my 86 750 back to life again

[abner malidy]

hello, new to VFR World, but old hand with honda V4s.

during the past month my RWB 86 750 has emerged from the cobweb corner of the garage and is once again proudly snarling in the light of day.

ive owned this example for about 12 years and have ridden it sporadically adding about 8k miles during that time. the clock just turned 15k this week. i will ride for a season or 2, then its sits for a season or 4 due to life as we know it. the urge to ride and the possibility of 50 mpg spurred me to get off my ass and light the fuse once again.

as has been the case every time previous before, i haul out the bike and say "damn it !!!, i cant beleive i left gas in the carbs again" and set to work with the carb clean procedure. only this time it required some bowl gaskets to ensure i didnt fly down the road looking like a torch on 2 wheels. bad news was HMC wanted approx $160 for the 2 gaskets i needed, but the power of the net informed me that "motorcyclecarbs.com" was only about 6 miles from my front door. $35 and a few hours (and a fresh batt) later, the great beast snorted back to prime form with nary a drop of fluids to be found. a little more research netted the correct pure-one oil filter #, so fresh fluids were installed, a little bit of the great honda spray cleaner wax revealed that the finish looks as great as ever, and out on the road we were.

the dunlops didnt look "that bad" but were cira 96, and so a set of avon roadriders and a fresh chain were installed and scuffed up this very afternoon.

the bike reponds every bit as well as ever remember it. nice smooth easy power in the 2-5k area, and then the character starts to change right around the 6k mark. 1st you get the intake snarl, then things start happening quickly. its all stock except for the supertrapp slipons and jets. i still havent been over about 8k here locally, but hope to get up into the mountains one day soon the turn up the wick a bit.

i had been thinking about getting a kawi zrx-1100/1200, but had really forgotten just how nice this bike is. i had been telling a beemer guy i work with about this bike for a couple of years, and i think he was beginning to think i was lying about it. when i rolled up, he was totally blown away. the cool thing was, he knew exactly what it was and all the things that made it unique. he even pointed me to the "hitler / gear driven cams VFR" clip!

im just glad to be rolling again, and will post some pics soon.

[VFRShorty]

ooooy the hiltler video....


Welcome to the site, Abner! It is too bad that your bike sits for so long, but at least you have the hang of gettin her ready to go again down!! hehe

Sounds like she is in great condition, you should post some up some photos for us to ogle over!!

[drewl]

Mr Malidy, thenk you very much for your wonderful submission to our little publication. The youngsters that read us love to hear of the "old timey" machines of yesteryear. Some photographs would be splendid. Feel free to visit any time.

[CARMINE]

hi,
a vfr never dies..."she" was sleeping, waiting for a Prince Charmant!!!
And you did it ! With compliments...
Carmine.

[abner malidy]

thanks for the kind replies.

i thought a would save a few pics from this evening at the lake after work:

the grande ole dame (i think she needs a name!)
lotsa folks out trying to beat the heat
fresh avon nestled between the trapps
matching eddie lawson RWB shoei

[abner malidy]

one more that was a leftover in the camera:

this old geezer came knocking on the shop door just after closing one night needing some help with his bike. i reluctantly told him to roll her in. it was his 1st ride after spending about $2k getting her restored, and his almost got bucked off with his grandson watching the horror. turned out he got her new for xmas in 52, rode her to school, delivered papers on her, and rode her all thru high school and beyond until she was retired to the barn. so now he decided to put her right again. even the light and horn were restored to glory. i fixed a few minor items for him and got him mounted back up his 1952 schwinn black phantom. BTW- i manage a bicycle shop.

[Taz]

Awesome ,

'86 was my favorite year of the VF's , I had all they made that year, & have started collecting back in the Stable again

[Lgn001]

I didn't know Schwinn had springers in '52... neat.

Your VFR looks to be in really good condition. Are the calipers repainted, or is that the original color?

[DANIMAL]

That's the original color

[abner malidy]

a few other things to mention:

i forgot one mod i did install- i rewired and added a switch for the fan circuit to allow a manual overide "ON" position. OFF = stock, ON = on. i wanted to be able to get the fan on and running early if i was rolling up into stop and go traffic during hi temp weather. my last mix was H2O, coolant and water wetter. i think im going to flush it good and go back with premixed "engine ice" to see how it affects the temp.

the gold color calipers are stock. it also has the "magneseium (sp?) colored cases.

i learned this weekend that the "P" postion on the 4-way ignition switch really stands for "push start" the next morning. i had looked before but i guess in broad daylight, and cant beleive that i didnt notice the tail light in the garage that night, but it was dead as hell the next morning. a breif stint on the charger brought the batt to a level of power that would shame even lucas the prince of darkness.

i bought 4 different puralator "pure-one" oil filters to find the best fit and left my spare HMC filter collecting dust. i did alot of reading to determine the the pure-one was the filter i trust from this point forward.

not to start an oil debate- i had a few bikes ive used "good" oil in, but mostly for my entire life, GTX has been the dino drink of choice, and ive never had any problems that i know of, but i am switching to full-syn oil in about 2 weeks. i dumped in castoroil GTX 10/40 this time as a flush. all the research ive seen has lead me to have a jug of shell rotella full syn in 5/40 ready and waiting. unless it exhibits clutch issues, i will be running it for about 3K miles from now on.

all my brake pads have plenty of pad left, but are so old that im thinking a new set of modern pads would be a senseable investment. i am also going to (finally) going to buy a mity-vac and flush the brakes and clutch fluids with a hi grade fluid.

although my matching eddie lawson shoei looks great with the bike, i think a new helmet would be smart and frankly some of the new graphics are damn nice looking. not cheap, but i only got one head to work with! ive always had shoeis, but probably will look at some of the arais as well.

thanks to all for the kind replies. - thrillbilly the hillbilly

[abner malidy]

a small update:

ive been commuting on the bike almost daily. its pretty much a perfect ride for the bike. just a couple of quiet miles to a decent slab where i run about 15 miles in the wrong direction at the right time of day. i have a great protected parking spot right at the shop back door. of course im all gear, except for boots, which im looking for a pair that fits my feet and needs. im also on a quest for a new helmet. probably gonna "invest" in a new arai.

the bikes is running great. it fires like its been waiting all nite! i run the choke for just a minute or so, then just ease it back to idle while i get the gear on. it seems that approx 1100 rpm gets the PURRfect "lump-a-lump-lump-lump" idle.

it is probably just about warm when i hit the slab. 4500 on the clock nets about 65 mph on level terrain. it feels like it could run for years at that speed.

the last 2 tanks (of 93) returned right at 45 mpg. i loaded in 89 tonite and will see how it runs. i have been waiting to throw in some techron until i can head to the mtns and try to blow out any leftover internal cobwebs.

its been pretty steady around 90-F here in GA, and the thing is running pretty damn cool on pure H2O. its running slightly above the 2nd peg on the hwy, and runs to approx 1/2 range at stops. i am planning to flush the rad out really well, and am going back with H2O and a decent dose of "water wetter" which i have used before.

the avon "roadriders" i installed seem really nice. it was a bit nerve racking the 1st time i got caught by a storm and had to ride home. it had been a LONG time since i had been at hwy speed in the wet and near dark conditions. i just keep mumbling to myself... "loosen your grip on the bars, its all good". the wet protection was really nice, i arrived home essentially dry.

this bike rocks

[arnie1107]

hi Ben.......... have been following your posts and sounds like she is running like new.

i finally got mine more or less straightened out too. the R/R seems to be doing fine at keeping the puppy runnng right. i ran some of the carb cleaner stuff thru it the other night and agitated it every 15 minutes and although it wouldnt idle then, it is running better. Today i went out with my manual and just turned the idle up with the knob till it is now idling happily at 1100 rpm.

would still like to come by and let you take a look and give me some suggestions...... could do it either at home or the shop? tell me your schedule for this week and lets see what we can work out.

arnold