Hi all. I'm not totally new to bikes but I've been on four wheels for a while due to family and economic reasons. On Saturday I did what might be a stupid thing. I saw a nice shiny VF500F2 on ebay, made a bid and unfortunately won it. I went to pick the bike up, rode it round the block and, despite many, many problems parted with nearly £500. Why? Because it felt great. I rode it home 35 miles with the power only available in a few small bands, with the steering suspiciously twitching on every bump, with no mirrors and indicators but all the time with a delicious growl coming from the exhausts. Now it's home I've started to assess the scope of the work required and the situation with spare parts. My question is, if anyone's interested, do I persevere and achieve what I can see is the bike's potential, do I put it back on ebay or break it forspares. I'd be grateful if someone could reassure me that it's worth keeping.
You still married.....Just kidding. Welcome to the board. Can;t help you with your delema. But morally, I will support whatever decision you come to. How's that for a political answer?
How long is the MOT? Do you have a list of issues that are not cosmetic - starting with ones that the most safety critical, or require immediate work to keep running? Can you get someone else to look at it and put a list together? Have you checked for immediate-breaker issues like welded frame, known insurance w/off or VIN that looks like it's been tampered with? How many previous owners has it had and what mileage has it done?
Seeing as you asked so nicely.... [/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG] As you can see, no fairing, the wrong headlight and the instruments crudely attached to the fuse cover. Poor paint job, tatty wiring, indicators removed etc. etc. But it growls and I like it. I started on a list of faults but after a few days riding it I'm getting some clues. It runs fine on full choke so I'm surmising that the carbs need setting up properly and that I may have an air leak somewhere. The pressure in the front forks was unequal - would this affect handling? The bush in the rear shock seems a bit loose - see above question. Snatchy brakes I put down to the absence of the boot rubbers. This bike was restricted and dyno tested to 32 BHP 5 years ago to meet some obscure UK legislation that lets newly qualified riders on to larger machines. Logic sort of suggests that this also means that the engine can't be thrashed and it was one of the few selling points when I bought it. Other than all of this the bike is fine (did I mention the broken panels?) and , after three days of growling around the city of Lincoln turning heads and generally posing the bike stays. God help me, it's going to cost a fortune but probably less than my divorce did. Thanks all for the encouragement.
I hope you have some deep pockets if you plan on fixing her up right. Parts are not the easiest thing to find either. Good luck with your project!! Rollin
Make a cafe racer out of it, that seems to be the hot item nowadays anyway. L500 sounds pretty cheap to me.
Cafe racer/streetfighter seems favourite. I had a mishap tonight and a loose stone shattered the headlight - no great loss. As a temporary measure I fitted one of my late fathers Vincent headlights - looks good so it might stay. I'm also considering a digital speedo - anyone have any experience of these?
Look around at what strikes your fancy and try it out. The Buells with the chopped rear and dual headlights aren't bad. I understand the headlight assemblies aren't too expensive either.
Hang some bar-end mirrors on it, clean up the dash and you're ready to go. What are your rules for turn-signals? I have seen some really cool ones that replace your tailight. They probably are more available for the more popular bikes like CBRs, R1s, etc. I have seen some small digital dash units for enduro bikes, just watch out for the cheap ones, they don't seem to be very waterproof. That tail may be out of proportion with the front end. You could look into chopping that too when money is available.
Turn signals don't need to be fitted to a bike this old but if they are they have to work and I would love to cut the back end down but I have no experience of doing that sort of work. It's going to be a long, slow process so I bought an old Royal enfield tonight as a runaround. Cost me the same as a digital dash would but 20 million Indians can't be wrong.
