Jolly useful and informative stuff from one of biking's great legends.

Many Articles have been written about the VTR and commented on how good or bad it was/is, but here is an insight from someone that has owned one for two and half years !!

It is true that the VTR is a softer option to a TL1000S or 916 BP, but it is also a far superior machine...in some ways. You only have to look at the name on the tank, it’s typical Honda engineering in terms of finish and build quality - very good. The bike is also comfortable to ride and easy to ride quite quickly, but not that quickly!

BT56SS tyres seem to perform best if you want something that not only grips but also lasts for a couple of thousand miles or so. In 20,000 miles, it’s only got through one chain and sprocket set, the replacement being Renthal sprockets with a 525 DID chain - keep ‘em well oiled and they’ll do you for ages. Cush drive rubbers go every 8,000 miles or so, but that’s not much to ask from a V twin.

It’s needed head race bearings and front wheel bearings, but only very recently. Front braided brake hoses are fitted, they do help a lot with the front brake. The bike is not expensive to run at all and most of the riding I do is back road Sunday scratching stuff and it’s performed very well over the years from exactly this sort of punishment.

The biggest down side is/was the fuel consumption. What most journos fail to let you know is how easy it is to correct. All you have to do is take the carbs out and sling ‘em. Seriously, all it needs is slightly smaller main jets, (170 front carb and 175 rear carb) and to sling the shim that is under the needle. This gives you another 15 miles per tank immediately and let’s it rev out in top easier. Fitting a K&N to a non tuned engined VTR is a good one too, as it makes it burn a bit leaner, so aiding top end revs.

Once I started fiddling, I thought I’d take it further. Suspension mods were the first to appear, (please bear in mind that my budget was small for this project, so you’ll see no references made to Ohlins, Akrapovic etc. that is considered the best by those in the know, but rest assured you can do just as good for less).

First the forks were dropped 10mm and the fork oil changed to 15wt and the air gap increased to 140mm. This aided steering and feel from the spindly 41 mm forks. There was still a bit of that feeling of riding on marbles though - only decent forks will change that.

Next was an EMC Endurance rear shock, 5mm longer than standard on the damper rod, a spring to suit my weight and with loads more preload and rebound damping...perfect !!

The bike now went round corners and handled generally a lot better apart from a rather vague feeling from the front when above 140 mph, but to be fair that wasn’t often. Various mild steel nuts and fittings were exchanged for titanium and alloy, which in total did shed about 5 to 6 kgs off the dry weight and boy it did notice on the road too. Much more responsive to rider input.

Next came the engine, out with those oh so low compression pistons and in with some JE 11.5:1 slugs. Then the heads were gas flowed by some dodgy Hungarian chap who seemed to have a lot of emery cloth kicking around, (must be in plentiful supply up in Newport Pagnell).

Getting the engine out was the best laugh I’d had for ages, once you disconnect the swingarm from the back of the engine, the bike ends up in a heap in the floor, but it can be done using most of Sherpa Tensing's ropes, pulleys and hoists.

Once the engine was apart I found that new main and conrod bearings were needed. This on a Honda that had only done 14,000 miles!? so I changed them too. After a couple of months (over last winter 98/99) I put her back together, (with the help of Pops - tuning maestro extraordinaire) and we then set about trying to set the carbs up to get her to run right.

Did the usual thing of buying a dynojet kit and K&N filter (purchased earlier), but found out what Honda probably did when they were R&Deeing it, that the airbox and carb size is crucial and not to muck around too much with, so after about 50 (I kid you not) different carb settings we reverted back to 95% standard and hey presto the bike carburated beautifully, but still produced no more power top end....BOLLOCKS !! However, the bottom end and mid range was better. The one thing I didn’t do, that I now know I should, was to buy a full exhaust system with tapered headers. Doh !! (these apparently are crucial to tuning V twins). Anyway, I can hear you all cry “You stupid sod, that should have been obvious”, and yes, it was, but again, please refer back to my budget comment earlier - do you know how much they cost!!

I digress, The bike has now done 20,000 miles and would do another 20 k nicely, but the nail was put in the lid of the coffin for her after I rode a few in-line fours. I realised what I was missing out on and had another trip to the Nurburgring with her. It appears that no matter what you do, a VTR is exactly what Honda intended it to be.....a rather basic everyday bike with limited sporting pretensions. So it’s bye bye to her and hello to my nice new GSXR750. Mind you, that SP1 looks a bit tasty!