Matt Tries – 1984 VF500F Overhaul

WOW, I am totally in the market for head gaskets. I am almost 100% sure the head gaskets are the same 84-86. The last ones I got from Japan are totally generic and did not fit worth a crap and I ended up having to die grind them to fit the water ports.

I am not sure if there is a PM or DM function on this forum sight. Let me know how much you want for the head gaskets and studs. I can PayPal you (no scam I promise!).

 

I have my mountain bike for that LOL!!!!

 

I'll send you these for the price of shipping which isn't going to be much. Because I'll just send them from the office, and I've got a couple freebies in order. I think there's a way to send a direct message--I'll look into it. I'd rather see them go to good use than sit in a box. Hopefully the '86 fits the same as the 84-85. This one looked like it lined up well with the passages when I laid it on the '86 motor.

 

I wanted to see the plastics and other bits on the bike for encouragement since it's been a while. Disassembled, cleaned, reassembled the petcock. Replaced a bunch of fuel lines and vacuum line. Fought to try to get all the old gas out of the tank (how come it doesn't all come out!) because I used old gas to flush out the Evapo-rust I used to de-rust the tank last winter.

Anyway... ignoring the paint job that's falling off and the one black fork... it's starting to come together!




That being said, now I'm worried. I noticed something in the pictures that's quite alarming to me. The front wheel does not look straight. I didn't see it in person, but in the pictures it is obvious. Now I'm wondering if I got something incorrect with the right fork I replaced. Son of a .. bee hive.

 

2 much leg work.

 

The lower triple clamps on the 80's VFs are made of butter. 99% sure you front end is just twisted a bit. This bike has had to of met the ground at some point in it's life. Look at the forks from the side and see if they are parallel. You can remove the wheel, drop a fork in the triple to use as leverage and tweak it back. You'll be surprised how easy it is. You can also loosen the the lower triple clamp bolts and roll up to a telephone poll or fence post, and tap the tire the direction you need to go, just like your BMX bike as a kid. Not really recommended, but I've done it in a pinch for somebody that crashed.

 

uncle red 2 de rescue !

 

In addition to Captain 80's suggestion..... Looks almost like one fork is longer than the other, question would be do they have the same springs both sides... another thing to try is lightly loosen the axle and jounce the forks (hold front brake lever, bounce the bike) and see if that puts things back into natural order... may be just a bit of stiction in the forks? Looks fixable to me....

 

Hey Matt, is that a 650 Vstrom in the garage? ive been thinking about getting one. how do you like it ?

 

I think you're right on it just being twisted. I rocked the bike back and forth quite a bit and it looks much better. But I didn't do a good job of alignment when I put the wheel back on (now that I think about it) because I had so many other issues to get to. I'll loosen up the axle, calipers, fender, and lower triple bolts and see how much better I can get it. Was just surprised to see that type of lean on the wheel--I've only ever noticed crooked handlebars before. But I guess I didn't notice to wheel lean until I looked at a picture this time. Just another thing to remember.

Just went and checked, and the two springs I have leftover from the replacement forks I bought are the same size. So, ostensibly, I should have also put two evenly distanced springs back in without mixing them up. I will try yours and Captain 80's suggestions on alignment first before I pull the forks back off the bike.

Yes it is! 2018 DL650XT. Only new internal combustion engine I've bought in my life. I'm a bit split on it because I haven't fallen in love with it, but it does exactly everything I want it to--and better than I expected. It's not exciting. I imagine it could be if you put an aftermarket exhaust on it, some 50/50 tires, and had the skillset to know what you're doing as soon as you get off the tarmac.

The things I don't like about it are mainly because it just doesn't have a lot of character or excitement. Take this with a grain of salt because I'm an admittedly not great rider. The stock tires are... I don't like them. And the front end didn't feel stable until I put an AdventureTech fork brace on. The engine is plenty powerful, but it doesn't make you smile. And mine came from the factory with incorrectly torqued thrust adjusters that I had to resolve after I added SW-Motech crash bars that turned it into a big tuning fork. It's also quite tall for 5'9.5" me. I wish it was just a bit lower.

But I didn't buy the bike to be exciting, and it is absolutely brilliant in so many regards. I bought it because I want to start going on longer adventures.

• It's a mule
• It's comfortable as hell.
• You can get some crazy good deals on new ones, and nothing else in the class seems to come close for the price.
• I love the goofy styling. I like eccentric looking bikes. To me, the V Strom is a bit eccentric with the 2017+ 650 styling.
• The throttle-assist is seriously lovely. I thought it would be something I'd want to disable. It ups the RPMs by about 500RPM as you let off the clutch. If you don't know it has it, you won't notice it. But it makes stop-go much easier.
• With the Givi V37 side cases I put on and a dry bag, you can carry a lottttt of shit. And you don't notice it too much--especially after adding the fork brace.
• There's a lot of good knowledge and discussion on internet forums about them.
• Spoked tubeless gold wheels. They're brilliant.

So I think it kind of comes down to what you're looking for. If you're looking for a crazy fun adventure bike to spend a lot of time off-road, I'd look for an actual dual sport. The 650 is friggen heavy and I'm sure a 1000 is way worse. If you're looking for the most comfortable ride out there for purely pounding out highway miles, well Harley makes some pretty comfy couches to cruise on. But I think the V Strom 650 hits an awesome spot for someone that wants a super dependable machine that punches way above its weightclass in the "adventure" or touring type bike.

I'm looking forward to another trip this year. Coronavirus has already killed all our plans, but trying to figure out if we can push a Lake Superior perimeter trip out to later this year.




And if you're considering taking it out in sand on stock tires as someone that doesn't know how to negotiate dirt.. beware

 

thanks for the 65o info Matt. Im just finding that as I get into my Mid 50's I need a more comfy seating piston and the adventure style bikes fit the bill really well.

My M109R is pretty good and the VFR800 is OK too, but ultimately I find the Adventure bikes and the Naked's (ZRX1100, Z1000, CB1000R) the most fun and comfort. My days of the Ducati 748 and RC51 riding are numbered I think.

Nasty bit of road there on the video. Your buddy on the Harley did well to stay on with that much weight swinging around under him. Im guessing the Bandit it also yours by the way you ran over to it (I think I say it in your garage). good that everyone was ok and the bikes were alright.

 

It's certainly one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever been on, and the only comfort modification I've done so far is heated grips. But you're not going to fall in love with it for the engine performance. The new 1050 they came out with, however, looks really damn neat with it's more "retro" styling and has some incredible technology in it. If you're able to, I'd try to get on one and feel it out. But there's probably 20 other bikes could make good arguments for your attention as well.

Yea, my buddy on the Harley is a much better rider than the other two of us. I couldn't believe how he was throwing that heavy beast of burden around. I didn't even feel comfortable standing it up from the kickstand.

The Bandit wasn't mine at the time, but it had been in my care. A couple years ago I'd convinced my buddy to buy a bike, and he'd settled on that Bandit. I actually rode it home from the dealership for him since he'd just finished the MSF and wasn't comfortable. It had been a lemon from the beginning, and it eventually just stopped running on him, and we lived about 80 miles apart. He brought it to a shop and they did $954 of carburetor work over ~8 months. They gave it back to him running like shit, and he just gave up on bikes. He ended up taking a job in California, so I told him I'd take it and try to get it running well to sell it since I felt so guilty about encouraging him to buy a bike and didn't want him to take a complete bath on reselling it. I spent about 12 months on and off losing my mind trying to get that bike to run correctly. I was literally having dreams about the carburetor--felt like the exploded diagram of the carburetor was tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. Anyway, I'd gotten it sorted out and running okay in April of last year. We planned the trip around Lake Michigan and he flew out from California for one last hurrah on the Bandit before we planned to sell it afterward. The bike ran like a champ and didn't complain once in the 1800 miles. I waffled for a few months and ended up just sending him a check for the price we were aiming to sell it for. I hate that bike, lol, but I have some attachment to it now for how much I've struggled and learned from it. He's hopefully flying out again later this year so we can take another trip. I've given it some nice upgrades he'll hopefully appreciate on the ride.

That same friend ended up buying a V Strom 650 as well. His feelings are the same as mine. It's a fantastic bike, but he hasn't fallen in love with it. Given that he has access in California to way more fun riding than I do, he wants to sell it and get a dual sport. And then he also keeps threatening to buy an MT-10. So I have no idea where his brain is. I think the V Strom theoretically is supposed to satisfy both road and dirt, but ehhh... you'd have to be a beast of a rider for that to be true. And neither of us are. But it pounds out miles in comfort without question.

 

"Im just finding that as I get into my Mid 50's I need a more comfy seating PISTON"

Hahahahaha

 

The answer to that specific question is probably better suited to other websites, lol.

 

LOL....what can I say, as long as my wife isnt complaining I guess im fine.

Seating Position on the other hand is a whole different game

 

Wish you young'uns would quit complaining, talk to me when you catch up to me in years!

 

Kudos on yet another epic VF500 revival project. So jealous of your full lowers, lusted mightily after the Lockhart full lower set forever, but never had the spare money to afford them for my VF500 back in the day. Never knew the VF500-II even existed until a couple years ago, what a sexy set of bodywork that one received!

The center stand bracket V&H shipped with my full exhaust system was just a simple piece of flat steel with an inverted U cut into the end to cradle the round bar stock ,that bolted, IIRC, with the left rear muffler mount to simply keep the center stand from hitting the exhaust. Nothing fancy at all. But I didn't like the look of the center stand anyway (didn't have the race bike look), and I just took it off completely. It was easy enough to install if you needed to do work on the bike. Shop that installed and tuned mine for me bumped main jet size and shimmed the needles to improve low end response. Pured like a kitten down low and howled almost as good as Bubba Shoberts works Honda at Elkhart (at least in my mind!).

You shoulda given the ole fizzer a shot at track life, they sure did take the 600 class by storm in 1989. Not as torquey as the CBR or ZX, but a much more advanced chassis for track life. Killer exhaust sound too with a full exhaust, just not much like an inline-4 coming on the pipe.....couple of my good friends had the 400, impressive on the track for being so under powered. Best advice for a track bike is this- have zero emotional attachments to it. That way when you bin it, you won't lose any sleep over it! I can understand the upside of something newer though, at least in terms of spares and such. Much more likely to find some extra parts, tires, and tuning advice on race weekend for a modern 600 vs. something from the late 80s or even 90s.

 

I'll be honest, I still can't figure out who the manufacturer of the bodywork is. I've been visiting this thread on VFRWorld for a decade trying to decipher it. I am almost positive it is "Spec II" based on post #17: https://vfrworld.com/threads/vf500-full-fairing.7938/

I'd love to see a picture of how that looked, though I'm guessing that's unlikely that you'd have a picture of it. I never could quite figure out how to attach a bump stop. I actually just took the centerstand off about an hour ago... I love the centerstand. Not giving up on it yet--just not going to allow it to stop the project now. I just have to use the swingarm stand more often now.

I really do like the FZR, and the exhaust on mine (also V&H) sounded fantastic. For a multitude of reasons, I just didn't believe that specific bike was the right platform for me. It's the only machine I've ever given a name because I find naming machines to be weird. But I called it Amber after a girl I dated for a while. We were polar opposites, our styles didn't mesh, I'm cautious to detriment--she was careless to the same, and I couldn't work out why it was in my house. But both were fun as hell, and the reason they didn't work out was me. Good experiences both though, hah.

I found something that should (hopefully) fit the bill quite nicely. The suspension upgrades on the bike alone were worth more than the FZR. I bought it for a really good price from a guy that was getting out of track riding as he was starting a family. I went back and forth for about a week with questions. Then I spent about an hour and a half with him going over everything. It was the best experience I've had buying a motorcycle by a longshot. I've always wanted one of the curvey SV650s, and I've recently learned my uncle's brother has been racing them for years in the Midwest, so I should have someone that can help me from making a complete fool of myself.

Just working on acquiring all the appropriate safety equipment which has been... expensive. I've also got a safety wiring kit on the way, so a whole new skill to learn. Looking forward to it. Only thing I've done so far is change the rear tire--still need to do the front, swap out coolant, bleed brakes, etc. Got my eye on a couple dates at Blackhawk Farms later this year.

 

You guys were right about the alignment on the forks--they were just all tightened up wrong. This was as good as I could do by loosening the calipers, fender, axle, and lower triple clamp pinch bolts. It was close, but it still seemed off.



I pulled the centerstand off (boooo), put on the mirrors, and took it on a short little trip around my neighborhood just to see how it felt. The good news is that the engine feels awesome at the slow speeds I was riding. No hesitation at all. The valve clatter is much louder than I remember--probably because there is actually clearance on the valve lash now. The 500 with the V&H sounds awesome. Pulled over just to double check tightness on everything and snapped a picture. The black fork actually doesn't look too out-of-place from this angle, hah.



But when I got back and started looking at the front end alignment again, it dawned on me that I never once have adjusted the upper triple clamp bolt. This is the primary issue. Once I backed that thing off, loosened everything up, rocked it... now it looked right.



Too bad I noticed that the fork seals were leaking like sieves. I guess that's what I deserve for going with super cheap ones that I was just hoping to last a season and no more than 1000 miles. I deserve that, but it means I have to pull all the front end off again. Oh well, still making progress. I have better seals I was hoping to put in after I painted the forks. Though I wonder how much the poor alignment contributed to the fork seals leaking.