i bought a 1999 vfr from a friend for 3000.00 about 3 months ago.he said he knew of no problems with the bike and i took his word for it.it seemed ok the first few times i took it out.then one day while i was riding the gauges died.no tach or speedo.i pulled into my driveway,turned it off and it would not restart.batt was dead.after many tests i concluded that it was the rectifier,so i bought one from Rick's(great folks by the way.rick answered all my questions) i mounted the rectifier outside above the passenger pegs so it got airflow and all seems ok.i also but a voltage gauge(a MUST!!) and it is always charging at 14+ volts.i hope this helps anyone who has had a similar problem.
Thanks for the update and tips. Several people have run larger gauge wiring as well. Oh, and welcome to the forum!
My friends 1998 800 did the same thing but after boosting it to get him home it seemed fine. A week later it was dead again. We checked the charging and it seems fine 14 volts when running. The battery was showing 11 Volts. New battery will be installed Monday and we hope the problem is solved.