Sooo.... I guess I will introduce myself? I'm CDA441, but you can call me CDA for short if you don't like to type numbers I have a 2004 Italian Red VFR800 VTEC ABS since the end of november, and have my fair bit of problems with it. See, I got the bike with 28k km's on the clock, which is for you imperials kinda 17.5k miles. It had mismatched tires, still has a broken thermostat, a dead battery, broken heated grips, and it was dropped by the previous owner. I fixed the tires by putting on some Michelin Road 5's, replaced the heated grips and battery, but I still need to change the thermostat, coolant and oil. Also did the PAIR and flapper mod, but can't seem to see an improvement. The VTEC kick is still there, but I like that. My bike history consisted of some boring bikes: - XF650 Freewind (thumper) - Honda NC700X And now I have a VFR800, and apart from the problems I have I absolutely love it if it does the job well! Anyway, this is my bike! (with the mismatched tires and the NC700X in the background) I hope to get all these problems fixed in the coming year, so I can get it riding good again. See you around!
Welcome to the World. I've dropped mine lots and the bike is still good to go. Are you sure that is not 128K km on it. The Odometer reverts back to zero after 99,999. Why it does not have capabilities for six digits, I will never understand because these bikes are good for a couple odometer roll overs at least. Mine presently has 217,7?? km on the clock. You should take it into a dealership and have them run the VIN to make sure the recall has been done for some electrical problem your vintage had. It is a free repair. That gremlin had been fixed by time the 2006 hit the market.
Welcome! Your bike sounds like it was in similar condition to my 5 Gen when I bought it. Mismatched tires, dropped at time or two, loose/rusty chain, engine oil level past max, etc., etc. The one thing to look at too is flush/fill the brake fluid. The coffee colored stuff I had to deal with was almost turning to sludge...
Thanks for the 'Welcomes' everyone! I'm sure it has 28k km on it, because it looks like it never had ridden that much. However the cylinder head has a lot of oxidation, but that's probably because of all the road salt it went through with the previous's- previous owner. Stator, r/r and harness are in good condition I replaced the clutch fluid when I got it, and indeed it was already a sludge (it was black coffee). The brakepads still need replacing as well as the fluid. Oil is a little dark, but I'll get to it when I fix the thermostat, the bike will then be emptied from it's fluids
Hi and welcome to the MadHouse It looks like your VFR has had a fairly quiet life - 28,000 km over 14 years is just 2,000km per year (1,242 miles). However in view of the sludge clutch fluid I think a comprehensive service now is a very sensible step! As for the future - your comment about RR+stator suggests you are alert to the electrical gremlins which seem to infect these VFRs. Whilst they may be working fine now - when they do decide to play up they seem to go from happy to disaster very quickly often leaving riders stranded. So one worthwhile investment is to fit a simple LED voltmeter to an ignition on circuit. These can be purchased for very little money from eBay. You just want the sort which shows volts as a number (13.4v). Whilst these are rarely very accurate and they won't prevent charging system faults, you will soon get a feel for what is normal, and that should allow you to spot if the volts suddenly shoot up or drop through the floor, and will give you a chance to head for a garage or some place safe before whatever energy is left in the battery is drained and you end up stranded at the roadside. Inherently the fix is now well known although most owners seem to wait until they encounter problems with their RR by which time the Stator is quite often wrecked too - so it can be quite costly. If you want peace of mind, then consider replacing the Honda RR with a Shindengen series RR (SH487) and also cut out completely the Stator-RR connector (which has a nasty habit of melting) and instead make a solder connection. It looks like someone has fitted a custom seat which could be a good extra for longer trips. I have no idea how long it will take you to get your VFR sorted, but if you fancy taking it for a decent test ride later next year, then I will be riding my 6th Gen to a meeting in the Vosges Mountains over a long weekend 13-16 September (with a hundred plus riders). The roads in the Vosges Mountains are amazing and will give your bike a chance to show you why VFRs are considered one of the best all round bikes to own and allow you plenty of opportunities to enjoy that glorious V4 roar as the Vtec cuts in. Ride safe ATGATT SkiMad
Hi, @skimad4x4 ! Well I DO have a voltmeter installed on my bike, a rather nice one actually, one from AliExpress that was shipped in a RIZOMA box It charges at 14.8v but fluctuates a little bit when my heated grips are on, but it never goes under 14v. The bike stays at 14.8v consistently when my heated grips are off. For changing the thermostat, the fairing should come off, so I'll inspect the connections for the R/R and stator then and there. I'll also check if the R/R was replaced too, and do you perhaps know how it's noticable that the recall fix had been done on the bike? The Vosges mountains are a liiitle bit too far away from me, but it seems tempting
Just give your nearest dealer a call. They can run the bike's VIN and find out it it has been done or not.
Well that turned out to be nothing; Dealer couldn't find out if there were open recalls for the bike (I can also check this on https://www.honda.nl/motorcycles/owners/maintenance/recalls-and-updates.html) but there are no active recalls on this bike.
