Cliff's new VF500

Hi all,

I have been looking around for a while but I have finally got myself a VF500.

This one came up for sale in Perth at a good price so I jumped on it and then worked out how to get it shipped to me in Victoria.

The bike is very original, only 38,000km on the clock and in great condition.

I have ridden it a few times and now I am playing with it - first thing was to fit Tarrozi rear sets to try and give my 6' 2" frame some more room to tuck the knees into the tank. It is a better fit now.

Next step is to try out some 1987 CBR600 clip ons to see how that changes the ride position for me - nice thing is all the mods are easy to flip back to stock if need be.

Given I live in the hills east of Melbourne, I will have plenty of windy places to test out the handling.

 

That's very nice. I like the black. I never knew about those rearsets. I am 6ft 4in and managed OK. However as I get older more room would be nice. Do they make much of a difference?

 

The Tarozzi rearsets make a little difference, and that is all I needed really.

 

Next step - fitting 1987 CBR600 clip ons.

They arrived in the mail and fortunately still have the bar weights inside.

Which is just as well as it looks like I need to add some bar ends to get a bit of length on the clip ons to be able to take all the gear off the stock VF500 bars.
Photos soon.

 

do the clip-ons clear the fairings ok? typically putting clip-on's on a vf500 Interceptor means cutting the upper fairing to clear them. I put clip-ons on my 85 Rothmans tribute Interceptor, had to cut a lot of plastic out. Had to trim the black plastic cover from around the gages too.

 

Thanks Straycat, I am unsure if the fairing will need trimming and if it does - then I will keep the stock bars on.

It looks like the levers may hit the fairing on full lock - I will experiment and see...

(Nice Rothmans look there too).

 

Nice bike, will be watching how yours turns out. Unfortunately I have been able to ride my VF500 about 1 mile before the engine gave up.

 

Wow , I love the look of your 500!

 

CLASSIC !

 

Slow times here in the Yarra Valley. I got out on the bike a few times and with the weather warming up I should get out a few times more soon.

I have ditched the clip on idea as I don't want to hurt the bodywork to make things fit.

But I will be replacing the oversize indicators with much smaller ones and wrapping the originals up to be put away in case I ever do sell this bike and the next owner wants it original.

Apart from that - I think maybe I need to work on the suspension. It is ROCK HARD!

 

Wow great looking bike. Just looking at one locally

Congrats

 

unless you can hear it run and do a short test ride and have made a compression test it's only a parts bike, nothing more.

 

thanks you just busted my bubble Squirrelman.... It was $300 minus carbs. Bike looked clean and almost complete... minus carbs..... yea I know

 

what that suggests is that the guy had severe engine problems and knew it wouldn't run again so he sold the carbs ?

 

Well - looks like my stock old rear shock has gone the way most VF500 shocks eventually go.

My VF500 is now a pogo stick.

One bump on the road turns the seat into a bouncy castle.

I am already onto Jamie and he has come back to me promptly with some options, but the current conversation rate $US to $AUD plus the high postage cost may unfortunately put his good gear out of my reach.

I also see there is a Hagon replacement unit, is there a Penske (??) as well?

 

Hagon, YSS, Bitubu, Wilbers all good options. I've recently installed a couple YSS on my Vf1000s and I like them a lot. Great bang for the buck.

 

Thanks Cap,

Looks like either Hagon or YSS in my budget range, the Bitubu and Wilburs are an expensive choice.

 

I've had very good experience with Hagon rear shocks on two smaller bikes: a 2005 Kawasaki EX250 and a 1993 Suzuki GSF400. No problems with the shock in 9 years of use on the EX250 and 5 years on the GSF400. Plenty of adjustability for "sport" riding (I don't do anything track related).

 

Hagon is a solid choice, I agree. Lots of satisfied riders in the U.K.

 

Hagon have been around for donkey's years. Definite mid table offering but OK. I had one on a VF500 and it was a lot better than the tired OE.
They will service the later ones too. I have heard they wont service older shocks with red springs but not sure if this is the case or not.
Don't think servicing will be an option from Australia anyway.
I had a modified CBR600 shock from DMr and I sprung for a Wilburs too. Of all of them I think the DMr one was the best on my VF500.