what did you do to your vfr today?

thought it was going to be a dog turd when you said 'felt something soft under your foot'

 

Omg those injectors... Did you ride your bike on africa and fueled it with dirt or what?

 

lol, that's the first thing I thought too. "Who the hell lets their dog poop in a parking lot?!" When I saw the banana peel, I actually laughed as I was not only relieved it wasn't poop but thought how funny it would be to explain to someone that I dropped my bike by slipping on a banana peel.

 

Right?! The bike has sat for a couple of months as it is still being rebuilt but I don't think lack of use would cause that severe of blockage! Well, at least they're clean now.

 

I actually hit a banana peel while riding. I busted out laughing when the rear wheel slipped a little. I imagined having to explain that crash to the insurance company!!!

 

Yup I can't wait to install this on my '07! Mine currently has 48k miles and it has been taking a bit longer to start in the last 10k miles. I've also noticed a bit of vibration when I pick up the throttle below 6k RPM. Most noticeable is the drop in fuel efficiency. Been seeing 31-33 in mixed highway and city riding when I was usually getting 36-40 mpg. The 33 mpg was AFTER a clean air filter and new spark plugs. I fully expect that balancing my injector's flow rate will solve some of this and significantly smooth the engine.

I read another article online that balancing injector flow is a good way to gain power and increase efficiency, and it is something many race teams do to their bikes. Some injectors can be off by as much as 5%-10% from each other! That means one or two cylinders could be 5% lean or rich, and unless one can tune the flow using the ECM, you can never make up that difference, which results in lost power and smoothness. For $100-$120 one can clean the injectors to within 2% of each other. In the above case, within 0.8%!!! Anyway, I figure having "tuned" injectors is akin to having a tuner on your bike that balances injector flows on the fly.

 

Today I installed a new battery.

I also diagnosed why my LCD multi-gauge was not working, and fixed a corroded trace on the board. Seems that is quite a common malady, but the cluster is all good to go now. While I was at it, I figured I would replace all the bulbs in the cluster, so there is a 10 pack of 194 LED bulbs on the way. I figure that should reduce the amperage draw and make the bike all happy. Although I understand you can't use LED's on the signals or FI.

Now to install the ramped throttle tube, and wait for the new bulbs to show up.

Jose

 

I rode to my local Moto Guzzie/
Aprilia dealer for a demo day. Test rode their Moto Guzzie MGX cruiser, a 1400cc battleship of a bike, that turned out to be very capable. It has quite a bit of lean angle to it. It's actually pretty flickable. Surprised the heck out of me! Much more than the Yamaha 1300VX I test rode and didn't like. Also, at six foot two, I had no buffeting with my helmet. The Yamaha knocked my head around bad. Fine if you're shorter, or so I've heard from the Yamaha reps. The MGX is pretty fun for such a big bike.

Then I test rode the 2017 Tuono 1100 Factory and RR. LOVED them. The only chink in the armor I found was that the wheelie control shuts the power off completely, at least on max wheelie control setting. I know that the APRC system is customizable, so it can be tuned better by the user. Hell, you can sync your phone to it and get really custom, even turn by turn on a track. The Factory comes with Ohlins suspension and Pirelli Rosso tires, the RR comes with Sachs forks and Pirelli Diablo III tires. You don't notice the difference in suspension until you really push it. Oh, they both now have cruise control and 330mm Brembo ABS brakes, hence the Roadrunner comment above. Something that really stood out for me is how easy it is to squeeze the tank in hard braking. It's quite thin at the bottom and then flared out quite a bit on top, so my legs just locked in. Very confident with the binders on, even to the point of ABS kicking in. I think one of them had heated grips too.

The parts I like? GOBS of power, Roadrunner stopping, leans for days, and above 6,000 rpms, the exhaust valve opens up and you can hear the V4 growl. But, below that, you could ride through your neighborhood at 4 AM and not wake up your neighbors. I'm seriously contemplating getting one. The dealer sells rear sets that are adjustable up and down, giving you more legroom for longer trips. I'm in lust. They also sell up to five years extended warranties for $1200. I may get that too.

Even tho I promised my 99 VFR I wasn't going to get rid of her, I came home to the smell of burning wires. Time to go through it with a fine tooth comb. She's still not going anywhere tho. A little electrical detective work and she's good to go! I'm still enraptured with how she sounds! I'm definitely going to have Jaime work his magic and give me some new suspenders for her. I'm also going to pick up some Barnett 100# clutch springs. I've replaced the friction material and bled the living hell out if it, but the clutch still slips when cold and I want a harder hit when going through the gears at full throttle. I can hear it slipping some. This should fix it for all of $25 and they are only about 30 miles from my house. They are the Barnett MT 80-683 virtually identical to their VFR springs, save for a few hundredths of an inch shorter, but with 99lbs instead of 73. I'm waiting to hear from EBC to see what their springs are rated, but it's not enough.

I go back later tomorrow and I'll test ride the RSV4 Factory. That has a wicked snarl to it! And, 200 hp! Appointment at 4 pm. Can't wait!!!

The best part about today is that the girl leading the rides gets down! It was so fun riding with her on the Tuonos. The first ride she was on a modded R6, then the Tuono Factory. Nothing like banging the bike into third gear with the quick shift in the middle of a turn at full throttle in race setting. All 173 horses let out to run. The bike seamlessly fell into the next gear and just dove in and flew!!
Her riding skills are what really sold me on the bike, as I got to find out just what it can do, and it's A LOT!! Oh, and the auto blip down shift works beautifully. So nice to not have to blip the throttle with my hand and just keep a constant pressure in the brake, especially when flying up to a turn! The bike just remains so settled! No drama, just flawless slowing and then drops right in. Trail braking into the turn is so easy!

 

Oooo, be careful there smalls. Them Aprilias will get under your skin. I like em badly, but there's no customer support when things go in the crapper. But boy Oh boy are they something else.

 

It went past my skin and fused right into my DNA. I may be moving to Nashville area and there is a dealer in Murfreesboro. Not too far away.

 

Here's the RR one I rode. The Factory also come with an Ohlins steering dampner.

 

You test rode one?
You are past the point of no return!

Said the man with an 03 Tuono and an 07 Tuono in the garage.

 

Both of them actually. I'm toast. I have a disease and the only cure is a Tuono...

 

I love the way my 99 sounds with its Delkevic header and TBR pipe. It pops and burbles on decel and sounds so good. The Tuono does this too. Why did I ride it??? I'm hopeless now.

 

Hook line and sinker bro-- your toast--


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yea, I rode one in 013, was done, put a fork in me. had every intention to head up to the Seattle dealer, But faith stepped in, once back home here's this add for a certain VFR with of all things had a Staintune, so had to at the least go look at it, then when the price was thrown out, made it a no brainier. But still have a soft spot for the 016 Tuono. That said as odd as it is IMO the Viffer still sounds better. LOL But don't roll on the throttle. it ain't all that bad as you found out huh GL..

 

That's how they getcha! "the first one's free.." "everybody's doing it..." haha

I've mentioned before that I worked at a Honda/Kawasaki dealer (for 3 years back in the early 90's). During that time, I had my lightly modded blue 87. Between the bikes at the shop, fellow coworkers' bikes, customers' bikes, friends' bikes, I had so many opportunities to ride a bunch of really nice (at the time) sport bikes. Never did, and the main reason why is because of what you're going through now... I never wanted to ride something super nice (especially the newer model VFRs) and not want to get back on mine... lol IIRC, the only bikes besides my VFR that I rode during that decade were a 1976 Kawi KH100, a 1983 XR200R, and a beater 1989 Honda Hawk 650. I feel your pain Mang!

 

Holy Cow MD, that would be an entire weekend for me!