thinking of a 1985 VF100f

thinking of a 1985 VF1000f

There is a 1985 VF1000F for sale near me and I'm thinking seriously of it.

I haven't looked at it yet, pictures look good, 63,000 kms on it.

I'm pretty familiar with bikes in general having ridden for longer than I'd care to think about.

So I'm wondering is there anything in particular to look out for with this year and model?

Any advice appreciated, thanks..

 

Yes there are several things to look for and at. They had a tendency to eat cams. More on that later. Check second gear, sometimes blown or popping out and can't get parts for. Voltage regulator connectors. They melt. If they are soldered together that's a good thing. You'll be told or read about oil mods are a must. That's really been debated to death. Search is your freind there and with cams also.

If the bike has made it this far and has been on the road yearly kind of, then the cams are mostly fine. A lot lasted and still working fine. Though you may want to pop the rear valve cover (easiest) and have a peek. Then you'd be 50% good.

If it was taken care of good or better not a whole lot goes wrong. Though you do have 27 years to degrade all the rubber boots in the front brake sliders and such. Speaking of which if they were not clean and greased they will not slide and work or will hang and drag. But most of the stuff is standard old motorcycle. If you know what to look for then yes they can be neat bikes with decent power. There is still a lot of OEM parts available on line is best bet. Some stuff is ebay/salvage yrd only.

 

Not to cause a riff... but I think the VF1000F had some design/manufacturing corrections and didn't have the 'cam problems' of the 500 and 750 versions.

 

I thought the 1000F was only an '84 year model (in the US, not sure about other countries). I'm pretty sure anything older than 1986 had the cam eating problems and top end oiling issues also. I'm sure some of the "knowledgable senior members will chime in with the facts"

Either way, it's an old bike so plan on working on the bike. Account for all fluids and regular maintenance items to be replaced and then ponder on all the things that could be needed on a 27 year old bike.

 

Thanks for the info fella's. I was thinking of this as it's old enough to be a collector bike and therefore cheap insurance in my neck of the woods. Guy doesn't want much for it either so I'm thinking it's going to have cam issues. May look anyway but not interested in project, thanks again.

 

One thing you might be able to do depending on your state. Is to get a historic plate. Pay once and never have to pay for plates again. At least that's the way Ohio works with vehicles 25yrs and older. I still have my original plate I'm thinking of doing that with this year. Except the colors of green on white doesn't look as good as the rwb plates I have now. Plus I think the historic plates are half the cost.

 

I'm in Canada, BC, and 25 years or older qualifies as "collector" status and real low cost insurance. Only caveat is you can't use it for to and from work, pleasure only, but that's not a concern to me..

A collector plate here is likely the same as your historic plate.

I don't do a lot of riding these days so am looking for something that won't take a big bite just for insurance. There's a couple of early 80's CB 750s I may look at.