If first gen are so unreliable, then why.....

JUST two questions to ask the guys selling Gen 1 bikes: How many miles ??Can i ride it home ??? That's a motorcycle !



IF not, why not, and please don't tell me it only needs a new battery. That's a project !

Don't consider anything with engine problems unless you have a newer, better engine to install or you'll just be selling the parts and wasting time while you could have a good ridable bike--not that old neglected VF --from craigslist much easier and quicker.

I do understand and account for the special V-4 experience, but chances are anyone could find a good inline-4 that could get you riding.....while you "restore" the VF in your spare time and hope to ride it "someday."

 

Yep, as long as the Gen1 isn't the only bike you plan on riding while you work on it and you have the money and sweat equity to burn, by all means, wail away.

 

Har...no, it only needs a battery and a tune-up.

 

I bought mine (for cheap and with a lot of extra parts) thinking that it only needed a carb clean up and that I would have it on the road in days. Ended up that there was a dropped valve and the frame needed to be replaced. I bought another parts bike for the frame and cleaned and painted everything, taking the best parts out of my "stockpile". Almost three months later I should have it running tonight! Will I keep it? Not sure...

 

Yea that's the 500's for ya. The 750's wouldn't even think of doing something like that!!:whistle:

They may have a perceived cam problem. That's because they were misunderstood and not treated correctly.:amen:

 

I think it all boils down to what you love...is it worth the time and money to have the one thing you always wanted?? its no different than a car guy draggin a pile of rust out of some backyard and restoring it to its glory days...i fell in love with the interceptor when it first came out...at the time i couldnt afford one but now im 48yrs old and to this day, at my parents house, the pictures from the original brochures still hang on the back of my old bedroom door..from 1984..so go out and find the best bike that you can work with...do the work yourself and learn..thats what im doing and now i own my dream bike...its far from perfect but its a great starting point...i watched barrett-jackson this year and a guy paid like $126k for a Chevy II or Nova, hes a race driver so he had the money to spend, but the people on the show were shocked because it was way over the value of the car..the reason the guy paid so much was because he had the same exact type car when he was 16 and he wanted another one and he could afford it....also the papa johns founder/owner paid $250k to buy back the camero he owned while in school...its in the commercials...so yeah passion comes with a price...are you willing to pay for what you love????

 

Well put Dutch.

I think a lot of the animosity with the First Gens comes from owners having issues with them. Owners loving them to death/defending their reputation, and people pointing out their flaws. (Nothing wrong with any of those)

But there is a lot of memories with these bikes. "Nostalgia on 2 wheels" I like to call them.

I can't go anywhere without someone asking me about my bike (mostly older guys) saying things like "I used to love those bikes back in Highschool!" or "friend of mine had one." "I had one just like that!" etc etc.

They are great bikes when they work and I do enjoy the way they look, and handle. Not to mention the powerband on these V-Fours are what dreams are made of.

But there is a flip side to the coin and as much as we love these bikes they do have serious issues that without proper maintenance, some time and money, a bit of babying, and some TLC they will most likely not last.

Can a First Gen last a long time? Sure!
Are they maintenance Free? Absolutely Not.
Are the next generation bikes better? From a technical stand point....Yes.
Are First Gens worth dumping lots of Money into? To each their own.

I think we can all agree on that, yea?

 

Well said.

Each point you make is so simplistically true, too basic in it's reason to be denied, so steeped in unbiased insightfulness, that you would have to be crazy, jealous, or just plain bitter to not get it. I wonder which applies to the 2nd gen owners who can post nothing more to the topic other than "sell it, it will only cause you heart ache"?

 

Thx Dutch, Slow and Hopit! Three good posts in a row here.

 

I've got DM 000306...

 

As the old saying goes, people hang on to their vfr's for a long time. I'm sure at the time the vfr was one of the most reliable bikes!

 

Second owner

I purchased my first in in the summer of 83 while I was in the Army. Shipped it over to Italy with me and had a great time with it. Sold it in 1986 with about 10k miles on it. Bought this one a year or so ago, only been ridden a little by previous owner, had 8100+ miles on it when i got it. Having some fueling issues now, possibly venting on the tank. Carbs recently gone through, fresh fuel, fuel filter clean, fuel flows well. Starts and idels great, after a while it seems to starve for fuel.

 

Just got my '83 back from NY last Thursday! Last time I had it running and drove it was 2001 (looking at last registration). As part of my settlement with my ex, I had all my tools & stuff shipped to CA in a container by PackRat (great service BTW). Unloaded bike, put into my local storage container, and next day hooked up a portable battery to it, and she turned over just fine. Cranked it for a about a minute to get oil backup into top end. Sounded fine. Now to clean her up, fix cosmetic damage, powder coat pipes and get carbs & tank cleaned.

In New York before shipping, needs a bath badly.

 

Looks nice, what rear shock did you switch out the stocker for?

 

At the time in '84, Fox was the hot item.

I have two low mileage stock shocks, if anyone needs one.

 

Yea those "aftermarket" shocks suck! I'd be willing to trade you for my low mileage stock one, just to be a nice guy...(ha ha)
Also, I believe that Kevin Cameron once said that he's never seen an early V-4 stranded beside the road because of bad cams. They will affect performance, but won't strand you. As well, the 500's never had camshaft issues. I also heard the 1000's had to a lesser extent as well.
When I bought my new one in 1986, the mechanic was practically begging me to bring it in, because he got about 12 hours to change cams, etc. He could do it in a lot less time, so he made good cash doing it.

 

I love reading these old threads. The only thing I've gotten done this weekend is drain two pots of coffee.

 

Same here & it's cold out today. Back to the thread; I love my VF500. The only issue I had was the R/R going on me in middle of traffic & had to push it to the sidewalk on an incline! And when I rear ended a car because I was not paying attention. Had it put back together & rode it until it got stolen...