Too bad the Tupperware (plastic stuff) is so expensive. Lots of good bikes go without after one small crash or fall over.
G’day Steve, I had a ‘98 model with all the factory plastics and loved the big “L Twin” grunt, handling and brakes, but the ergonomics didn’t suit me at all, I could only ride it for an hour or so and my back, shoulders and wrists would kill me. I traded it and a couple of grand for a car when I was in Canberra.
A few months later I saw a very badly crashed ‘06 model going cheap (like me) so bought it. It was a stat write off so I couldn’t re-register it, but luckily for me I found a titled frame at a wreckers in Sydney so swapped across all the mechanicals which were good. The bike had slid down the road and hit a pole, so the tank was crushed so badly that it smashed the rear cylinders cam cover underneath. I hope the rider survived.
I purposely didn’t replace the plastics because I bought a special top triple clamp from Germany that allowed me to install higher handlebars, bought a nice tank, Corbin seat and a tiny fairing/headlight unit with indicators built in, replaced the damaged master cylinders with Ebay cheapies, but I actually think it looks pretty good. The PO had spent a lot of money on aftermarket adjustable rearsets, alloy velocity stacks, and manual cam chain adjusters, which are essential for the longevity of these bikes, as the only fault with VTR1000F’s are the failure prone OEM automatic adjusters. It also had Yoshimura slip on mufflers, although one was destroyed in the crash so I had to find another one and adapt it to fit.
Last night I installed some OEM mufflers because the Yoshi’s won’t pass the noise level test when I take it in for a Roadworthy Inspection. While I was trawling thru Facebook Marketplace I saw a Honda Varadero going cheap and contacted the owner and I’m going to swap my Yamaha DT250 for it on Monday. It will need some TLC and a paint job, but should be a great adventure bike, so I’ll paint it black and swap the plate between it and my current one as they’re both 2006 models so the cops won’t know the difference. (I hope)
Ironically I gave up on this project 8 years ago after badly burning my leg on the exhaust, and last night after installing the OEM pipes, I managed to burn it again. From now on, any time I’m working on it I’ll wear long pants.
Bill, I still have both Ducati S4’s. I sold the red one to my son, so Spotty and I are working on the black one, so that my son and I can go for a ride together. Anyway it’ll be nice to finally get the Honda on the road.
