Introduction and question

Hello, all. I am a new member and prospective VFR owner. I am a member of another Honda forum and a pretty experienced mechanic.

I am considering purchase of a VFR 750 in my Northern California area and have questions about durability. My budget is small and that means I am looking at early models with high mileage. What is "too many" miles on a VFR or what are the important things to consider when looking at high mileage bikes in the 1996 and up model years?

Also, is the VFR a reliable and low maintenance bike, or does it have lots of small needs that you are constantly working on? I have previously owned a 1983 V45 Sabre and it was rock solid. So I have experience owning a Honda V4, but my Sabre had less than 20K miles at the time I sold it.

Thanks for any and all help/advice offered.

Jose

 

Hmmmmmm........ So it sounds like a 98 with 82K miles might be something I could rely on for the next few years as a weekend/occasional ride. Would it have the RR issue? I like that it would still would have gear driven cams. I don't want to deal with valve adjustments. How much would the service cost if they are out of spec.?

 

Welcome aboard. Just my opinion, but 82K might be a bit on the high side unless it's a good deal. With that mileage chances are it's gone through one or more R/R's so the PO may have done mods already. Regarding the valve clearance, I could be wrong but chain or gear only governs the way the cams are driven so I don't think it affects wear, but same as with the R/R in that it could have been done already.

 

IMHO, any bike 10+ years old with 80K+ miles on it is a $1000 purchase - and it better be in pretty nice shape cosmetically at that.

 

:smile: +1 :smile:

 

Didn't mean to sound negative with my post, just a word of caution on price is all. FWIW, I put 156K on an '85 V65 Sabre (1100cc), and it was still a solid motor. As has been said, if the previous owner(s) cared for it well, a VFR should be able to go at least that without failures.

 

I hand't considered a Gen. 1, but McViffer is kind of local and I am eyeballing his bike in the classified section. Is there major stuff to worry about with the Gen. 1's? Is the frame and balance anywhere near as nimble as the Gen. 4 and up? I'll admit that the first Gen. VFR was one of the bikes I looked at when I discovered motorcycles in my early teen years and thought, WOW - that is a COOL looking bike! The styling does look dated, but it holds up even today.

Jose

 

In a word... yes. ALL of the Gen 1 V-4's had a serious inconsistency with cylinder head/camshaft manufacturing that resulted in heavy wear early in life that was not predictable from bike to bike. I've owned three Gen 1's, one of which (the Sabre mentioned above) went >150K with no issues at all. I also had a Gen 1 VF750F that was on its third set of cams when I bought it with 60K on it. The third bike was also a V65, and had marginal cams at 35K. There are several 'oiling kits' available to help with that problem, and some guys swear they 'fix' it. Then there's the cam chain tensioner ... And no, they Gen 1 Interceptor was nowhere near the Gen 2 and up with respect to handling and performance. Just for reference, the Gen 1 is 50-ish lbs heavier and has 20hp less.

Now... if you want comfort, that's a different story.

 

Holly Crap. I can't believe I have more miles than the legendary Reggie. I have racked 87,000 on my 06 thus far and other than maintainance really, (and a couple fugups) there has been no issue. Hell, I am still on my original battery. Seems if you ride them and service them they behave like a spirited hooker. Lively and always ready to go. Not that I can speak from experience you know. But I did notice a bit of an oil drip when I did an oil change this weekend so looks like I need some gasket changes. Hookers do loosen up and may start to leak in time.

 

Welcome aboard.