Taking the VF500 on a long road trip

Alright.....less than two weeks I am driving from my home in Southern Ontario, Canada to the Northern tip of Nova Scotia (Famous Cabot Trail) then back, with a quick ferry to PEI and across the Confederation Bridge and back home again. Should take roughly 6-8 days. Approx 4,800Km's (Almost 3,000miles)

from:Brampton, ON to:43.637268,-79.67926 to:Rue Grande Allee E to:Boulevard Laurier to:Route 128 to:Route 15 E to:Ceilidh Trail to:Cabot Trail to:Cabot Trail to:HWY-106 to:Route 1 - Google Maps

When I had a scare awhile back with my rear axle almost falling out, I had the bike looked over by a local Motorcycle shop. After fixing the axle and servicing the bike he said everything looked fine.
He also commented on how quiet the motor was. (and was surprised by it) so that makes me feel good about the motor surviving the trip.

I'm gonna do an oil change and adjust the throttle cables and Chain before heading out. I have a friend coming with in his 650 boulevard.

Any tips, hints, suggestions or taking my VF for this long ride?
Anything specific I should check or look at before/during the trip?

 

umm you live in brampton? i live in guelph. when i get competent we should totally meet up and ride.

do you have a helmet or at least a dashboard camera?? getting the view from that would be super cool and you'd have the memories forever!!

i always keep tie wraps/zip ties, duct tape, bandaids, flashlight (headlamp even better), a small absorbent cloth, a pen and post-it notes, chewing gum and a small pair of scissors on hand. with those on hand you shouldn't need much else. :tongue:

 

LOL....chewing gum? Can you chew gum with your helmet on? :tongue:

Tie wraps and Zip ties...good idea.

I WISH I could video tape most of it.....*sigh* that'd be cool.

You live in Guelph? I see you haven't been a member long...did you recently buy your VF from Jason in Brampton?

 

well it's more that if you need something squishy or sticky you can chew it up and stick it. plugged a leaking windshield washer fluid jet with it once :crazy: i'd never chew while riding. yikes!

yeah i did buy it from jason actually. took "me" a darn long while to get the beast running properly but now that the carbs are cleaned, the tank's replaced and the fuel pump has been removed it runs great :tongue: thankfully i have bike savvy friends with tools and a passion for taking bikes apart and putting them back together. poor baby seems to have done some serious sitting over the years. apparently the coating on the old tank had clogged the fuel system so that wasn't done correctly, but other than that, baby was just out of shape and needed to be tuned up, cleaned up and run, y'know? do yo know him or the other previous owners???

 

No...I bought the original mufflers from your bike off him. He showed me the pics of it and told me a girl from Guelph bought it. So I put 2 & 2 together. :biggrin:

We should go for a ride sometime....meet in the middle of Brampton and Guelph. (Acton? Milton?)

A buddy of mine had a 1985 VF750 and it was so much fun to ride around....2 old vintage Interceptors.

Your bike has the Solo seat and Aftermarket exhaust on it?

 

well there's the option of either solo or double seat - the cover comes off, which is sweet. i can use the cover over the second seat as a bit of a trunk :thumbsup:

yeah it does have aftermarket exhaust and it sounds beautiful. i can't remember what he said they were though...

YouTube - My New Motorcycle!

back to your trip - you're going to nova scotia right? they have wrong way signs for many kilometres down the highways. be careful. to me that says there are some very bad drivers down there :tongue: i've always found the east coasters to be really friendly and helpful so you'll be fine

 

Bike sounds good...I added you on You Tube so when you get some videos of it moving I can hear it. I want aftermarket exhaust for my VF soooo bad.


Back to my trip:

I'm bringing my Garmin GPS...plus my IPhone has GPS plus my friend has GPS on his Blackberry so I assume we'll be alright for directions. :tongue:

List of things to bring:

-GPS & Charger
-IPOD & Charger
-Cellphone & Charger
-Rain Gear
-Map book
-Spare Visor
-Spare Headlight Bulb
-Spare Fuses
-Generic Tools
-First Aid Kit
-Tire Pressure Gauge
-Chain Lube
-1litre spare Oil
-Flashlight
-Camera
-Rechargeable batteries
-Road Flares

I am worries about the stress of the bike....hoping all that Highway cruising will be okay for it. I hear alot of "My VF blew up on the Highway"

 

check out this thread for some helpful hints.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/anything-goes/24051-whats-your-tank-bag.html

 

Great link....

But I am more concerned with VF500F Specific things.

My main questions are:

-What should I check on the bike (specifically) before I head out?
-Anything advice for the first gen on long road trips. (8hrs of riding with gas breaks every 2 hrs or so.)
-With the bike cruising at 120km/h@6,500-6,800rpm is that too stressful for long periods?
-Recommended Tire pressure for the trip? (Thinking 40psi in the rear...little less in the front)
-Anything I can remove from the bike to make things lighter/easier?

 

just ride her! the those high rpms are not going to hurt it trust me on that i've rode for 10 hours on mine not ever seeing under 6,000 rpms lots of twisties, but check all your fluids throw your gear on and like nikey says JUST DO IT!

 

What's the Mileage on your bike Matt?

I'm just rolling over 50,000kms (31,000miles)

 

it's got 19,733 miles on it just do alll of your maintance to it and really thats all you can do, trust that its going to get you there

 

I trust it...just trying to make the trip as easy as possible on the ol' girl :wink:

 

Okay....4 more days and I'm on my trip.


Fresh oil change....chain adjusted, throttle cables adjusted....I guess I should go over every bolt and give'er a good tighten.


Any other advice?

 

be safe! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks guy who's name is also Matt who also has a 1986 VF500F :biggrin:

 

hahahaha how did you know

 

I creep you on Facebook.

 

you probly already left, but ive gone on 3 2000+mile trips on my 84 vf500f and have not had a problem. I run 38 psi front and rear. Also oil change and general maintenance is key. and a quick comfort tip, i like to fill my large tank bag absolutely full of stuff so i can lean on it and get behind the windshield. It takes a ton of stress off my back (have ridden 8+ hours in the rain behind my windscreen like this =\ .... but good luck! youll make it

 

post up some pictures when you return