Need F4i Owners' opinions and advice
 

What's up Gang?

I have a 2001 Red & Black F4i with 10,000 miles on it (had 9 when i purchased it. Owned it for 3 months.

Questions:
Should I go for the Halo lights or HID?

Should I polish the engine casing or buy a new cover? (don't know if that's possible....but the casing is scratched from the previous owners fall).

My red vinyl stickers were scratched up a little during shipping (little holes), should I buy new ones and if so, where do I get those for a good price?

I want to start doing work on my bike, soo...what tools do I need? Does anyone know what came in the original tool set that came with the bike?

Thanks all, I know this is a lot but I'm new to riding (M Class in September) and maintenance (never been taught even how to change oil). So, any help is appreciated.

I can provide pics of the stratches on the vinyl and engine case if you guys need that to provide the opinion.

my email is valinvescap@gmail.com

Krazy

The tools that come in the kit are easily attainable from any hardware store.

You need a set of alan wrenches metric and standard. You will also need a good socket and wrench set.


You can do both Halos and HID lights being that the halo light is a circle that goes around the bulb, HALOS are pretty much cosmetic though.

The stickers can be purchased on Ebay from several different suppliers most of them overseas. I just purchased a set of stickers for my bike that included the Honda wing decal the words Honda, F4i, CBR and 600 that look just like the stock ones and I only paid $30. I have attached a picture so you can see.

[IMG]file:///G:/BlackBerry/pictures/IMG00050-20091202-1220.jpg[/IMG]

When it comes to the cosmetic stuff: is this your first bike? How experienced of a rider are you? I'm holding off on a lot of cosmetic stuff until I've had my bike a year.

the halos won't give you the range of an HID kit, but they look pretty cool imo. One's decoration, one's functional.

If you are looking for a functional mod then go with the HID. They will greatly increase your visibility as well as increase peoples visibility of you. Halos look sweet but are puely cosmetic and involved taking the headlights out, heating in oven, and taking them apart. HID is a straight forward install without having to remove the headlights out of the bike.

Yeah, best buy a nice set of tools. But don't need to break the bank. I've probably spent 200 dollars just since I've had my bike on different tools. But I'm the guy that HAS to have the best tool for the job. As for the toolkit, I've really never used it. Only the screw driver (go figure)

If you haven't gone down yet, don't worry about the cosmetics. I dropped mine early, and have a nice rash on the bike now. I haven't been panicking to fix it, because every time I look at it, it reminds me how careful I need to be. But all in due time.

HID's are the way to go. I'll be doing that VERY soon.

Elfing, nice to see you back and active ;)

Im with Zero1080. No need to break the bank on tools but at same time try not to buy some crap no-name brand that rusts. Being in Canada, my personal favourite for tools is the Mastercraft series from Canadian Tire. Tools are super cheap and have lifetime warranty. Cant beat that. I now have a full tool chest that through someone like snapon would have cost probably $5000 and I have put out a total cost of less than $1000. Ofcourse I have a lot more than just basic tools (also have airtools, specialty car tools, work lights, and even tire repair kits).

Here's what the kit looks like; pretty basic. The only one I've used is the sparkplug socket which worked very well.

If the casing is cracked, you're definitely gonna need to replace it. Repairing it would requiring welding, which means removing it, so might as well replace it. Polish or colored cover, thats ur preference. I think when you said halos or HIDs, i think you also meant either just HID bulbs or also Projectors. The Halo eyes are ehh, if you want those you might as well put in projectors since you're going to open the headlight housing. I have projectors in mine and love them (using projectors from a TSX). The +1 with projectors is that you won't blind people as you can aim your headlight better.
As far as tools, if you have a cheap tools store like harbor freight, you can get pretty much get all the tools you'll need to do all you're maintenance for maybe 60-75 bucks. Allen wrenches, sockets, ratchets, torque wrech, .... They even have like mechanics sets.

How hard was it to put the projectors in? I put some in my car and love the ability to have a nice cutoff line without blinding people.

Yea I chose the TSX projectors for that same reason, has one of the best cutoff lines and the lens are cyrstal clear, no dimples or ripples like some. Mounting them for me was a little troublesome becaues these projectors are a little bigger than some of the others and I mounted mine directly to the stock adjusters. I used some stereo harness brackets and cut to fit to mount the projectors at 3 corners to each of the F4is adjuster points.