Honda VFR 750 XC Makeover

Greetings from Estonia,

In a search for a perfect ralley bike, I decided to test my engineering skills and build on by myself. For the power source there were alot candidates DL/SV/TL 650/1000, XL650/1000, VF/VFR 500/750/800/1000/1100 but after spending lot of time in forums doing research and discussing with the owners I deciced to go for Honda VFR 750. The 300.000 km without
any major overhauls and 4-5l per 100km fuel consumption when being easy with the throttle were the arguments. And I also like the looks of V4 combared to V2's out there.

There is no certain budget for the build, but I'm trying to keep it as cheap as possible and hoping to finish the build under 4000euros (ca.4900$). After couple of months donor hunting I found a crashbike from Holland's local advertising page. Got the bike for 400 euros and it was taken to Estonia in the back of the trunck in pieces. The papers say it's '96 year machine, though it has ''91 Model'' sticker on it. During the registration to the Estonian registry found out that the bike had been imported from US, so it's already an adventure bike. The odometer reading is 12467mi/20063km's, but no service book to confirm it, only owners words.

Design ideas and looks will be mixed from Tiger XC800, BMW F800Gs and KTM SMT and I hope to hit the roads next spring.

Here's 'before' pictures in my garage, 'after' will follow:

Subscribed.

Just been looking at a vfr800 with exactly the same idea as yourself, fantastic.
Cant wait to see how you get on, very,very intrigued.
Best of luck & hopefully get to swap info,
Cheers,
Paddy,
UK based

Cheers and thanks alot.

Good to see there's some VFR building enthusiasts out there.

Today got my fork, swingarm and wheels with tires and discs from local hillclimb and KTM fan.
Going to build the frame around the parts and VFR engine.
Parts come from 2005 KTM Adventure 950 with unknow milage, but looks in good condition.
Haven't decided yet will I go for 26,6°rake like KTM's or 23,1° like F800GS and Tiger XC 800.

SO in!!

I've neer replaced my '91 VFR cause there's nothing out there that will do everything it does while sounding like it does.....another one to do what I do with the 990 would be about perfect!

Get with it!

S

If your using the ktm tripple clamps and axle clamps then stick with the ktm rake so that the trail stays the same.
Trail is the important one not rake.

You got some nice pieces to work with This should be good. What kind of weight do you think it will have?

Looks awesome, good choice in parts. Do you have a rear shock yet? I know lukas has at least one.

That is definitely a '91. Had one just like it. Only year with the gold wheels.

Nice gear-driven cams motor. You will love the way it sounds when you get out on the road and hold the throttle WFO. Sounds like a mini V8.

.

About the rake/trail, tomorrow I'll go and check out one damaged LC8 frame and if it's ok I rebuild it to fit VFR engine,
to keep original 950 Adventure dimensions cause I really like the seat position on those. Though the engine weight
difference is about 30kgs. VFR about 70kg and LC8 about 40kg - correct me if I'm wrong. Trying to keep the overall
weight of the bike around 200kgs.

Still working on the rear shock and brake calipers - smells like ebay.

Send lukasm a pm he's in austria and usually has these parts plus a lot of knowledge. Fed with an inquiry vs. ebay

I have rebuilt and own/ed both a 950 and 990.

The engine is about 60kg's. So much less of a difference that you might have thought.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tip, but got shock coming from UK, my friend arranged it from local motorcycle salwage yard.

Some update:

Got LC8 frame from the same guy who arranged the fork and wheels. Though it is cut in half (god knows why) and
burned, also got a subframe. Frame is Superduke and sub is Adventure, nothing that some modification can fix.
Steering head angle on Superduke is 66.1° and on Adventure 63.4°, should I just ignore that or is it important and
should be considered when I start widening the frame?



VFR/LC8 Comparsion



Engine removed, probably next week I'll start with engine mounts and frame widening.



Does not fit really...



Visual design, how it will look, hopefully.

Going to be bad ass

Are you worried about frame strength since the KTM frame was obviously in a fire (I may be worrying about nothing)? This is gonna be badass by the way.

D

I belive there were not enough degrees in that fire to change the structure of the chrome moly frame.

Adding Adventure model suspension to Super Duke frames creates the issue of the front wheel hitting the radiator.

So maybe you'll have to add a few degrees to the rake unless you use a different radiator?

Ok I'll keep that in mind, though im using VFR radiator which is alot smaller.

Back in action now, had one week business trip abroad.

Took the frames, engine and swingarm to the workshop at my workplace for
frame modification.

So what happened today - cut the Superduke frame into pieces since I need the
steering neck and swingarm brackets. Did some measuring before ofcourse.
Bent new upper tubes of Ø 33mm st355 steel so I could just stick them over
existing Duke frame pieces. Does not look straight at the moment but for the
welding I'll use a jig ofcourse. Hopefully I'll continue on Sunday...

Used ol'school bender though we have machinery also.



First impressions







For upper tubes I cut small insert to bend them outwards



To get the lower tubes outwards little heating was needed



Final shot today...cant wait to hit the road!