After nearly 40 years of riding everything BUT, I finally found the holy grail...woohoo! Traded the wife's jet boat off for a low miles (23K) 1999 Viffer. I've been following these forums for some time now, never posted anything before but wanted to say "hi" to some folks with obviously great taste in bikes. I'm happy to join an owner/enthusiast group for this fine machine. I will keep my other bikes undoubtedly as I'm spoiled/lucky/stupid, whatever you want to call it. The Wing is too nice during this cold weather (snowed here again today) or on those mega-mile triple digit speed jaunts. The Gixxer is an awesome thing to chase small (speedy) animals with (Ha), the R1 just has a too sweet/too much motor to avoid inevitable temptation with and the KTM reminds me that I'm human (an older and somewhat broken one at that). The gear driven cams on the VFR make a sweeter sound than even the heavily upgraded audio system on the Wing or in my wife's Lexus! My new ride could use some love but will certainly get it as I'm a maintenance fanatic with pretty high standards. Came with PC3, Two Bros, K&N...where to go from here? Maybe a steering damper, any thoughts??? Definitely new tires...HATE those D208's, always have, always will. Well, just wanted to say hello.
Hello and welcome to the forum! Somethings I still am gonna do...which I think are important, are: Aftermarket seat (probably a Sargent), and aftermarket suspension (at least racetech springs/internals in the forks, maybe a fox or penske rear shock.) I also have grip warmers, and a double bubble windscreen as well.
You might want to hold off on the damper, these bikes are rock solid, even at triple digits. Ride it a while and judge for yourself though. I'm going for the sargent seat next, you might also consider helibars and throttlemeister for longer jaunts, i love mine, getting another set for my RWB.
welcome to the forum. steering damper not needed. I put racetech internals in the front and a penske in the rear and noticed a big diff. steel braided brakes make a big improvement, also. for tires, a lot of us like Conti Road Attack, but I have been on Pirellis for a while cause I ran into a steal of a deal at cyclegear (Cycle Gear - Motorcycle Apparel, Parts and Accessories) I don't know if you can get it online, but my set was less than $200, I want to say like around 160ish. Couldn't pass that up.
Howdy, I'm a '99 owner too and I'm sure it will serve you well as it does for me! Like reg71 i saying it could use a suspension upgrade but I really recommend getting a feel for it in stock setup before you start going crazy with upgrades. If anything, you could just tighten up the suspension to max settings. From my experience, the VFR can still hang tough with the super bikes and you can pretty much outrun any car on the road. (Outran a ferrari 360 modena at a toll booth!) As for comfort, the best investment you can ever make is replacing the seat. Sargent makes really good ones and you can find a good deal from sandhillpowersports.com Likewise for tires, I recommend Continental Road Attacks and you can get a good deal from ridedirect.com A VERY critical item you must do however is to upgrade the R/R and wiring harness. They are notorous for overheating and you'll end up stranded with a dead battery. To fix this issue I recommend getting the VFRNess from wiremybike.com and go ahead and get a new R/R to be on the safe side. If you ever have any problems you can always do a search in this forum for answers. Your problem will most likely have been answered already. Enjoy the ride and stay safe!
Hello hello hello.. can I say Neighbor? where abouts? the Olympia region covers a lot of territory. Welcome to the nut house, man that's quite the list of bikes there, Nice, I've thought about how nice it would be to have a a gsxr750 for track duty. but over all as you are finding out just how good the vfr is. you might not look back at the others.
Thanks to all for the kind welcome. Sorry it has taken me a couple days to get back here...I said I didn't know what I was doing with this forum posting thing! RVFR: I'm on the Olympic Peninsula at Port Ludlow and while not exactly Olympia I have always made it a habit to take the longest available route anywhere on the Goldwing and am quickly learning that the same navigation technique works well on the VFR too (not so much on the bullet bikes)! I'm certain we'll meet one day. To Nungboy: anybody who includes King Crimson quotes in his signature is more than okay with me...thanks again!
Oh YES Ottoman, I am the keeper of the flame when it comes to Progressive Rock...King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Yes, Genesis, ELP, Gong, Happy the Man, etc. And Robert Fripp is the MAN...such a deep thinker coupled with that amazing guitar style.
Sargent seat is the way to go. The stock seat is uncomfortable; it pushes you forward and your but will ache after 30+ miles. The Sargent eliminates all those problems so that you can ride all day. I agree that the sound of the gear-driven cams is beautiful. It's very unique. You made a great choice. I love my 2001 and will keep it forever. I am very nervous about wrecking because I don't want to damage it or have to replace it. It will become harder and harder to find 5th gens in good condition after a while.
