Winter Updates to My 2007 RWB

Now that we have snow on the ground, I've pulled the VFR into the basement and am starting to do the updates that I know it needs and that I want. For those of you who know me, I already did many of these to my first bike a few years back, but that has allowed me to know what updates I liked and what I didn't like. The short list includes:

• Power Commander V
• SpeedoHealer v4
• +2 Rear Sprocket
• Powder Coat the Rims White (A MUST!!!)
• Pinstripe the Hard Cases

For those who are thinking about installing a PCV or SpeedoHealer, I'll post some pictures and the instructions for doing so.

 

Hi Stewart, have you done heated grips? I know that I'm a wuss when it comes to being cold, so this one of my more practical/enjoyable upgrades that I've done to my 07. Oh, the Heli bars and Sargent seat have to trump the grips I guess since they add comfort every ride.

The grips just jumped out to me when I saw where you live, Brrrrrrr! What have you done prior to these up coming improvements?
John

 

Never even considered heated grips out here in SoCal....maybe dont know what I'm missing. ..just my winter gloves work just dandy....back East..probably a must

 

Below is a picture of the changes I made to my first RWB. Heated grips are a possibility. I have them on the Spyder and they are great. I did have Heli-Bars and a Sargent seat on my first one, but don't think I will add either to this bike. The Heli-Bars raised things more than I wanted and I have found that with the stock bars, you can raise them a little bit to the top of the fork which actually puts things where I like them. The Sargent seat was OK, but for $400, I expected the comfort to be night and day better compared to stock and that is not what I found. I thought the seat was firmer and after a typical ride, I did not notice that it was any better than stock. Maybe on much longer rides it would have been. Also, the aftermarket windscreen is not going to happen again. I didn't notice much of a difference with it either. As I said before, going back to white rims is a must for me and I like how I painted the radiator screens white.

 

I think the advantage of heated grips in SoCal would be that on the colder mornings that you might get, you can use a lighter glove as opposed to a thicker / heavier one. Since I have never had heated grips on my VFR, I have 3 different pairs of gloves depending on the temperature. Obviously, the thicker gloves give you less feel / control of the gas, clutch, blinkers, etc. With heated grips, a lighter glove would be possible.

 

You are right on about the gloves and heated grip situation. I am such a wuss when it comes to the cold that if I lived where you do Stew, I probably would never get out of the house! Are you going to consider having your seat re-worked to fit you, or are you happy enough with stock? How about exhaust? Sure makes the V4 sound that much more awesome! This is kind of fun spending someone else's money! LOL........Hey! This must be what It's like to be a Congressman! Ok, just shoot me now.
John

 

I am actually very happy with the stock seat. I didn't realize that until I bought the Sargent. I did love the look of the white welt that I had on the Sargent, but for $400, I can live without it.

I typically keep the exhaust stock because I live in a development and leave for work by 6:30 AM. I'd love an aftermarket exhaust, but I want to keep the bike quiet. Besides, even with the stock exhaust, I am not looking for any more HP from the bike.

That is the truth!

 

I got my custom plate in the mail the other day. I wonder how many people will know what it means.

 

I got the 45T rear sprocket installed. On my first RWB, I was running with a 44T which was better than stock, but I wanted a little bit more out of it. My next modification will be to add the SpeedoHealer v4 to correct for the gearing change and the factory speedo error.

 

Super sparkly! So how long do you have to wait to ride again back there? March-April?
Big Big Big news in So-Cal,,,,,,,,it rained last week! I know, WOW!
Keep the pictures coming.

 

You got it. Late March at the very earliest. Winter sucks, but due to the down time, it is a great opportunity to go through the bike - which is what I do every year.

 

Looking good! Makes me want to call the powder coater today! Thanks for posting up on the sprocket. I'm at 27K and thinking about a new chain/sprocket combo. Good stuff!

 

Whats it take to install Speedo healer? And what kind of sprocket did you go wit?

 

I hoping to get the SpeedoHealer installed today and will post back photos and steps for doing so as soon as I'm done. For the 45T rear sprocket, I just went with steel instead of aluminum this time around.

 

Thanks..good luck on the install

 

I did get the SpeedoHealer v4 installed today. For the 6th Gen, the part number you will need is SH-V4. The wiring harness that you'll need for the 2007-2009 6th Gen is part number SH-H03. Note that in 2007, Honda changed the speed sensor coupler which is why the harness kit is different from the earlier year 6th Gens.

The first thing you need to do is locate the speed sensor. It is on the left side of the bike just above the shifter.



The next step is to follow the speed sensor cable which will take you to the speed sensor coupler. The coupler is also on the left side of the engine down by the engine case, just in front of the radiator overflow bottle. In this photo, I do have the bottle removed. You will need to disconnect the coupler and connect the harness in-line to it as seen here.



I then ran the harness up under the tank and out just behind the rear brake fluid reservoir. This is where I have installed the SpeedoHealer main unit.



To program the SpeedoHealer I used the online calculator to figure out what the calibration value is based on the factory speedo error, change to 16/45 gearing and the size of the rear tire.



As you can see, with this setup, the factory speedometer would be off by 9.4%. They default the factory speedometer error to be 5.5%. Once you program the value into the unit, there is a mode to verify the setting and to test that the SpeedoHealer is actually working. All is very simple and the directions are easy to follow.

On my first '07, I had the older model which worked just fine over the years, but was much more difficult to setup as it was based totally on dip switches. There was no confirmation of your setting or easy way to test it. They've done a great job with this new v4 model.

 

I've got my rims prepped and ready to go to the powder coater tomorrow. On the inside of the spokes on both rims, you'll notice the raised lettering that you can see here.





When I had this done to my first bike, I was oblivious to this raised lettering. When you've got bright white rims, they get dirty. When you clean them, you can't get the dirt out around and inside of this lettering. This allows you to actually see the lettering and it looks like crap. Now that I've got a 2nd chance to do this right, I decided to grind down the lettering before they get coated. Here is the result.

 

Awesome information Stewart. ....thanks

 

Ah winter, a good time to play with upgrades. Sometimes a 'down' season is a good thing, no :biggrin1: ...

ACE

 

My, my, my, OCD knows no bounds? Grinding down the letters for cleanliness sake? Wow. And I thought I was OCD by taking the wheels off,and washing them and putting 2 coats of wax to avoid the dreaded dirty wheel syndrome.

Larry