VF1000 is gone.........

Well, after a 1,600km three day motorcycle road trip with my brother Michael I decided the VF was great on shorter rides, but for me at least very uncomfortable on longers days of 500km or more in the saddle.

With my old work injuries acting up the knee joint angle was just too much and being tall there was just too much weight on my wrists.

I traded the Honda on a 2006 BMW R1150 GS Adventure. I hope an enthusiast grabs the VF. I'm gonna miss that V Four engine sound!

PIRELLI SPORT DEMON UPDATE

Over the last weekend I put another 400km on the Pirelli's. They just continue to improve as the kilometres pile on. Yesterday's ride was a mix of fast twisty B roads, twisty lowspeed back roads and high speed motorway. I pushed the tyres quite hard and they always felt planted and rovided great feedback.

I never felt nervous about feeding in power while still cranked over, even on less than perfect surfaces. I'm still yet to ride in the wet, so I'll reserve my final judgement until then. Later!

RACK FITMENT

Took a few photos today of the brackets on my rear rack. The long bolt seen is an attachment point for the rear bungee straps on my Oxford seat bag.

PIRELLI DEMON SPORTS REVIEW

Over the weekend of the 27th & 28th July I did about 500km on my new Pirelli Sports Demon tyres. I managed to cover pretty much all types of surfaces,
smooth new bitumen, patched up broken tarmac,  gravel strewn back roads, unsealed roadworks, oily old tarmac and freeway running on bitumen.

Right from the start the Pirelli's felt very good. A big improvement over the Bridgestone BT-45's that were on the bike when I bought it. Bearing in mind the BT's
were half worn, and they were radial too where the Pirelli's are crossply/bias ply construction may have a lot to do with it. I've read where some riders have fitted radials to their mid 80's VF's with good results-but they may be riding mostly on good surfaces, where here in Australia our 'B' roads can be in very poor shape indeed. Apparently the radial tyres provide more feedback to the chassis than it can cope with, doing strange things to the handling, and that applies to most cycles built before about 1986.

Straight line stabiity at speed was excellent,  minor surface irregularities had little effect on directional stability. Turn in  transition from upright to lean was smooth with no surprises, and mid corner stability was great-I even hit an unseen 'dip' on one 25km/h posted corner at about 40km/h and it didn't faze the grip at all. On the unsealed gravel road works and gravel strewn backroads there was no 'walking' usually associated with road tyres on those surfaces, though I must admit I didn't explore the loose gravel grip levels, after being brought undone by loose gravel in the past!

I  bought these tyres based on what other riders & testers commented on regarding overall wet and dry grip not being concerned about longevity at all.

The VF is a heavy bike, and I think it will work it tyres quite hard during spirited riding. It'll be interesting to see how they go with the bike loaded for a weekend away when our Summer kicks in. I'm still to use these tyres in the wet, but I'm sure that day will come with our usual Summer storms!

Topbox Refitted

After last weekends ride I decided to refit the topbox that came loose. I did away with the extra Z brackets that were attached at the front mounting points.

I fitted longer bolts that tighten against the bikes frame behind the captive nut, and another nut to space the bracket out to the head end of the bolt. This seemed
to work OK and means there are fewer bolts to work loose. I'll keep an eye on them next ride The front bolts are an M8, the rear bracket ones are M8 as well and the  front adjustable sections are M6. I fitted the box with M6 stainless bolts, using a rubber grommet spacer at the front mounting point to dampen vibrations.

On last weekends ride I struck a large hump in the road surface avoiding a big pothole. The impact popped the LH for seal so when I have the $$ it'll go to the
mechanics to have both seals replaced.

new adjustable levers fitted

When I bought the VF, it had the OEM brake lever fitted and an aftermarket incorrect clutch lever fitted. I notice when I rode the machine for it's rego inspection the clutch seemed very heavy for a hydraulic unit. Turns out the clutch lever was the wrong type, and was a lot easier to operate with the proper Honda part. I had seen span adjustable clutch levers on late model bikes and began a search for one to fit my 29 year old Honda. I found a set of blue anodised ones on Ebay in the UK, obviously NOS but cheap so took a gamble they would both fit.

Yes, they did! The now adjustable clutch lever is much easier for me to modulate correctly with my stroke affected left hand-kind of important on a 100+ HP cycle!

UPDATE

My Brother Mick gave me an unwanted topbox & baseplate after he bought a BMW K1200GT and fitted a BMW topbox to it. The supplied bracket was toast, so I modified the Gearsack rack and bolted the topbox directly to it using ss fasteners. I cut the rack in a way the it can be easily refitted with a sleeve, should I have the need to be able to use the slip on bag again. As I always ride solo, there is enough space for my expandable tail pack on the seat and for my throw over soft panniers. At least I now have secure, waterproof storage on my budget tourer!