Bought a 2004...have a look
 

Well...

I bought this a few days ago and love it.
She got to stay inside the first night!

Other than the pipes, jet kit, and screen... it's all stock and original.
New Pirelli tires.
7k miles

I looked for a few days and got lucky with this one.
Are there many original black/gold ones?

I've owned a lot of bikes and simply love this machine. It's not too much power and has enough torque to have a great time at quasi-legal speeds. The sound is rich and deep but not loud.

The only mods. I'd like to do are preload adjusters...but I can't find them as the adjuster is an oval shape and not a hex head. Also, I am putting a 43t sprocket on the rear tomorrow.

The first "practical" sport bike I've owned.

Thoughts?

nice low mileage example.

Welcome and Congrats!

Where are you guys finding these Superhawks with such low mileage? I've got over 54k miles on my '05. You scored!

Oh, and those Yosh slip-ons can get quite loud, with the street baffles removed. I've made Harley guys jump when I fire mine up with the baffles out.

Nice
Here are some links to those adjusters your after
VTR1000 F FIRESTORM '97-'01 - Honda - Motorcycle

Fork Preload Adjusters - 1998 - 2005 Honda VTR1000F Red | eBay

Also look into changing the CCT's and possibly R/R into your list of mods- these are the two weak points that are cheaply addressed, but failure of either of them is no bueno. And welcome!

Thanks man.

I found it on Bay Area Craigslist. Seller had two others call him while I was in route with my pick-up.
It is very clean and needs nothing.

The way I figure, I can ride it for 10k more miles and still get a decent amount for it--if it stays clean.

The Yosh's are mellow with the baffles in.
I don't really know how to take them out.
Plus, I guess I would have to re-jet or run lean or loose my wonderful torque.

Damn you for being fast, I was one of those callers! Congrats!

Welcome to the board, Matt. Nice example you've got there. And judging from you keeping it literally inside, I think it found another good home.

The 2 allen head screws in the exhaust opening hold the baffles in. It takes a 4mm allen wrench/socket. The baffles are only 6 inches long; they pull right out after removing the screws.

I run mine with the baffles in most of the time, since it draws too much attention, especially in the canyons.

I do get a little more stalling, at idle, at sea level with them removed, but that goes away at altitude. And there's no loss of torque with them out, at least with the way I have my carbs set up. If anything, it pulls stronger, or at least there's a good placebo effect.

Good to see a man with his priorities straight. I'd keep it inside all the time, but I'm the guy who will "cook" parts in the kitchen stove. As long as the "kitchen help" is out. lol

Another Bay Area VTR! Nice! :cool:

I am considering selling mine to get a cross country adventure bike. So, if there is interest... :rolleyes:

Miguel
San Francisco

+1

Welcome to the forum!

I have the exact adjusters in the first ebay link and they're great, just be cautious on the install. They require some light tapping with a hammer :evillaugh::evillaugh:! On a serious note, they are awesome.

Keep the rubber side down!

-Jarrod

Bike looks great! How much did you pay for it?

Regarding the R/R and CCT potential problems:

1) The R/R is mounted on the side of the sub-frame. It looks pretty solid... I can see the cooling fins. I am wondering if Honda changed this since mine is an 04 or possibly the previous owner changed it? In any case, is it something that I should address?

2) The CCT. It looks like a normal cct to me. Is there a way to check and see if mine is one of the potential problematic ones? If so, where can I buy good replacements? Are they hard to put in? This concerns me more the R/R for sure.

Sprocket:

My 43t sprocket went on like a charm. Gaining 2 teeth changed first gear so now it doesn't feel like I ride the clutch all the way through intersections. It woke the bike up a little bit but nothing dramatic. Freeway speeds increased by around 500 rpm. It's hard to know since I went through a CHP speed display reading 91mph but my indicated was 102mph.

I used to show 75mph at 4000 rpm. With new 43t- I think I show around 80mph. Can't really remember today.

EDIT: Double post...doh.

1) Honda never adressed the R/R, and didn't consider it an issue... Even if the previous owner did, it has a lifespan of ~5-7 years from new unless it's a Mosfet type (markings FH-xxx on it), so it's probably approaching it's limit as we speak... Deal with it now, or later, the cost and complexity is about the same except for the possibility of being stranded...

2) Yes, it a "normal" one... And that's the issue... There are no "non problematic" ones, they are all a problem... The CCT is a wear item, you change it like a worn chain/sprocket combo, but there is no way of knowing the wear by looking at it, and on a new to you bike, you don't know how the previous owner/owners treated the CCT's ie they can be "like new", or they can go crunch tomorrow...

And since the VTR have the unfortunate "flaw" in the design that makes a CCT failure costly instead of just an annoyance, as it is on other bikes, I would recommend swapping the CCT's... Either a new set of OEM's, or manual CCT's... Search for a thread here for people selling manuals...

And regarding the "flaw"... It's not really a flaw, it's a V-twin, and that makes that design almost neccessary...

Yes...good points.

This Honda has more "potential issues" than I had hoped.
Just finished reading about cct swaps.


With 7k miles, I may have some time but I will get those APE's or whatever cct's. There goes another $100 and a full day of my time.

Next I will do a mosfet R/R. Read a post on that. These forums kick ass.

Regarding bike price...Ah. I never list that on forums. It could piss riders off that possibly paid more or I can lowball myself if I ever need to sell it. I will say that it was the going rates for most nice VTR's and I just got lucky with the year and low mileage.

The sound makes it worth it though.

EDIT: In the last few days of ownership I have been complimented 6 times on this bike. Seems this is a "cult" classic. The rest of my bikes never got so many compliments so quickly.

Those two are the only real issues as far as I'm concerned... The other stuff is just cosmetics and performance upgrades... I do think there is a lot you can do, but noting you really need to do except the CCT's and R/R... And on any bike, the stock electronics usually becomes an issue in some way after a few years... It's been like that on any bike I have owned...

Agreed! Just about every bike that I have owned as well has had those "potential" issues.

My FZR... Rectifier
My VFR... Rectifier
My RC51..."speeding tickets"
My ZX7R...carb issues

...and then the other 10 different bikes have all had its peculiarities.

Agreed that the CCT is a serious issue. But once taken care of the bike should be pretty solid.

Miguel

I tried removing these baffles by looking for some set screws.....no dice.

Looks like the original owner put one some "California" Yosh street legal editions or something. No way these are coming out.
Have you Superhawk guys seen this?

Here's my 43t Sunstar steel sprocket-

Fit's like charm on the swing arm and stock chain.
It looks like it's factory. The quality and lightening cut-outs look very nice.
$53.

I haven't seen that one. Both mine and the Yosh slip-on on my wife's SV650S have the 2 vertically located screws holding that center baffle in. And the larger opening is more oval on mine, probably to accommodate the screws.

It really is obnoxious loud with them removed though. As I said before, I just remove mine occasionally so I can scare the Harley guys standing nearby when I fire it up.:eek:

My wife's is out full time though, and my VTR is still louder than hers with my baffles in.

No big deal. It sounds good w/baffles.

Anyone have a schematic of a California Emission system on this Superhawk?

I took the carbon canister off ( for the track only ) and had to leave the two vacuum lines on the right open as it's part of the air injection and tank vent. I'd like to go in and remove the purge valve, egr valve and cap the PAIR system with plates.

Got to figure out where all these lines go and which ones are vents and what gets capped.

www.SuperHawk996.net!!!

Go to the PAIR removal section for the VTR

That knowledge section is awesome!

Since my bike is a California model, I can't remove the evap canister just yet. The bike is tuned to have extra fuel vapors and more air enter the intake. So the tune is different than a 49 state bike.

I would like to get rid of all that stuff and cap the air intake ports...but that means the bike would most likely run rich. It has been tuned with pipes and a jet kit. I don't want to re-jet it.

I can't simply cap the line running in from the evap canister to the valve because it would not allow any vent for the float bowls that is controlled by the valves. The bike would flood when shut off. The float bowls have to be vented.

What I will have to do it get a small carbon canister or just simply stick an inline filer on each line that goes to the intake just below the carb...otherwise I will be sucking in unfiltered air.

Our bikes don't have an EGR valve.

And removing the EVAP purge valve and plugging the vacuum lines will have little effect on air/fuel mixture. You do of course need to leave the tank vent line open. These bikes came with the ugliest vapor canister ever.

Haha. That can looks like it's off a Mack truck.

I looked at page 35 of the manual in the knowledge base section ( California Emissions).

It shows the air from the purge valve going into a port under each carb-while the engine is running.
I thought that capping those ports would change the mixture since there would be less air IN -while the bike is running.

Also, in the manual under mixture tuning they want you to start with 3 turns out ( California ) versus 2.5 turns out ( 49 state ) while setting the proper mixture. Strange feeling that I will have re-adjust this and then balance.....but I've only owned the Hawk for a few days now. Read the entire service manual till 4am this morning. It's Sunday and all.

Perhaps the change is insignificant?

Actually, I can test this by putting a one-way check valve ( $3 autozone) on the line running from the canister to the purge control valve. That way the carb bowls can still vent OUT and no air would be sucked IN. If everything is golden- then I will rip all that crap out. It's for the track of course.

Well....she lost about 4 pounds of weight -and a whole lot of space just got freed up.

Since I was in removing the California complicated BS system, I went ahead and did a PAIR removal and block off, and replaced the air filter and spark plugs. Checked all the hoses and vacuum systems.
If I had the new CCT's I would have done that too.

Everything is deleted/blocked or vented and ready to button up in the morning.

This bike just a whole lot less complicated. You wouldn't believe the rats nest in there. Without the nice manual in resources, my goose would have been cooked. This is a must do.

She rides flawlessly! No popping.

The idle is rock solid. It's noticeably smoother. Needle stays at 1200.
The pull in the low to mid-range is noticeably better.
The top-end feels the same.
The bike averages 10 degrees cooler?

I added two vacuum lines capped -of equal length for my next carb sync.
It runs stable and smooth. I am not even going to check it now.

EPA stuff (smog)
 

Hey Matt,

I done two smog removals on our superhawks. Both 2005 model year bikes (would be the same as yours). Our bikes have a lot more smog crap than any other hawks. Did you get the valve up behind the right radiator?

Ok basically goes like this. Remove all smog crap. Install block of plates on pair valves. Cap air intake to underside on airbox. Vent gastank to air. Vent both float bowls to air. Cap of all other small metal tubes on carbs. One word of warning. Want ever caps you use on the carb's will get a lot of heat. Check these often as they like to dry up and crack. I would balance the carbs. Also you can run lines to have easy access for balancing your carbs. for the back cyclinder you use the tank petcock line, just install a tee piece. You can make a carb balancer for like $5.00. Info is on this site.

Enjoy the bike, and yes she is a classic.