Fender eliminator, that is.

Project #14 arrived with the rear fender hacked off, possibly using a chainsaw. I finished the job by cutting the fender off flush and adding a license plate bracket from eBay seller customizedbikeparts.

These are USA-made powder-coated aluminum, available with or without the little ears for mounting turn signals. $14.99 shipped.

This bike will be a mild hotrod build so to tidy things up I'm eliminating the original turn signal brackets and changing up the signals for something smaller.

Aftermarket turn signals are tricky. I'd like to keep a classic look but without the bulk of the OEM lights.

I'd also prefer incandescent bulbs, again in keeping with the classic flavor of a 30-year old bike, but the selection is really getting limited in this age of cheap LED lighting.

I found these LED lights in China, shipped for only $6.05. I don't know how that's even possible, but good luck finding USA-made turn signals in any case.

I think they fit into the space nicely, without being too large, too small or too "modern." They're also very bright.

With a little enlarging of the bracket's mount hole, the signals bolted up securely, which left wiring  the load resisters ($5, also from eBay) and finding a place to mount them. In this case they fit snugly under the rear seat bracket, tie-wrapped to the plastic bulkhead.

The old signal mounting brackets, visible in the lower right of this photo, will be removed to finish up this install.

I spotted this very interesting VF500-based custom cafe build on eBay and submitted it to Bike-urious.com. Here's my write-up:
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Customs built on early Honda CB's and CX's are pretty common these days, and justifiably so. With their classic proportions and interesting engines, they fall easily to the artist's eye. But can one work with a "modern" perimeter chassis and complex V-4 power plant? Apparently yes, as Illinois-based Craig Rodsmith shows us with this 1984 VF500 Interceptor cafe custom.

The bike's signature is Craig's hand-formed aluminum fuel tank and body panels, left to impress in their raw but polished finish with just a few red-colored accents. Lots of metal to assault the eye here, including the custom headlight nacelle and bare-naked engine block. It's a dense but clean package with very nice proportions. Does it work for you?

UPDATE: No bids, no sale.

Last week a U-shipper arrived with these two forlorn partners stuffed in the bed of a pickup, along with an orphan front wheel and a huge tote of miscellaneous parts.

Both are '86 750F models, one in fairly original condition, bought new by the seller and showing only 10,000 miles! It has some cosmetic issues and I plan a complete restoration of bodywork, wheels, seat etc. It arrived with a period 4-into-1 Kerker exhaust but I'll fit a perfect OEM system—just because I feel that this low-mile example should be brought back to stock condition.

The second bike is a 33,000-mile "parts bike" but has a good title, so if it runs well, I'll see about putting it back on the road where it belongs.

I'd spoken with this seller over a year ago through an ad at VFRworld.com, but with the bikes so far away his asking price wouldn't work out for me. This time around the price came down to $1750 for the pair and I found a shipper for $424 so it made a little more sense. Well, to me anyway, Patti's still wondering why there's so many VFRs crowding the garage.

As part of a complete cosmetic restoration on one of the project bikes, I had a set of engine/valve covers refinished in powder coat.

I was able to select a color from about 500 choices at Prismatic Powder, a commercial powder supplier, and I picked "Bronze Texture." They don't offer an exact match to the brown/tan OEM color, but this is pretty close and I think it's much richer and will look great.

The covers came to me on a parts bike and were sun-faded and generally rough shape. Someone had begun stripping the paint with a wire wheel and they were gouged up pretty badly. I was able to smooth them out somewhat with a metal prep pad on the die grinder, but let's just say I wasn't expecting any miracles from the painter....

...but that's pretty much what I got.

There's no evidence of the previous damage and the texture is perfect.

The project bike will look great with its "new" engine covers. 

While the first generation VF's used a 360-degree crankshaft design, the redesigned '86 VFR changed to the current 180˚. From an engineering perspective the 180˚ gives up a little midrange power in exchange for some extra boost at high revs and is a bit smoother, but for the rest of us...it just sounds better.

Why? Well, something in our brain's aural processing seems to think that an off-beat staccato is more pleasing than a steady one. Ask any straight-piped Harley rider, or listen at the fence when a MotoGP Ducati or cross-plane crank Yamaha streaks past. The smooth sound of a passing fighter jet may sound impressive but it doesn't get to your groin like the thundering music of a P-51 Mustang. As it turns out, YouTube guy roadracenut has put together a musical and visual explanation of how the VFR makes its beautiful noise. Enjoy....

Offered on eBay in Grant's Pass, Oregon we have this extremely well-kept 1996 VFR750F with only 8850 miles showing. The seller is a mature owner who's treated it like his baby. He notes one flaw — a paint chip on the fuel tank — and claims the bike has no prior damage. Recent maintenance has this VFR ready for the road, including carb service and fluid changes. An aftermarket muffler is mounted and the original is included in the sale. This is the guy you want to buy a used bike from.

Worth every bit of his opening bid of $3500 (at least to a local buyer), the seller also lists a buy-it-now of $4000. I hope this one finds a good home.

Update: No takers at the opening bid.

Some time ago I began contributing to the bikes-for-sale site, Bike-urious (http://www.bike-urious.com). Here's a recent submission I found in Canada. Unfortunately, we have yet another case of a seller providing bad photos of a nice motorcycle. However, look closely and you'll see a Honda NR sitting quietly behind the VFR.

Perhaps the most iconic of Honda's homologation specials (or maybe any manufacturer's), the VFR750R, colloquially known as the RC30, was produced from 1988-1990, with worldwide production totaling 4782 units. Only 316 of these made it to the U.S. as 1990 models due to the EPA dragging their bureaucratic feet. In some European markets the bike was named the Bol D'or after the popular endurance race series held annually in France. This is one such machine.

Our seller, located in Quebec, Canada, tells us that this 1988 French-market machine has been a part of his static collection and will therefore need some maintenance brought up-to-date to make the bike rideable again. Showing 18,900 kilometers (about 12,000 miles), the fuzzy photos don't reveal a lot of detail, but the seller says it "shines like new." He states that the paperwork is in order and being more than 25 years old, importing to the U.S. should be routine. There's an opening bid of $19,999. U.S.-spec models typically run around $25,000, so we'll see what kind of response this Euro model brings here in the States.

UPDATE: SOLD for $26,000 with one bid.

Fellow VFR-isti and interweb virtual buddy, Gamble, from Austin TX, figured out this simple and effective solution to support the front end of his '86 VFR750 project while doing a fork rebuild.

Gamble uses a length of 7/16" steel rod passed through two engine block ears that look like they were made for the task, then supports the rod on adjustable jack stands. Genius.

Gives great access for a detailed cleaning, huh Gamble?

In honor of Winter Hump Day, a congratulations to all of us trapped in the frozen tundra — we've made it half way through the non-riding season. And to those in the American deep south and Down Under, well, get in the saddle, you're now on the backside of your season.

My projects tend to carry on throughout the year, but some are necessarily designated seasonal — I can't paint in the winter, for example....

1. So, this winter I've got a full set of bodywork at my painters. When he reaches the clearcoat stage, he applies a few light coats and then returns them to me for decal application. I quickly get them back to his shop for the final coats of clear. Then wet sand and buffing. These are the first batch that will benefit from our color-matching efforts for the '86 red/white/blue. I can't wait.

2. I've grown tired of messing with old fuel lines, and so have carefully sourced Thermoid main lines and Tygon for the carburetor set. OEM hoses, of course, have molded curves and the line from the fuel tank to the filter is magically sized differently on each end. And they're NLA from Honda. I plan to offer a complete kit to make it simple to replace the whole mess — high-quality lines, easy-to-use spring clamps, filter and a necessary reducer. I hope this helps out some owners. Should be ready soon.

3. Here's something that I've been thinking about for awhile. When our bikes go down, the mufflers nearly always take a hit, particularly near the ends. Unlike aluminum ones, ours are made of stainless steel, so they can't really be massaged and polished back into shape. And they're kinda quiet.

This is my solution (hopefully) to both issues. From my muffler stash I found two victims and, after some exploratory surgery, figured out the interior architecture. From there, I determined that I could remove about five inches from the rear which is the final interior chamber of four. The net effect should be twofold — an increase in sound and reduced back pressure because that final chamber forces the exhaust path to make two 180 degree turns before exiting. Both these reversals will be eliminated. Oh, and subtract a few pounds from the system. This turned out to be more complex a project than I thought, not as simple as chopping off the end.

The mufflers I'm using for this experiment both have road rash — scrapes and dents. My fix is to apply an epoxy (JB Weld) like I would body filler. File, sand, prime with VHT and sand some more. I plan to give a final coat of semi-gloss black VHT (when the weather warms) and fit them up. They could also be done in a silver color. When finished, I've got the perfect VFR700 FII to fit them to. The bike will be finished as a resto-mod and these should fit right in.

4. My "other" V4 is an ST. An '03 ST1300 to be exact. I bought it in Arizona four years ago and two of the many things I like about the bike are optional ABS brakes and the fact that it is fitted with a full Race Tech suspension front and rear. In fact, it was the test mule for the company's development of ST1300 components.

Most of our riding with the ST is two-up, but the previous owner had the suspension set up for much lighter weight. Lately, we've kind of run out of rear compression damping and so I've sent the shock to Race Tech's shop in Corona, CA for a re-valve and heavier spring. The idea is to make this great bike even better for our riding. They've just received it and promise to keep me in the loop. The estimate for this kind of service is $305. I'm really looking forward to the first Spring ride.