While I'm out Looking at These 6 Gens...

... What should I look for for possible problems? My biggest thing is the Vtec. Is there a chance someone did a valve adjustment and didn't do it right? What's the best way to check? Listen, ride to a certain RPM?
Do these engines run quiet and smooth at idle or can you hear the valve train run. (I had and Aprilia and if that Rotax didn't sound like it was about to come apart, you had a problem.)
What am I listening for?

 

With the stock exhaust, the bike is extremely quiet. Unlike the older Gens with the gear driven cams, you really won't hear much internal engine noise at all. So few people have even had to do the valve adjustment, that I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you don't notice any weird noises, then you should be OK. The other obvious thing to look for is wear and tear. Ask the owner about the bike's history and give it a good look over. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to find a good clean one in cherry condition. Personally, when buying used, I will only buy a bike that is completely stock.

 

Good that gives me something to go on, just needed to know how they sounded.

 

A stock gen. 6 VFR is definitely quiet. When I'm on the highway, I can't even hear the exhaust (only the engine and wind).

A 6th gen. VFR's first valve adjustment job isn't done until 20-25k miles. If the VFR you're looking at has less miles than that, there's a good chance the valves haven't been touched.

One of the good things about VFRs is that, unlike a lot of "true" sport bikes, they tend to well taken care of. The people that usually buy them are in their 30's-50's and don't stunt or race them. They're also more likely to ensure all the maintenance work got done on schedule.

Whatever you decide, best of luck to you.

 

That's the truth! That's what makes shopping for a VFR so much fun and relatively straightforward. I would even go so far to say that VFR owners "baby" their bikes, not that they don't ride them hard, but that, in my experience, most VFR owners really love their bikes and take very, very good care of them. Why? Because they're "keepers".