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I would personally head down to Chiswick Honda and just order a new sump and have done with it (and the gasket). They wont be too much and will be cheaper than going to a garage. You may need to remove the exhausts to get to it but I'm not sure with VFRs.

They will probably be ok to be honest, but get them checked when you take it into the garage.

The rear wheel axle bolt needs to be tight. The Haynes manual for that model would have the exact torque setting, but generally they are round the 90Nm mark. You would have to put some serious stress on it to snap the axle, but you could probably damage the threads if it's way over tight.

You won't need to service it nearly as much as that. I do about 12000 miles a year and I service it myself. As I ride in all weathers, I tend to change the oil and filter every 4 months. The air filter I change once a year, the plugs I check once a year and change them if needed. I would say every 6 months or so, check things like bolt torques, cable freeplay, tire depth and wear, exhaust leeks etc. Oh and I oil and check my chain each week, and it probably needs adjusting every few months. Have a glance at your brake pads now and then and replace as necessary. I don't really listen to the advice of garages anymore, as they are businesses and their sole purpose is to make money from us. It sounds like you check your bike quite regularly, so I wouldn't worry about it. I wont mess with anything apart from the above unless I can feel or hear a problem, then I investigate and repair/overhaul if needed. Not sure about the oil filter on your bike, may be one of those gauze internal things. Worth looking in a manual. I had a cb250 with an oil screen, and I just took it out and cleaned it every year. A bit more fidly, but I guess it needs to be done.

Nothing wrong with being in a high gear, but as you say, you will need to drop down to get some speed up again. The only problem I can see really is strain on the gearbox trying to push the bike in a high gear from a slow speed.

Have you checked the battery terminals are nice and tight?

I have put a lot of thought into chain replacement and have done many myself. I know loads of people are going to disagree with me here, but I find it perfectly reasonable to go for the two to one rule of two chains to every sprocket change (providing they are steel sprockets. They only need changing with the chain if the chain has been allowed to wear out completely. If you have checked your sprockets and you say they are fine, then a chain replacement only would be fine. The back wheel, if it's not creeping forward when you are on it, don't worry about it, it's just a slight bit of friction between the clutch disks and the engine oil. I take it from your post that the bike is quite old and has drum brakes front and rear?

Hi mate. Is it the front or back wheel making the noise? If it's front disk, could be a bit warped. On the front brake caliper, there will be two rubber boots that have bolts through them that allow the caliper to float a little over slightly warped disks. The pins/bolts that go into these need to be greased. Most of the time, it will be that they have seized and are no longer floating, they just need taking apart, cleaning and re greasing. So try that before you buy new disks or something. If it's the rear, and it's drum, like someone said above, get some new brake shoes. It's an easy job and you probably wont need to replace them again. If the drum brakes get too far past there wear limit, there is a danger that they will engage, and not disengage, which is a major problem if your riding it at the time. As with the chain, check the tension on all parts of the chain - put it on center stand, roll the rear wheel round and mid way between the sprockets, push up on the chain. At the tightest point, there should be about 2 - 3cm slack (better check the manual though as that's a rough estimate, but will be safe for you to ride without doing any bearing damage, but as you say, the chains are cheap for them, so may as well just buy a new one then you know it's done. When you fit your new tyres, make sure you take it really easy, especially in the rain, as the surfaces will be very hard, smooth and new, and skidding is heavily more likely. Don't worry about coming off, especially in the rain, I bet there are not many people on this site who can say that they have never come off their bike! Hondas tend to be very good at surviving bangs, so you made a good choice. I would start with taking the brakes apart and having a look. Take your time and take photos of anything your unsure of and post them here. Good luck

You could always remove the disks and check them out. I know they're a pain to get off, but it may save you spending £300. Put them on a mirror or something else very flat and check they haven't warped. Measure the wear on them with a steel rule or better still, a measuring caliper and check them with the wear specs in the manual. Maybe that your pistons aren't sitting properly from when you changed the pads. All are cheap checks.

I bought original pipes for my 750 when I replaced them, and they cost me over £650! If it's just for use and not looks, Motad 4 - 1 systems are very good.

Thanks mate. I may buy one when I next do a service.

I have been thinking of getting one of these for my tool collection. How much is this set?

Compression may be a little low. May have blown a gasket somewhere causing it to lose speed.

Just top it up for now. Shouldn't need flushing out unless it's been in there a couple of years, and even then, it will probably be fine. I buy cheap ready mixed stuff and share it with my wife's car, I don't need much for my bike.

As far as I know, they are meant to be smooth. If they are not warped or blued, they should be fine. Clutch cable set incorrectly maybe? Have you changed the type of oil you use recently?

I have seen loads of advice totally against WD40, but everyone who does seem to use it, says it works well with no problems. The only thing I really use it for on my chain is to give it a quick clean. I have always either used a scottoiler or spray on oils. I fitted a new chain and sprockets yesterday, and I'm going to try out a big tub of gear oil and apply with a paintbrush every 4 or 5 days. To me that seems like the best protection and lube for a very cheap price.

Yes. The ones with the friction surface on are the friction disks. The others are just steel disks that seperate them. The friction plates are two different types because they will go in a specific order. It will be in your manual or just replace the new ones in reverse order that you take the old ones out.

I use EBC friction disks in my clutch. I use my bike all year round but ride quite sensibly and don't use it on the track.

Right then, that leaves two other easy things to try. 1 - Do a voltage check on the battery, maybe you've had the bike sat for a while and there isn't enough spark to ignite the fuel mix effectively. 2 - Poor fuel mix. How long has the bike been stood? Was there fuel in the carb when left? Have you tried full choke and no choke to start?

Did you get to the bottom of this problem?

Strange. Check the choke like said in the other post. Not sure where it is on one of them but probably on the side of the carb. Could be low compression. Check that and see if it marries up roughly to the specs.

Ha ha yeah....Don't put the carbs in boiling water! I did mine with a bank of four carbs on to an inline four engine, so I put the rubbers into water seperatly then eased them on to the carb bodies one by one, then had to struggle with the whole bank of carbs and rubbers and force them onto the engine end! Whoever thinks of these designs?!!!! Good luck though. At least you've only got two rubbers to worry about.

Could be the plug caps. Happened to me once, the cap had unscrewed and was barely touching the HT lead insides. If your getting a shock, I doubt it would be the coil.

Dunno mate. Seems very cheap to me. I would personally be a bit weary, but then I'm VERY tight!

When you say sounds like a pit bike, do you mean the heavy rattling drive chain sort of noise? If so, your drive chain is probably loose and slapping the swing arm, would explain why it quietens down after about 30mph. If it's coming from the engine, could be due to low oil, or just not leaving it to warm up before riding. My drive chain slaps a little but it to it's correct free travel, could be because the guy who had it before me had fitted smaller sprockets.