I got my 2000 VFR800 yesterday!

Great, and thanks. Automotive whore houses full of automotive sex toys. Lov it and I will no doubt be a semi regular customer. Thanks for telling me. Beats Crappy Tire all to hell.

 

Zero Gravity windshield is INSTALLED
HELI handlebars are INSTALLED
1-inch drop footpegs are INSTALLED
Corbin Beetlebags are repaired and INSTALLED

..and I have me a nice 330 mile trip scheduled for next week: Heading down to Indiana University for a two day workshop.

The windscreen took away the buffeting, THANK GOD - and it was an easy install.
The HELI handbars required a little bit of whittling on the brake master cylinder but it wasn't too hard, and the project took less than an hour to accomplish. The result is much, much greater comfort. I no longer am aware of reaching for the bars, they are just 'there', right where I'd want to put my hands. The grips I have are a little thin though, and a slightly larger diameter hand grip would probably be helpful for ultimate comfort.

The footpegs are CNC machined from billet, and they are super solid.A one inch drop was just right for freeing up my long legs. Any more and my foot would hit the road on turns I think. I already felt pavement with my boot once when upshifting in some corners on Round Lake Road, which is one of our few curvy roads in this county. I got the shifter repositioned but the brake lever is still too high. I removed the jam nut and got the clearance I needed but now the rear brake pedal doesn't operate correctly so I need to figure out how to modify the lever to restore operation. That's the project for doing after I get back from church, I think. That and washing the bike because yes, I know: This thread is worthless without pictures.

Give me a few hours!

Oh, and a special shout out to John, another new yellow 2000 VFR owner up near Northwestern University, who happens to be a long-lost high school classmate of mine. We 'rediscovered' one another's whereabouts and passion for yellow motorcycles on this site, I think.

 

Congratulations. Sounds like you are ready to put on some serious miles.

However, if you are going to do any serious miles, you need a throttle lock. Some use a throttlemeister on the end do their bars, but they can be expensive. I got a $18 Vista Cruise throttle lock, and it works perfectly. Great for long sections of road when you need to give the throttle hand a breather.

 

IF you have not already seen it, you may want to check out this thread at VFRD:
Bls Footpeg Block Install - Modifications - VFR Discussion

I am having my own set of problems getting that damned pedal low enough too!
Yet Another Brake Pedal Issue After Bls Block Install. - Modifications - VFR Discussion

 

As promised, here are a few of the photos of the bike in its sports touring configuration. The remaining 18 photos are loaded in the gallery here on vfrworld under my user name. Note my "free" Corbin saddle bags, which were cleaned up. I repaired the right bag with a fiberglass repair kit and some Krylon Fusion yellow paint, and the left bag was modified with a curved 1/8 inch steel bracket that hooks into the underside of the grab bar to provide rock solid stability of the bag. The Corbin's original attachment point was the aluminum hoop near the footpeg, but mine mustve been fatigued as it snapped off only a day or so after I installed the bags. This bracket is covered in heavy duty heat shrink tubing so it should minimize scratching of the original finish. The bags had non-functional locks, and when I called Corbin, they were happy to send me a replacement set for about $20. Unfortunately their catch brackets are too short, so I had to fabricate my own out of steel and now the locks work as advertised. So, for about fourty-eight dollars worth of materials, these bonus bags are back in service.

The footpegs are Knight Design's wide footpeg. VFR G7 Footpegs
In the end, since I ride with my toes pointed slightly down and forward, I am not sure that there is any benefit to the wide peg, unless I plan on riding while standing up. They do look cool and they are really, really solid, being billet & all. They clear the kick stand with no problems.

The handlebars are Heli, and they took about a week to come in as Heli was manufacturing them at the time, so the powdercoat probably was still freshly cooled when they shipped them out. Putting them in place was less than thirty minutes, start to finish and the only tricky part was extracting the handlebar dampeners. The instructions, though pretty good, could use a bit more work and perhaps some better photos. One thing I need are slightly thicker handlebar grips to make them perfect. (That, and at the suggestion of another fine vfrworld users, a throttle lock.)

 

I am green with envy over your yellow bags. Very nice.

 

Make that a ditto for me, hehe. Nice Bike and congrats on owning the fastest VFR.....I love mine

 

Nice match on the paint. Did you do both bags? It looks like an exact match in the photo. How did you contact Corbin? I need a couple of locks as well since the plastic levers/latches on the locks have been worn down by the steel catch brackets and no longer close securely.

Jorg

 

Add me to the envy list. Nice score! Never seen them anywhere in yellow.

 

Heh, the photos on the gallery show the patch much clearer, I think, because the paint most definitely doesn't match. I did, however line up the masking line so that it looks like an intentional yellow stripe. Even I've forgotten it's there already!

I contacted Corbin through their website, actually. There was a telephone number for technical support, and then I dialed "0" for operator. She took my name and credit card, and five days later, or $25 or so, the locksets showed up with new keys included! I had to fabricate my own steel jams though as the stockers wouldn't engage the lock bolt at all. Now they lock nicely.

---
Explaining it to the new generation:
A good motorcycle is like having a string that is tied from your throttle wrist to the hypothalamus in your brain. You give that throttle a tug and the string goes >bing!< and you get this pleasurable shot of adrenalin straight into your head and out pops your smile. Motorbikes are like a force-feedback videogame in 3D that totally immerses you in the sensation of speed in all it's beauty, especially when you add a corner or two into the mix. Youtube videos of other people driving them are but pale imitations of the real thing. Once you've mastered the bike, and you no longer think about the shift, the brake, or the apex, and the gears find themselves, and the machine sings it's chorus in your ears, and you see ribbons of asphalt peeling away, it's like a dance of love between you and the machine.

 

bike looks great. the yellow grows on me more with each passing year.
even the bettle bags are just beginning to look less strange to me.

im not much of a fashion-ista, but...
i think a set of yellow rim tape would really pop on that tweety bird.
and, you get hi-viz during day, and reflective as eric would say "after midnight"

 

Yellow rim tape might cover up the poor finish on these wheels. The previous owner must've never stopped turning the wheels long enough to wash them, I'm thinking. Good idea!

 

I just phoned Corbin and they asked me if I was the original purchaser of the item. When I told them that they came with the bike I purchased they informed me that their policy was not to sell parts to anyone other than the original buyer.
That's just wrong.

Jorg

 

That bike looks awesome! May I ask what you paid? I am new to the VFR and noticed as you did, that they hate low RPM. Its especially hard for me to deal with, my exhaust is stock but modified, and it feels like its SCREAMING at me, at above 3k but thats just the bike.

 

Now THAT sounds like Corbin customer service.

Nice bike btw, the Corbin bags do look nice.

 

These are great bikes, enjoy. I got mine a couple of years ago and found that at 4 - 4,500 rpm it had a slight flat spot, it ended up being the Reg/Rec on its way out. As you mentioned the headlight bulbs blowing this is one of the signs too. My Reg/Rec was the orininal so was 12 years old so just some advice if you have a flat spot, after changing it, the bike runs much smoother and a little more power, love the VFR.

 

Nice looking bike! Congrats!

 

Well,

Summer is turning into fall and I'm still loving this bike!

...Just ordered some new rear brake pads and mine seem to have lost their pads and now there's a squeal and some visible changes on the rotor. Stop riding until I get some pads...or...else!,,,

I also have some new clutches on order to fix that grabby clutch.

There are some problems with the swing arm bearings I think, they clunk and there is wearing at the dog bone and triangular bracket that attaches from swingarm to the dog bone to the shock. That can't be good, and may explain my low-speed clunking I get down there. 49,000 miles on the odometer, so I guess it's not unexpected.

Lastly, my 12 year-old videoed this and we posted it on youtube - a bit of foolishness for you that I might cross-post into a separate thread:

FURSUITS and MOTORCYCLES

Fursuits and motorcycles - YouTube

 

I humbly request a dog suit wheelie!

 

That is one silly and SWEET dog suit!

Jose