Is there ANY significant diff between 98 and 99??

Both the 98 and the 99 have a fast idle circuit operated by the lever on the left handlebar.....it's not technically a choke, it simply holds the idle up.

 

I have the 99 UK bike (registered in 2000). I has an manual choke. One diffrence I have seen is the screen for a 98, which my mate has, has the screws in a different place from the 99. I tried his double bubble and it would not fit.

 

I am taking my own battery to go look at this thing....it just so happens that this bike takes the exact Yuasa that my 4 wheeler does....and I just bought that new battery end of last summer. So I will take that (which will allow me to negotiate 75 to 100 bucks off the price) and a voltmeter to check voltage as zoom-zoom describes, and we'll see what the deal ends up being. He's asking $2800, which I already find completely reasonable to begin with, but I'll work on him a little bit.....he doesn't want the bike, doesn't like it, and I know he wants it gone.
Retail on a 98 on KBB is $2510. I'd like to get the bike for about $2700 and I would be very pleased.

 

I'll bet if you offer him $2500 right there on the spot he would be crazy not to accept, especially with cash in hand. Of course if you tell him "OK, let's load her up on the trailer and here's $2000 cash, and no, I don't need to hear it run", he might say yes as well. Just a thought. Sorry, I deal with used car managers and wholesale dealers all day at work, and sometimes I think a bit of that rubs off.

 

Looks like a pretty sweet deal, and even more so if you get a few bucks off of him

You definitely want to change that R/R out (if it hasn't already been upgraded to a MOSFET). If it hasn't gone wrong yet, it will. Then your next topic will be "Stranded by a bad R/R", and we'll all be saying welcome to the club.

 

The 98 and 99 are identical. I have one of each in my garage. The motorcycle looks in great shape, just buy and ride it. If it starts and runs I wouldn't bother with the fuel. Just use it up and refill when the time comes. Take a volt meter and check the charging voltage to make sure the electrical system works.

Good luck with the purchase.

 

Well it's mine....brought it home about an hour ago. It's in gorgeous condition, totally exceeded my expectations. Runs like a top even with that old gas, idles nice and everything.
Needs a battery, the one in it now is out of my 4 wheeler, and it needs tires before it ever sees the street. What's on it is hard as a rock and have apparently been on for years. I may still drain the tank, and will definitely change plugs and clean the air filter. Chain and sprockets look great, forks and shock are dry, and I think I ended up with a darn good bike here...
He wouldn't budge on price....I paid $2800 for it. I have no problem with that, I was NOT going to let this one get away because I would have regretted it....it was one of those gut feelings that a person sometimes gets.....
Regulator/rectifier been changed already I found out.

 

And the D&D on this thing does not sound too bad to my surprise. I am NOT a D&D fan in any way, and the cheapness of the finish on this thing has left it dull, pitted, and there's even some rust on the intermediate pipe. On a 1 to 10 scale I give this thing a 5 for condition. Not sure any of you guys are going to want it.....but it is going to come off, and then I'll let you guys know and if someone wants it I'll probably just let them make me an offer.
The risers don't seem to sit me up as straight as I thought they would, so I need to ride the bike a couple times to see if I like them or not. I figured they sat you bolt upright in the saddle...but they don't.

 

Glad to hear you finally got the bike and good to know that the condition is better than what you expected. I'm sure that riding it will more than exceed your expectations as well. Congrats

 

Question for you guys: what company makes a good quality solo cowling for this bike, already painted, and that matches and fits good? Any recommendations?

 

Honda makes the solo cowl. Check ebay. The OEM cowls show up pretty regularly for between $50 and $100.

 

I have seen this company mentioned a couple of times by others on this site and they seem to have good prices on OEM stuff. You can get a new OEM cowl for the bike that would be the same color as your bike for $157. Check it out and see what you think.

1998 Honda Interceptor 800 VFR800FI Parts, 1998 Honda Interceptor 800 VFR800FI OEM Parts - BikeBandit.com

I have also had a very good experience with using Honda Parts Nation for purchasing parts for my bike and for a friends older VFR750 as well. They were great to deal with and apparently the rear solo cowl for a 1998 VFR800 in red is only $135. Even Better

1998 Honda VFR800FI A REAR COWL | CyclePartsNation Honda Parts Nation

Apparently Bike Bandit offers free shipping within the US on orders over $99 according to the site.

 

No other than the 1998 being called VFR800FiW and the 1999 being called VFR800FiX there are no significant differences although remember reading somewhere once there were a couple of the normal minor production line changes between the 2.

Also check Link:
1998-2001 VFR800F Specs

 

John451, that is an excellent link, and it brings up yet another question:
One thing I don't like on this bike is the rubber boots on the mirrors. I see in the link you provided that in 2000 they did away with those and went to an all metal painted mirror. Can those mirrors be fitted onto this bike? I would assume "yes".......I would think mounting is the same....??
And the only other difference, ad this I knew already, was that in 2000 the bikes lost the fast idle lever.
I'm learning quite a bit about this generation of VFR in the last 3 weeks, thanks to a lot of research, and talking with all you guys.

 

Took some pics after it was loaded. I'm bored, so here they are:

 

I was just comparing those two sites zoom-zoom provided for parts, and Honda Parts Nation has much better pricing on everything I checked. Bike Bandit seems quite high, although not sure how shipping might figure in....
So when you upgrade the mirrors to the 2000 style, do you need just the mirror, or the entire mount, hardware, and everything?

 

I think if you buy the Y2K mirrors they come complete with the mounts and bolts. The one thing they don't come with is the little rubber gasket that goes between the fairing and the mounting base for the mirror, but your bike should have one under the existing mirror I think.

I think the main difference between Bike Bandit and Honda Parts Nation was that Bike Bandit offered free shipping in the US whereas Honda Parts Nation did not. When I ordered parts for my bike, Honda Parts Nation had the lower prices and, since I'm located in Canada, their shipping was less expensive as well. You might even be able to get the mirrors from them as well.

I wonder if you could just remove the boots from your existing mirrors. I can remember doing that with the mirrors on my 97 VFR and they looked almost identical to the Y2K mirrors. Try peeling back the rubber boot off the base a bit and see what the shaft looks like. (Ok, Ok , that sounds weird, everyone get their minds out of the gutter)

 

Just today, per zoom zoom's excellent instruction, I did a voltage test for R/R output.
13.4 at idle, about 14.6 at 5000. Good numbers.