Hey everyone, warm russian regards from bulgarian capital

[Semyooon]

Hey everyone!

Own a 2012 CR for a year already, just decided to register, earlier was reading you guys without posting here.

I am from Sofia, russian origin (dunno if it matters),

Previously owned a Z1000 from Kawasaki. Aaaaand since I am a married man I needed a "family bike for travel", so I decided to give VFR800X a try.
Bought it with 32k km (at least it was confirmed by the auction list from Italy ) and it looks like it is somewhere around this mileage, so find it easy to believe.

Mostly travel around Balkans now since everything is shut down. Visited Romania last year , Transfagarasan highway to enjoy some twisties.




But the dark side is always taking over, so I decided to do some "improvements" with it to be at least a bit on a sporty side of things for episodical aggressive riding when I am alone.
So, this winter I am installing Andreani fork cartridges + rear Hyperpro shock (would go for Nitron, but the shipping from the UK to Bulgaria these days is a long story) with all settings and hydraulic adjuster. I also got a TopSellerie seat hoping it will improve my rear end experience 
Also need to install Givi side panniers, but this is not that hard.

Plus, I decided to change the whole set of bearings\sealings and service the brakes.

At this moment I am waiting for the most parts to arrive and just disassembled the front end.

What else?
Maybe some tuning stuff.









Once borders get opened, hoping to travel around a lot. Persuaded my pals to buy some tourers here as well, so we'll probably go for Lisboa eventually 

[Corringdon]

  Welcome Semyooon. You've certainly got some worthwhile improvements there.

[Skids]

Welcome. 

Your English is very good, which always helps. 

Looks like you are handy with a spanner so please let us know how you get on with your upgrades. 

[voodoo]

Hello and  from the Netherlands

[Semyooon]

Originally Posted by Corringdon

Welcome Semyooon. You've certainly got some worthwhile improvements there.

Thank you!

Hope so, would be a disaster to realize there's no gain after all this mess and money spent on it 

Originally Posted by Skids

Welcome. 

Your English is very good, which always helps. 

Looks like you are handy with a spanner so please let us know how you get on with your upgrades. 

Oh, thank you for your kind words! Always great to hear such words from an Englishman!

The spanner - well, so-so. I wouldn't be able to rebuild the engine probably, at least with the tooling I got now. Aaaaaand it would take me quite a while =)
One of my friends turboed a CB400 after he switched it from carburetors to fuel injection. And this is just a hobby of his 

Originally Posted by voodoo

Hello and  from the Netherlands

Hello! Would love to visit you guys one day! One of my pals lives there and he's quite amused by the place and people!

[reasty]

 

[Semyooon]

Welp, "handy with the spanner" was rushing to assemble the fork back and it was too late to get a PVC pipe (shops out there never work 24x7) so I did it "the old way" with the screwdriver and a hammer and total lack of precaution (well, man you know it can go wrong but you will be extremely tender and gentle, won't you?).

So, the answer is no, never rush into a bad idea and being in a hurry.



And here we are!

It's the end of the working zone, but this particular tube already had some scratches, so I decided to punish myself with a new one. Already traveling to my place.

Meanwhile, I've assembled one side of the fork and changed steering bearings (used AllBalls rollers).
You can easily use a PVC pipe to change your oil seals. I just cut it with an angle grinder and wrapped it into insulating tape so that if it breaks it would not leave any debris. Other than that if it's tight enough it gives a little bit more strength to the whole construction.





I am still waiting for my spark plugs to arrive, that's why I'm being a bit lazy to finish everything right away. And I also need dust seals for the rear to be able to re-lube the progression and change the seals and also waiting for the calipers and cylinders rebuilding kits - this is going to arrive at the beginning of March and then I will spend a couple of days in the garage to assemble it all.

Plus, I've ordered some original plastic clips since some of them were lost by the last owner and replaced with something else - could live with that, but since I am doing so much work, why not change them as well?

Here's how funny the assembled rebound fork tube sounds:

It might sound a bit metallic on a video, but it's pure oil sound coming through the narrow jet channels of the cartridge.

Should be a huge difference.