RideWithStyles Posted April 7 Posted April 7 (edited) Sharp eyes . Only had two in all the cars and luckly none on the bikes in all the years. Not rubbing it in honest its just a real shame and heart goes out to you especially when they ain’t cheap. you do right by that decision! may your path be clear magneto. Edited April 11 by RideWithStyles 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted April 11 Posted April 11 (edited) New pump arrived. Spent 5 mins swapping it over and testing. It pumps when it should and stops when it should. It is also gratifyingly leak free. Tools required to change: 1x 5mm allen key and a screwdriver. Both required to loosen the bodywork. The pump itself can be changed by hands only, depending on how strong your fingers are at undoing the pipe clips. Otherwise a pair of pliers also required. Also a new addition to the bike.. The bike has its original toolkit and owners manual under the seat and I found an important omission at the side of the road last weekend - the 5mm allen key required to remove the bodywork. The original must have been removed to use to assemble ikea furniture or some such in the 28 years since the bike left the showroom and never put back. So I was unable to loosen the bodywork at the side of the road. A n unexpected turn of events which has now been rectified. With tyres, carb leak repair and new fuel pump, I hope I have made sufficient sacrifices to the VFR gods to appease them for the rest of the season. Failed pump about to go in the bin. At three years old, it cannot have pumped much more than 20 gallons. El cheapo chinese tat, the cheapest I could find at the time, I think it was around £12. The new one may be identical, but at a premium price, or it may be better quality, who knows. At least they give it a five year warranty through ebay. Edited April 11 by Tinkicker 6 Quote
Hairsy Posted April 11 Posted April 11 5 hours ago, Tinkicker said: Failed pump about to go in the bin. At three years old, it cannot have pumped much more than 20 gallons. El cheapo chinese tat, the cheapest I could find at the time, I think it was around £12. Out of interest, are you able to run a piece of emery cloth between the points and see if clearing the surface kicks it into life? I wonder whether quality of the metal-like-substance that they make them out of could be the issue - in which case, it could be that regular use might be the key to keeping these things alive. I'm not suggesting re-using the pump for pumping duties - just interested in specifically what would make such a new and relatively simple component fail. Quote
Joe85 Posted April 11 Posted April 11 I got 9 points in 5 days. No excuses; I knew a speed camera was coming, my satnav reminded me, and i still rode through at 38mph. Got the dreaded double flash. Cursing in my helmet and feeling sorry for myself, about 20 seconds later... double flash again. I was still doing 38 and went through a second camera. What a prick. Got home, speeding ticket waiting from me on the table from Monday. w**ker! 1 7 Quote
Fiddlesticks Posted April 11 Posted April 11 1 hour ago, Joe85 said: I got 9 points in 5 days. No excuses; I knew a speed camera was coming, my satnav reminded me, and i still rode through at 38mph. Got the dreaded double flash. Cursing in my helmet and feeling sorry for myself, about 20 seconds later... double flash again. I was still doing 38 and went through a second camera. What a prick. Got home, speeding ticket waiting from me on the table from Monday. w**ker! Can you not argue it was one continuous bout of speeding? I seem to remember something about this. 2 Quote
Joe85 Posted April 11 Posted April 11 3 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said: Can you not argue it was one continuous bout of speeding? I seem to remember something about this. Haven’t had the ticket(s) yet, so we’ll see. 1 Quote
bud Posted April 11 Posted April 11 Yes I'm sure so close together you could argue it was one offence. 1 Quote
Fiddlesticks Posted April 11 Posted April 11 Also, at 38 you might be able to get a speed awareness course... Assuming you haven't already done one recently. Quote
Tinkicker Posted April 11 Posted April 11 4 hours ago, Hairsy said: Out of interest, are you able to run a piece of emery cloth between the points and see if clearing the surface kicks it into life? I wonder whether quality of the metal-like-substance that they make them out of could be the issue - in which case, it could be that regular use might be the key to keeping these things alive. I'm not suggesting re-using the pump for pumping duties - just interested in specifically what would make such a new and relatively simple component fail. Nothng wrong with the points. It was a split daphragm and huge fuel leak. 1 Quote
RideWithStyles Posted April 11 Posted April 11 Sorry Joe but No, it will be two separate incidents/offences, worse as you ignored the first one just before… 1 Quote
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted April 12 Posted April 12 10 hours ago, Fiddlesticks said: Also, at 38 you might be able to get a speed awareness course... Assuming you haven't already done one recently. Not with a ticket already sent in the post. That's the one that might get the option of a course depending on what speed was involved. 1 Quote
Tinkicker Posted April 12 Posted April 12 (edited) Shakedown ride #2. Same route and same conditions as previously. Only difference was I absolutely caned it through the gears down a quiet,1.5 mile long straight with no turnoffs close to the village, one ear listening for backfiring if the new pump could not keep up with max engine demand. Of course MLud, I never exceeded the posted 60 mph limit. Whistle innocently.... Then parked up in exactly the same place as before, engine idling as before and took a pic. Two differences in this pic. 1. She is wearing her seat cowl this time out. 2. No puddles of fuel under the bike which is quite a novel experience so far this year. The seat cowl is not the best Honda design ever. It is held in place by two screws and if you need to get under the seat, the two screws have to be undone, then the seat unlocked and removed.. The toolkit lives under the seat... A great catch 22. You need the tookit to remove the seat, but you cannot get to it... I carry a large plate washer in my jacket pocket to undo the seat screws. Of course, since honda in their wisdom did not fit carb float bowl overflows, if they do overflow due to a bad fuel needle valve, the fuel drops straight down the carb mouths and fills the cylinders and sump with raw fuel when the bike is stood a long time. To prevent this possible occurence, you have to switch the fuel off at the fuel tap if the bike is not going to be used all week. The fuel valve is right underneath the tank and the only way to access it without removing the bodywork is via removing the seat and using a very long screwdriver on the tap lever screw. Again a pain if the seat cowl is fitted, although it is only a two minute job. Another silly honda oversight. If only they fitted a vacuum operated fuel tap... Seat cowl fitted and no puddle of fuel. Both novel ideas this ride out. As for the rest of ride. Absolutely superb. I can well understand why I knew I made a big mistake when trading my original one in for a Blackbird. Perfect. Not many people realise that Honda lost £100 for every VFR750 sold. They could not charge the punter enough to cover the manufacturing costs and still maintain enough sales to make the project viable. The entire VFR project was a face saving exercise after the VF series camshaft and camchain debacle in the 80s. Edited April 12 by Tinkicker 6 Quote
Ian Frog Posted April 12 Posted April 12 washed the Indian and invited quality control to check the work! Cheers Ian 7 1 Quote
Simon Davey Posted April 12 Posted April 12 @Ian Frog That's a gorgeous bike, the colour scheme does it for me. That's quite some centre stand though 2 Quote
Ian Frog Posted April 12 Posted April 12 (edited) It's actually bonkers fun ! Cheers Ian Edited April 12 by Ian Frog Spelling Quote
Stu Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 Over the weekend I fitted some LED bulbs! Lots of parts to remove to get the headlight off and bloody hard work getting everything inside the headlight! I must say the way the bmw fairing fits is a bloody work of art! 8 Quote
Fish Posted April 15 Posted April 15 Be interested to know what you think on the light pattern on the LED over OE kit. Quote
Stu Posted April 15 Author Posted April 15 5 minutes ago, Fish said: Be interested to know what you think on the light pattern on the LED over OE kit. I have had LED before just not on this bike They have improved a lot in recent years The issue used to be that the "filament" was in the wrong position on LED's which caused stray lighting but that has now been resolved by positioning it the same as what a Halogen bulb would be so the beam pattern is exactly the same my advice is if you want more light then go for it just do not buy cheap Quote
bonio Posted April 16 Posted April 16 On 29/03/2025 at 17:47, bonio said: Then I fitted a new screen to the MV, one I made earlier in the week by cutting one down. Sadly it got a few scratches when I was sanding it down, but I'll put up with that if it reduces the wind noise. Today I polished out the scratches. Really pleased with how it's turned out. 5 Quote
Simon Davey Posted April 16 Posted April 16 That's looking like a factory option. Nice work.. Did you use a specific acrylic polish? @bonio Quote
bonio Posted April 16 Posted April 16 35 minutes ago, Simon Davey said: That's looking like a factory option. Nice work.. Did you use a specific acrylic polish? @bonio Yes sir. This one in fact https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009DHE0HK And a polishing tip on a dremel. 1 Quote
RideWithStyles Posted April 17 Posted April 17 Gave the bike a deserved cleaning, sorry forgot to take a photo of the good work on the exact day. The Metz z8 tyres has been great but wear to the last mms has advanced rapidly, Started to square and ive not been keen on the tip on broken roads at this point. was tempted to change to a different brand again but the front can go another round, maybe pushing a third also the price of Michelins have shot up a lot very recently too, even or the lower tier’s and the Pirellis have gone up abit but the model I was looking at will be discontinued soon so trying for a single replacement will be harder and the model available im not really looking at. so next time I may try something different if the price and conditions are right, but now I’ll stick to a replacement rear. 4 Quote
Simon Davey Posted April 17 Posted April 17 @RideWithStyles Which tyres do Suzuki fit it with as a new bike? Are they work considering? Quote
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