VFR 800 - first bike and changes in generations

That's strange somebody mentioned needing maintenance on a VTEC. I've seen the passenger car heads go hundreds of thousands of miles with nary a solenoid change.

Does the VTEC on the bike work the same way as the one they use in automotive cylinder heads?

R/R Is what now? Where is it and what does it do? Is this the pussy magnet that my friend said would come with this bike?

And what's my resource for information regarding the wiring harness and where to look to spot a smoked one?

That RWB is sweet. Little outside the money though. I have a "baseball jersey" shirt from maybe early '90s with a guy on what looks like a VFR on the front except it has the word "TURBO" above the square headlight.

 

What he means is the vtec bike cost more money to adjust the valves and cam chain and such. The R/R or regulator rectifier is a common problem with the 5th gen honda built a shity charging system when they built that bike with the 6th gen the problem was corrected but I wanna say the later years had recall on the wire harness?

 

IMO 6th Gen is the way to go if it's your first love.
I bought mine as my first real bike that I intended to keep for a couple years.

Stock it's okay and I love the way the bike is balanced and performs.
If you're certified then I wouldn't think the maintenance would scare you and most of the guys between here and VFRD claim exceeding the 30-40K mark without bothering with the valve adjustment (not my cup of tea, but I have a service plan for that)

I replaced my pipes because I think with the Vtec it's a damn shame to cover up that sexy ass noise with so much dampening. TBR sounds amazing on these bikes. Some other stock adjustments can be made with very little money.

R/R, Stator, and Fuse Holder B (at the battery/starter) have been an issue for me but if you are aware of them and you either fix them first or know what to look for it's a relatively cheap fix.

Ton's of info out here and a lot of love for both Gen's but my vote is strongly for the newer 6th Gen.

Price looks decent. Depends on the seller, as most of us are head over heels in love with our bikes, you want to find the guy that bought it and hates it - looking to offload it for a Harley or something and you should be able to snag one with less than 10K for around $6,000.

So - couple of things to sum up
1. Thank you for your service
2. Welcome to the board
3. If you want to use Craigslist, I can save you some trouble and just send me a check for $3200, I will wire it right back to you......promise!

 

The 6th gen is in NO way a maintenace hog. Like almost anything Honda, it's just about bulletproof except for a few goofs here and there. It's a more complicated piece of machine than the 5th, thus being more expensive to have someone else service it, but I don't think you'll have that problem. You'll find bikes are much easier to work on that cars, in fact!

You'll need to look out for a couple things on a 6th gen as soon (if) as you get it.

First: check to see that the recalls have been done. The US models need the mixing valve for the linked brakes replaced (it leaks), and the fairing harness replaced (the ground on the original is faulty, causing loss of instruments and ignition while riding). The vin sticker will usually be punched if these have been done.

Second: The harness for the R/R and the Stator is too small of a gauge, and the connector tends to melt down from the heat/current eventually (relevant thread here: http://vfrworld.com/forums/6th-generation-2002-2009/36591-toasted-charging-system.html). The connector that likes to melt is under the right side fairing.

You can bypass the connector altogether and hard solder the wires, or you can purchase a harness that connects very easily in parallel with the factory to lessen the load. Link to this harness here: Wire My Bike.

Third: The front most kickstand bolt likes to loosen up on some of these bikes. Locktite it before your bike falls over.

That's about it for faulty things to spot.

On VTEC: The VTEC on this bike is a simplified version of car VTEC. It does not use two camshaft profiles as the car engines do, but instead shuts off oil pressure to half the valve lifters under 7,000 rpm. In other words under 7,000 rpm the engine uses two valves per cylider, and over 7,000 it uses four valves per cylinder. Pretty neat tech in a motorcycle engine, but the factory fuel mapping makes it kick quite a bit when it engages. Some like the kick, most don't, a power commander with a decent map pretty much eliminates it.

 

I'm pretty sure I could knock out a valvetrain service myself if I had the factory manual. Might be fun.

Regarding Craigslist, I've bought and sold dozens of vehicles with Craigslist, I don't know what would be the problem with that. Local area stuff, see it, like it, buy it.

6th Gen does seem to be the way to go. My wife said they look more "future". Won't be long before it has the Corbin sissy bar on it.