I am Coxy, I like taking things to bits! I thought I would come on here to document my VFR1200 project build.
I've built a few bikes in the past, the start was putting a TDM900 engine into a TRX850 chassis, I used this on the road and the track and it was great fun:
Eventually I got to the point where I wanted a bit more power on track to keep pace with the big boys on the litre bikes, I ride at Croft and Cadwell mainly, so no massive long straights. I figured around 120bhp would be enough to limit the losses on the straights so I decided to fit an MT09 engine into the TRX. Power went up to 120bhp, and the weight of the bike was slashed (the mt09 engine is 13kg lighter than the TDM lump). I spend 2 years refining and tuning it on track and its now its this current condition as featured in Practical Sportsbikes:
Fitting the MT09 engine turned out to be a lot more involved that I originally anticipated, and I ended up rebuilding the frame around the headstock and the top tube.
Here's a video of the one of the last session from last year on it:
So, after all this i started thinking that I wouldnt mind building a bike virtually from the ground up. and I always fancied a V4. I like the look of the shaft drive VFR1200 setup, and after about a year of searching I managed to locate one at the right price:
So I started the VFR project a couple of month back. going has been pretty slow to be honest. I wanted to make a poor mans ariel ace, and as I want this to be a bit special I went about sourcing an Ohlins TTX shock, a set of ohlins forks from an RSVR 1000R, and a pair of Brembo M40 monoblock calipers. I also sourced the back end from a 2015 speed triple as that will work with the look that I was going for. Honda use different spacings for brakes and things that the european manufacturers, so I ended up having to buy a front wheel from a Ducati multstrada to finish the front end:
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I made myself up a little mock up of what I wanted it to look like:
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The bike was stripped (I still have a few spares if anyone is look for something) apart completely, just leaving the engine and the swing arm sat on my ramp.
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I used the VFR frame to build a jig and copy the original bikes geometry
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Then I started bending pipes for the top tube:
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checking that the bends clearance the engine, and follow the right lines on the engine:
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Triangulation
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Next up was the rear shock mount:
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Mocking up the tank and seat unit:
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And this is pretty much where I am up to for now. Hopefully I will have the lower engine mount picked up and potentially the rear seat unit on the bike over the weekend. I am reluctant to make the framework for the seat unit before the bike is back on its wheels, in case I get the angle wrong.
I like it! Would be nice to get that bike down to ~450lbs! Just turned 30K miles on mine, and plan on another 30 at least. I saw one for $3500 the other day, and got the wheels turning in my mind, but already have too many projects on the back burner.
Definitely keeping the shaft drive. it was one of the things that made my mind up to go with the 1200 instead of a none Vtec 800.
the weekends (slow) progress.
I did a lot of seam welding up the joints I hadnt finished off, which doesnt look like a lot of progress has happened but it took an age!
main bit of work I did was this:
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if you look at the picture above you can see the bottom part of the frame that I made, poking out from under the front of the swingarm. I wasnt sure how I was going to fit that into a tubular frame setup, so I decided to do this:
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I basically chopped the parts off that are not required, plated it up, and extended the 32mm tubing out at each side.
Once that was done it allowed me to do this: [image: U0t6AUP.jpg]
I have the leg to make up on the other side, but that effectively completes the structural part of the frame.
I am going to have to get some different rear sets as the vfr stock ones are miles away from the frame now. I would have to make some plates that extended at least 3 inches backwards!
I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Thats in the same position as it is on the original bike. In the folded up position it does look a little lost now there is no big meaty aluminium frame back there but theres not much I can do about that at the moment.
I was talked out of using 12mm steel plate to make this up and went for 6mm. I just shudder when I think of the amount of weight pressing on it, especially when you do that balance on the sidestand trick to spin the bike round. for my pease of mine I am going to fit some webbing on it to give it some lateral support.
Can we assume that you are either "working from home" or are "self-isolating"? Even if I had the skills, it would still take me months to do all this. Keep it up m8.
What are you thoughts for the fairings/headlamp/bars etc?
IWorking from home 3 days a week. its amazing how much you can get done at home compared to in the office. no commute either so i am ending up with a bit extra time on my hands.
Managed to get a few more bits ticked off over the weekend:
Rear tank mount
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Needs the welding finishing and dressing up with some radius ends, but it does the job. its probably the heaviest duty tank mount that ever existed!
Sticking with the tank I decided to make a start on the modifiations to the tank itself. I bought a fuel tank from a fazer 1000 thinking it might fit quite nicely - it didnt. So I decided to use the fazer tank to make some extensions to the vfr tank. With my bike not having any bodywork the front of the tank looks a little 'pointy and unfinished. So I have made a start on this:
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The inital effort was just too wide for my liking, so I slowly cut away until I had something that I think might work.
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The lines of the tank now follow the frame spars quite well.
Coxy and I have been discussing this since almost the beginning and I truly admire his abilities to create his own frame. But I still wonder, why. Honda did the hard work and made a great frame in cast alloy, why bother with all the effort to make a steel version. But that’s JMO and I still admire his craftsmanship.
Regarding the tank size, I have frequently achieved 180 miles of fast riding (not motorway) on a tankful and to be honest, have no desire to go further without a break. But if you want more, a CrossTourer tank is bigger and an easy swap, but looking at the merged VFR and Yamaha tank makes me wonder if an SP-1/SP-2 tank could be more easily massaged to fit.
Now we just need to crack Honda’s unique and proprietary serial protocol and a better choice of dash would be possible.
Ha, maybe that’s the cause of their recent global hack. Someone was trying to decipher that VFR serial protocol. 😀
It looks like the mounts are different, as well as the side trim, but both bikes have the same engine/frame. If you're building a naked/stretfighter then it would not be too difficult to figure it out, especially if you have the skills that Coxy has shown.
Interesting, I didn't realise how close they were!
Literally the same engine. The exhaust was pretty much the only way they changed the power characteristics - well and the ECU mapping of course. Intake and cams etc are all the same.
I'm not actually sure about the tank mountings. They may even be the same. More likely the front, but maybe even the rear. Don't expect a 'drop-in' replacement on a VFR1200F though. The tank sides are completely different so plastics just wouldn't match up. However, for a one-off naked special that wouldn't be an issue. I considered it for my eVo4, but 180 miles range is enough for me.
I'd be more confident adapting the plastics with fibreglass etc than I would be cutting and welding a tank, in fact there is a composites bay at work that usually work on aircraft parts who I could probably bribe into doing it for me...
I'm going off topic tho, and I wouldn't want to distract from the amazing project in this thread!
Literally the same engine. The exhaust was pretty much the only way they changed the power characteristics - well and the ECU mapping of course. Intake and cams etc are all the same.
eh?! surely not! so an exhaust change, and ecu flash and you go from 127bhp to 170?! seems like a massive leap in performance.
eh?! surely not! so an exhaust change, and ecu flash and you go from 127bhp to 170?! seems like a massive leap in performance.
Well the ECU has complete control, as we know from multiple ride modes on other bikes that can cap the performance. The smaller diam. headers on the CrossTourer will increase torque while restricting top end power and with different ECU mapping that's all that's required to change the engine characteristics. You can check, but I'm pretty sure that when I did I found the pistons, heads, cams and intake stuff is the same on both bikes. Makes huge sense from a manufacturing point of view.
wow. thats good news for crosstourer owners, upgrade headers and remap and bosh massive power increase!
does the crosstourer have much more low down torque? in reality all these detuned engines just seem to be completely neutered in all areas.
Sadly, whenever a manufacturer says they 'retuned' an engine with the implication that they may have dropped power, but increased torque, the reality is usually they simply lopped off the top end, with maybe a slighter fatter torque curve, but rarely is it actually higher.
Don't get carried away with thoughts of the apparent extra power of the 'F' model though. Horsepower only determines top speed. Torque is what gets you there.
Don't get carried away with thoughts of the apparent extra power of the 'F' model though. Horsepower only determines top speed. Torque is what gets you there.
I believe Guy Martin said:
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you move the wall back.... :tongue:
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