I started riding around 19. My first bike was a 84 Honda VF1000F. I had it a few years in the 90s. I don't remember when I sold it, maybe around 98. That bike was a lot of fun, very fast and handled well enough.

In 2012, I decided to go back for a BS degree and finished in 2014. The time was right, I thought why not get a bike as a graduation present? As much fun as the VF1000F was, I wanted that bike again, just a modern version. After considerable research, 14R was at the top of my list. I found a left over '13, test rode it (again, not having ridden for many years), bought it and rode it 40 miles home that day. As a rider, my experiences with my 14 have surpassed anything I ever thought possible. I can't totally fault my VF1000F, I never pushed it as much as I have my 14. Of course there's no doubt the 14 is vastly superior in so many ways.

Something else I enjoy is wrenching on my own vehicles. I change my bike's tires, have done things like throttle body syncs and valve clearance adjustments, changing/bleeding whatever various fluids, etc. It's never been in the shop. Same with my other vehicles, for the most part I do prefer and enjoy doing the work myself.

My riding style tends to be fairly aggressive and creative. In Indiana where I live unfortunately we just don't have roads like I see in so many rider videos. So it takes some creativity to have some fun as leaning the bike over. But I manage. Most of my riding is local, I don't spend much time on interstates or highways.

Riding history:
2021 - 3000
2020 - aliens finally got tired of probing me...
2019 - more probing
2018 - probed by aliens
2017 - abducted by aliens
2016 - 7000
2015 - 10000
2014 - 4000

Lookin good Vic!

Welcome back

Made me remember the debate we were all having with you on C Brick BS flash years ago. You were trying to prove that your flash showed no improvement in acceleration. You were right. What I/we didn't know or realize is the criminal Cblast- what ever the fuck was his name was, was taking your money, and other's too and not doing the flash. Or worse destroying ECU and taking the money.

The actual owner of the dyno shop that developed the flash checked mine out and said mine was some dicey partial version of his flash and for a fee he would re-flash my ECU. I did it and never really noticed much of a change

You were trying to prove that your flash showed no improvement in acceleration. You were right.

So True!
I remember the shit Vic got for standing out and making those comments before it was fashionable to do so...

The test video was incredible! Now I'd like to see him do it stock v a good flash v a custom tune. You up for that Vic?

Thanks all for the welcomes. The great flash debacle... yeah. My intent was to do testing that most could not, which was using a completely OEM ECU vs a flashed ECU. And that was it. Based on the advertisements and testimonials, I certainly expected there to be some positive real world performance benefit. The basis for the test was what the flasher said "go out in 4th gear, 4000 rpm, and whack the throttle open and hang on". So that's what I tested. Unfortunately for all of us, there just was no performance increase.

So this turned into me defending the test and that sort of thing. And as that kept going on and on, I and I think many others started to see the BS claims for what they were as well. It was a gradual progression of "belief" vs whatever we could present as facts. And when someone believes in something... how many countless horrific tales are based on that?

I mentioned my first bike in the first post. As the VF wasn't completely out dated when I bought it I was interested in performance upgrades. I was able to find a magazine article in which they "upgraded" the exhaust and rejetted the carbs. What shocked the hell out of me... was that they RETESTED the quarter mile and IIRC it was actually 2/10ths SLOWER after the upgrade. So on the dyno, it made more power. But in the 1/4 mile it was slower. And this was because it lost bottom end. Top end is great for a road track, but not standing acceleration.

I learned something then, 20+ years ago, that all guys who told me after they got their "pipe and a jet kit" and their bike was pulling their arms out of their sockets that they were FULL OF SHIT! And with a small understanding of psychology and other experiences, what I realized was this was a factor of many things.
1, the person has just spent $100s or $1000s on upgrades
2, the bike is so much more sensational now, obviously the aftermarket exhaust gets that adrenaline pumping so much more
3, the rider has never actually measured the bike's acceleration, especially before and after

So here's the thing. I'm not saying that every flash or performance mod is worthless or pointless. But I will go to my grave saying "butt dyno cannot be trusted", and that's just the truth. And then even at the most, "pulling my arms out of my sockets" can't be more than a 10th or 2. I mean, 2/10ths would pretty incredible for a flash or "pipe and a jet kit". And it's difficult for me to believe that at around 9-10 seconds in the quarter someone can tell 2/10ths. Yes, I know sometimes you can...but I've watched many drag racers, like Cletus, who thought they just had the best run of their life only to find it was far from it. "that was a 7 for sure...." gets time slip, "oh...8.20... still a great pass". Adrenaline, hope and belief are huge influences of perceived performance.

So was this a C-blast flash or are you not saying who flashed your bike? I mean if it was C-blast, I'm not surprised it was a crap job on at least some of them.

I never did a flash but after doing AFR tuning on the road, my feeling is that it makes so small of a difference I wouldn't probably have noticed if I didn't know the bike was tuned. The things that improved were at low speed. Those are the things an owner will notice because we all go slow often. FAST, I have no idea if the bike was faster. It felt the same before and after.

Rook, yes CBlast. I can't state anything you don't know or probably know more about. My opinion is Gen 1s could benefit more from tuning and tweaks than Gen 2s. As far as speed, yeah, who knows. To me, for street riders with stock, NA motors is not melting the pistons is the most important thing. A tenth or two, one way or the other, isn't going to make any huge difference but melting a piston certainly will. IE, someone like me can go out and ride all day long, scrape some pegs, and have a lot of fun and not know that my bike is 2/10ths slower or faster than someone else's 14 or whatever.

For most of us losing 50 lbs is probably the best way to legit pick up a couple tenths... not some silly flash.

For most of us losing 50 lbs is probably the best way to legit pick up a couple tenths... not some silly flash.

Yeah, I always had a fascination with modding though. That s half the fun of owning the bike. It's true though, the bike is already fast as hell out of the box and several thousand dollars of mods won't amount to a whole lot faster. If you want the best bang for the buck, go turbo. That WILL make the bike faster and you WILL notice it.