Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid Ohio 2026

What a weekend. I raced my 1984 VF500F for the first time. I've owned this bike since 2007, and I had it on the track once at Blackhawk Farms in 2023 for a track day. But this was the first time I'd ever lined up to a starting grid.



The bike is mostly stock outside of some suspension work--a YSS rear shock and RaceTech gold valve emulators with 0.85kg/mm springs up front. I didn't and don't want to try to modify the bike to have race ergonomics. This is the only bike I even enjoy riding on the street anymore, and I want to keep it comfortable and period correct for that.

I had never been to Mid Ohio before, and I knew I would be finishing last. Didn't care. I also brought my Kramer 690R which made things interesting. I ran every practice session on Thursday on both the Kramer and the VF500F which was interesting to say the least. Jumping right off the Kramer and onto the VF felt like jumping onto a bagger in comparison. The Kramer is a purpose built scalpel. It weighs about 290lb wet, turns on a dime, throttle by wire, 55% of weight over front wheel, and has brakes that will flip you over the bars if you get any bit overzealous. In comparison, the VF weighs about 130lb more and requires me to squeeze the daylights out of the front brake to get it slowed down by the end of the main straight.



I cannot tell you how much fun I had racing this bike. "Racing" isn't exactly what I was doing since I finished last and out of touch with the next group, but I was legitimately worried after practice I would get lapped. I ran a 1:59 in the first race and felt fine with it. I beat 2:00--I'm good. The next day I had one more crack at it and ran a 1:58 in warmup and knew I had more speed. Took the start of race 2 and I was keeping the next group of three riders in my sights. They were running 1:52's, and I managed to get down to a 1:55 trying like hell to keep up.

I put a new set of Bridgestone BT-46's on right before the event. These tires are great. They do take two laps to truly get enough heat in them. I took total guesses at tire pressure and set them to cold 28 rear and 34 front. I even got my knee down a couple times, hah.




I had back-to-back qualifying going directly from the VF to the Kramer and scared the crap out of myself the coming into the Kink hitting the brakes on the Kramer directly after qualifying the VF. I grabbed wayyyyy too hard with the VF muscle memory and had a moment. The Kramer's brakes work a bit better.

Not sure if I'll be doing that again with the VF, but I'm super glad I did it. It's a race bike now. It raced, and by virtue of it being a split V3/V5 race, I even got a badass participation plaque out of the ordeal to put up next to the rest of the vintage posters in my hallway.



My girlfriend had her 1971 CB100 there I just rebuilt and got some awesome pictures. Lucky me I saw smoke out of the exhaust indicating the engine I just rebuilt is burning oil so I must have an issue with the new rings I installed, so I get to do that all over again. The fun never ends... blah.




Thanks again to Captain 80s, Rogue, and everyone on the gen1/2 boards for all the help you guys have given me on this forum. No chance I'd have ever even attempt this without the best motorcycle community on the internet. And that's this one.

I put together a narrated recap of the weekend available here on YouTube:


And if you'd prefer one without narration and just the sweet sound of the V4 and my mis-shifts, there is this one:

 

Glad you had a great time and thanks for the write up and pics

 

Good job 109....and no damage to the paint !!!!

 

I may have nicked the tank with my airbag tether connection on the tank a few times, but that was always going to be the price of admission. The goofy little number plates on the side worked awesome. They bolted onto the underside of the luggage rails without me having modify a single thing which was awesome because I really didn't want to hack anything up just for number plates.

 

Sounds like it was ment to be.

 

I spotted this at Calne Bike Meet, nobody around who knew anything about it, beautifully done job though

 

Ohhhh I like that color. You're right--that is beautifully done.