2012 vfr1200dct blue

well, finally took the plunge and bought a '12 with the dual clutch.
only rode it 2 days now, so still putting my foot out to shift, and hunting for the clutch lever at the light.

couple pics of it here, (not that its any different than yours, hah).
sent a personal note to zenmoto, no reply yet, he kindly let me ride his clutch version about a year ago,

so far all I did was to raise the bars 15mm or so, and adjusted them more narrow as I could, still not hitting the tank at full lock.
the whole bike is much smaller than I thought, and so many others thought. goes like stink. stops like stink.













I looked and the back shock adjuster turns, with a click every full turn, its not seized up.
and what is the shift lever for the dct? is that a Honda option? have no knowledge about that, but it looks interesting. anyone?

thanks for any input and it looks like I should put the little VFR800 up for sale, now.

I'm in so cal.

 

Sweet collection you got going on. Remember, there is till room for more looks like.
Nice ride.

 

I am intrigued by the DCT. I admit to having my head up my ass when it comes to being in the proper gear. I don't know it this is from years of riding a BMW 900 with buckets of torque (pretty much always in the right gear) or if this is because of my lack of attention to detail. In any case I have yet to ride one for myself. I am interested in your long term review of this feature. I have about 150 miles seat time on a 2010 shop demo and found it to be, as you say, "goes like stink. stops like stink."

BTW, i love that yellow F6B. It's not my kind of bike, really, but that color is the dead nuts!

 

Nice to see another So Cal VFR around. I will keep an eye out for you. We need to get a So Cal ride together.
Nikki

 

Damn........She is prutty :love: except the can. That thing need to go :sad:
Joe look like you work for Honda :eagerness:

 

I agree with Long,,,,,,, can the CAN!
John

 

Very nice. I agree with you about the size, I would venture to say it's shorter than my 4th gen.

 

couple of things.

One, its not my garage, its the dealership I picked the bike up from. Actually AHM in Torrance ca.
yes I am in so cal and if anyone is up for a weekend ride, newcombs is local to me.

about the can. So many think its too big, too ugly, too this and too that.
personally when I first saw it in 2010, it seemed over the top.
but now with time, and a host of other mufflers that are even more over the top, this one now seems tame.
I don't care for the Bwahhhhh, Bwahhhh, when riding a bike. long ago I began to like the run silent, don't attract attention, mode.
the stock muffler, is whisper quiet, and I like that. open the throttle, and the snuf-r-not opens and it goes bwahhh, enough for me.

silly as it sounds, the muffler is not something I stare at, and frankly I am beginning to like it.
outboard john, scubalong, yes I work at Honda, I am at HPD in Santa Clarita ca.
we build engines for tearms in the IRL and ALMS.

zenmoto, you still lurking, send me a pm?

 

Zen moto bought one couple years ago and did a great report here...!
Unless he is looking for another one
http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/37405-1-year-later-(a-review)

 

well, that was easy. one thing that bugged me was that the throttle switch would move a little when working the throttle off its stop, and with the DCT, a small amount of play was aggravating.

one thing I need to add, is although I do work at Honda, this post is my own and in no way represents Honda in any way, its simply me, working on my new bike.

it was pretty easy to take the bar off, and see the pin was tapered, and the hole big.

so I unscrewed the little metal plate, used an adapter with an appropriate sized hole to enlarge the pin, and reassembled it, making sure I put some grease in the tube, for a smooth turning throttle.

and now I have a tight switch, to the handlebar, and no slop from working the throttle back and forth.
this now makes it more precise, when going from idle, to engaging the auto trans.

couple pictures for you gear heads...





the round pin, punched through the sheetmetal just above the blue dot, was needing an adjustment.



not shown here, I used a center punch, with the 1/2" adapater hole as a guide to enlarge the pin, it was just stamped steel, rummaging around the top of my tool box this seemed about the right size.



test fitting the plate on the handlebar, ensuring its fitment was proper. several attempts were needed, before I got a good fit, pin in the hole with no slop, and the plate back to half round.





all put back together.
test ride was an improvement.



a black felt pen, to tidy up the little scratches on the handlebar I left, and its better than new.

 

I likey. It does look compact and quite small. It baffles me how it weighs so much for being so small compact. The engine supposedly is lighter than 800's. Is the swingarm made from led?
Joe, how is the smoothness of the engine compared to the 800? Vibration?

 

congrats on the VFR....that blue is stunning!! I haven't seen the blue in person yet.

 

having the bike a little more than a week now, 2 fuel ups, 37mpg, 40mpg, its a lot of bike.

smoothness is referenced by different people different ways.
a CBX was smooth, A GW or Valkarie, is smooth, and any BIG motor, wont be smooth.
a couple of the tests, have mentioned its not perfectly smooth, and that's correct.
when it does shake, pulling from low rpm, its like a deep shake from the bowels of a freighter, you can almost feel the engine twisting in the frame (so it seems, but not really).
the other vibration, is the tingle in the handlebars.
5k rpm and more it does feel very smooth, but if not wanting to make speed, it just lingers at lower rpm's and that's fine with me, all too easy to go 'too' fast.

one simply runs out of real estate.

not sure if I mentioned it before, but this bike is a case of mistaken identity, it is more like my old V65 than my old VF750 (I never had a VFR).
big V4, 6 speed, shaft drive, fairing. it that context, its very similar.

one also needs to realize, this bike is really really fast, and it doesn't take much to do it.
glad it has brakes to match its speed.

 

Finally a good day for a ride, and some open road to shake up the cobwebs.



so many think the VFR is Huge, what are they thinking?



Ugly muff one, ugly muff 2, ugly muff 3.



FZ1 for some size reference.





did I mention this bike is fast. using MT, finally got a chance to run to the rev limiter, so smooth on the upshifts, and it blips on downshifts. it really is something different, WOW.

 

Wow! I'm sold.

 

Nice shots. Sweet bike.

 

Joe......What a teaser :wink:
She is Prutty :love: Glad you able to put some miles on her :thumb:

 

Congrats! Beauty in blue. By the time I wear out the one I've been riding, one of those will be a fine second or third hand deal. Buy her lots of gas and keep the rubber near the road.

 

I changed out to a TBR can and there was too much heat to my right foot. Going to have the pipe ceramic coated.

I like the blue too! I sat on one @ Laguna Seca in August 2012 and bought it two weeks later.

I am in Chino Joe. Where are you in So Cal? Bob 909-227-2428