Introduction - New To The Vfr

Hi, I'm Joe, I've been lurking a reading some for a few days here.  I just bought a 2004 VFR800 yesterday for my girlfriend.  This will be her 1st bike and she is very excited to begin riding.  I've got a good friend who teaches the motorcycle safety class in the Dallas area that has been working with her a bit on his CBR1000 (huge starter bike I know).  Anyway, I hope the VFR, once lowered, will suit her well.  

I won't pick the bike up for a few days but will go over it with a fine tooth comb once I get it home.

A buddy over at ST-Owners.com gave me this message with referral to your forum.  

The good - You are going to LOVE the thing. I had a 2002 ABS model for over 12 years. One of the best machines I have ever planted my rear end on. Very fast, very comfortable, handled well. I did two track days on it. Still miss it sometimes. Here is your source o lots of good VFR info:
http://www.vfrdiscus...index.php/index
The not so good - The early sixth generation VFR800s were plagued with inadequate wiring harnesses and had issues with the big molex plug and ground wire at the main harness connector (sound familiar?), inadequate stator plugs into the R/R and inadequate main fuse harnesses. NHTA did a recall on this, and these harnesses were replaced with more robust units. Make sure it was done on your bike, it seems 2004 was a transition year. There is a volume of info on this on the site above.
After the harnesses were replaced and I replaced the stator/RR plugs I went 50k miles without any problems. All I ever did to it, other than wear items, after that was replace the original stator and spark plugs at about 60k. Nobody I have ever heard of ever needed the valves adjusted after the very expensive ($400) check. If I were to do it over again, I would just skip this unless the engine was not idling well. Good luck!

Welcome  and  there great  bikes.

Welcome.  Your friend is right - she'll love it, and so will you.  You might be wanting the keys from her from time to time!  

He's slighty off on the model years - the wiring harness was upgraded starting with 2006 models.  Even those however are not immune to electrical issues.  The key is inspection and maintenance of the connectors.  Once you're going over it, on the right side near where the rad hose exits the frame you'll find the stator connector leading to the R/R (3 yellow wires).  Inspect that carefully for discoloration or signs of heat.  Some Oxgard will go a long way toward keeping it healthy.  Some owners cut the connector out and solder in wiring while some go years and tens of thousands of miles with no problems.   If the recall's been done, you should be good.  A voltmeter is highly recommended to get advance warning of any impending issues.   While some do the valve check, they're most often in spec and the cost of just one adjustment is not much less than a low mileage engine on ebay. 

Post up some pics when you pick it up - we'd love to see it! 

Welcome to VFRD from across the pond :beer:

How tall is your girlfriend? You mention lowering the VFR but there is of course a limit to that....

Having a pair of riding boots with extra thick soles will help here too.

Thanks for the insight!   

I'll install the voltmeter on it to keep an eye it.

This is the one I installed on my 2004 Honda ST1300 and 2012 BMW K1600GT.  My new 2015 K1600GT come with one as standard equipment.  Koso make some pretty nice meters.  

[image: joep-albums-k1600gt-picture1865-volt-met]

Dutchy, my gal is 5'4" tall.

Just shave the seat, drop the forks maybe a half inch and call it a day. Doing that will make it actually handle better. If you drop the rear any, you are just going to reduce available lean as well as slow down an already slow steering bike. If you shave the seat and drop the forks a tad, she should be okay with some good riding boots.

Welcome to VFRD! 

There's a common mod to lower the rear just by rotating the triangle plates at the bottom of the shock, I think it drops the rear about 1.5".

Never done it, but there should be a thread on the mod. Just be sure to lower the front as well to keep the balance. 

PS I love my ST13 as well.

BR

WELCOME from Colorado! I've got a good riding buddy that lives off of Panther Creek and 423. We always ride up to Celina for breakfast on the town square. Lucy's I believe. 

WELCOME from Colorado! I've got a good riding buddy that lives off of Panther Creek and 423. We always ride up to Celina for breakfast on the town square. Lucy's I believe. 

That is about 5 miles from me.  I'm near Preston and Panther Creek (small world!).

I brought it home a little earlier than planned.  It is now in my garage.

[image: joep-albums-vfr800-picture10401-vfr800.j]