New VTR
 

Hey,

I just sold my 04 VFR and my dad gave me his 02 VTR, he was thinning down his quiver and graciously handed down this bike.

I know very little about these bike but have been reading through this forum - great info. The bike is completely stock as far as I can tell, except for a tank bra and front blinkers and has 10,000 miles on it.

What do I need to know?
Does an after-market pipe add much power? If so, which ones are worthy.
I've look through all the posts about removing that ugly rear plate holder, any new info?

This bike is so much lighter and quicker than my VFR, I love that low end grunt and growl of the v-twin. It's hard not to have a huge grin after getting off this thing.

Thanks, Dave

Attachment 24767

Well there really is no easy "free" power to be had with this bike.

Slip ons will save some weight and make the bike louder but that is about it.

With a good carb set up and some slip ons you might see 3-5hp.

The 2 main issues people have with these bikes are the cam chain tensioners and the regulator... at 10k miles generally speaking you shouldnt have any issues but if it were my bike id spend the time and money upgrading those instead of slip ons... just my opinion search cct and rr to find info on these... happy motoring!!

You already have the fastest color. You don't need to do anything else.:burnout:

Thanks guys,

I'll start looking into the CCT and RR posts.

If there is no significant jump in performance and I don't need it to be any louder, I'll put off the exhaust mods.

The suspension feels good so far, I haven't pushed it hard yet so I don't have the whole picture yet but as I get more comfortable with it I'll see. My dad is a big guy like me so he had it set up pretty stiff already. Like I said earlier - it's a big improvement compared to my VFR.

There is no holy grail of horsepower unlocking secrets. Numerous things can be done to make it really great for you though. The suspension needs work (front and rear) and the brakes could use some attention. Horsepower gains are hard to come by on this machine, you might get one or two from an exhaust change and rejet but the biggest gain from that scenario is a weight reduction. You could get a couple or more from changing the velocity stacks or a few from inner engine work but getting over 125 horsepower would almost be unheard of. Don't change the OEM air filter, it won't help. Change the CCTs and the R/R to a MOSFET unit. Get a SpeedoHealer, play with the sprockets and most of all enjoy riding it, it kicks ass for fun factor.

it kicks ass for fun factor.[/QUOTE]

That's for sure! I never owned a sportbike before, usually headed into the sport-tourer/adventure direction. This bike is hands down the most fun I've had on the street.