Bike project dilema

I guess, although adding 4 gals of fuel to it would be at least 490lbs. I'm still using the orginal coils and a standard size battery.

 

According to my math its a estimated 491 which isn't to bad I guess for a VFR. Id say you can drop a decent amount of weight and for the money I think it would be worth it, it cost me 30 for the coils & the harness then 85 for the battery. Id say you might be able to get your bike down to the low 470's!

 

Are the coils really that heavy? The 510 for the 2nd gen is with everything (including all the cali emissions equipment and stock exhaust). My "good" vfr I haven't weighed. No emissions, no center stand (yet), and supertrapps instead of the stock exhausts. But it seems like all the weight is up high... (heads?) or the bracketry and such up at the headstock.

 

Id say the whole system weights a couple pounds.The engine on the vfr has to weight a ton then the carbs etc..

 

I'm gonna run my 86 up to the same scale and see what it weighs w/ F2 wheels, Yosh exhaust, no center stand. I'll let you know.

 

dry weight for the 86 is 436 lbs curb weight 487lbs... that is what the Honda book says.... I have all the emission crap removed from mine as well as plastics from an 87 which are about 5 pounds lighter.. so all in all I think I removed about 10 pounds from that stuff.. it is noticable.. I can't get an actual weight right now..Expired tags and bits are removed that help it make the vroom vroom noise.... sorry maybe in the spring I will visit the recycling center and get a weight on it...

 

A bunch of places on the internets think a 230kg (505-507lb) wet weight (full tank of fuel). I can see the centerstand adding the extra bulk to put the bike up to 510 or so. I really should weigh both of mine, after I figure out a way to do so (big recycling centers around here are rare, and tend to look askance to you showing up to use their scales, anyway).

 

And here are the relevant weight specs that I've seen listed in multiple places:

Dry weight 199 kg
Wet weight 230 kg
Frame weight 14 kg
Engine weight (dry) 77.3 kg
Fuel Tank 20 litres

So, yeah, that's a heavy engine at roughly 170 lbs...

 

Weights that are published by the manufacturer are generally lower than the real weight. Just as horsepower is over estimated. Probably both for the same reason.

 

87 plastics are 5lbs lighter? First I've heard of that. Can anyone verify that? removing 5lbs from 6 pieces of plastic?

 

The weights are real, what the manufactures do is simply wieigh the bike to their advantage. No coolant, no water in the battery, no oil, no gas, etc or any combination of those can be used to manipulate the numbers. Moto magazines have started to give us real numbers by posting weights dry= no gas, wet= full tank ready to ride. Same with hp. Horsepower @ the crank vs. RWHP as run on a dyno.

 

The plastics on my '86 are pretty heavy. But I'd be surprised if they totalled 5 lbs.

As far as HP being overestimated, there are SAE standardized tests for measuring crank HP. However, those tests (in the past) allowed for a very aggressive break-in on the engine dyno, resulting in an engine with excessive blow-by at low rpm (and looser piston rings for less internal friction). Good HP numbers (due to less ring friction at high rpm), but not an engine you'd want to own long term. This is why the SAE revamped their standards a couple years ago, to use a more realistic break-in schedule on the dyno.

Although, I wish they'd stop doing engine dyno measurements and instead use eddy-current chassis dynos (like the Factory Pro ones), not an inertial dyno with internal fudge factors like the Dynojets.

 

The improvements Honda made to the overall performance and handling of the gen 4s compared to the earlier stuff would make '94-'97 models my starting point for a build up, and i'd improve the suspension mainly, as money spent on boosting hp is disproportionate, $$$/hp.

Besides, do you, does anyone REALLY need more power than what comes standard on any VFR ?? I don't think so..........but i AM old.

One ride on a gen 4, and you'd be convinced of the chassis and engine improvements vs. all earlier models.

 

managed to get the 86 VFR weighed the other day. It was 500lbs full of fuel. My bike does not have stock wheels or exhaust.

 

the plastics I took off of my bike were HEAVY, almost fiberglass that was the sides... the front was made from the same material so on... the ones I replaced them with came from JTC they were flimsier (sp) and about five pounds lighter.. I don't know if they were stock ...he said they were so I am assuming they were... maybe they are cheapy chinese knock offs

 

Wow I would have figured it would have been lighter.

 

yea, so did I but the F2 wheels and steel belted radial tires may be a little heavier than stock. That's prolly close to what a stocker weighs anyway. I'll take the improvement in handling over any weight savings on the 86.

 

I've some things that I want to play with, not from a "good investment" point of view, but just for the sake of the fun of it. After getting the suspension sorted out, I'd probably tear down the engine and fully blueprint. If nothing else, it will be interesting to go through it. Tearing down the Hawk was fun, even if we were just going through it doing seals on the way to getting to the transmission output shaft. So any money spent in that vein is going to be mostly just towards the end of having fun along the way.

And I'd like to play around with some of the high-tech engine coatings, although I suspect that they won't due much at this stage of development, that there are other places that are limiting power output. But along the way:

- higher compression pistons (if any can be had)
- 91 octane tune (fuel and timing set for compression and higher octane fuel)
- swaintech coated pistons (extra-thick to take up tolerances if I can't get new pistons)
- factory pro shift star, detent arm and spring

well, I *always* want more HP, at least so far. But I also haven't ridden anything that will loft it's front wheel just by excessive use of the throttle in 1st gear... When I get to that point, maybe I'll decide that I've got enough.

cartridge forks alone would be huge. Also, I notice that the wheelbase continually shrank as well as the rake and trail. even with some weight gains along the way, that's going to help, also, the thicker forks and (I assume) a lower upper triple-clamp to bring the whole bike a lot lower to the ground.

 

Megacycle sells cams for your bike and ive spoke with wisco and they can build custom pistons if your wallet can handle it then it can be done! And think of all the wheelie fun you can have!


Also like RC said there are tons of front end out there.

 

Megacycle only has cams for the 1st gen bikes...