Finally took a pic

Finally took a picture of my bike, only one I had was my avatar (craigslist pic) taken by the guy I bought it from.
Still have to take some stickers off, do the F2 wheel mod, figure out why the seat doesn't line up right, replace the cracked side cover and get a set of gauges from England.

 

Thank you for posting the photo.

I Like the design of the Spec II fairing - it is a nice complement to the 500. Will you be switching to this - per your previous thread - you were looking at possibly purchasing one?

On a decal note, the Honda wing on the gas tank looks a bit off, the scale/colors are not stock. Was the tank repainted?



I look forward to reading about your 17" wheel conversion - will this be a winter project?

 

lol, no the light bar didn't come with it, neither did the ponies.

I just noticed when I took the pic the decal on the left side was "off". The guy I bought it from said it had a new tank, I've seen restored tanks and judging by the inside I believe him, it has no etching from being acid dipped or blasted. The other decal is correct and part of the red sticker (trim line) on the tank and both the wing and red stripe are under the clear coat. At this point I wonder if it's not a NOS that was a factory 2nd. Another reason I believe he was telling the truth about it being new was in the carbs, some kind of weird waxy all most cosmoline looking gunk that I only ran into once before, when I put a new tank on a 3 wheeler in the 80's. Yeah I'm hoping to do the 17" mod this winter or at least gather the parts as well as send the forks to Race Tech for a full treatment and cartridge emulators. I've got my eye on a Fox rear shock at the moment if it's still there next payday it'll be getting modified to gon on with the wheels to keep the factory geometry.

Oh yeah that's not a spec2 fairing, it's an AIRTECH

 

Good deal on the Fox mono-shock and the Race Tech emulators. I have RT emulators on the clipboard as well.

Re. the 17” wheel conversions, for the VF500F - as you may have read you have the option of installing both CBR600F and CBR600F2 rims.

The F2s are a great choice but they are a bit of a force fit on the VF500F, IMO.

The stock F2 160 rear tire is a non-flyer in the majority of cases, and even 150s can end up having a clearance issue with the swingarm.

If I could recommend, check with the manufacturer on the actual tire width before purchasing. From what I have read 155mm - actual - is about as wide as you can go.

The front rim on the F2 conversion will need to be machined down so that the rotors align with the stock calipers and the 120 size tire will rub the fender so you will need to zip-tie the fender to the fork sliders to widen this.

On a side note, I opted for using CBR600F rims. The drawback is that you do not have as many options on radial tires for these rims and as such I have Avon Roadriders currently mounted.

Looking at the cup being half full - manufactures are currently adding 110/17 and 140/17 radials with more options for the aspect ratio.

If interested here is a link to my thread on the wheel conversion.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/30852-vf500f-cbr600f-wheel-conversion.html

Good luck with your project and let us know how you are making out.

 

Yeah, I've been lining up the machine work for the F2 wheels and didn't plan on a 160 or even a 150, I found a 140 that I like. I'm not really planning on the 17" mod for the tires, not sure if it's had some mods done before or not but it handles a lot better than I expected. The only real problem I have is wheel spin around 8-9k rpm in 1st gear with the Battle Axe tires it came with. With the Magna trans I run 14-44 sprockets currently and it gives me a very slight lower gearing in the low gears and the high gears have just a little more speed but are closer together so it doesn't seem to loose as much steam going through the higher gears.

I just mainly want the white 6 spokes, I hate the wide 3 spoke wheels. Plus right now 14-46 puts me at all most identical top speed at red line as the stock sprockets with the Magna trans, with the 140 17 I'll actually be able to gear for a little lower top speed and still keep the wide ratio trans.

I'm thinking of Pirelli sport demons since Pirelli has given me such good service on my CR500 unless some one has a horror story about them.

 

IIRC, a 140 is too small a tire to mount on an F2 rim. When I was researching the wheel conversion for my project bike I corresponded with several manufacturer's reps. The 150 wide is as small as you can go, on the F2 rim, without negatively affecting the tire profile.

On a side note, for clarification - the aspect ratio affects the ride height (rake and trail) along with the gearing - I believe other owners have dialed this in for the F2 rims and will be able to offer a few suggestions on tire choices.

Good luck with your project and please keep us posted on the progress.

 

hum, wonder if a CBR250 wheel would work, it came with a 140 and looks just like the 600 wheel.

 

CBR 250 rims are an interesting pick.

I checked the spec for the stock tire sizes and the late model version runs 110/70-17 and 140/60-17. These are a good fit for the width though I would recommend crunching some numbers on the change to the bike's stock geometry.

This said, a reasonably priced set of rims will be tough to source. Not to say you won't have luck but this may require some patience.

CBR250RR

 

Definately AirTECH, as is mine.