VF500F valve springs

I just bought a low-mileage (5300) VF500F. On another VFR discussion page I found info that 1) VF500F valve springs should be repleced at 40,000 miles, and 2) that those valve springs are no longer available from Honda, or, apparently, from anywhere. Does this mean that I must just throw this bike in a dumpster when it reaches 40k miles? Does anyone have a source for the springs?
Thanks

 

5,300 miles is a super low mileage. Your engine should be in good shape.

I think (hope) Tink was kidding when he said you should toss the bike.

VF500Fs can have a long life if you follow a few rules: let the bike properly warm up before riding, use a high grade of synthetic motor oil (change frequently), carefully maintain the valve lash (inspect at 4,000 mile intervals) and keep the revs in check.

Regarding the inner and outer valve springs, these are indeed NLA. Several owners have been talking over aftermarket sources. Kibblewhite and R/D are two options.

Both companies have asked for a donor head to use as reference (this being for the '84/'85 version). Both have made kits in the past for the VTR250.

For reference the VT250 shares the same valve spring part numbers as the '84,'85. The '86 has different part numbers.

Hope this is of some help and enjoy your 500!

 

Thanks, good info. I also have a '90 VTR250 with 12k miles. I don't usually watch the revs on it, it's just too much fun to make it scream. Maybe I'll start being more circumspect..

 

Hey, MacJ, fellow VTR 250 fan.......i bought a '90 in March with about 38K miles, and the motor blew up (heroically, giving its all with throttle pinned) less than 1000 miles later, but it had nothing to do with valves; instead, the rear cylinder rod bearing expired. Doing a post-mortum on the engine, i found the cams and valve tips were nearly perfect, so the oiling poroblems on the VF 500 do not apply to the VTR. I love the VTR cuz it has all the power any sensible adult needs as a commuter or for around town use and is so light you almost think you're riding a bicycle !

 

Again, thanks, Mr. Cities, or can I call you Invisible? You seem to be pretty knowledgable, so if I could pick your brain for a moment: I bought the '84 from the second owner's brother, who had a garage full of bikes, and had basically not ridden it since having acquired it from said brother 2 years ago. It's very clean, great paint, new back tire. Starts but runs badly - not missing, but it overruns when you throttle down, and it's getting hot. Assuming the carbs were nasty I put fresh gas and some Seafoam through it, and that helped the bike at least start and run, but the overheating is something I don't want to aggravate. Before my one test ride I had topped up the coolant reservoir, and when I got back from a three mile boulevard ride the temp gauge was almost pegged, and it peed out the coolant overflow onto the floor.
My plan at this point is to clean and flush the cooling system before anything else, but I haven't a clue what sort of cleaner to use in an aluminum radiator and an aluminum engine.
Any thoughts? I'd be obliged.
Thanks,
JohnO

 

Old-school method of cleaning cooling system: remove rad cap, drain while hot (bolt at bottom of waterpump), run water from a garden hose for 2 or 3 minutes into the radiator and through the system, fill system with water and 1/2 box of baking soda, run for 10 minutes, drain and flush again, add new coolant as much as possible, ride bike for about 10-20 miles, check level again under rad cap, refill as necessary and you're done.

 

If I had a 500 I would not throw it away because of the valve springs.
I would bet the 750 valve springs or valve springs from another model ARE the same.
Just measure the height ,diameter and so on and start looking for another spring from another source. There is help available too.
In the racing world it is done all the time.

They are just springs a certain height and pressure of compressing.
Not a big deal.
Matter of fact there could be a better choice of spring from another Honda or other brand that will work.

Throw away the bike ...NO WAY.
All the parts are useful and throwing it in a dumpster would be really ignorant.

 

He just missed a small detail. The cold water must be added gradually to the coolant until it runs clear.
That is on a CAR where the radiator drain is a SMALL plug that allows slow draining.
Most motorcycles do not have a separate small radiator drain. Drains on motorcycle engines is usually by disconnecting the radiator hose and that drains too quickly.

 

Of course I wasn't speaking literally about tossing the bike in a dumpster! Just dramatic license. I do think that surely someone, somewhere will have replacement valve springs for bikes that still number in the thousands on the road currently. I'm told the VTR250 uses exactly the same spring, and probably more bikes. Honda has a bad habit of giving more than one part number to exactly the same part, simply because it fits more than one bike.

 

Sorry...On other motorcycle websites they DO toss bikes in dumpsters.

I called HONDA and asked about the part numbers being different on the same part.
They told me it just has a different number to identify it with a particular bike.
I wish they would just have a part number and not link it to each bike. That way we can get parts easily from other models.