Let the farkling begin!

This is why I hate getting a new vehicle...I just can't stop myself from modifying it and buying toys for it until I get it just the way I like it. I hope my checking account survives this one. I've had the bike just two weeks now and can't say I've gotten alot done, but here's what I've done so far. D.O.T. be damned...I hate reflectors! So except for the one right above the license plate, those are all gone.



And I've just gotta have a C/F license plate frame...



If it won't haul my lunch, then it doesn't make a very good daily driver, does it? I already had this gas cap mount tank bag for my 125, I just had to order a new mounting ring for the VFR.





Gotta have a place to put the Garmin for long road trips (Etrex Legend C), so a RAM stem mount was just the ticket.





The Z-bomb is installed, but I haven't actually gotten to ride on it yet (too much rain). Anxious to try it out. The Tankslapper full body kit just showed up, I'll work on that next week. I currently have on order and am waiting for a C/F fenda extenda, Honda centerstand, windscreen deflector, and side wind deflectors. TRYING to find someplace to purchase the Pyramid Plastics rear hugger where it won't cost an arm and a leg for shipping costs. Also fearing I'm going to have to buy a Corbin seat, since there simply are no other options for a passenger backrest and I just don't know if I can bring myself to put on a trunk. Also plan on buying the Givi V35 side cases and SW Motech quick release mounts. I robbed the Powerlet ports and Heat-troller off my FJR before they hauled it away, but I'm not in any hurry to install those now that it looks like winter is over. I think that's all so far, but there's no question I'm far from done.

 

Let me know if you need the Jenny Craig booklet on how to trim excess flab off your motorcycle.

 

Lol. The only parts with a noteworthy amount of weight will be the hard cases and the Corbin seat. Neither of those will be on it unless the wife and I are going somewhere far. The rest of the stuff doesn't amount to ten pounds. Considering I'm just coming off a 650 lb FJR that carried a LOT of its weight up very high, this thing will still feel like a featherweight.

 

What?? No dingle-balls!?

 

Came real close to buying an FJR recently. Real low miles and some bumps and scrapes. I was in streetfighter mode at the time.

Riding two up is not my thing and topcases are butt ugly no matter who makes them or what color, creed, political affilliation, religious preference, or kinky shit one is into, they are still ugly.

Corbin has already made the most God awful panniers known to man, so go for it.. Have fun.

 

Hell no...dingle balls are for losers. It's fringed conchas all the way for me! Dingle balls! This is a Honda, not a Hyosung. Jeez. :crazy:

Once in awhile, I take the wife along. But I've dragged pegs on many occasions with her on the back. She doesn't complain anymore because she knows I'll just go ride without her.

Agreed. So are backrests, but it's the concession I make so the wife feels better when I'm riding like a wild man with her on the back. See above. At least the Corbin backrest goes on/comes off with one bolt. So I don't have to look at it for the 90% of the time that she's not on the back. But it can go on in a minute if we want to ride to dinner. I can live with that. I had a similar setup for my FJR. Custom backrest that attached with one bolt. Easy peazy. There when I need it, gone when I don't. Perfect.

Agreed again. That's why I'm going with the Givis with the Motech brackets. There when I need them, gone when I don't. So I guess we're mostly on the same page. :thumbsup:

 

Have you seen this seat from Corbin for the VFR1200?



I'd like to see it in person.

 

If one were to put that particular seat on a 1200 and one had one of those "If you can read this, the bitch fell off" Tshirts , one or the other would have to go. We must retain credibility at all times IMO.

 

LMFAO! Amen to that. I've seen the Corbin Smuggler before on other bikes. They make it for the FJR as well. Really not my thang. I really just wish somebody made a simple backrest for this bike that went on and came off in a hurry. That would solve a lot of problems. Unfortunstely, this bike just doesn't quite have the aftermarket support of many others.

Started working on my Tankslapper kit this week. The weather has been beautiful, so I'm riding to work everyday and working on it in the shop on my lunch hour. You can only get a couple of pieces done in an hour. It's just really tedious if you want it to look right, but so far the stuff is laying down nicely. Gonna work on the nose today. The tank was top priority and it's done. Still waiting on other stuff to show up. Getting impatient!

 

Although Ventura doesn't reccomend using thier pack rack as a backrest, they are well built and strong.

Hit up one of the better auto upholstery shops in your area for seat work. You might be surprised and what can be done.

Back to what I was doing.. A new Tshirt that says," If you can read this, I'm glad the bitch fell off."

 

That thing is ugly as fcuk.

 

Again, I don't mind the stock seat so far. I'm only interested in the Corbin because it appears to be the ONLY option for a quick-remove backrest. Check the FJR page on my website and you'll see how much I hate the bastards. I just may be stuck with them because they're the only game in town.

On a totally separate note, my Honda Centerstand showed up today, and I was appalled that I had to actually modify it to make it fit! Seriously?? A gen-U-wine Honda accessory and it would NOT fit as delivered! The instructions for installation were clear enough and it should have taken five mintes to install, but instead took up almost my whole lunch hour. There's a washer that goes between the stand and the swingarm on the right side of the bike to take up clearance. It absolutely would NOT fit, until I shaved about 0.020" off the inside of the stand mount. And without it, the stand had way too much sideways play. I thought I was losing my mind, but had a few of my co-workers look at it and we all came to the same conclusion. Once I shaved it down a few thou, it fit like butter and works slick as snot. I just can't believe I had to do that right out of the box. But I'm happy to have it on there now. Still waiting on a bunch more stuff and have many pieces of the Tankslapper kit yet to go. I know what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow.

 

Not a big Corbin fan to begin with. They look OK but are subject to the whims of the bean counters which diminishes quality. Back in the day, I sent in a seat pan for a BMW I have for a seat. After three times they finally sent me one that looked great and was secured to the pan with drywall screws.

There is a pic of the BMW on Rich's Seat site under vintage..Der Bumblebeemer.

What I am getting at so far as a custom (local) automotive upholstery shop is that many times they can fabricate darned near anything includins a backrest.

If ya think slapping the OEM centerstand on a 1200 is fun, try installing same on a 750 by yourself sometime. Ya might get it solo but I can safely say you will increase your expletive vocabulary by several orders and your co-workers will be doubly impressed with your skills..

 

For a long time they would NOT repair their own seats! If your cover tore, they'd be glad to sell you a new seat, but wouldn't fix the old one! Inexcusable. I doubt that Corbin makes all the hardware in-house for the detachable backrests, so finding a local yocal who could replicate would be pretty much impossible.

This one would have been a five minute job if it was made correctly. But when it doesn't fit the way they show it's supposed to, you spend a lot of time questioning if you're misinterpreting the directions before you resort to any grinding. Then, trial and error grinding so you don't take off too much. All in all, poor manufacturing turned the five minute job into a forty-five minute job. Wouldn't be so bad if it was a chinese knock-off I picked up for practically nothing. A different story when it's a Honda part.

 

It might be a "Honda" part but to say it was made by Honda and not some small shop somewhere in Japan, China, Korea, Thailand or East Timor or even Birdshit, Alabama by some small shop for Honda might be the case.

Famous story.. Supposed to be true.. A guy finds a Triumph Saint in a crate. The Saints were pre- Bloor police bikes. The guy puts it together and enters it in a councours and gets brownie points shaved off because the bike is not "original". Every piece of every bike is not made in some "Honda" factory.

Stuff is farmed out by spec to who knows who? One of the biggies in heated clothing that carries the HD label is by Gerbings now in Olympia,WA. Old man Gerbing before he was asked to make up a set of wired gloves for a guy, job shopped parts for Boeing.

Also, we must many times accept the rule of "shit happens."

 

I'm sure that's all true, but it's supposed to be built to Honda's specs, and Honda should be verifying that it's built to their specs before putting their name on it. 0.020" is a ton in the world of machining. This wasn't just knocking a burr off that got missed in production, this was removing a significant amount of metal before it would fit. I'm just surprised by it. I'm still glad I got it, just surprised by the poor production quality control.

Already did.

 

Hopefully you will have better luck in the future with the rest of the farkles.

 

Yeah Phobe I kept saying the same thing about the VFR1200... it looks ugly now I own a 1200. You got to see it in person. The Corbin solo tail looks better in person. Don't own it, but I have seen it in person it is exactly like the bike you got to see it in person.

 

Or Italy, apparently. Received the windscreen deflector and side wind deflectors yesterday. Windscreen deflector just came in a box that said Honda parts. Side deflectors on the other hand (no pun intended) came as a box in a box. The inside box had obviously been cut open and resealed with green tape that said "inspected by customs and border patrol". The parts tag said "Italy", and it would appear that that was a tag, over a tag, over a tag.

As a side note, I just got notification that all my HID's and LED's are being shipped from DDM Tuning. Checking the package tracking on it says my "package was accepted at sort facility China People's Republic".

C/F fender extender just showed up from Spain today.

All I need now is to order that hugger from the UK and I'll have an international model VFR.

It's truly a global economy.