WOTL, what to look for on 5th Gen before buying?

I am going to look at a '01 Viffer tomorrow, and wanted to know if there is anything specific I should be aware of. I know this era Honda voltage regulators can be suspect; is there something to look for there?

Bike has < 7K miles. :thumb: I've wanted a Viffer for a long time, but keep ending up on other bikes (recently a Tuono). I think it's about time I give the V4 a chance.

Thanks in advance,

Ken
IBA #257

 

Replying to myself...I rode down and looked at the bike today, and took it for a ride. The good: body looks nice, runs great, rides fine. Has new tires, newer battery (although he let it go dead last year, so I doubt it will last), and low miles as advertised. The bad: it's been abused in the "not used" way. It's dirty, the swing arm has chain lube slpooge all over it, and some of the aluminum has corrosion blush on it. It's been stored in an un-heated shed in south-central Oregon, which means high-humidity winters. Although cosmetics don't bother me all that much, in my mind they lower the value of the bike.


http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/98g9sZoAGgWCEK-LopSiQg?feat=directlink

Ride impression: this is the first VFR I've ridden. The owner is about 1/4 mile down a rough dirt driveway, and the bike felt better than I expected going down it. The motor is much more comfortable than my Tuono ever was at slow speeds; in fact the bike didn't seem terrible at slow speeds. The bars were better than I expected and the pegs higher than I expected. The acceleration was what I was hoping for, maybe not as visceral as the big liter V-Twin in the Aprillia, but oh when that V-Four got on song!! The only vibes I really noticed was when taking some corners holding the thottle in the 8-10K RPM area, I could feel it in the seat. But then, I don't usually care if there are some vibes when I'm attacking corners that hard. It didn't feel that it dropped into corners as easily as my Tuono, but I think the tire pressures were a little soft, and I had sharp profile Avon's on the Ape.

Bottom line: he is asking $3900, and I offered $3500; $500 today and balance on Sunday when I'd come to pick up the bike. He said the lowest he'd go today was $3700, but by Sunday he'd take the $3500 if it hadn't sold.

At any rate, I got out for a nice 420 mile ride on my other bike today. And it didn't even start raining until AFTER I got home!

 

I'd be more concerned about the history of the bike. Is he the original owner? Does he have any service records? How often was the oil changed? How was the bike ridden? Is it stock? If not, what was modified? If you look through the dirt, will it clean up with just a little elbow grease? If all of this checks out, then I think $3500 isn't a bad price for that kind of mileage. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

2nd owner, dead stock. From the mileage, it was ridden seldom. ;-) He says maint. has been done, but I haven't seen receipts yet. At any rate, it will get all fluids changed as soon as it gets in my garage if I purchase it, as I'm sure most have never been changed. It will clean up fine, although it will take some Simple Green and some elbow grease!

 

I think that you can expect to replace the battery (as you've noted), change out ALL of the fluids (just to be safe) and spend a weekend giving the bike the a true tear-down and scrub. So you're looking to add ~$300 and a weekend of labor into that bike, and in exchange, you'll get a bike that will realistically last you 5-10 years.

At that point, what's the difference between $3500 and $3700? In my mind, if the bike is worth $3500, it's worth $3700 as well.

 

Wilson I mostly agree. I usually ride a bike for 18-24 months and put from 10-40K miles on it in that time. For instance my current bike I've owned for about 16 months and 18K miles. My Goldwing I bought new, and sold it 20 months later with 39K miles on it (an expensive 39K miles at that!). Anyway, because of that, I always think of resale value, with 20K more miles than what the bike has on it when I look at it. Even though cosmetics don't bother ME, they will probably be a concern for the next owner. $3700 is not that far from $4K, and there is another 5th Gen a few hours north of me for $4k (more miles, '00 model). So technically I agree that two-bills one way or the other is not a deciding factor. However, I always try to set a price I will not go over for a certain bike (and under when selling) and stick to that, for better or for worse. It helps me make rational (ha!) buying decisions, something not easy when it comes to bikes.

Besides, $200 is a gas to California and back!

 

Has anyone mentioned the r/r and wiring harness yet?

Honda cheaped out on the r/r for a number of years and they are prone to failure. On this model it is located on the left subframe behind the cowling. Burnt(or brittle) wires are an indication of trouble. An out right failure can lead to lots of electrical troubles through out the bike.

Other than that, this bike kicks ass.

 

sounds like this bike has suffered more from non-use than actual riding. its surprizing that they made no attempt to clean her up for sale
which to me says they didnt really care for it, and therefore cant expect top dollar in that case.

other wise, if your prepared to do the recovery maint then all should be fine.

put a pipe on her and it will sound ten times better ( and shave off a few more pounds).

 

He brought the R/R up in his original post but nobody mentioned the wiring harness. Just something to check.

 

Thanks Meatloaf. The wiring (but not the R/R) is a weakness on Aprilia's as well, and I think Honda has had problems on and off with them. Save .50c on wire building it, and cost all the owners lots of heartache. Argh.

I worked @ Square D in Peru & lived on Main Street back in the early 90's.

The bike ad is still up, so maybe I'll have a new bike come Monday.

Richard - my Tuono had a Remus on it when I bought it, and I got the stock pipe too. I planned on putting the stock pipe back on (I'd never owned a bike with an aftermarket pipe) but it sounded so damn good, I left it one. I think the Viffer would need a nice pipe, just for the music to my (old) ears.

Ken

 

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I did not pick up this bike. I ended up getting a '03 Sprint ST with less miles for the same $$ with factory bags.

Ken

 

Wow, nice score, was going to throw out some thoughts, but no need too now, good riding. the ST is the bike Honda should have paid attention to as it is it's main competitor.