tomek Posted June 7 Posted June 7 Steering on my viffer has developed "stiff spot" right in the center, of course. Obviously it was time for new bearings, races, etc. 85 K miles. Once I was doing that, and everything was off the bike anyway, decided to give fresh rattle can job for calipers, fork bottoms and upper triple tree. Flat automotive Rust Oleum black. Calipers started with, well, brake caliper paint, but it was too shiny for my taste so after first coat I switched back to that flat black. Oh, fresh front wheel bearing as well. There was nothing wrong with old ones, preventive maintenance I guess. All Honda OEM parts because All Balls and eBay are incredible chinesium garbage. Also, I tossed Bridgestone RS11, take off with about 1 k miles, that I happened to be laying around my garage. Quote
tomek Posted June 7 Author Posted June 7 Safety, obviously, third. OSHA not allowed in my place. 1 1 Quote
fizzy Posted June 9 Posted June 9 On 6/8/2025 at 12:32 AM, tomek said: Safety, obviously, third. OSHA not allowed in my place. Too many wheelies perhaps? I recently replaced some BB wheel bearings. I took the specs off the old ones and purchased genuine SKF off a bearing retailer. Way cheaper than OEM, but not much more than Chinese ebay junk. Anyway, do you think the rustoleum will hold up on the calipers when you bleed them? I have done some rattle can repaint on some parts of the bike but not the calipers for that reason. 🍺 1 Quote
tomek Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 (edited) It is not urethane, or no hardener, so I don't have much faith in it in case of brake fluid spill, etc. Lacquer type of paints are not the most durable kind although it did say "brake caliper paint" on the can. 😆 I'll just respray offending areas if something happens. It is not like color blend on the hood of your car where it has to be done perfectly to not be noticable. And, no wheels. Only because I'm not really good with them. 😂 The difference between getting OEM bearings from Honda and getting quality bearings from reputable supplier was not worth for me the effort. 16 bucks per bearing. Free shipping. 6205UU. Edited June 9 by tomek Quote
tomek Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 Forgot to mention. Fresh fork fluid. I'm always amazed after fluid change how more compliment, less harsh, front end feels. Gotta do track bike as well. Can't tell the difference between Ohlins comparable weight and Maxima. Later is easily available and way less expensive. That. Quote
tomek Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 Speaking of Rust-Oleum. This is funny. Here is my dispatch for tomorrow. First stop Rustoleum in Waupun Wisconsin. Not making this up. 😂. Quote
fizzy Posted June 9 Posted June 9 Motorcycle wheel bearing removal no special tools, see vid below Install, just freeze them and use old bearing shell as a drift (ground down a little so it is a loose fit). FYI, I will change fork oil this winter, thanks for the nudge. Quote
superhawk996 Posted June 9 Posted June 9 1 hour ago, fizzy said: I took the specs off the old ones and purchased genuine SKF off a bearing retailer. Way cheaper than OEM, but not much more than Chinese ebay junk. That's what I usually do. I recently replaced a bearing in my outdrive, I bought a Timken, which is what the OE was, for about 1/3 the price of buying it through any marine parts place. 1 Quote
tomek Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 2 hours ago, fizzy said: Motorcycle wheel bearing removal no special tools, see vid below Install, just freeze them and use old bearing shell as a drift (ground down a little so it is a loose fit). FYI, I will change fork oil this winter, thanks for the nudge. Well, in top picture right next to jack you see red lid of ice box. You know why was there. Flat fat ass screwdriver will do as as bearing removal tool. First get spacer loose by punching screwdriver between it and bearing, push it to the side, it is all golden from there. I do have set of bearing drivers, but yea, old one bearing will do it as well. Quote
fizzy Posted June 10 Posted June 10 FYI: you mentioned wheels and tires, I have 2 sets of wheels and tires for my BB, due to me having a parts bike. Anyway, I am currently riding on the parts bike wheels and tires, almost 10 year old Metzler Roadtec Z6s with almost no wear. Seem fine, I have pushed them a bit, no issues. Figured I should use them up before they get any older. Quote
CALCXX Posted June 11 Posted June 11 (edited) On 6/7/2025 at 4:32 PM, tomek said: Safety, obviously, third. OSHA not allowed in my place. Where did you get that special re-bar alighnment tool ? Kinda soft to hold the weight? Don't think I would sit on the bike right now. Edited June 11 by CALCXX Quote
tomek Posted June 12 Author Posted June 12 No clue and/or memory how rebar ended up in my garage. But the bar is still perfectly straight, but I would not sit on the bike. Bike is actually very stable with set up like in the pictures. Just to make it clear, I loosen all bolts first except, of course, upper triple tree, with bike still on kick stand. I do have couple front stands, but with entire front end off not possible to use them. Quote
CALCXX Posted June 21 Posted June 21 Only once have I worked on the pivot area of a shaft bike. What a pain in the ass. Replaced the bushings. Yamaha 1200 Venture. Challenging to support when dissasembled. That was an evil bike. Quote
tomek Posted July 2 Author Posted July 2 Well, try to remove engine in VFR12. In retrospect I should have dropped the engine on the ground, and lift the frame off the powertrain. V4 with shaft is 3-4 times amount of work required to remove vs inline 4 with chain. Epic pain in the ass. I had to fix jumping out 6th gear. Well known weak point of first two years of production. Next time I would flip bike upside down to work on gearbox. Quote
rockmeupto125 Posted July 19 Posted July 19 You need to get rid of that bike and get something fresher. Let me know when that is. Quote
tomek Posted July 20 Author Posted July 20 When someone builds decent SPORT-tourer with shaft. No, ADV bikes don't interest me whatsoever. And, no, no FJR, C14, etc. Too big, too heavy, too upright, etc. Also, 3 cylinders or more. 150 hp plus. Sadly, that particular segment I would be interested in is pretty much dead. Sad. So vfr stays. Quote
rockmeupto125 Posted July 20 Posted July 20 On 7/1/2025 at 8:07 PM, tomek said: I had to fix jumping out 6th gear. Well known weak point of first two years of production. How was it fixed for the following year? Quote
CALCXX Posted July 20 Posted July 20 I am curiuos also. Don't hear of a bike jumping out of "6th" gear often. Usually 2-3rd gear. I had trouble with my wannabe dragbike/streetbike. Bent shift fork and rounded engagement dogs. At the time, I had access to a milling machine with a rotary table. Got a new SS transmission with closer ratio 4 -5th gear. New shifting forks also. New high quality bearings. Undercut the engagement dogs and the inside of thrust side slots, 2 1/2 degrees total. . I will admit, was a little harder to shift after that but it defiantly stayed in gear with 3x the hp sent thru it. Honda CB750/890 with ATP turbo kit. I made that bike a lousy street bike. Never rode it far from home after that. Got about 21mpg. It was evil. Quote
tomek Posted July 21 Author Posted July 21 On 7/20/2025 at 7:36 AM, rockmeupto125 said: How was it fixed for the following year? Different parts. Maybe made of some maga ultra top secret strong alloy? Replacement gears were dimensionally the same but looked (color and surface finish) different. Quote
tomek Posted July 21 Author Posted July 21 (edited) 23 hours ago, CALCXX said: I am curiuos also. Don't hear of a bike jumping out of "6th" gear often. Usually 2-3rd gear. I had trouble with my wannabe dragbike/streetbike. Bent shift fork and rounded engagement dogs. At the time, I had access to a milling machine with a rotary table. Got a new SS transmission with closer ratio 4 -5th gear. New shifting forks also. New high quality bearings. Undercut the engagement dogs and the inside of thrust side slots, 2 1/2 degrees total. . I will admit, was a little harder to shift after that but it defiantly stayed in gear with 3x the hp sent thru it. Honda CB750/890 with ATP turbo kit. I made that bike a lousy street bike. Never rode it far from home after that. Got about 21mpg. It was evil. Dogs were rounded. I probobly still have them laying around somewhere. It is shaft drive, I'd say higher inertia of drive line components may effect durability as well. Before some smartass is gonna suggest I don't know how to shift gears XX had plus 200k miles with perfectly shifting gearbox and original clutch components. Never touched it. Edited July 21 by tomek 2 Quote
superhawk996 Posted July 23 Posted July 23 On 7/21/2025 at 7:25 AM, tomek said: Different parts. Maybe made of some maga ultra top secret strong alloy? Replacement gears were dimensionally the same but looked (color and surface finish) different. Magga, not maga,. Make All gears great again. 1 5 Quote
tomek Posted July 24 Author Posted July 24 (edited) Well, fuck. Never a dull moment. Yesterday I had to brake my cardinal rule of not touching-other than tires, oil and brakes-the bike before longer trip. Why? Left fork started to leak. Nothing major yet, but those things never get better, always worse. Thanks Elvis I had one OEM seal for R1 laying around. Same dimension. Oh, I don't touch non-OEM fork seals. Why? Because they suck. That's why. Also, since front wheel was out I tossed new brake rotor from EBC. There was slight pulsation, but I was gonna wait till later. Oh, only one side because those tiny screws holding ABS disk refused to cooperate so I left other side. I was not gonna mess with it during heat wave. There was 89 f deg in garage. Fork and one brake rotor was enough for me in 200% humidity. Oh, heading to Rockies for a week. Most likely to Canadastan. Why? Because 75-80 f daily heights beats 90-100 in U.S. That's why. Edited July 24 by tomek Quote
tomek Posted July 24 Author Posted July 24 I got those brake rotors on closeout from Motorsport for ridiculous 90 bucks per one. 😆 2 Quote
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