My Blue F4i as it came to me. Looks quite reasonable, showing 15K miles but there's actually a little list of areas that could use some improvement:

- brakes - adequate at best
- tyres, rear nearly gone, front going, both old
- paint - wheels marked, fairings showing signs of age
- screen - best described as milky
- top yoke - key marked, a pet hate of mine
- exhaust downpipes - showing signs of corrosion
- radiator - missing paint!
- frame spars - paint bubbling under fairings
- various bits and pieces scratched / marked

Otherwise it starts, stops and rides quite nicely. This will be my fifth bike 'restoration' (have also restored 2 cars and two vans) and I'll dribble in updates as and when I progress things. I hope you enjoy,

 

Welcome!

Looking forward to updates and love that color scheme!

 

I love the colour too, it was most of the reason I bought the bike, pretty much on a whim.

So far I have collected a tail plastic, both side fairings, tank and front mudguard. I need a top fairing / nose cone to complete the set - can anyone help? I have had decals commissioned and they have arrived, once I have a nose cone a re-paint can happen, I have a colour in mind so watch this space...

I have collected a couple of screens, one standard and one Honda touring screen:



I sanded the standard screen and then polished (by machine) but I'm not happy with it. The Touring screen received just the polishing treatment (3m blue head, meguairs Plast-rx) but a couple of the deeper scratches remain, more time needed on it before I'm happy to fit it.

I also spend money on brake components:



And two tyres have arrived, Bridgestone T31 flavour. I like Bridgestones, a bike doesn't feel mine until I have Bridgestones on it....

 

Frame spars paint bubbling? The frame is natural aluminum?

 

I know, it's most odd. Next time the plastics come off I'll take a picture and you'll see what I mean.

 

I do have a spare front fairing but I don't think either of us would want to pay for shipping!

I will suggest returning the EBC pads if you can. I switched my stock pads out for a set and wish I hadn't. They were not an upgrade as far as feel and stopping power in my opinion and the initial bite was too abrupt. After a couple thousand miles, they have smoothed out a bit but Vesrah pads are supposed to be much better. I am eyeing those nice braided lines though!

 

I run the very same pads on my Fazer 1000, a heavier bike and I love the initial bite. Just the meerest single finger squeeze is all it takes to bring the bike to a halt. I also like the lever to have as close as possible to no travel before resistance, that's just how I like my brakes, so I'll be sticking with the EBCs. I have run the EBC organic compound pads on wet weather bikes before and I like them too, they would have been first choice here but are not made for the fronts, at least that's what my research told me.

 

Here's three of the spare bodywork parts awaiting set completion then preparation and paint:



As stated above, marked top yokes really grate with me. I bought a used spare and gave it to my paint man - I have a good relationship with him, I have given him a fair amount of money over the years as his work is excellent - and he matched the factory crinkle finish. I changed the yoke over as soon as I could!



Here's the calipers removed and separated, waiting for cleaning, new bolts and new seals:



The rear is also done but not shown.

Both wheels are with the paint man, they should return with fresh paint and tyres. I am sure you can see my priorities here, sort tyres and brakes first....

 

They are for sure better, but you can get very high initial bite pads from them as well. They have at least 4 different mixes with different initial bite and progessive power rise to suit your liking. I like pads setup the same way the oem's from Honda on the F4i are, very little initial bite with excellent progression as you pull harder. Makes them very easy to modulate and trail brake with.

 

Cared for calipers - the best sort....



New stainless split bolts. All three disks will have new titanium screws, they are already here.