Thinking of rebuilding my bike.

First, a little preamble.
As some of you know, I totaled my red 02 in September.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk125/milmand/VFR%20Accident%209-09/PICT0248.jpg

I didn't have collision coverage, but since it was totally not my fault (it never is ;p), the other ins. co payed out the bike's full value w/o any problems. I then bought an 06 ABS from a member here, which is in a top notch condition for a very fare price :fing02:.
My first impulse was to take the totaled bike apart and sell what I could. So, being a staunch believer in following my first impulses (I never learn :rolleyes:), I made the first step and completely disassembled it. Step two wasn't quite as easy as I had imagined. Apparently, there are a number of 6th gens being parted out on eBay and the demand for parts just isn't there. In addition, I am too lazy to deal with taking pictures, listing, shipping, etc...
So, I have been toying with an idea of rebuilding this bike for use at my other place in the Poconos.

While taking the bike apart, I realized that the damage was mostly cosmetic. All the hard parts were untouched, except for the front fairing stay. Frame, forks, etc... are all good. Not a scratch on'em.
Both side fairings are repairable as well, so the only parts that I would need to buy are front stay, front cowl, headlight, blinkers and right radiator.

So now, I have two major decisions to make.
First - whether to patch up the old fairings, buy the front cowl and fender and go Timmy on them or to splurge for the Chinese body work.
Second - what to do with the title. This is a tricky one, b/c when the ins. was cutting a check, they told me to mail in the title to NY DMV and get a salvage one. Being the lazy laggard that I am, I never mailed it anywhere. Now, I no longer want to register or title the bike in NY. Instead, I am planning to keep it in Pennsylvania. The question is, can I use the clean title that I have to register in PA or do I have to send it in to NY to get a salvaged one first?

Just pondering my choices at the moment.
Please opine.

As for the title - I'd just play dumb and register the clean title in PA and let them figure it out!

Lots of used bodywork floating around - as well as parts - go for the rebuild. (I think I have a fender and a right side rad if you decide to rebuild. The rad has some fins dinged, but I had it pressure tested - A-OK.)

Cool to have an extra bike to rebuild and "play" with. Go for it!! :wheel:

Go Naked FTW

Keep the title and go Chinese. :fing02:

I love the 6th so much that I would part it out for myself just in case. All those pieces are worth there weight in gold when needed, especially the itty bitty ones.

[image: View Post]BaileyRock, on 26 February 2010 - 03:42 PM, said:

Keep the title and go Chinese. :fing02:



http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/+1.gifhttp://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/+1.gif I do the above the knock off plastics that was posted up a couple days ago for $485 with tank cover not bad.


Or sell the rear end for my 5th.http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif

Rebuild it!

I'm actually in a similar situation, my bike was damaged in a 30mph crash resulting in every one of my pristine body panels to be either severely scratched or cracked. Following a satisfactory settlement with the insurance company, I decided to keep the bike and turn it into a track bike. Since I have no experience on the track, I figured that riding a VFR is a safer approach than taking a lightweight high powered sportsbikes as a learning machine. Following Baileyrock's guidance, I should be finished building the bike on time for the upcoming season.

Back to your specific situation. If you intend to sell the rebuilt bike you are probably better off buying new OEM body panels. Last time I looked, the best online prices were at Beaver Dam Honda, a full set of plastics excluding tank is 1400$, which is about the price most good bodyshops charge for fixing and painting damaged plastic. If you want to keep the bike and sell the newer one you have, then I suppose the chinese solution is a good one. I may go that route if I decide to put my VFR back on the road again.

Keep us posted!

Regards,
Bruckner

While the "go naked" idea seems appealing, I think it would be really hard to make a naked 6th gen not look, well, poor. If you could find a single radiator for a front mount that might help, but the cooling system alone is pretty ugly on these things with the panels off. The next issue is cleaning up the front for a headlight and gauge install. I know it's been done but it seems like a lot of fighting.

Since you already have one to ride, I would make this a project and slowly accumulate the bits to turn it into an "uber-6th" with a front end swap, de-link the brakes, some kind of custom or aftermarket exhaust, etc. Watch ebay & CL and VFRD/the other site for deals, all that action. Probably take a year but if you really love the thing, this could be a great project, but I would probably budget a few grand for this sort of way forward. Or you could go somewhere in the middle.

Really there is no wrong way forward, but I don't think I would part it with intent to sell, because as you've noticed there's plenty of 6th gens for parts on ebay already and since these things don't really break short of accident damage the bike won't be worth much as parts.