Vfr 1200 Launch

Me an me Ginger chum had a ride over to North Harbour Motorcycles in Ayr to have a look at the new VFR 1200 when it was launched, nice place and a lovely showroom but expensive with a capital "E".

Not too sure what to make of the 1200 tbh, when you look back at the original VFR750 and follow the linage up to present day Honda seem to have lost the ethos of the original machine an I think ( and only personal opinion here) they started to lose it with the 800 Vtec.

The bike just doesn't look like the total all-rounder it used to be and don't even get me started on the price!

Anyway a couple of pics from North Harbour, I did get a free key ring! so not all bad eh?

Very Tasty Bm wobble you

We spotted this in Inveray, the mutt's nut's this bike, the owner has lavished this bike in loads of custom bits an bobs and not a pannier in sight!

Glencoe

It was a bit wet but I really this run over the Great Glen

Been a while!

Bloody hell not blogged since August! Not very good eh? I have no excuse I've been lazy, no hang on that's not the way of the world is it? Its got to be someone Else's fault, so who can I blame for lack of diatribe on this blog!

Well I started back at college so I could blame that, as they keep me busy or how about my dog, yes its my dogs fault I had to walk her when i should have been blogging, I'm struggling here, maybe I can blame Allan, he should go oot more often then I would have more stories to tell!

How about forgot to take the camera with me when I have been out ( this is actually true Dickhead!) hang on though that puts the blame back at my door! I am going to buck the trend here and say its all my fault, Guilty as charged your honour I have been a lazy bugger so to try and make amends I will add a few pics of some of the rides and promise to do better in future!

The first real test

Well the first ride out on the VFR turned out to be quite a big one which allowed me to fully enjoy and evaluate the bike fully.
The first part of the journey was all motorway across country to Kilmarnock, this is usually long enough to start getting cramp in my left leg at just over an hour but not on the VFR, I arrived feeling fresh and ready for a bit of A n B-road scratching so after a quick mug of tea me an Al saddled up and set off for Girvan on the West coast to sample the fish 'n' chips. I have to say that the weather was fantastic, best it has been for a few weeks with bugger all wind and glorious sunshine the miles just rolled by with not too much traffic on the roads to contend with we arrived in Girvan to the gentle aroma of dinner wafting down the high street from the chippie!

Looking at Ailsa Craig from Girvan harbour

After lunch we followed the coast road down to Ballantrae which is a wonderful stretch of tarmac filled with flowing bends to get the juices flowing which the VFR just took in its stride. It is easy to see why the VFR's are labelled the best all round motorcycles as they just adapt so well to anything that's thrown at them.

End of the line Ballantrae

From Ballantrae it was back to Girvan along the same stretch of tarmac and then off to North harbour motorcycles in Ayr following the coast road with a trip over the Electric Brae which the road side plaque describes better than I can.

After a look round North Harbour it's not hard to understand why less and less people get involved in biking these days, to be fair to them a lot of there stock is very very nice but it is expensive and hard to justify when you consider I paid two grand less for my brand new Peugeot 207 than what a second hand VFR 1200 fetches these days!!!

After we left North Harbour it was time to return to Al's for a mug of tea before the trip back down the motorway to sunny Burntisland by the sea, over all journey covering 255 miles and I just started to get a bit of cramp in my left leg ten miles from base but apart from that I arrived home for tea an medals feeling great and very pleased with the new bike.

One in an one out

After a year of Fireblade ownership the time has come to part company and go our separate ways, the process was sped up somewhat by the offer to do a deal with Allan on his VFR 800.

So here she is the latest addition to the stable a 1998 VFR 800 in all it's lovely redness with 18,000 miles on the clock she is barely run in!

Riding her back from the west side to the east of the country I have to say that it's bloody awesome and defiantly rates as one of the best motorcycles I have ever had and I don't say that lightly, it is just a pleasure to ride and after we have a few more miles under our belts I shall try to put into words why I enjoy riding this bike so much.

Mot time

It seems to have come round very quickly but that's me had the Blade for a year now, so time to put a mot on it. After a good check over all I could find was a sidelight bulb blown in the head lamp, although why its called a sidelight when its mounted in the middle of the fairing I will never no, but with said bulb replaced I was feeling fairly confident of a pass so booked it in for this Friday. Typically Friday duly arrives and after it being fine all week its pissing down with rain!!! so I have to get my romper suit on and head and head off for the testing station.

I arrived with no drama on route although I did see a twerp go into a roundabout miles to fast and exit it backwards, I was glad to be far enough back for it not to cause me any concern but you really do have to question the mentality of some of the idiots that drive on the roads today!
One hour later I am clutching my freshly printed certificate, its stopped raining and I have devoured the best bag of chips I have had in a long time and now the sun is out for the ride home, all in all a good trip me thinks and the bike is fit for purpose for another year.

Few more pics of assembly

I have been doing a bit here an a bit there which didn't seem like I was making any real head way when I noticed I had actually moved the project on a fair bit. So I thought it was time for an update and a few more pics.
I have still to polish any of the alloy, truth be told I am saving that job until near the end as if I get busy again the bike will be shelved an I will only end up having to do it again but what I have done is degrease, clean an paint all the horrible little brackets and start assembling some bits an pieces.
The headlight I bought which can be seen in the pictures was fitted then duly taken off an put back in its box to be sent back, I got it all bolted up stood back to admire my handy work an their is a dirty great crack in it!!!!! I have put the wheels in at the moment as I need to be able to move it about so I can get easy access to both sides of the bike, I did ask swmbo about getting another garage to ease congestion but was told politely To cough or at least that's what it sounded like!
The loom is on and the freshly painted battery tray is fitted so my next job is too make some spacers so I can fit the shortened rear mudguard, do a bit more wiring and then see if it will start, I dread filling those carbs up with petrol as I stripped and cleaned them out so I just know there going to leak like a sieve.

Kenny Robert's Indy mile

This is just an awsome clip!

Poxy choke lever!

Why is it that I have had loads of bikes with the choke mounted on the carbs and never been a problem but when i decided not to refit the Fireblade choke lever to the handlebars I kept forgetting to shut it off? It seemed like a good idea at the time, and would have been one less bit of clutter on the yolk, but alas I have had to admit defeat; drilled 'n' Tapped the yolk and bolted it back there for all the world and most importantly me too see!!!

Although I had one last act of childish defiance left in me!

A bit of Cb750 progress

Pleased to finally get a bit done too the old girl, next job will be cleaning and fitting the wiring loom.

Few pics

A few pic's I took last time out

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The cure

The wheel bearings checked out okay, and the head bearings were dry but possibly reusable but i thought I ain't come this far to put it all back together again and find out that there is still a problem, so I fitted new head bearing's and a new front tyre, and a massive improvement straight away! No more wobbly front wheel at low speed (always a bonus in my book) but still not holding a line like it used too, so what i did was dropped the forks through the yolks another 5mm and this seems to have cured it.

Time will tell, I need another good run on the bike to know for sure but tbh I am lacking on the motivation front, every time I get the chance to go for a ride I would sooner do something else, dunno maybe it's the pre-birthday blues that I get every year and with this one being a biggie I find myself doing a lot of recollecting and soul searching at the moment.

Long time no see

It's been a while since my last blog so i better bring you up to speed on recent event's of the fireblade.
For a start the initial test ride didn't go well! the bike felt like it was riding on knife edge and the front end was very unstable so back to the workshop and a bit of a loosen and a tweek off i went again and this time it felt better but still nowhere near right. I upped the pre-load on the rear shock and this definitely made it feel better and I thought at the time with changing the seating position i might have to try to get it to sit down more at the front, she certainly felt like the tail was wagging the dog, but the changes I made had made a vast improvement so I thought the old gal would be ready for a proper shake down, Wrong! by god was I wrong, the trouble with my earlier runs was the road is a bit of a one trick pony, its not going to throw any surprises up and its pretty uniform, also I was running her low on fuel so that I could change the petrol tank ( which I have done by the way) when I went too meet up with Al I filled the new tank and straight away I was fighting to keep her on the road, every bend the bloody thing wanted too pick itself back up as soon as you tipped it into a corner and then as the day went on the steering got progressively worse meaning that when i slowed for roundabouts it wouldn't steer.

So after a bit of discussion we narrowed it down to: wheel bearing's, head bearing's, the step in the front tyre although the con census was that this should make it fall into corners not make it harder to get it over or the bike was still sitting down too much at the rear.......... to be continued

Better Pic's

A few photo's taken from outside the garage, still got one or two little things to do but she will be ready for action at Easter.

Finished the bugger!!!

Well the deed is now done and I have finished fitting in the kit. I just had a few loose ends to tie up and make the fairing brace as well as checking everything was tight!

The eagle eyed will notice it still has on the old petrol tank, that's just a temporary measure as its nearly full so I will have to run it down a bit so I can change tanks.

Oh and the old tart needs a polish but that can wait till Ive had a test ride, can't wait!!!!!

Streetfighter comfort kit Pt 4

A bit late to change me mind now!

Nearly there....

The deed is done!

That was quite a struggle to cut, harder than I thought it would be, It didn't go to bad but i had one slip where I have marked the screen but a trim along the screen edge will cover it. Now I have got too profile the ends of the fairing, but I haven't quite got enough clearance for the throttle cables yet but I might use a different set of bar's so that might not be necessary, next time I go to the garage I shall make a decision on that as I start back full time at college next week so I need to get it finished ready for the spring.

New Tank

I have got a s/h tank for the blade courtesy of Brother Allan, big thanks dude you got me out of a hole with that!

Its a cracking tank right colour an only the odd little mark on it but most importantly the bottom is not held in with fucking fibreglass! A big plus in my book.

Streetfighter comfort kit Pt 3

Right its been a few weeks since I did anything to this project, mainly down to crappy weather we have been having just lately and I have just had other things I had to get finished first before my shed privleges would be granted.

I started off by removing the old brake hoses so That I could mount the master cylinder to the handlebars and then I fitted the new hoses, well one of them! The new hoses are in my opinion far too long, so what I have done is fitted the shorter of the two the l/h caliper and used the one that linked the two calipers that was already on the bike instead of having two separate lines to the master cylinder, luckily the original hose that was fitted is a braided one so it doesn't look a pile of mince. Bleeding the brakes what a task an a half that proved to be but half a day at it and I have a lovely solid brake lever so I am happy.

The next item on the agenda was too remove the clocks and see if I can re-route the switch gear wiring to the l/h side so that I didn't have to extend the wires RESULT no need to be farting with that so to say I am pleased is slightly understating the point.

The next an only major job left is too cut the fairing an screen so I can get full lock, I have marked it up but I am going too cut it tomorrow as I thought I don't want to rush the job as I might change my mind on how I want it to look so I will sleep on it.Then all I have left too do is mount the choke lever, change the handle bar grip on the throttle and check everything is tight .