St Landrew Posted 26 April, 2009 Share Posted 26 April, 2009 My bike gets an MSVA test done on monday as it is a Dutch import and has never been registered in the UK. Most of its paperwork has been lost, as it had been sitting in J2 Honda's workshop, wasting away for the past 2 years, before coming to me. I've never encountered an MSVA test before and I'm a bit worried about it, although I'm told I shouldn't be. The new headlight now dips to the left and the new speedo reads miles. Even the separate LCD odometer has been configured to display and record miles instead of kilometres. But I'm still on tenterhooks. It hasn't helped with VOSA wanting me to fill the tank [5.5 gallons] to the brim. Why..? Once it gets through this though I'll relax, as the MOT should be a formality. Then it's down to [cough] Portsmouth, for the registration and road tax. Next week I'll be mobile for the summer, and as Ponty has already pointed out, the hospitals can go on keen alert for donor organs. I'll defy them though..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swannymere Posted 26 April, 2009 Share Posted 26 April, 2009 What is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 27 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Test is today. It's meant to ensure that the bike conforms to UK requirements. This includes; speedo primarily in mph, odometer reads miles, headlight dips to the left, everything else works, etc... Also, as the bike will be issued a British registration, the weights and emissions need checking. There's no riding of it, but it must be presented with a full tank of fuel. It all lasts about an hour, and I have to do all the pushing and pulling around of it. Great..! The thing weighs 463 pounds dry, and this one'll will have 5.5 gallons of petrol in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithd Posted 27 April, 2009 Share Posted 27 April, 2009 i thought that if the bike was european it'd have the required testing certificates/conformities which are valid in the UK? how old is the bike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 27 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 27 April, 2009 It's a 2000 model. No timing chains. Yippee..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponty Posted 27 April, 2009 Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Presumably the full tank is used to record the gross weight of the vehicle. Good luck with the test and keep an eye out for slippery manhole covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swannymere Posted 27 April, 2009 Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Good luck, i meant what bike is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 27 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Good luck, i meant what bike is it? Ah sorry. It's a red 2000 Honda VFR800Fi with cam gear wheels, hence no camchains, as mentioned earlier. Being straight cut, they add a very pleasing background to the overall engine note. The 2002 model went back to camchains and added VTEC. I'm told many VFR riders regret the move back to camchains, and it does appear that Honda's little achilles heel on their bike engines does resurface on the later one. Mine has done 39,500 miles and sounds really mechanically quiet. It's actually a joy to blip the throttle. Anyway, to the result. It sailed through. As it was pretty much a stock production bike the only sticky points were whether all the switchgear worked as it should, and the emissions were low enough. Although the examiner first checked all the dimensions and radii over the bike, that they conformed to GB regs. This is largely where kit and custom bikes are said to come unstuck, and I saw a couple outside being modified to conform. The switchgear worked perfectly, the headlight, speedo, odometer did their proper jobs, the brakes were progressive and powerful, and that left the emissions. The examiner checked his gear and said, Blimey, that bike's running on fresh air. Which did kind of make me feel a lot better, because I knew that the MOT would be a doddle too. So that's all the unknowns gone. Now I'm back in familiar territory. I took a bit of a flier with this bike because of a lack of paperwork with it, but after checking it through, it has proved to be 100% legal and straight, and I'm really pleased with it. There's no way I'd recommend anyone doing what I did, but a gut feeling told me this one would be all right. Here's a little photo of the model. Got to get some crash bobbins for it now, and that occasional cover for the dualseat [see in photo]. Should be on the road by the end of the week. Thanks for all the good wishes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 27 April, 2009 Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Andrew, please be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 27 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Andrew, please be careful. Thanks for your concern mate. I appreciate that. I promise not to screw up. Thankfully, I've kept my hand in, with bikes, over the years, and if I ever really want to be properly crazy, there's always one or two sailing mates with their poor technique, to get me to fully realise how mortal we all are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 27 April, 2009 Share Posted 27 April, 2009 Thanks for your concern mate. I appreciate that. I promise not to screw up. Thankfully, I've kept my hand in, with bikes, over the years, and if I ever really want to be properly crazy, there's always one or two sailing mates with their poor technique, to get me to fully realise how mortal we all are. I count myself very lucky to have not lost a few mates to bike accidents, not least my brother who was hospitalised for a couple of months and had to have his leg RE-broken twice to get it straight. It was around the time of them darned RD250/350LC's, when a lot of lads were riding 350's engines with 250 badges on provisional licences. Iconic bikes but they still make me come out in a cold sweat when one fffffiizzzzzes past me on the motorway, them be dangerous things in the wrong hands. I am sure you know exactly what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 28 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 28 April, 2009 I count myself very lucky to have not lost a few mates to bike accidents, not least my brother who was hospitalised for a couple of months and had to have his leg RE-broken twice to get it straight. It was around the time of them darned RD250/350LC's, when a lot of lads were riding 350's engines with 250 badges on provisional licences. Iconic bikes but they still make me come out in a cold sweat when one fffffiizzzzzes past me on the motorway, them be dangerous things in the wrong hands. I am sure you know exactly what I mean. I do mate, I certainly do. I shaken my head at a few of them in my time. They don't give bikers the best of reputations. We're not all like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swannymere Posted 28 April, 2009 Share Posted 28 April, 2009 Straight cut gears = noise like a washing machine on fast spin Really good bits of kit those VFR's, enjoy;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Super Saint Posted 28 April, 2009 Share Posted 28 April, 2009 No sign of StL since last night...... You don't think he's hit one of those wet manholes :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted 28 April, 2009 Share Posted 28 April, 2009 No sign of StL since last night...... You don't think he's hit one of those wet manholes :shock: Are they similar to those wet womanholes? I fell into one once and it was not funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 28 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 28 April, 2009 No sign of StL since last night...... You don't think he's hit one of those wet manholes :shock: Yeah, well it seems that things are going to draw out a little longer than I anticipated. I reckon it'll be the end of next week before I can ride the bike, going by the progress I'm making now. Had a word with the DVLA this morning, and one of their experts on unconventional ways to legalise your vehicle, told me that I next need to MOT the bike, on the vin/chassis number, and then get a few days/one week's special insurance on the same [he gave me the number of specially approved brokers who'll do this] and then I get down to the Portsmouth office to register, and tax the bike, with all the fees and proof of ID, which will take a further 72 hours to complete. Then I get a number and then I can get a plate made. So I'm basically in slow-motion today as, of course, I have to work in between all this. The thing is, the bloke at the DVLA assured me that I was 90% there with all the hoops I have to jump through, so it's just a matter of time. I can wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 28 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 28 April, 2009 Straight cut gears = noise like a washing machine on fast spin Really good bits of kit those VFR's, enjoy;) Tbh swanny, I can't hear them. I mean, they must be making a sound, as they are, as you say, straight cut gears. But all I can hear is an absence of anything mechanical other than what you'd want to hear. The exhaust note is really superb, and the acceleration to higher rpm from the engine when you blip the throttle is instant. All without any clatter whatsoever. I think you may well be right with the good bits of kit remark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 3 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 3 May, 2009 Bike had its MOT yesterday. Even the examiner said, that's nice. He didn't have to, as I expect he's seen loads. All my jitteriness came to nothing as it sailed through. I asked if there were any issues at all, and was asssured there were was nothing to get concerned about at all. So that's nice too. Off to the DVLA in Pompey on Tuesday with all the necessary paperwork. Have to admit I rode it to the MOT and back. I know that's normally OK anyway, but not this one. It was only a few hundred yards away around the corner, but on the way back I rolled back the throttle slightly. Fook me, it weren't 'alf quick. It was effortlessly past the turn-in in an instant. At this moment, I'm heartily glad I wasn't tempted to buy a VTR 1000 Firestorm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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