I recently bought an '86 VFR700F for my first bike and am planning on restoring it to head-turning glory this winter (if my money holds out). The engine feels pretty strong but am having problems with the bike dying when I pull the clutch. The bike will idle fine after starting if I adjust the throttle control on the left side of the engine, but when running it feels rough and will always die if taken out of gear. Also it will get bogged down and die if I drive around in 1st long enough. I have only taken it up to around 45mph and kept below 6krpm on account of it running rough and being a new rider. Any suggestions?
The carbs are probably gummed up. You'll want to take the carb rack off and get them ultrasonically cleaned at a dealer. I had an 85 Magna V30 that did the same thing. The previous owner didn't use StaBil in the gas and the junk inside was green. All the jets were plugged.
My 85 500 was doing the samething I changed the plugs (2 badly fouled), air filter (factory 85) (K&N) put a couple of oz's of Chemtool b12 in the tank to clean the carbs and now its running great. it is a 8500 mile 1985 interceptor so it never got ridden much.
Thanks, I've changed the plugs (looked fairly new but were badly fouled) and its running better, I think it was sitting for a little bit so its helped just to ride it today. I'm going to see about the carburators being rejetted/cleaned/tuned on account of the plugs being so black. Also my gas mileage is not so good, around 20s. I'm considering looking at it myself, but I would like it to run when I put it back together. I have no experience with carbs, only the Haynes book.