Some days you eat the deer, and some days the deer eats you...

This wasn't the introductory post I had originally planned on. I live out in the sticks about 35 miles southwest of Atlanta and bought a 1999 VFR800 two months ago. (Also have a '97 BMW R1100RT.) Lurked for a while before I joined the site a couple of days ago, so I know that everyone likes to see photos of new members bikes. Here are a couple of photos of my Viffer taken earlier today after some "body modifications" courtesy of Bambi late last night.



Fortunately, the bike was the only thing that received any body mods. I was doing 50 or 60 on a back road about 3 miles from home and - almost - missed the deer as it came out of nowhere at a full gallop right in front of me. (Do deer gallop?) I hit the brakes and clutch, braced for impact, and hit it in the ass as it flew by. A fraction of a second sooner and it would have been a full broadside hit. Luckily, I never lost control of the bike. Pulled over to check the damage, then went back to clean the broken parts off the road and see if the deer was still around. It wasn't. I still had one headlight working so was able to ride home. Just for an extra twist of the knife a half a dozen more deer tried to play kamikazee with me when I was about 3/4 miles from my house. Jeez. I guess word got out that the first one had botched the job.

The thing that probably pissed me off the most is that when I bought the bike, the right side fairing was slightly cracked and scuffed up from a parking lot drop by the previous owner. The left side was perfect - at least until the deer got it. I wouldn't have minded so much if it was the damaged one that got trashed. Oh well...

All in all, I figure I was pretty lucky. I've been riding for 40 years and have never been down on the road. (I raced dirt bikes for years so I've been down plenty offroad.) For an instant last night it looked like that was about to change in a big way.

Brad

 

Wow you are lucky my friend, not aboot the bike but that your OK. Got insurance?

 

Sucks to hear about the bike, but toys can be replaced. Glad your ok.

What are your plans now? Street fighter, OEM replacement, or something in between?

 

No collision insurance. Fortunately, the headlight was the only non-fairing piece that was damaged. But after seeing the price of a new headlight unit ($300, WTF!) and new plastic while searching the web today, my bike may wind up semi naked with flashlights duct taped to the bars. Holy crap, it looks like new OEM parts would cost me about as much as the entire bike did. Affordable alternative suggestions would be VERY welcome.

 

Yeah. The only headlight I saw was $400. Holy crap...

Keep your eyes open, something will pop up.

 

Glad you stayed upright and made it out OK. I was hoping that you would have at least ended the story with "...anyone interested on some Deer meat?". Oh, well wouldn't have been too fresh by the time it made to California anyway. You may find a few members here that might have spare parts that they're willing to sell off. Unfortunately I don't or would offer.

Cheers!

 

Holly......beep....beep.....Glad you are doing fine mate. Look on fleebay and the classifieds of VFRW and VFRD you might find some parts for your bike. Toe have an 2002 for sale cheap

 

After spending a good part of last night researching online, here are my current thoughts about options.

Option One - Restore to stock with OEM parts:

Pros:
Obvious - bodywork will be OEM/stock again.

Cons:
Also obvious - WAAAAY too frigging expensive. OEM parts would cost nearly what I paid for the bike 2 months ago. (Yes, I got a good deal on it.)


Option Two - Naked UJM/streetfighter:

Pros:
1. Probably cheapest and easiest way out.
2. I already had convertibars on the way before my encounter with the deer. If I go the naked UJM route I don't have to worry about how to get the bars to clear the windscreen in order to mount them at a comfortable (touring) height. (I won't be doing any street racing, so the stock clip-ons are pointless discomfort for me.)
3. Faster/easier maintenance without a fairing to remove.

Cons:
1. The side mount radiators, coolant tank and hoses don't really lend themselves well to a naked bike.
2. No windscreen for weather protection. (Although the stock screen was useless anyway.)


Option Three: Chinese fairing kit from fleabay:

Pros:
1. Price for an entire set of plastic in virtually any color scheme is about the same as a single stock (unpainted?) VFR side panel. Fairing kit even includes a new windscreen.
2. The VFR anniversary RWB color scheme, which I really like, is one of the potential color options. If I can scrape together the cash, it might be worth it for that reason alone.

Cons:
1. Kit ships from China, so if there's a problem it is unlikely to be fixed quickly - if at all.
2. Stock red tank won't match RWB color scheme. Either ride it looking oddball, or repaint tank to match. Even standard red aftermarket plastics might not match the stock tank very well.
3. Would still have to screw around to make higher bars clear the windscreen.
4. Won't change the fact that windscreen will still suck.
5. I'd still need the damned $300 VFR headlight assembly. (The left half of my assembly is in tiny pieces alongside the road so, as much as I think duct tape is one of mankind's greatest inventions, it just isn't going to cut it for fixing this.)


Slightly ridiculous Option Four for cheap headlight and higher windscreen on otherwise naked bike:
Mount 1980 Vetter Quicksilver fairing I have to the VFR. Pretty safe bet I'd be the only guy around running a VFR with one of these. :biggrin:

The Chinese plastics I am currently looking at are from Bliss Star. A fairing kit from Bliss (link) runs roughly $500 on fleabay, including shipping. (The link is to a 6th gen kit, but my understanding is they can provide the same graphics on a 5th gen fairing for no extra cost.) Research of various bike forums seems to indicate their quality is good, although shipping can be a little slow. (Not terribly surprising since they're across the Pacific ocean.) Feedback from anyone who has dealt with them would be appreciated. Please don't waste my time with "all Chinese fairings suck" comments. I only want personal experience with Bliss Star or a specific alternative company, not hearsay or conjecture about general Chinese products. Thanks.

 

You are not alone:

http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/25835-vfr-down.html

Great to hear you made it through this rather unscathed all things considered. I have had run ins with deer too but not on the bike. Now a few possum and a skunk did not fair so well. Well....maybe it was me who didn't fare well with the skunk. You just never know what those skittish animals will do.

Ride on brutha.

 

I think restoring the bike back to its original glory is the way to go, hurts at first but you will be happy you did.

 

I don't disagree that my OEM numbers are high. In my previous post I meant, but didn't specifically say, "new" OEM parts with shipping. Also, after looking at the bike again I saw that the right panel didn't come through unscathed. The impact reopened some cracks I had repaired after I bought the bike, so I was including that in the total as well. Not really fair I guess, but I was (am) still a bit shell-shocked by everything.

Hunting for used plastic on eBay etc., would lower the total cost, but greatly increase the time required unless I get really lucky. Believe me, I will be looking there regardless, since I'm out of cash right now due to recent purchases of new tires and Convertibars for the VFR, and aftermarket shocks (eBay) for my Beemer. As far as the headlight goes, I figured that $256 plus $20 shipping was close enough to round up to $300. Unfortunately, from what you said in your other post, I doubt that finding one on eBay will be easy. So that is probably going to have to be purchased new if I want to ride the VFR again anytime soon (which I do). And thanks for the Ron Ayers suggestion. They had the least expensive OEM parts of the several places I checked.

At least the only thing actually keeping me from riding the VFR right now are the headlight and upper cowl. It could be a lot worse.