New ??(1985) VF Owner

Hi All,

My name is Sean, been riding everything from Hodaka's to Honda's for the past 40 years.

I have been checking out this site for a week or so and it seems quite friendly and information rich!

I just acquired my brothers 1985 VF500F. (really long story) It has been sitting for about 18 years and has fewer than 7k miles on it. It ran fine 18 years ago I remember.


It has no key. Can someone recommend how to go about getting a new key made so that I can get on with an orderly investigation.

And...Ideas for an Orderly Investigation would be a great help also.. (+:

Thanks...Sean

 

Hi Sean, welcome to the forum. Check in on the 1st gen forum, the regulars there have a ton of info on the VF500F, they have helped me a great deal with mine.

 

Welcome Sean and congrats on your 'new' steed.

The 500s are great bikes. As you may know there are caveats to owning one.

Careful maintenance being at the top of the list, I would recommend purchasing a copy of the Factory Service Manual.

For hard to find parts Service Honda here in the US and David Silver Spares in the UK are both great resources.

One thing to note, after reading Julian Ryder's book Honda's V-Force this week I was reminded how important it is to let the bike properly warm up (read a hot engine) before riding. This will help to insure longevity of the cams and followers.

The forked rocker design also requires using two feeler gauges to adjust the lash which should be inspected every 4,000 miles. More on this topic can be found in the First Gen Forum.

All the above plus keeping the revs in check @ 9k will help to keep your 500 in top shape.

Congrats again and please keep us posted on your progress.

 

Good advice! I procured a factory manual on EBay, it is far superior to the Clymer manual.

 

You can find a new key set off ebay (used) or remove the key cylinder and take it to a lock smith that one key works all the locks on the bike. Other than that you'll probably ha e to clean out the tank and carbs best of luck to you.