Some new questions for the experts

I'm looking for a new sport's / tourer and the VFR 1200 seams to tick all the box's , I do have a few questions I cant find answers to and was hoping you could help me with.



1 I have read one report on the DCT that stated the front and rear abs sensors are consistently monitored ,when the back wheel exceeds the front wheels speed (wheel spin) it instantly changes up a gear (if in auto mode) to reduce torque and therefore reduce wheel spin.

I have not been able to find any info from Honda to confirm this ,but it would be quite handy feature to have if it worked like that .Can anyone confirm this.



2 The early production run of these VRF's that suffered the swarf in the engines worries me, I have not been able to find a build date that they are safe from. Does anyone know which month build bikes were affected , as the DCT bikes were built later do we know if any of them were ever in the recall.

I do realise this was some time ago but Australia has a lot of old stock sitting around



3 I have noticed the valves need adjusting every 24000k's (16000 m's)

on a bike that suppose to be a bit of a tourer I find that a bit worrying.

Do we have many members that have clocked up many miles on the new 1200's that may be able to comment on whether they actually had to adjust the valves at that point ,I have zero experience/knowledge of Honda's unicam system. Also do we know if they run titanium valves.??



Any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated

 

Bro all the things you are worried about are not worth woring about, but I will tell you what is
1. A masive flat spot at 3500rpm (this is a nightmare) you can only fix it with a PC or Bazzaz controller
2. Reduced HP in 1st and 2nd gears approx 25% (Hondas version of cheap ass traction control) fixed with Bazzaz overide box
3. Fly by wire throttles can be a bit funky below 5000rpm but you get used to it
4. The stupid flaper valve in the pipe
I have had mine for 2 months and love, Once I sort the flat spot and reduced power in 1st and 2nd I will be real real happy with it.

 

That flapper valve you're referring to, I've heard that if you disconnect the cable going to the flapper valve in the muffler (leaving it in the open position) that it helps to eliminate the flat spot that you've mentioned. Have you tried this?

If yours the DCT or the manual?

Also if its not a rude question how much did yours cost , as i'm finding pricing seams to be varying wildly on this bike

 

Mate, the disconnection of the flapper valve does bugger all to fix the flat spot, all it does is give you a better note. I have removed the valve, assembly and also the flapper cover this also improves the sound. I have also modified the bottom outlet.

I was lucky enough to test the manual and DCT back to back and found the manual was smother and had better throttle response. I found the DCT took away everything a motorcycle should be I mean why wouldn’t you want to shift gears on a box as nice as the 1200 has.

I paid $24000 ride away including top box rack and panniers, I also got a $500 fuel card also. I know where they maybe one more (silver in colour) for the same price, they may do a panel swap if you wanted a red one.

I love this bike, but it could have been so so so much better if Honda thought about, you should not have to pay $24000 then go spend $1500 to $2000 to get it right.

 

Power Commander fixes most of the flat spot...

 

I can comment on the valve adjustments. I just did mine and had to adjust all the exhaust valves. Now luckily, the exhaust valves are the ones actuated by the rocker-arm, so it's a simple matter of adjusting the adjuster screw (no need to remove cams or anything - literally just turn a screw). All the intake valves were within spec.

 

Hi dddd,
Welcome to the forum. Whereabouts in Aus do you live?? I'm in Sydney and if you're local I can bring my DCT around for you to look at. I've done just on 12,000km on mine and it has been essentially faultless, I have a Two-Brothers Carbon pipe and a JuiceBox-Pro fitted, the low rpm jerkiness is now gone and she sounds a heluva lot better than the stock exhaust.

The swarf in the engines was only a European problem and the affected engine numbers were very few and never came to Aus. If it's a powerful, smooth, good handling Sport-Touring type bike with "God-Like" brakes you're after, the VFR1200 is it. I've ridden many bikes and the 1200 is right up on the top of my list.

Yes it has a few niggles..... but show me a bike or car which doesn't.

Cheers,
Smithy.

 

knobby
I would be interested in hearing your bike with the slip on as I have only heard the std (which sounds terrible in my opinion)
I'm also in Sydney, Camden to be more specific

 

My V12 auto box started to get stuck in one gear (mostly second) and displays "-" on the gear indicator .

has this happened to anyone else? The workshop mack. went into some "secret" menu, to "reset" the gearbox, but no luck.

I was also supposed to count the flashes in order to determine the error code.

what is this about?

 

Don't have a DCT but I can tell you the 2013 US model with manual box still has the same crappy low throttle fueling problem as the 2010 & 2011 model as well as the same 1st & 2nd gear power limitation. A Bazzaz z bomb ($65 in the US) removes the 1st & 2nd gear restriction but doesn't work on the DCT model. I hear that an Australian company ECU Unleashed does ECU re-flashes on the VFR 1200F to remove the restrictions & low throttle surging but haven't heard if they have a re flash for the DCT. Also have not seen anyone here in the US post that they have had a re flash from this company. Honda supposedly made changes to correct most of the issues on the DCT model in 2012.

I resolved all my issues with a Bazzaz z bomb, a DJ PC5, a Leo Vinci slip on and a custom dyno tune. I also removed the cat converter and replaced it with a custom 2 into 1 merge collector. It's a transformed bike with these changes.

I know we have some really screwy stuff that goes on here US but we must live in motorcycle pricing heaven. I paid $14,400 out the door for my 2014 VFR 1200F.