my '86 VFR700

Here's my 86 that I finally brought home.



A touch of damage to it from being down twice on the left side:




Modifications are the mufflers, and it's been rejetted to match, but no idea if the timing was changed or not (running premium just to be safe for now). I can hunt down the original owner (friend of a friend) to get specifics.

It's fast enough, that's for sure...:smile:

 

thats pretty sweet , how does it sound with the super trapps?

 

At first I thought it was way too loud. But now I just really like it.

They have a soft edge to the exhaust tone. At idle more of a fast-paced chuff-chuff-chuff. Then it starts to growl as you open it up. Very grumbly/growly on deceleration.

Still quiet enough that you can hear the cam gears over the exhaust, except around 4000-5500 rpm, when the exhaust seems to hit a resonate frequency. VERY loud through there, then purrs up over 7-8K.

 

I should go find another one of those, Nice.. thanks for sharing

 

nice looking ride, even with the rash, which could easily be painted and made to look new.

 

I plan on it, just need to make the time to do so.

 

Try drilling a hole about the size of a nickel in the endcaps of the Trapps and you'll have the bestest sounding VFR you could ever imagine.

 

Doing maintenance work, I found that the plugs were loose in the heads. new plugs (properly torqued) improved the exhaust note without making it louder. It's plenty loud for me... I'd rather it was quieter. But then, it's nothing like my wife's HawkGT with a Muzzy pipe on it (she sets of car alarms, I normaly don't).

 

vfr 700

i can pick up a stock near mint condition 86 vfr 700 for 900 dollars well im 260 lbs do you think this bike can handle my size

 

Yeah, power won't be a problem. I've had my wife on the back of my bike.

Suspension, on the other hand... well, the stock springs are pretty soft. You'll want new fork springs setup for your weight, and you'll want to turn up the rear preload a bunch, but my guess is you'll want a stiffer rear spring, too.

I'd start with the fork springs. They're pretty cheap and easy to do.

RaceTech has a custom spring rate calculator. They recommend 1.15kg/mm springs for your weight:

Race Tech Inc., high performance motorcycle suspension kits

They don't sell anything that firm for the VFRs, but I know they are out there. I have 1.0kg/mm in my forks, and I'm 160 lbs. RaceTech recommended that for my weight. I'm pretty happy with it, maybe a bit stiff, but when I lofted the front-end accidentally, I was pleased with the handling of the landing.

If you stick with the stock springs, it's going to nose-dive like hell when you brake.

And even if it's "mint", you'll want to find out when the fluids were last all changed. Check the fork oil, too, as that should be changed yearly.

First bike? or been riding for a while?

 

hey woody ,

all you need to do is find those pltes that are in the end of the muffler, and add a few more it'll quiet it down.

 

more plates is louder.... trust me.

I ran with 4 baffles (really spacers) for a while, and it was definitely quieter. I'm back to 8, as it's clearly tuned for it, and it's running much better with all 8 in place.

 

Hey Woody. Sweet!!! I had an '86 VFR700F just like yours. What a beautiful piece of machinery! Had mine for 13 years,sold it with just over 62,000 miles on the clock. Never had a single problem with it,and it never leaked a drop. Other than the fairing rash,the rest of the bike looks to be in great shape. I know it's an old post,just curious though,did you ever fix that bent clutch lever? I also bought mine used,the previous owner dropped it on the left side too and I swear the clutch lever was bent exactly like that when I bought mine.

 

Yep, fixed the clutch lever, bike's been a great bike. Some gremlins due to age (R/R, the clutch slave cylinder needed a rebuild, chain was totally shot), but otherwise a good bike.

But I didn't fix a couple issues that I should have (the 4yo times don't stick as well as I'd like, and the rear brake master needs a rebuild). It pitched me off back on November after locking up the rear end while slowing for a turn. All cosmetic damage, and mostly on the already-rashed left side. ATGATT made the damage to me minimal, but I'm not going to be riding until I tear the bike down and fix some things (rear master, tires, unbend a bunch of fairly stays and inspect the head bearings). Oh, and I need a new clutch lever.... :redface: