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So I’m looking to buy this VF500F and it’s going for $1,300 but it has 38k miles. Is that too much or is it good for the price?

Hey y'all, I think I bought my very first vf500 in late 84 , it was red and i loved that thing ....Sadly I traded it on for a Ninja 600 in 86 and rode green bikes for a few years. I bought another one in 1990 (used) and fell in love with the V4 once again . I added some of those Lockhart Philips lowers and a Vance & Hines 4:2 pipe... a couple years later I got interested in road racing and before I new it I was racing lightweight CCS classes on a pretty stock VF500 ...and it was fun! (notice the Hurricane 600 wheels that bolted right on) as the seasons went by the bike changed quite a bit.... Megacycle Cams , Hindle 4:1 jetting , ignition advancer, Fox Shock , Gold valves in the forks, carbon fiber rear sets . The bike was fast : By 98 the bike had been totally transformed and was virtually unrecognizable except by V4 fans . raw Hurricane wheels were swapped out for CBR F2 wheels, and Michelin slicks. Carbs were worked over , engine completely rebuilt , competition valve job, Generator and flywheel removed. total loss ignition, and the bike had a full set of RC-45 bodywork . I think I reached my daily pic limit to be continued

Here's something I've been working on for a few weeks now. The whole project isn't finished yet, but should be soon, so I thought I'd post a few installments of the rebuild here. I was asked to get this girl back up and running, she was last ridden 10 years ago. During early discussions the carbs were cited as the main issue that needed addressing, but after getting eyes on the bike, the issues went a little deeper than that. Still not bad overall, a good starting point for sure. Nowadays you can give just about anything 10 feet and an Instagram filter to make it look good: But, the closer I got the more I saw that needed attention. The whole bike was fairly original, and was put away just as some of the small "old bike stuff" stared cropping up. Tires were dated 2003, fork seals leaking, clutch slave leaking, gas had gone off, battery gone, mufflers packed full of whole kernel corn feed, etc. I made a list and settled in for the long haul, but not before getting the bike to start on the old gas with a fresh battery. It took full choke and a lot of cranking, and the bowls leaked, but it did start, run, and even took some throttle so I knew we had something to save here. First up, clear a space, pull some bodywork and the carbs Rut roh, first sign of trouble... someone's had that plenum off, and they chewed up the screws while they were at it. When I saw that I figured it was time to go all in. Ordered a full rebuild kit from BillyC and tore the carbs down I got them to this point, then proceeded to tackle 1 carb at a time till all 4 were done Kit contents: All the rubber was hardened and splitting, this definitely needed doing Each carb body was soaked in Berryman's and thoroughly blown out/dried and rebuilt with the new rubber. The diaphragms and slides were in good shape and stock. The chrome on the slide hats was pitting and chipping/flaking and the hats were dirty, so I sent them on a quick trip through my blast cabinet to clean them up without dulling the chrome too badly, then installed the nicer ones on the outside carbs. Also blasted the plenum, and refined the body & bowl gasket surfaces. All in all, they look better now

I have undertook the task of rebuilding and modifying an '84 VF500F. I have a wiring question. What does the yellow wire that connects to the instrument cluster do?. I have figured out every other wire on the bike, I am adding an LCD display, HiD Headlight Assembly, and LED blinkers all around. Every wire is labeled and ready for soldering. Except the yellow wire. According to the diagram it connects to one of the ignition coils and one of the spark units. On the other side of the wire though, it disappears off the diagram past a pin connector. Following the wire myself I can see it go into the body of the gauge cluster, but I wont know what it connects to until I take it apart. If anybody has a clue what it is supposed to connect to, please let me know. One sneaky suspicion that may be of use, is the fact that the bike wont start with it unplugged ( I think [many things and do-dads were unplugged] ). This is a link to the diagram http://imgur.com/0zhzloN I think something suspicious is afoot, maybe we should [redacted] into this more. [redacted] are keeping something from us.

My 85 vf500f starter switch just broke at the pivot (as they seem to do). After failed attempts to glue and JB weld, I've come to the conclusion that a replacement control is in order. My question is, do similar vf models in that gen share the same controls and connections? vf500c, vf700f, etc? It's slim pickings on ebay for the exact vf500f control. I'd like to keep it as close to original and not use a control from a newer cbr.

Here are the candidates. 1. VF400F 2. VF500F 3. VF500F2 4. VF750F 5. VF1000F 6. VF1000F second version for same markets (basically a VF1000F2 whit a normal F top faring) 7. VF1000F2 Also tell what color option of the model you did like best!

So I did need to change the brake pads of my VF500F. So I looked up what tools I will need, and found these Actually you dont need the 14mm one, just a 10mm and a 12mm. And ofcorse a new set of brake pads, TRW in my case It looks tight and to make it easy to come to you can remove the right side silencer, but it can be done whit out removing it! Start by attach the brake horse from the swing arm just under the brake caliper. The open the M6 bolt whit a 10mm tool that is on top of the caliper and take off the plate that looks the slide pins that hold the brake pads. The open the lover 12mm head bolt, take it off and the rise the caliper up, can be a bit tricky if the brake disc has some wear, a flat screwdriver might be needed. It then should look like this: The slide out the slide pins, upper comes out but the lower will not come out fully. Take out the inner bad first, then slide the outer inwards so you can remove it. Push in the caliper pistons, but make sure the brake fluid reservoir is not filled to full so its possible to bush the brake pads in enough. Take right side side cover foo to see that. The its just a mater of doing things the opposite way, and finally push the brake pedal so the pistons move out as the new brake pads and you will not have a funny moment first time you need them. All back should look like this: Hope this helps some one!

So if all did not know, I "down graded" from my 2000 5th gen to a 1985 VF500FII http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/80498-a-farewel/ http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/80836-a-new-door-opens/ I have a few questions concerning the bike 1. What is normal oil consumption? 2. How do I adjust idle engine speed, could not find it in the Clymer manual..... 3. Where do your clutch level operate, mine is in the last (or first when you pull the level) 1/4 of the movent, normal? Thanks

It's valve adjustment time for my VF500F. The bike has 28k and has never had a valve adjustment. I've been doing lots of research before I jumped in and being this i my first time attempting a valve adjustment I didn't want to F it up. Two feeler guages, clymer manual and special tool in hand, I gave it a first shot last night. Following the clymer manual, there are two TDC positions, front and rear on the flywheel, adjusting to a 1,4,3,2 cylinder order. Instructions state the intake and exhaust valves can be adjusted at the same time. I was finding I couldn't get a feeler under all valves, I adjusted the exhaust valves on 1, 4 and intakes on 3 and nothing on 2. So my question is do valves need to be loosened? Can they tighten over time? And can a tight valve be considered out? Thanks.

Hey guys- Went to clean/adjust the chain on the '85 VF500 last night, and I think it's done. Was hoping to get some thoughts on replacing it. With such few miles, I'm assuming it's the OEM size, which I *think* is a 520. Can anyone confirm that? If so, how many links on it, if you happen to know offhand? With my other bikes, once the OEM 520 chain went bad I remember changing the chain over to the easier to find and cheaper 530 version. Thing is, I *think* I remember having to swap out the 2 sprockets as well, since I think the old sprokets are no longer compatible with a 530 chain. That sound correct to you guys? Been a while since I had to swap out an original OEM chain, so I can't remember for sure. I looked at the teeth on the rear sprocket, and they look fine. Not pointed or hooked in any way that I could see. I know you're supposed to swap out all sprockets when you swap a chain, right? I'm kinda on the fence about it b/c in reality these things only have as much hp as a chain saw practically, so I'm not sure if the benefits (if there even are any since the sprocket looks OK) outweigh the cost/hassle of swapping sprockets as well. Those of you with a VF500 still on the road, fill me in, yeah?

I hope this is the right place for this question. I am considering a 1985 VF500 on Craigslist for my second bike which looks to be in good condition (I'm actually going to test that theory tomorrow) but it seems like $1900 is a pretty high asking price for a 27 year old bike with 43k miles on it. So I was wondering how many miles people tend to get out of these bikes, and what would be a fair counter-offer for a bike of this age and distance travelled (or if it's worth the effort at all)? The ad says the bike needs nothing, and that it was owned and maintained by a Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCoach, but even assuming that is true and it was well maintained, what could I expect from this bike? A couple pictures for your perusal. Thanks for any help!

Alright guys, So thanks to all the help from you here on the forum (especially invisiblecities, a walking encyclopedia of information about interceptors), I was able to get the bike up and running strong. Total cost of bike with parts (not including 100 hours of work!) was about $850. Time to start making her look pretty. Here's a list of things I am going to do... Rebuild brakes (possibly new lines if it's in the budget) Paint anything that needs it (especially the frame) New sprockets/chain possibly Paint rims (not sure about this yet) Belly fairing needs paint Painting the forks (I hate the red, maybe black?) The right side casing is scraped pretty bad. I don't know exactly what I want to do with that. Suggestions? Exhaust mod DSC01052 by eamann66, on Flickr DSC01051 by eamann66, on Flickr DSC01053 by eamann66, on Flickr