So I made an account on the site with the intention of introducing myself earlier, but better late than never I suppose. Salutations from the motorcyclist hellhole that is Burlington County New Jersey. Specifically the western part along US Route 130 where traffic is 55 mph bumper to bumper and stop lights every 500 feet. Roads range from decent to so filled with potholes and bumpy from numerous patches made by underpaid road crews too lazy to roll them flat with the existing road surface. It is a wonder that I haven't crashed my bike yet. I suppose my motorcycling career began when I was 7-8 years old riding a new 2000? white and purple yamaha pw50 bike across hayfields bordering the airpark my family lived in Weatherford Texas. There was a white and red Honda with a pita of a kickstarter as well when I got a little bigger, I don't remember the model years. When our family moved up here to NJ in 2005 motorcycles didn't register on my radar until 2015 when Youtube motovlogs were becoming a popular thing. After remembering that I used to have a blast zooming around and ramping ditches on those 2 wheeled deathtraps when I was 7 was all the encouragement I needed to sign up for the MSF course in summer of 2016. After graduating from the 2 day course with flying colors I promptly began searching through the listings on CycleTrader.com. I admit I may have been more than a bit influenced by '80s and '90s Japanese anime showcasing sleek and stylish machines and wanted one of my own. One thing led to another and I decided a red white and blue 1984 VF750F was the only sensible choice for me with its good looks, powerful but tame V4 engine, and swift but stable handling. I didn't mind paying a bit more for the nicest example I could find and trailered this beauty back home for my 21st birthday. The bike was on consignment at Mavrix Motorsports in Middletown NY by the original owner for $3000. I rode her every chance I got in the fall until winter hit which was the perfect time for some preventive maintenance checking the valve adjustment, cam chain tensioners, and investigating this chocolate camshaft situation I heard early vfs were known for. The camshafts checked out pretty good for the most part with valve lash close-ish to spec with only 2 lobs having pitting that concerned me, but i'll check up on them in a few thousand miles and see if it gets worse. She had 18,000 miles when I got her and now has 22,500. I've had, I think only 3 incidents, all in the first year, first time 2 days after I brought her home. I was practicing in a parking lot and was going too slow turning to the left on a gentle slope and dropped the bike with no damage done. The 3rd day I was riding her to a Cycle Gear to buy a pair of riding pants and jacket. That day was ruined pretty quickly when I was trying to pull into the parking lot a bit too fast (10-15 mph?) while braking and lowsided the bike right on top of a sandy gravel pit and got a bit of light road rash in my right arm. I was wearing a helmet, heavy long sleeve shirt, jeans, and riding boots. It was a ironic that the gear I was going to buy was needed right before I bought it. The highway the store was located on is NJ-70E which is pothole city, and of course all the shit from the potholes ends up in the driveway of all of the businesses there. Unfortunately I don't have a damage picture, but basically the handlebar put a nice large dent in the gas tank right at the tip of the wing of the Honda decal, broke the plastic upper radiator cover and reflector, gouged the hell out of the polished engine case, bent the front indicator mount and rear brake pedal a bit, and scratched the mirror, front brake reservoir, front fairing, and exhaust muffler. I have since fixed the worst of the damage the best I could and mounted the engine crash protectors. After all that, tipping the bike over in the driveway while walking it out of the garage 6 months later and just having to replace a broken clutch lever is a minor concern. You can still see some scratches here in this photo, and if you were looking at the gas tank up close you can easily see where I had hammered the dent out as I chipped the paint slightly and touched up the paint with nail polish. I am happy to report the remaining 3 years were damage free with only one scary situation involving speeds of 80mph, taking a very short 180* highway offramp corner too quickly, and a lack of attention due to a freezing cold morning induced fatigue, resulted in my standing the bike up mid corner after a sudden front end shimmy startled me and promptly riding it off the road into the grass run off area. I definitely took that as a learning experience and thanked my lucky stars I didn't crash. The only other eventful stories I have are relegated to unexpected mechanical troubles experienced on the road potentially stranding me. All in all the bike has been a lot of fun and not surprisingly, more reliable than my two other vehicles, a 1946 Jeep CJ-2A and a 1950 Chevy 4-door sedan.
