Thought I'd share some pictures of my new (to me) '96. Although this is my first post, you guys have already been a lot of help with sorting her out.
My brother bought the VFR in 1998, back when I was still riding a '90 CBR 1000F. We rode together a lot back in the day so I already have quite a bit of saddle time on it. When he had his first girl 10 years ago, the bike got mothballed with only 17k miles. He kept thinking he'd break it back out once she got a little older... luckily he ended up having three little girls, and finally decided to sell. :wink:
I wasn't sure how much I was getting into at first; it was leaking fuel and running pretty rough. But the leak was fixed just by tightening up a needle valve'ish screw on the carbs (pilot screw?) and replacing o-rings. Two days in, I ended up stranded on an offramp when the engine died and couldn't be restarted. Ended up being a blown R/R... replaced it along with a VFRness from wiremybike.
Aside from that, she turned out to be in great shape. All I've really done is long overdue maintenance... plugs, fluid changes, lube, sea foam, and a quick Italian tuneup. 600 miles in and she's running like a top... the V-4 just sings once it starts to rev up.
The bike is all stock except for the sticker set and that I swapped out the OEM mirrors. I still haven't decided how I feel about the stickers; I never would have put them on myself, but I think I'll live with them a while and see.
Anyway, thanks for all the help. Even if you didn't realize you were helping. :beer:
The stickers on the side are -imho- a nice, different touch. But on the top half next to the headlights are not.
It looks like that at the aftermarket mirrors you use the metal base plates from the original mirrors. You could take these out and put some rubber sheet cut in the circumference of the base of the stalks and cut holes for the bolts
Wow i've never seen a decal scheme like that one! it really does suck when the R/R fries and you've got yourself a tire kicker untill it's replaced.
I've never seen decals like it myself, but I'm surprised that it hasn't been seen around the forums.
Being stuck on a ramp does suck, but probably better sooner than later. At least I found out about the VFR's electrical weaknesses before I started melting connectors.
The stickers on the side are -imho- a nice, different touch. But on the top half next to the headlights are not.
It looks like that at the aftermarket mirrors you use the metal base plates from the original mirrors. You could take these out and put some rubber sheet cut in the circumference of the base of the stalks and cut holes for the bolts
Ymmv :-)
Thanks. :-)
I'm inclined to agree with you about the stickers on the front fairings. I hope there isn't a problem with faded paint if I decide to pull them off.
Also, good eye on the mirror base plates! The aftermarkets just went on last week, and I wanted to see if I was going to keep them on or not. I'll definitely look into a replacement base if I keep them. The left-hand base (pictured) lines up quite well with the mirror, but the right-hand base does not. There's also a bit of vibration in the left-hand mirror that I suspect a rubber base might dampen.
I like it, nice and new looking. That sticker by the headlight looks a bit like a crude map of the UK :)
It was intended to be a hyper-realistic map of the UK, but was drawn by a colonial from memory. :)
what is the name of the sticker company on the East coast that did packages for bikes? On the tip of my tongue. They were going to do my F4 and put it in their catalog.