Chicago was the unfortunate recipient of our second major storm of the season a few days back and our daughter's B-friend spotted this sad sight on the mean streets of Wicker Park.

This is just no way to treat a motorbike, and parked in a tow zone, no less. Maybe an unsuspecting snow plow will come along in the middle of the night and put it out of its misery? 

In any case, I'm guessing an '80's 450-ish HonKawYamaSuz.

UPDATE: I submitted this to Abhi at Bike-urious.com and it didn't take long for a reader to correctly guess that it's a 1982 Kawasaki 440 LTD.

This morning Patti and I motored to Crystal Lake, IL, less than an hour from the V4 Dreams campus, to pick up an exceptional find in a third-generation VFR — a very original 1993 with only 10,933 miles on the odometer. I wish I could claim it as my own, but in fact, it belongs to Brett who recently managed to convince his brother-in-law to part ways with his baby.

This bike is a diamond in the rough, wearing original bodywork in Pearl Crystal White, the only significant modification being a Predator brand muffler. I'm not familiar with this English-made pipe, but it's a beauty (and currently off the bike). One other change involves the seat cowl, which was replaced years ago with an OEM part from Europe, hence the "VFR750F" scripting.

The approach with the '93 is to bring the mechanics up to par and do our best with the body panels, as there's a bit of rash on the left side. These panels are getting rare as rocking horse poo, so they're worth saving. The bike is not currently running, so first up, as usual, the carburetors and valve check, followed by brake checks, passenger peg-ectomy, general detailing, tires and anything else needing attention. I look forward to returning this one to the road. Welcome to Project 33.

The final piece of bodywork for Project 30 was to bring the fairing infill panels to the level of the rest of the bike. The ghostly white stains, shown here, are common on these panels. I don't know the source, but I've discovered that a thorough sanding with 5000-grit wet/dry will gently remove them, along with many other imperfections.

As expected, that will leave us with a dull, dark gray surface finish. Note that these particular panels are from an "F" model, which are black — in the case of the F2 models, the color is a smoky blue.

To bring the panels back toward their original darker shade, I use Mother's Back-to-Black Trim & Plastic Restorer. Despite its name, this product is clear colored and can be used on other than black surfaces.

This will usually give an acceptable final finish. The original finish on these panels was a raw plastic look, somewhere between a gloss and satin. In this photo, the panel on the right has been treated with Back-to-Black.

If the panel finish is damaged beyond this simple fix, then I go to a black dye, like Griot's Garage Bumper & Trim Reconditioner. Beyond that, a repaint would be called for. Repainting is a problem with the blue panels, as a color match would be unlikely.

Last week, after three and one-half months of effort, Project 30 was trailered home to southern Michigan. Despite showing only 6000 miles, this 1986 VFR750F was treated to a nose-to-tail refurbishment including all the mechanical systems plus a cosmetic massage. Owner Chris intends to use this bike so some nods were made to modern upgrades, but the goal was to have a very original appearing classic Interceptor. I would call our efforts a success, and Chris can be proud to call this head-turner his own.

For a full gallery of photos, click here.

For those of us in the northern latitudes, huddled in our chilled garages, feverishly completing our off-season bike maintenance and mods, today represents a bright ray of hope in the midst of this lonely, gray Covid Winter.
For today is the mid-point of the winter season, and tomorrow we begin the slow slog toward longer days and warmer weather. And to everyone on the south side of the globe, sorry, your summer is half gone.
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For a reminder of why we love this two-wheeled thing, here's a video from Schorschi6134, climbing the Penser Joch pass in northern Italy aboard his fourth-gen VFR750. Maybe it's just the video, but our pilot seems to be on a very fast pace on an often frighteningly narrow and unforgiving road. I wish I were right there behind him. Enjoy.

Reader Christian, from the Pacific Northwest, was kind enough to share some great photos from some of his many adventures aboard his 2000 VFR800.

Let's begin with a long ride to the southern Appalachians — that's about 2600 miles one-way. But Christian's used to racking up miles on the VFR, getting over 90,000 kilometers of seat time on this machine!

(Below, clockwise from upper left; click on an image to enlarge)
Badlands N.P., South Dakota
Lassen Volcanic N.P., California
Brushy Mtn. Prison Road, Tennessee (the Appalachians have the greatest road names)
Along the Oregon coast

Below, in Christian's back yard, on the Washington Coast.

Reader Sandy T. from Illinois sent along this photo of his wife riding the Tail Of The Dragon from several years ago.  She's on their fourth-gen Interceptor which Sandy is performing some winter maintenance on.

In my world, anything that helps me do a task better, faster or easier I consider a "tool." And here's a great tool to help preserve the finish of raw aluminum.

Last month reader Tom B. of Boise, ID wrote to tell me how he'd stripped the anodizing from one side of his stained swing arm and then matched the finish to the other, original, side. To preserve the new finish he applied this product, Sharkhide Metal Protectant. I'd never heard of it so I did some interweb research and it looks like the perfect alternative to applying a clear coat paint.

Developed for the marine industry, this magic stuff will protect raw aluminum (and other metals) for years. Their website suggests six years or more for vehicles that are garage-kept with routine cleaning. It ain't cheap; I found the best price at Eastwood at $67 for a quart. But a little goes a long way. I applied it to two sets of foot peg brackets and all the handling involved in remounting the brackets didn't even leave a fingerprint on the finish.

By the way, Tom's technique for saving his swing arm:
"After stripping the factory clear off, I scrubbed the whole swing arm in a bin. Then I took some coarse steel wool dabbed in metal polish and went to work on the right side. The idea was to remove only the oxidation and contaminates, not to shine, so only a little was needed. Then I took a stainless steel welding brush and brushed the bare aluminum to match the left side."
(click on an image to enlarge)

Project 30 is in the reassembly stage, and with the rebuilt shock installed I'm finally able to install the wheel assembly. One of the many details involves refurbishing the chain adjusting hardware, consisting of the end plates and "outer washers," in Honda-speak.

These parts live in a harsh, neglected environment but are visible and will really detract from the finished bike if left in this sad state (right).

(Below) After cleaning, I begin with wet-sanding the aluminum to remove the surface corrosion and get down to clean metal. In this case, I'm using a worn piece of 320-grit paper — the level of corrosion will determine the grit used. The side plates, though made of steel, get the same treatment. Any sanding marks will remain, so I sand in one direction to create a "grain," in this case lengthwise. The plates are now ready for buffing.

(Below) The screw heads and adjusting nuts are cleaned with a steel wire rotary brush, mounted in a drill.

(Below) Buffing isn't strictly necessary, of course, but I think a light buff gives a finished look. The level of shine depends upon the amount of buffing, but I just keep it light so, hopefully, the parts don't look out of place when mounted on the swing arm. I dress the wheel with a "Tripoli" bar from Eastwood — this is a mild cutting compound; for a finer, brighter shine I can progress to a white rouge compound, but in this case I'll stop with the Tripoli. The steel side plates get the same treatment. For a good primer on buffing parts, check out Eastwood's video.

The final step is to protect the fresh finish on these parts. I have a new favorite for this important task — Sharkhide Metal Protectant. (This is worthy of a separate post, but you can find details here.)

(Below) The finished parts now compliment the swing arm area, rather than detract. This task took about 1.5 hours of easy labor but the results will last for years.

A few days ago FedEx dropped off two rebuilt 2d-gen shocks, fresh from Jamie Daugherty's shop, DMr Performance Suspension. One of these is for my personal stash and the other will return to its original donor, Project 30.

Jamie rebuilds these shocks with new valving, seals and springs, based upon your weight, skill level and riding style, i.e., street, racing, touring. DMr also offers their own line of shocks, each built to your specific application.

This is the final piece of the puzzle for Project 30, so I'm on to final assembly.