assuming a slight downturn at the outlet)? Would you have to use a high-mount to get the largest part of the intermediate pipe, and just add custom bits to it? Would it be possible to squeeze a pair of pipes in there (like the Wolf system)? I like the dual-outlet look. Which cans could you use for that? Would the duals adversely affect the necessary backpressure in the exhaust or could that be compensated for by custom mapping my Power Commander? E-mail me directly if you don't wanna go through it all here. I'm very interested in doing something like this to mine.
End of thread · 24 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 20 May 2005