New owner of an 85 VF1000R

Hey everyone! I just picked up my first bike on Sunday. She's an '85 VF1000R with just under 18k miles on the clock (750 miles a year! ). I got a factory shop manual with it along with a very nice set of spare upper and lower fairings. The bike isn't perfect, but it's got new tires on it, Yoshimaura slip ons, and sounds AWESOME!

My eventual goal for the bike is to bring it back to the original color/graphics scheme, but for this summer I'm hoping to just ride it and enjoy it. Anything I should look out for on this bike? I've been doing some research and I haven't really found anything major, aside from the cam oiling issues, which I will probably take a look at over the winter when I have time to take it all apart and pop the valve covers off. Also, any "insider" tips on parts sources? For instance, I need a whole bunch of the allen head bolts with rubber washers used to hold the fairings and tail panel on.

Anyway, great site, and I'm looking forward to learning a lot!!

-Paul

P.S. the pics are at the previous owner's garage, I'm waiting for the weather to cooperate so I can get some new pics of my own.

 

She will look sweet flying the Red White and Blue again.


Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome to the madness my friend. I would snatch that bike up in a minute.
As far as the top end oiling issue, I'm pretty sure there is a kit system available that alleviates the problem.

 

Are those..........purple forks?........................:crazy:

I'm jealous. Did it come with a spare set of plastics?! lucky. You got yourself a lot of fun. ENJOY!!!:thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the welcome. And yeah...purple forks...don't ask me!!!! LOL They'll be going back to the proper red when I re-do everything. Yes, it came with spare upper and lower fairings which are in good shape (just need to be painted). The fairings on the bike aren't horrible, but are certainly not perfect. I didn't get an extra tail section though.

I took it for the first (short) ride today and it seemed to go OK, although it's missing on one or two cylinders pretty bad now (at idle) which it wasn't doing when I bought it. I guess I'll throw some spark plugs in it when I change the oil.

Also, anyone else have issues with the sidestand being so close to the shifter that sometimes you grab the stand with your toe instead of the shifter??!! I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it threw me for a loop the first time I tried to shift LOL

-Paul

 

Looking damn good. I like the black even, sans the purple. Welcome to the forum.

 

welcome to the brotherhood

i've been looking over a damn year for a nice 1000R and i can't find jack sh@t

 

Yeah, overall I'd say she's in pretty decent shape, aside from some breaks in the upper fairing and tail section and one or two MINOR dings in the tank.

To be honest I wasn't even looking for one of these machines, I was just looking for a relatively inexpensive bike. I found this on on Craigslist less than 1/2 hour away from me. I almost passed it over after doing research and finding out it weighed 600 lbs! A good friend of mine who is into older bikes (just bought back his old '90 GSX-R 750 with 57k miles on it!) told me that this bike was amazing and that we should go look at it. Long story short she was mine a few days later LOL.

I have noticed that they're pretty rare the more I've done research, and the cool thing is that, especially when I get her back to stock colors, it'll be pretty rare that I'll see another one on the road! According to the VIN I guess mine is #598 so it's kind of "early production" I guess.

Oh well, enough rambling from me for now, here's a couple of the images from above, but at a little better resolution:




Thanks again for the warm welcome!

-Paul

 

There are top-end oiling kits out there. Some will argue that the oiling problem affected all 1st Gen V4 engines, but the 700 / 750 were the ones really affected. I did put one on my 500, but I don't think it was necessary. I'm not going to put one on my 1000.

Last summer, my 1000R was firing on two cylinders. A new set of plugs fixed the problem. Hopefully, yours will be that simple too.

The side stand getting in the way of the shifter is a pretty common problem too.

Welcome and congratulations. I'd love to see your bike in its native colors. Make sure you post pictures of the restoration.

 

Congrats on your purchase! I just got mine last Saturday.... I see that your tank profile is a little different than mine... Can anybody shed some light on this? Mine is an '85 as well... Thanks!

 

85 Vf1000r

Yes, I was looking at the tank too. He has a euro tank from overseas. The US tank was sloped more. If he wants, I have an extra US tank in the garage I'd be willing to sell cheap.

May I suggest, if you're going to repaint, that bike was bitchin in Rothmans colors. See VF1000R.com. Jamie is the US guru.

Larry

 

Wow, I hadn't even paid attention to that, even though I've been spending a lot of time looking at factory painted bikes (especially comparing the differences between '85 & '86). I wonder how the heck the darn thing ended up with an overseas tank on it? hmm....

I can't quite decide which tank profile I like better, but if I put it back to factory US colors I should have a US tank on it!

Larry, PM me with some pictures and a price on your tank when you get a chance. No big rush because I don't have any extra cash right now, but I think I want to get a US tank eventually.

Thanks for the pick-up on that guys!!

-Paul

edit: another thought after a quick look...is my tank the same as a VF1000F?

 

tank

I don't think its a F tank, but I don't have a good pic to compare to, but it sure looks like a euro tank to me.

I'll take a pic of my R tank and PM you. If you decide to go that route, I think there are a few people who would like that euro tank.

Larry

 

For what it's worth I just popped the tank off so I could get at the rear spark plugs easier and I found that the tank appears to have a fuel sending unit in it (wires cut off) and it has a TINY fuel outlet adapted up to the larger fuel line going to the carbs. Does that shed any light on the situation?

-Paul

 

Bike looks good, even the tank. I'd just repaint it and keep the same one.

The tank wouldn't be from the F, which had tab openings molded in to the lower left/right for the side fairings to attach to. Also no fuel sender.

I know what you mean on the sidestand, I cut the rubber wear indicator bracket off, smoothed it out and repainted the sidestand. I also drilled and tapped for a small screw insert between the sidestand and the stop bracket, so the stand sits just a slight bit lower and gives room to get your toes on the shifter. I've got vin #404 from '85. Welcome! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks! FWIW, the tank does have a tab on each side with nothing attaching to them on this bike...

Good idea on the sidestand, I'll probably have to do something similar!

-Paul

 

you may want to look at :: T A S T Y N U T S :: by Pro-Bolt

and KurveyGirl - Motorcycle Stuff: Dzus Fasteners, angled valve stems, Vesrah and More

 

Hey guys, quick update here, I got a 1000R tank from Larry (safetypro10) so I'll be able to use that when I re-do everything else. I think I came to the realization that the tank currently on my bike may be from a VF750 not a European 1000. I've been looking at the pictures of the 750 and I'm pretty darn sure the tank is the same as mine. Any thoughts on that...for whatever it may (or may not) be worth?

-Paul

 

European/export:



NA models:



VF750F;



The European model looks like the VF750F tank and they may even interchange, but I'd say your's is the stock tank.

 

It's a vf700/750 tank. US and Import kR tanks had no sending unit because they have no fuel gauge. The Euro tank is slightly narrower up front where it mounts than the 700/750. The tabs on the sides he's talking about are for the 700/750 side covers to push into. No such thing on a kR.