Shopping for a nice 3rd gen VFR - 1990-1993

Any advice as to what to look for or be aware of? Have spent some time checking out parts availability. Was surprised at what is still available for a 30-yr old bike.

I currently have a 6th and a 7th gen VFR, both purchased new. Have a riding friend that has a first gen 700. He is having to replace his cams with NOS he found in Malaysia for big $$$.

Thanks for any advice offered!

 

Make sure it has the side stand cowl. Oh... and ALL OF THE OTHER COWLS IN FUCKING GREAT SHAPE.

And has had regular oil changes.

They are fucking bullet proof.

 

Have a look at my build thread, a lot of the common problems are covered.

you can’t get good panels easily.
Uprate the stator.
Reinforce the multiplug where it goes to the reg rec.
put a mosfet regrec on it and build a vfrness.
Uprate the rear shock with a zx14 one.
Put braided lines on it.
Put a wider rear tyre on it.

Then ride it and enjoy it. I bloody love mine.

 

A link to your thread might be helpful, things move fast sometimes.

Is the ZX shock covered in your thread, I don't rememebr that. Please expand on that if not.

Cheers.

 

I would not put anything wider than a 180 on the rear (bike originally came with a 170 on the rear - front is a 120. same tyres as the current crop of 600 cc sport bikes ensures you are able to get excellent rubber that will enable you to scrape the foot pegs without so much as a wiggle. I only have been running this exact combo for 30 years, so I think I know what I am tawking abooot.

electrics, assuming the stator is good and you did the test according to the book, I would cut the three yellow wires on the right side of the bike coming from your stator (right above the clutch cover) and hard wire them with solder/shrink tubing - I use butt connectors with solder and the heat shrink. Next, upgrade your Regulator with a Roadster one, hard wire that and follow the directions for installation.

Shocks are shite, I got a Fox on my 91 that I bought new and I was able to get a second hand Penske for my other Gen3 that I picked up from someone that was parting out a gen3 bike (wish I bought the entire bike! - Now I can't find the doode and I think his shop is gone.) I can not vouch for other brands, a Zed X 14 shock sounds like its sprung pretty heavy, but who knows. Fox does not make shocks anymore, Penske does, Works Performance makes them still, so its up to you.

Parts used to be more available on Ebay, now they sort of are waning out, I can't blame sellers as they changed the format and it kinda sucks now, (I stopped selling a few months ago but still use it to buy though) I bought parts from Austria to England for these gen3 bikes. There seem to be alot of parts in the UK, but shipping is expensive. I bought a colour matched mid to replace a hideously cracked mid on my white bike, part cost 100 US and and shipping was 100, I was happy to pay it too.

Bikes are bullet proof, I would like a red one so I can be the ultimate slum lord of Gen3 bikes! maybe one day, they are harder to find. I looked for years and found one an hour away back in 2013.