Good to know. Thanks. Does the VFR have a linked brake system with SMC as well?
He made me do it. VFR800 continued.
- Thread starter sirbike
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Good to know. Thanks. Does the VFR have a linked brake system with SMC as well?
mello dude
Half genius, half dumazz whackjob foole
'98 thru '09 has the linked brakes.... Plenty of us (including me) rip those out and replace with different forks, standard style separate brakes with the separate rear...
Simplifies everything...
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The 1200 is completely different to everything else! I just bought one as a do-up project so can speak with authority.
It is a shaft drive but uses a single-sided swingarm that has no commonality with the 1300 shaft system. It is also ride-by-wire so has no wax unit for cold fast idle or starter valves. The engine architecture is unlike any other V4 with a 76 degree V-angle and offset crank pins, and uses the Unicam SOHC valve system for compactness. It does have linked brakes but only a rear-to-front connection, no front-to-rear link so no SMC (and I'm not missing it!).
The general arrangement is practically identical; the VFR forums aren't awash with a lot of tales of seized SMCs like the ST forum but that may be due to less "all weather" riding on the VFR. The 6th gen VFRs (02-13) have simplified LBS with the right calliper being driven solely from the hand lever, but the left middle piston doing the same as the ST. The 5th gen VFR LBS configuration is identical to the ST.
Mello speaks the truth about VFR owners and deleting the linked brakes, I was guilty of this myself on my first 99 VFR (which had quite a few mods) but have kept my current 99 and 09 stock. When kept well-maintained, they are a terrific braking system with good idiot-proofing. The usual sequence for a delink is to replace the fork lowers with those from the VTR1000F Superhawk, then fit opposed 4-piston callipers from say a CBR600F4 and matching master, and then get a larger master for the back brakes to keep the hydraulic ratio correct when you actuate all 3 pistons. The wheel, discs, axle, spacers, fork uppers and fork damper bits remain unchanged, just some fender brackets need to be fabricated. I went a step further and swapped in a complete set of CBR600F4 forks for their beefier dimensions and adjustability.
I forgot that one but yes you are right, the centre rear piston is driven from the SMC on the VFR, where it is the outer rears on the ST.
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It looks in good nick. More pics to come I hope?
He he, you gotta post up photos....
Here’s a few more.
So this is how last winter’s project went.
My approach was find a 5th gen that runs ok and rides straight. There could be all kinds of minor issues, that wouldn’t bother me. This was listed on my first search.
Came with 6th gen bags
that needed a little more to be adapted.
Sargent seat, blown but Penske shock, unknown fork internals.
Coolant was leaking from an elbow that was mounted on a paper gasket then smudged over with make a gasket and to be sure, it was then welded over in a manner that covered a mounting bolt. Took some finesse to get that apart.
Fortunately there was not anything else near that crazy on the bike.
Several water pipes and the thermostat housing were badly corroded.
Charging was weak.
Back of motor was caked with dirt.
Brakes felt funky.
Exhaust can was flopping around due to misfit to accommodate the bag.
There is a lack 5th gen parts.
So I disassembled the bike and put it back together with the following.
Silicon coolant hose kit.
6gen thermostat.
6gen stator and rotor.
847 Shindengen R/R.
Powder coated wheels, swing arm sprocket hub, and a few other things to bring up the silver theme.
Found some silver color panels for the bags. They were matte, I 2K clear coated them to match the body work.
All new wheel, hub, swing arm and suspension bearings.
Head bearings were fine.
All new piston seals for brake and clutch.
Took out the clutch plates, they looked new so back in they went.
Chain had very little wear then I discovered a stiff link, ok, new chain and sprockets.
Went with a Delkevic muffler. The two piece design of mid pipe and muffler fit right in the slightly lower position that accommodates the bag.
Had to do their head pipes to complete the silver theme.
Found a very good tire hugger to protect the Penske shock coming back from rebuilding at Traxxion.
And Traxxion installed AK20 cartridges.
To have the bike ready when the fork got back, I made wooden mockups of upper tubes.
I sorted out the helibars install and was able to reuse the existing stainless brake lines.
@mello dude dude sent me a stock windshield.
That combined with a big Givi Tanklock bag set the wind protection up real nice.
New Michelin PR6 tires replaced the 12 year old tires.
It came out great. I especially was happy with the look of the 6gen bags, they look integral to the bike vs the aftermarket bags that sit so apart.
The bike rides great. Got in several 250 mile days which was about the limit I could do on the seat.
So to top off the the season I went to see Seth Laam.
The ride home from his place was 400 miles and I could have gone another 100 and been fine.
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