New to me- 99VFR800. -Never trust a previous owner.

So about a month ago I picked up a fifth gen. Drove three hours to York PA get it after seeing a few shitty photos and hearing how wonderful the bike was from the PO.
"Title is clean. As far as I know it has not been laid over and I see no signs of that either. I do not have records, it's been owned by another owner until a year ago. I changed the oil and adjusted the chain. Front seals are good along with the tires. No mechanical issues, starts and runs very well."

When I got there, I noticed the fork seals were completely blown, the tires and chain were shot, the rear brake felt like shit, the exhaust clamp was a leafspring clamp from a truck,the bike had mismatching plastics and had definitely been laid down. Damage was clearly visible. The headlight had been cracked open and effed up, mismatched headlamps; one was a HID the other was the wrong bulb. And a whole sloo of other problems.
He said it had a new battery. So naturally, I asked him if it had any charging issues. He of course said no.

After all this I still decided to buy it, because I'm an idiot. I paid about $2400 and I still feel ripped off.

But with some help from forum members I'm planning on getting her back into tip top shape.
Starting with the fork seals.




More pics to come soon. I've got a headlight, seat, regulator, grab bars, and a bunch of other goodies in the mail.

 

Wow...alittle pissed were ya....after drivin three hours to a scum sucking lier..Im supprized you bought it. $500 dollars right ? and a punch in the mouth.........

 

Did you buy it because you had driven three hours and felt like you we're already invested in it; or maybe what I call broken wing syndrome? You know, " it needs me, I can help it". I did that one time with a boat purchase. Should've walked away. I hope your project doesn't cause you lot's of grief. Best of luck.
John

 

If you're going to be replacing the fork seals, now would be a good time to change the internals to better springs and valving. I'll be doing that soon on the '01 I just purchased. I had Jamie Daugherty workout the spring and shim stack for my '09 and what a difference it made! In fact JD rebuilt an OEM ABS shock for me too, all of which cost me less than $600! She handles so much better now in the twisty stuff.

I agree with Duccmann, $500 and a blast in the mouth should have been the price on it! This is the kind of person that would use his high school photo on dating web sites.

 

You should have seen that coming...BOAT, Break Out Another Thousand

Although when you think about, just about any recreational vehicle starts to drain the pocket book. "I love this bike, but I think it needs better suspension, an aftermarket pipe, a Power Commander, a new seat, better tires, steel braided lines........"

 

And why exactly did you buy it knowing all those things were wrong with it? You could have easily found another one in far better shape for about $500 more and you wouldn't have to deal with fixing all the things that are wrong with it. How many miles on it??


Rollin

 

Keep us posted this should be a neat thread.
Is that a smokin Joe F3?

 

I dunno. $2400,00 for a pile of problems and likely another $2K to bring it back up to standard. So you have now spent $4400.00! I would think you could have done much better for much less. But we live and learn I suppose. Hope you can get this thing up and running for a lot less than I suspect.

 

Kinda like getting married you look back now and wonder why you did it LOL !!!


Rollin

 

Agree about POs. I bought mine used from a local dealer. Apparently the PO was the leader of their group rides and meticulous about his bikes....um...except for the warped rotor and sprockets/chain that were needed.

 

I felt it needed to be saved. Besides, around here VFRs are few and far between. I figured for $2400 I don't mind if it looks like shit.
Butttttttttttt... most of the problems I discovered after I got it home. I didn't exactly get to take the plastics off at the guys house.

Yeah I was pretty disappointed when I saw it in person. I already did the seals though, and I've already got an f4 front end lying around. I'm interested in what JD did to that shock though. Message me the details on that rebuild?

Well now I know that. I didn't know there was much wrong with it till I got it home and apart. It has 40,000mi And the next cheapest one I could find was $3550 with 80k on the clock. Most of the vfrs that have around 40k people want close to $5000 for around here.

It is NOT a smokin joe but it's pretty close lookin isn't it?
It's the 6500mi PRISTINE F3 I bought a week later to make me feel better about the VFR purchase.
I'll be sure to post back when the rest of my parts come in.

 

well so far, I've fixed everything except the tires and chain for about $500. So unless plastics cost me another $1500 then I'm doin alright.
I'm gonna ride it ugly for now. Maybe one day if I get crazy I'll pull that dent in the tank strip and powdercoat everything and buy or make a set of race plastics for it.

 

Oh I forgot to mention the bike's one saving grace...

It came with a power commander installed and tuned. Also, the valves were still within spec so at least the important bits were taken care of right?!

 

There are cheap Chinese knock off plastics on eBay for not much iirc. People have been mildly satisfied with them.

 

I've seen them. I'm not a huge fan of them but they'll do. I've installed enough kits on other bikes to know that they don't have the best fitment but I can make it work.

 

So how bad are the fairings? Just some road rash, or broken tabs, cracked etc. My thought would be that if they're not to bad off it would be worth putting the time into repairing (kind of like fixing car bumpers) and painting, replacing graphics to keep it original looking. I would only go to the Chinese stuff as a last resort.
John

 

I feel for you buddy, I also looked at a 2001 that the owner said was like new and he looked after it like his own mother.
It looked good on inspection, and he said he never missed a service, so I took it home.
After I got it home I did my usual back to square one set up, full service, coolant replacement: hello, the reservoir link hose is fully blocked and the coolant looks like shit.
Replace brake fluid: hello, the bleeding of brake system has large lumps of who knows what blocking my brake lines, it needed dismantling to clear.
Replace front shock oil: hello, its full of water and crap.
Valve shim check: hello it is out and needs addressing.
Starter valve sync: hello again, it is miles out.
The owner of this bike has done nothing. By the way, the bike has 61000km on it.
But, I have to say, these engines are bullet proof; when I did the shims the cam lobes look like new. There are no lumps or high spots or any marks, the gear drives look like they have just come out of the factory.
My compression is within factory limmits, and now that I have got it up to speck, it pulls like a train.
I love my bike, there is something about a 5th gen that just is fun.
It is not our fault that we happen to own the best VFR ever made bar none.
Keep at it, you will be rewarded with a grear bike.

 

Man....just about nothing on this earth pisses me of worse than a lying, crooked deceptive individual that shamelessly just says anything to move a bike, or anything else for that matter. I don't think I woulda bought it quite honestly, after 3 hours and expecting a decent machine and then finding that mess. I personally would have considered cracking his head open, but at the very least I'd have smeared that prick's name and his ad all over the internet and told everybody to BEWARE. I don't show pity on jackasses like that, no way no how. People should get what they deserve when they do shit like that. This kinda stuff really brings out my bad side in a bad kinda way.

 

my sentiments exactly. he definitely would be getting a knock on the door down the road
just look at it this way karma's a bitch and I will get him.

 

One day you will forget this. You will simply find yourself smiling happy onto a pinetree landscaped road, on a bike that really is how YOU want..... :smile: