My "new" VF500...

After selling my '84 VF700 in '85, I've been bikeless for 25 years... until last night.

I had been searching a few months for an '86 VFR700/750. There seemed to be plenty of them in other parts of the country, but I was hesitant to buy one without actually seeing it first. Then I saw this little VF500 on Craigslist this week. (First pic) It looked good in the pic, and it was just the way I like 'em - factory paint scheme, even the factory "500" seat still on it in decent shape. I wasn't real excited about all of the stickers, but I figured it was worth taking a closer look.

I got there and was excited to see how clean the little bike is. It needs tires, and probably a back brake rotor, but it started up immediately, idled smooth, and the throttle response was excellent. It's not perfect, but the price was right so I hauled it home.

I had a little time today to take some of the stickers off, and the paint is so well-preserved that after a quick hand-buff and wax you'd be hard-pressed to know they were ever there. The orange North Carolina State Inspection sticker on the left shock was a bear to get off, it came off in tiny pieces and left a million gummy white "VOID" stickers that took a while to get cleaned up. (See other pics)

I haven't started the mechanical inspection yet, but everything seems to operate smoothly. It has 22K miles on it. The mufflers are old Vance and Hines pieces, and it sounds great!

I plan on going through the mechanical stuff to make sure everything is OK, doing more detail work, repairing a broken mount on the taillight fairing, doing a mirror swap/fab, shortening the stalks on the rear turn signals.... and riding it a lot! Sitting over the RWB tank and hearing the starter kicking off that V-four brought back a lot of memories!

 

Looks like it was taken care of

 

Great find...looks terrific!

 

Big3, my dad-in-law lives there in Lancaster. My wife and I will be visiting there soon, he is suffering from terminal liver cancer and we want to see him as much as we can.

 

Nice score.

Looks just like mine. Here it is stock when I got it: http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-...27725-long-time-lurker-first-time-poster.html

And here it is after I found/installed the full V&H like yours (fotos about half way down).
http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-...-you-have-vf500f-full-vance-hines-system.html

Is yours a full system or slip ons? Either way, pretty damn rare...Did you keep the centerstand? I did, with a little easy mod, that you can read about. Any idea if yours has the K&N and the jet kit in the carbs?

Here's the link about my 84 model in case you have any issues with 'lectrics like I did: http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/32393-its-official-im-vf500-addict.html

I now have Yoshimura slip-ons on the 84 model. Both with corbin seats (one with a corbin solo, one with a corbin 2 passenger.)

Glad to see another one on the road.

 

Welcome! Nice to see another, well maintained, 500 here.

 

That's a clean one you've got! Love the solo cowl!

I'm not sure if mine has a full V and H system or just the cans, as I don't know what to look for. It sounds good, though! The center stand is still on the bike.

Thanks for the heads up in your other post about the V and H nameplates, I am planning on buffing the cans and for $6.00 I'll just get new plates rather than trying to restore the old ones. I am wondering - are your cans level, side to side? This one has one higher than the other, I may take one off and do a little "persuading" on the pipe to get them even.

Thanks to all for the comments, I think the little 500 will be at least $1300 worth of fun!

 

Yeah, seeing the solo cowl on it made me go from a "maybe" buyer to a "bidding" buyer.

If you have the center stand, and it looks like there are no mods or little brackets to keep it from hitting the chain when it's up (assuming it doesn't hit the chain now), then I'd say you have slip-ons. Tell me this: Is there a bracket on the V&H cans themselves that the swingarm hits when up?

You can also tell by looking underneath: Do you still have the giant "box" in between the front and back pipes on the very bottom of the bike?

Buffing will make a WORLD of difference. Drill out the rivets on the name plates, repack them (might need it), and order new ones from V&H HQ. It will look much better with new nameplates rather than try and fix the old ones, esp. if the old ones are losing paint, dents, etc.

Looking at the bike from the rear, my pipes are level. Same distance from the ground to the top & bottom of the cans as far as I can tell.

How are your tires? Both sets of tires on my 500s were technically legit with plenty of tread, but I tossed them. 20+ years old. Hard as a rock. Cheap insurance.

 

I've got the garage shut down for the night, but I'll check on the header stuff. What do you repack the cans with? As far as tires, I need new ones. Any suggestions?

 

Here's the packing, but you can get it anywhere, even from V&H when you order the nameplates. It's cheap.

Vance & Hines Fiberglass Repacking Kit - Cruiser Motorcycle - Motorcycle Superstore

It's thick sheets of fiberglass. You need one for each canister. I don't THINK one sheet , when cut in half, will make it around the inner sleeve completely. Remove the allen screws from the end caps (if you still can), or drill them out. They are waaaay too soft when inserting an allen wrench, so make sure it's the right size. You'll only get one shot at it before they round out. If you do get them out, order some new stainless steel ones from V&H HQ, or find some locally. They are one-time use, I've found.

When you slide out the end cap, you'll see a metal perforated pipe that may or may not still have the old wrapping on it. New wrap will change the sound a bit and muffle it better. I always wear rubber gloves when working with fiberglass, and just trim it off @ the end (the refills are a little long usually) with scissors. I use wide masking tape to tighten it up on the metal sleeve in order to get it back into the AL canister: you won't be able to get it back in without a way to compress it.

As far as tires, some folks on this list have bigger wheels put on from other bikes, but I just went with the normal OEM sizes that came on the bike. This makes it easier: you only have a few choices b/c of the wheel size. I bought Bridgestone BT45's. Front: 100/90-16 and rear: 110/90-18. As with all things tires (and oil) there are 1000 differing opinions here on the forum. Once you narrow it down to OEM wheels and OEM tire sizes, you're down to like 4 options. Other folks will have tires that last longer or grip better in the rain on Thursdays @ 2: 24pm when it's 74 degrees out and partly sunny, but for me, for as much as I ride these two bikes, these work fine.

 

wgregt - I checked under the bike, and it's the full system - but it still has the center stand. Maybe the reason why one of the cans is a little higher than the other is because it was modded to keep the center stand?


I finally took it out for about a 50 mile spin yesterday. It ran flawlessly! It seems to have a LOT of torque for a 500... what's up with that? I also noticed that the RPM seems to be a little high at cruising speed... how many teeth are on the OEM sprockets?

Thanks for the heads-up on the V and H packing and nameplates, I'm gonna get the stuff ordered!

 

Stock VF500F sprockets are 15 front, 44 rear. My 500 is geared stock and is pretty buzzy at highway speeds also. I have been considering trying a 16T front.

 

Could be. Maybe the previous owner did a little on-the-fly mod? Does the left hand pipe have some sort of tang welded to it with a little piece of rubber maybe that the centerstand hits when it's up? If so, it's a home brew design I bet. Nothing wrong with it, but I don't think V&H did anything like that. Least not on my set. Their thinking was that if you had a full V&H, you'd dump the centerstand.

As far as the torque, it's got some pretty decent pull for a 500. The CW on the list here is not to take it to redline if you wanna keep the valves from fluttering to the breaking point. Shift by 9k for longevity's sake. With the V&H full system (not sure if you have the jet kit as well? K&N?) you're looking at...what? Maybe 75-80 HP, guys?

As far as that V&H stuff, you can either get your dealer to order it for you, or just call them and get it direct.