Hello all, I'm new

[AndyE]

Hi everyone. I've just bought a 1998 VTR with 12,000 miles in nice shiney silver.

I bought it cheaply and just had to do a few bits to get it into top form;

It's belly pan is missing but otherwise it's in pretty good shape! I've already ordered some braided hoses and EBC HH Pads to try to improve the front brake, as bleeding it didn't improve matters much. I'll also be servicing it properly later in the week.

I'm really enjoying it, love the grunt and noise. Can't wheelie though, but that's just a problem with my cahunas, not the bike!!

Here are a couple of pictures.








Incidentally, do everyones mirrors vibrate at 110+, so much that you can't see behind at all? It's just a load of blurry colours!

[Max]

Welcome, there was a genuine belly bit on ebay for £15 yesterday and the brakes are crap Honda made them that way.
My mirrors wobble abit at high speed but you can still determine whats following you.

Max

[Bink]

Welcome on the board AndyE!

Seems like you got your self a great buy - 12k miles is nothin' !!
Get yourself a nice Bellypan - I am looking at the Moriwaki style myself (Through Delmeek on this board). In my eyes they are the best looking belly pan around.

I have braided hoses with standard Honda pads and they are fine at the moment (although they do fade in the wet). Will go for Bendix or Double H when these wear out.

What Double Bubble is on your bike - It looks good - Does it work too?

[AndyE]

I can't really decide on the belly pan. I quite like the Mario Nava full fairing, but can't really justify the cost at the moment.

The screen's made by F.Fabbri, according to a little sticker at the top corner. If I have my chest against the tank, I can tuck completely out of the wind. Sitting up, I can feel a big change if I move my head to either side - so the little bubble makes quite a bit of difference, but I've never ridden it without the DB screen.

I live in North Herts and work in Exeter, so I commuted last week on the VTR. It's about 225 miles, and the only problem was stopping for fuel - other than that, it was a comfy journey - I'm glad the DB Screen is fitted.

The only criticism is that if I'm crouching behind the screen to tuck completely out of the wind, I can't see through it because the tint is so dark. Probably not helped by my black visor - but if I was buying one now, I'd choose a lighter shade. Not too much of a problem, I can work around it by just looking over the screen. Or not looking at all....

[Bink]

Thx for that ...

Some nice 4 wheelers in the background of the pictures

[AndyE]

Some nice 4 wheelers in the background of the pictures

Cheers! Except the neighbours old Roller's a little bit of an eyesore to be honest...

[Bink]

An old roller is always better to look at then a clapped out Punto

[Pete.L]

Hi Andy
Welcome

Incidentally, do everyones mirrors vibrate at 110+, so much that you can't see behind at all? It's just a load of blurry colours!

Are you sure it's your mirrors and not just you eyeballs. It is a big V-twin after all

Pete.l

[AndyE]

Are you sure it's your mirrors and not just you eyeballs. It is a big V-twin after all

Now you mention it, you might be right. They're not the only balls which get a battering, either!!

[Stormin Ben]

Welcome to the list Andy, nice to see another Nurburgring devotee

Bellypan, go with a different colour (eg carbon or black) coz I've yet to see one that colour matched properly

Brakes, whip off the calipers and spend an hour or so cleaning the pistons. Makes a HUGE difference and when combined with HH's or my prefered Bendix SS's they are one finger good. See thread below for 'how to'
http://www.abercon.co.uk/vtr1000/phpBB2 ... php?t=3724

Wheelies, try changing the gearing. I've got +2 teeth on the rear but other people prefer by -1 on the front (same as +3 on the rear) Barely effects top end speed but feels like +15bhp.

Mirrors, don't use them at that speed coz if you see a cop car in them you're a gonner anyway!!

Tank range, fit a free flow filter and get it jetted. Adds 20+ miles to the tank range


Hope this helps

Ben

[AndyE]

Ben

Thanks for all the info. I bought a new filter with some other bits, ready to service the bike - when I changed the filter, I found it already had a K&N, which was relatively clean. I changed it anyway, and the performance actually seemed to improve! There had previously been a horrible flat spot lower down, which seems to have gone with the factory filter. It's interesting what you say about a filter and tank range. Currently the K&N is on eBay ready to sell.

I like the idea of altering the gearing. I'll go with that. Altering the gearing on my DRZ trailie made a massive difference to acceleration and minimal difference to max speed.

I will service the calipers when my lines and pads arrived. Thankfully the disks look to be in good condition, I was surprised at how much they cost.

At the moment, I'm not going to bother with the belly pan, but I agree with the thought of black. I too have seen lots of badly colourmatched (and just bad full stop!) belly pans.

I'm off to the Ring again at Easter, in the car. It'll be my fifth trip, but never been on a bike. One day soon though! Shame you have to ride through Belgium

[AndyE]

Furthermore - regarding carb setup/jetting, I presume it can't hurt to at least balance the carbs properly to keep everything running sweetly?

So far (I've only done 1000 miles) I've been getting around 100 miles before reserve (worst 96, best 115).

I've also been reading about the TPS mod with interest, but I see there are pros and cons to it.

[cupasoop]

Afternoon Andy and welcome aboard. 100 before rlod sounds just about spot on.