Howdy from SC! My name's Ryan, and I just bought a 99 VFR800 yesterday. She isn't my first Honda; that honor goes to my 1984 Honda Nighthawk 700S, "Tiana." Here she is with a friend's Honda Shadow VLX 600. And here is the Viffer! Haven't named her yet... Picked her up yesterday in Tennessee. She's a 1999 with the odo showing 13120 miles. The title showed 11,000 miles in 2003, so she has had only 2,000 miles of loving in the last 11 years. It shows. The fairings are sun faded on one side, but solid, and crack free. The front tire is bald, the rear is 13 years old and hard as a rock. Needs a battery and an air filter. Overall condition is pretty dang good otherwise. Nothing that isn't easily fixed. Not a bad score for $1500, I reckon. Thanks for having me here! RD
Welcome! That's a fantastic bike for $1500. I'll bet the chain is shot too. I always thought the Nighthawk 700S was one of Honda's best looking bikes.
Yep, the chain is at best "crusty". New to the whole concept of having a chain. Love the shaft drive on my Nighthawk. What chain should I get? Sprockets look fine. I put a D.I.D. X ring chain on my friend's Nighthawk 750 and it seemed pretty nice.
DID chain is great, but new set of sprockets too, start clean. With new tires, you are going to love it. K&N makes a good filter, cleanable so you don't have to buy a new one all the time. With such low milage, I would switch to pure synthetic, like Amsoil or Mobil 1, will last you along time.
I would have driven to TN myself to get that for $1500. What a great find. Before my 6th Gen, I bought a brand new '99 and loved it. It was a great bike and I do miss the gear whine. Welcome to the forum.
I picked up a 98 with 3500 miles. Sat in a heated space for a very long time and the second owner freshened it up and ran it some. All was good to go for me. My chain had some rust and kinks but I cleaned it real well with kerosene (on the bike) and lubed it with gear oil and it loosened right up and is fine. All fluids and fork oil were fresh when I got it but you need to look into all that. I paid 3000 for mine but would rather have 2 of yours for the same money. My 98 has been so well behaved since day 1 I can't believe it. I've done this and that to it but nothing HAD to be done. It came with a set of Dunlop Q3's and they are unreal. I see no reason not to get another set when these are gone. I use them in the warm and very cold wet and dry. Good luck with the new bike! Jim
YOu stole it. FBI are looking for you. Interstate theft. I too am fond of the DID X ring and have always put new sprockets with chain for what it costs. If that rear tire is hard as in dried out, no doubt, get rid of that crap and put on the best you can afford, front and back. I have used semi syn or full sin since new and will continue to do so. Switched from the stupid expensive Motul 5100 to much cheaperRotella T6. Can use that in my bike, my diesel truck and my wifes Civic. I have a K&N. What I don't like about it, if you clean and re-oil it, your bike is down for too long waiting for everything to dry. When I run out of refresher oil and cleaner, I will be going back to OEM filter. BTW. something like 189,000 km or 117,000 miles on mine now. There may be better product out there that have better performance characteristics, but I can't complain about how mine has lasted so far. Watch. Now that I said that, the bugga won't start.
Having dealt with more than enough of these... I, surely unoriginally, bestowed my "Interceptor" with the name of 'Vicci.' layful: