It's all good, more or less, till I have to walk into the Honda dealer for Honda specific parts; then look out baby, cause here it comes................

Used to be that spending a couple hundred buck a month, average, in the process of redoing a bike brought with it a bit of give and take. A guy would get a bit of a break on the price.

These days; no way.

 

Why are you shopping at the dealer? It's not a Laverda it's a Honda. I only used to go to the Honda dealer when I wanted to laugh at their prices. There are countless online parts houses that you'll pay less at if you need brand new parts.

 

Really?

Hmm.

Ok, so being a dumb *** I scored, as in bad and not reusable, a couple caliper pistons during this rebuild of mine.

Can ya help me out CaptChaos and tell me where I can source these 2 parts;

Thanks ahead of time.

Caliper Piston, 45117-MW0-006
Caliper Piston, 43107-KT7-161

 

Well it's a little searching because sometimes stuff is still listed available and not actually in stock. Google those part#s and make a few calls to the places that show they have it. Sometimes a phone call will save you some time over just ordering online and then you get a "sorry it's out of stock" email a week later. Ronayers and Partzilla are two of the big ones. Search Ebay too. When you're fixing up a 90's sportbike sometimes you have to get creative and do a bit of searching and make a bunch of phone calls. It took me months to find and actually get a chain slider for a '94 FZR1000 I fixed up. I paid a small fortune for it and was still thrilled when I actually got it.

And granted some parts just aren't available anymore. But if they have it at the dealer they'll have it at Ronayers or Partzilla (for less) because from my experience over the years at least, it all comes from the same place. Sometimes older parts may still be found overseas or on Ebay and you have to email and/or call to confirm. I'll take a look and see if I can find those new anywhere.

 

At Ronayers.com the front caliper piston part# you listed isn't listed as available... "Piston A" still is though (I wasn't aware they were different).

2000 Honda VTR1000F A FRONT BRAKE CALIPER | Ron Ayers

The rear looks like it still is...

2000 Honda VTR1000F A REAR BRAKE CALIPER | Ron Ayers

Sometimes a good used caliper might be easier and cheaper. I went through this with the frozen rear caliper on that FZR and after searching parts to rebuild it I cross referenced the part# and found a cheap one on Ebay off a newer YZF600. I messaged the seller and they guaranteed it to be in good working order and it was.

Hopefully this points you in the right direction and gets you started but if you search a little more for those parts #s (and be aware that often part #s get superseded by newer/different part #s) you may have some luck. If you get someone knowledgeable on the phone asking questions to the parts counter at dealer is also free if you get stuck.

 

Cheers;

About the creative solutions, I'm all for that.
I got the same resuts you did. Supposedly there is a place in the UK that sells Old New Stock and must have stockpiled a bunch over time. They have the front smaller piston at double the price from what I've been told.

I'm almost, almost, but not quite there yet, ready to do the following; I have been acquiring new and old parts for another complete go-over on my 99 VFR this winter. Part of the program is a set of VTR forks together with 2004 CBR600RR front calipers and master. I think I'm going to use the CBR parts on my VTR and say screw it. I just didn't want to grind down the VTR fork caliper mounting bosses(the lower ones) to make it fit.

All part of the fun in playing around with bikes.......................

 

Yeah might be a good excuse to put F4i or RC51 calipers on it.

 

Another vote for Ron Ayers.

 

Yeah man Ron Ayers is absolutely the way to go for NOS Honda parts. I’ve purchased numerous odds and ends from them, I even got rear seat cowl in factory Italian Red finish, matched perfectly 👍🏻 Prices are reasonable imo and they keep part numbers/items updated if later versions were released. Only minor downside is the shipping costs for small incidental items, i.e. gaskets, hoses, etc. Good luck with your project!

 

Captainchaos: Please clean out your message folder. My PM's aren't getting through.
John O

 

I think it's all about experimenting, finding smaller piston at good price is a key moment. And mixing parts is a good thing in this situation