Hi Folks, I have a '98 5th gen VFR with 38k ish on the clock. Bought her when I passed my test just over a year ago. We did about 8k miles in the first 9 months or so, but in March her clutch started to slip and the dash lights were behaving oddly and numerous other little niggles kicked in, so I parked her up to save up some pennies to get her back up to scratch. I wonderded about swapping her for something else, but decided nothing else in my price bracket really worked for me, so I bought a load of parts to sort out her niggles, and style her up a bit so she looks awesome against many newer bikes again... However, one thing remains which concerns me greatly - the clutch. I don't have a lot of time, and am not really mechanically able... so I took her to be fixed by a local bike mechanic. He runs a racing team and is trustworthy. Now, originally the clutch operation seemed OK, but put under load it just seemed to let go - i.e. going to overtake, hitting about 6.5k revs she'd rev wildly with little forward motion. A couple of times when this happened I noticed that the fluid seemed to return to the master cylinder slowly... so part of the process was to source replacement master & slave cylinders. They got swapped over and re-bled with fresh new fluid. That didn't fix the issue, so an EBC clutch kit was gathered. This was installed, and during installation I was advised that she also needed 6 metal plates. So, she now has replacement master & slave cylinders, and a fully new set of plates, with stronger springs in place... Yet, when I took her out for her maiden voyage with all the other trick bits I added, I got less than a mile up the road, went to overtake a car - and the same thing happens....??? I am very much at a loss as to what else there is to check or replace etc. and would very much appreciate any helpful suggestions. When ridden at low revs you wouldn't suspect a thing, she sounds, handles and feels lovely...
Two of the three dogs had broken off one of the gears, a bit of metal had upset the main bearing shells and a few other bits and bobs... all a bit crappy, but what's worse is I don't seem to be able to find one half of third gear available - anywhere! The best guess at present is that a gear may be with us around the 28th Sept... which is basically not guaranteed and too late! I need to get the bike up and running ASAP - a trip of a life time depends upon it. So I'm appealing for assistance from the forum population - the part I need is Honda part no: 23461-MBG-000, 3rd Gear (31T) If anyone has a new one, or knows of someone who does... please can they let me know as a matter of urgency!
