As some of you may know from my introduction thread I am undertaking an NC30 track/race project. The bike has stood for at least 2 years so the first thing I am doing apart from repairing some light damage (new righthand clipon, brake lever, m/c) is gathering some general service parts and I want to know what you all recommend.

Is it detrimental to the running of the bike if I use a pattern oil filter, spark plugs, air filter, bearings etc or are the non OE parts of a good quality and if so where is the best place to buy? You've probably heard it before but I'm on a tight-ish budget so any savings are appreciated but equally I understand the importance of spending money now to save having to sort out potentially avoidable problems, down the line.

Thanks, Johnny

All of the VFR's can turn into potential money-pits... from personal experience this tends to be down to the following things...

+Popularity: they've changed hands a lot and been owned by numpty's who didn't know the word 'maintainiance' this is actually a testament to Honda's build-quality, they can take a lot of punishment before they eventually die. (i've rode one 500 miles without a waterpump without head-gasket problems) but this can eventually cost a lot to put right.

+Age: There getting on a bit now, and unfortuantly things do wear out.

+Electrical: The Reg/Rec problem is a common fault with these bikes.. there on the weak side and tend to cook the genny / battery if your not careful.. fitting a newer model, ie 2003-2005 R6 reg/rec seems to solve this problem.

As for parts, you'll find a lot of the Honda OE parts are the same price as pattern stuff. Oil filters I use genuine honda parts.. a few members on here run pattern parts / shorter filters due to mods to the bike and nobody seems to have problems.

Have a look at the following websites, I've used all of them quite a lot and reccomend them all.

http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -> Dave Silvers... well known Honda parts dealer... has mostly Genuine Parts

http://www.lings.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -> Big Honda dealer.. sometimes Dave Silvers will be cheaper if they have parts in but the rule of thumb is that if Dave Silvers don't have it in stock and Lings can't get it either you'll really struggle to get one.

http://www.wemoto.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -> Worlds End Moto, Mainly pattern parts.

http://www.bitzforbikes.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -> Paul Smeetons BitzForBikez -> Again mainly pattern parts.