Why so many VF500 haters ?

WOW, that is one prime example there man, good find and :welcome: I was a little skeptical and wary when we picked up my ol lady's 500 but I've been flogging the crap outta hers and haven't heared a whimper of complaint yet, even after overheating the crap outta her coming back from DC after RT with a substantial coolant leak, fired right back up again when she cooled down. Replaced the hose, re-filled and burped the coolant, and rode her the rest of the way home.

As for tires you may want to look into Avon Roadriders. Just scored a set for cheap and threw them on her 500 and they seem to handle and stick great on that lil girl. Outside of that what I was gonna spoon on her next was a set of Pirelli Sport Demons as I loved the set I had on my Nighthawk and they were very affordable as well (last time I bought a set anyway)

Many smiles and happy miles with your new girl, give that ODO a workout, it's been sitting too long!!

 

Very nice bike (my favorite year/color scheme btw),,,kudos on the find!

Tink gave me the heads up on this thread. Very much appreciate the shout out from a few of the members here.

Switta, 500s are the cat's pajamas and you made a wise choice. Keep the 500 mantra in mind: proper warmup, frequent oil changes, proper valve lash, revs in check and you'll have a great bike to enjoy for many years.

Many of the members here are very knowledable and helpful. There are some cowboys and some wild talk but most is in good fun. I'm a bit more at home on VFRD (a bit calmer over there) but I do admit I miss a few of the more colorful characters (Tink for one) from time to time.

Hope all is well with the crew here and again congrats on the new purchase switta!

 

Good to see you are still around.

The other thing we all sometimes seem to forget is that these bikes are old. And yet they still have a decent following. There were lots of other bikes that came out in early to mid 80s. Not many of them were issue free either. A great many of those bikes were very bland in comparison to the VF. The phrase UJM was pretty common in the UK around then. Ubiquitous Japanese Motorcycle. I don't think this label was applied the the VF500.

 

Dont really hate them they just arent that reliable

the valve train is extremly small and cannot take a major rev limit all the time..parts are a bitch to find ...i have a 86 thats showroom cond with 7100 miles and figure everytime i ride it something is gonna break or develop a coolant leak..just keep it under 10 grand and enjoy it the are a nice ride..mine turned into a garage queen but would sell it in aheart beat for the right money..beautiful bike runs so smooth and handles great..id rather work on a gen 1-2,,vfr 700-750 than work on a vf500..have 2vfr700,s and a 84 vfr750 that im trying to get correct..stock configuration ..then i went out and bought a 92 cbr600f2 to run the shit out of so i wont screw up my interceptors..great bike and fast as hell..but the vf700f,s ride so smooth..so enjoy them but dont abuse them ..gregg in ohio

 

Great find, just treat her right and you should have no problems. Don't see many good examples left in the UK but hoping to rectify this next year as my ground up is coming along nicely. Only down side of one as good as yours is -- Bloody nothing to do except polish it :tongue:.

Dave UK

 

Not hating here either but like 1st gen 750's they had design issues that you had to watch closely.
I think they are cool looking bikes.

 

Great find. I do lust after the miniceptor, but my garage is too small. The wife and I were just talking about selling the house to scale it down a bit and get something with a 4 car garage. For bikes of course. Cars can sit outside.

God, I love this woman.

 

Hey, I just put Avon Roadriders on the wife's EX500. They are good tires and the tread design isn't "dated".

Here is a link to a tire review using the GS550.

Tire Comparison - EX-500.com

Of course, YMMV.