HONDA VFR750 F-R
Idiot editor finally strips his £100 Hound to see what gives.
OK, I’ve not done much for the last year on my £100 Hound Project VFR apart from get you lovely people to vote on a colour scheme but I’m about to change my mind. The change has come thanks to the fact that I really need a relatively practical bike to use day-to-day. The idea of getting it painted up in these classic VF colours is great, but I want to get this bike sorted ASAP. Needs must and all that… To recap, a mate bought this VFR750 F-R about eight years back. It stood for two years until I bought it in 2016. The rear tyre was flat, no battery and the thing had failed an MOT thanks to a knackered shock. It had 40k on the dials and dull paintwork. It was unloved but I paid just 100 notes for it. Under the surface I knew that around £760 had been spent on it over the preceding five years, including that vital reg-rectifier replacement and Motad stainless downpipes. I’d also managed to get a replacement shock for the original – a superb YSS Z-series from Wemoto, as well as a battery, and a chain and sprockets and some LSL adjustable levers from Performance Parts Ltd: I managed to get some Hyperpro fork springs from them too which I’m going to use with some soon-to-come Liqui Moly heavyweight fork oil. So I’ve got some parts, I’ve got some idea now as to what to do and I want to get the thing stripped to see what’s under those dull fairings. Much as I love the Kar Lee-inspired bodywork, I’m just thinking of a tidy up in black with some silver graphics to be honest. With my garage being full of crap, I got the bike to CMM friends IDP Moto in Silverstone to rip the fairings off it and sneakily leave it with them while I sought some parts. After I made the tea, Daryll made the notes while me and IDP’S Craig Prior stripped the thing down… Daryll says: “Unlike last time Bertie stripped back his GPZ900R at our place. The VFR seemed to have a much less
sketchy previous life. This time, he knew the previous owner well and – unlike the GPZ – the various bolts, screws and fasteners were solid and properly tight rather than suspiciously finger-tight. “Also, while the GPZ seemed to have had its bodywork re-attached after sitting ‘naked’ for some time (hence the dirt on that bike’s motor/chassis) when the panels started to come off the VFR, we could see that other than general wear and tear and furred-up bolts, the only real issues were the engine covers. Yup, the covers on both sides were heavily water pitted – not what you normally see on a quality machine like the VFR, but this one has clearly had a hard life. Either the big man needs to get them off and blasted, or he needs to source replacements – if only so the bike looks nicer. I’d suggest the same for the wheels. If new tyres are going on, he may as well get the wheels blasted and painted (they’re very heavily chipped) or source replacements and sell these on. Other bits that looked pretty poor were things like the footpegs (easily sorted with fairly cheap and cheerful rear-sets and foot levers) and bar-ends. “So, as the clothes came off, there were some good and some bad reactions. This VFR has a myriad of differing bolts/ Allen bolts/nuts and washers holding it together – not many seem to be standard for this model, some are clearly from the ‘make do and mend’ box and one on the left-hand side main fairing panel was chewed up and had to receive attention from the impact driver. He bagged-up the various bolts, but I think – for peace of mind and looks alone – he should put his hand in his pocket for a Pro-bolt fairing kit.