6th Gen (2007) 12K Mx?

Hey guys. So, I'm in love with my 2007 VFR. I have been meticulously keeping up with it and now the owners manual is telling me I need to replace the brake fluid, clutch fluid, and air filter at 12k miles.

I would bet a dollar that some 6th gen owners didn't follow these guidelines exactly. Should I?

thanks,

MTB

 

So your saying your still running on 4 years old brake fluid? Maybe it was over kill but I was changing the brake fluid on my Kat yearly, but I was doing about 10K miles a year on her.

Personally I'd do all of the above, and go the extra mile and do the fork oil too.

 

ditto, get that nasty brake fluid out, but only if you like stopping ;-)

 

The hydraulic fluid in your clutch and brakes absorbs water and other contaminants over time. The main effect of this is the boiling point of the fluid drops. Several hard applications of the brakes may cause the fluid to boil - the vapor is not very effective at operating the brakes so you may get a nasty surprise when you try to stop. Honda recommends DOT 4 for the VFR, but there is an better product available; I use DOT 5.1 in my bikes - this is a newer synthetic fluid with an even higher boiling point. As to the air filter - the tried and true method is to hold the filter up to a bright light and see how much gets through. Running a dirty filter is not terribly harmful, the dirtier a filter gets, the more effective it is at removing small particulates, but your performance will suffer since the engine can't "breathe" as well. Remember the curse of a normally aspirated engine is the cylinder filling is limited by the atmospheric pressure which is forcing air in; the less resistance it has to overcome the more power the engine can make. I admit the stock Honda filters are rather overpriced, but I use them because they filter better than the reusable oiled gauze types that K&N and BMC sell. I want to ride my bike for a long time, I kept my last bike for 12 years, and the VFR is worth it to me. -VFRGeek

 

ok point taken. I have spent _____ so far on this machine and its worth the ______ to get all this done. Thanks guys!

 

I just checked the service manual to see what it takes to change the brake fluid. It seems pretty challenging to me, but then its probably because I got confused trying to read the whole thing at once instead of taking it one step at a time while actually doing it. And I don't have any type of bleeding device....
Any opinions on whether or not I should take this on (brakes being one of the safety systems and all), what kind of price I am looking at in buying a brake bleeding device, and what it costs to have a shop do it?
Oh and what do speed bleeders do for a person? How are they different from the stock nipples?