VFR750 " Barn Find " Diary
Discussion
Around four years ago i had to visit the chiropodist. Whilst chatting away i discover we both have a love of older cars. He would tell me about his GT6 and his MX5. He also mentioned that his son had a motorbike stored at the back of his garage but he hadn't used it for some time.
Fast forward to last month and i'm up seeing John again getting a veruca burned off. During our motoring blether i ask if the motorbike is still sitting in his garage. I shouldn't have asked, 'cause i have a bad habit of buying things i don't need, especially cars and bikes. Anyway, he tells me it is a VFR750 that his son used when at university. He ( Chris ) now lives in Canary Wharf, and as far as John knew, he had no further plans for the bike. I could feel my excitement rising and made plans to view the bike.
I arrived at Johns house on the Sunday morning. First signs were promising. The house was a lovely cottage with tidy gardens and clean cars on his driveway. I've bought a lot of older / classic cars / bikes over the years and i believe you are as much buying into the seller as buying the bike.
To be honest, i was hoping for a early (late 80's) Diamond White VFR ( i remember when they were brought out, and i think Senna had one ). I was shown to the back of the ( dry and well ventilated )garage where John took the dust cover off and told me about his lads bike. John is proper old school and left me with a cup of tea and left me on my own to have a good look over the bike.
Anyway, here ( i hope ) is a picture of the bike ;
It is a 93 VFR750 FP, in silver / blue with, i think, 30,000 miles on the clock. Last taxed in 2003. The bikes off side was hard up aginst the wall and the front brake was seized on so i couldnt move it. Here is a list i made at the time.
Front tyre is flat and will need replaced
Front brake seized on
Fuel tap seized
Most of the fasteners on the bike are rusting
Centre stand seized
Clutch lever floppy
Downpipes look corroded, but i couldn't get a proper look
Petrol in the tank smells foul and looks green!
No electrics working ( obviously no battery )
Collecter looks rusty
Rear brake seized
Offside not checked, but there is signs of lower sidepanel damage
Rear tyre will need replaced ( that'll break my heart ' cause it looks brand new )
I hope the above doesn't sound too bad, because the bike wasn't far from being in very good condition. I've seen worse bikes at 18 months old. It also had Givi luggage, heated grips, Meta alarm, carbon hugger, braided lines and a Scotoiler.
Once back home, i started pricing parts and spares so i could work out a price to offer. Both John and Chris had been decent to me and i wasn't going to make a silly low offer. I also had to bare in mind the price to get the problems i had found fixed and also the gamble of not hearing it running.
Chris and i exchanged emails ( first time i've bought a bike through email! ) and finally settled on a price. Chris was a pleasure to deal with and is cut from the same cloth as his dad.
I managed to " borrow " a 18 tonne truck from work to collect my new project ( like i need another project! ) and delivered the bike to its new home where it'll live with some other old Hondas.
This is by far the newest bike i have owned, it even has disc brakes on the back! I'm planning on using this diary to keep me motivated and ask for advice. The bike doesn't warrant a rebuild as such, i'm hoping a right good service will get the majority of problems fixed.
The only thing i've done so far is give it a wash and i got a Givi top box from Gumtree.
The above was written a few weeks ago, and i've managed a few odd jobs since. I work away Monday to Friday so progress may be slow. I'll update the thread ASAP and would appreciate any advice.
Thanks and sorry for the long post.
Fast forward to last month and i'm up seeing John again getting a veruca burned off. During our motoring blether i ask if the motorbike is still sitting in his garage. I shouldn't have asked, 'cause i have a bad habit of buying things i don't need, especially cars and bikes. Anyway, he tells me it is a VFR750 that his son used when at university. He ( Chris ) now lives in Canary Wharf, and as far as John knew, he had no further plans for the bike. I could feel my excitement rising and made plans to view the bike.
I arrived at Johns house on the Sunday morning. First signs were promising. The house was a lovely cottage with tidy gardens and clean cars on his driveway. I've bought a lot of older / classic cars / bikes over the years and i believe you are as much buying into the seller as buying the bike.
To be honest, i was hoping for a early (late 80's) Diamond White VFR ( i remember when they were brought out, and i think Senna had one ). I was shown to the back of the ( dry and well ventilated )garage where John took the dust cover off and told me about his lads bike. John is proper old school and left me with a cup of tea and left me on my own to have a good look over the bike.
Anyway, here ( i hope ) is a picture of the bike ;
It is a 93 VFR750 FP, in silver / blue with, i think, 30,000 miles on the clock. Last taxed in 2003. The bikes off side was hard up aginst the wall and the front brake was seized on so i couldnt move it. Here is a list i made at the time.
Front tyre is flat and will need replaced
Front brake seized on
Fuel tap seized
Most of the fasteners on the bike are rusting
Centre stand seized
Clutch lever floppy
Downpipes look corroded, but i couldn't get a proper look
Petrol in the tank smells foul and looks green!
No electrics working ( obviously no battery )
Collecter looks rusty
Rear brake seized
Offside not checked, but there is signs of lower sidepanel damage
Rear tyre will need replaced ( that'll break my heart ' cause it looks brand new )
I hope the above doesn't sound too bad, because the bike wasn't far from being in very good condition. I've seen worse bikes at 18 months old. It also had Givi luggage, heated grips, Meta alarm, carbon hugger, braided lines and a Scotoiler.
Once back home, i started pricing parts and spares so i could work out a price to offer. Both John and Chris had been decent to me and i wasn't going to make a silly low offer. I also had to bare in mind the price to get the problems i had found fixed and also the gamble of not hearing it running.
Chris and i exchanged emails ( first time i've bought a bike through email! ) and finally settled on a price. Chris was a pleasure to deal with and is cut from the same cloth as his dad.
I managed to " borrow " a 18 tonne truck from work to collect my new project ( like i need another project! ) and delivered the bike to its new home where it'll live with some other old Hondas.
This is by far the newest bike i have owned, it even has disc brakes on the back! I'm planning on using this diary to keep me motivated and ask for advice. The bike doesn't warrant a rebuild as such, i'm hoping a right good service will get the majority of problems fixed.
The only thing i've done so far is give it a wash and i got a Givi top box from Gumtree.
The above was written a few weeks ago, and i've managed a few odd jobs since. I work away Monday to Friday so progress may be slow. I'll update the thread ASAP and would appreciate any advice.
Thanks and sorry for the long post.
I want an old, disfunctional bike to potter on over the winter ...That's the rarest colour VFR afaik. I know because I have one!
They're fantastic bikew though, I've put 15000 miles on mine in a year and it still runs great.
It's currently sat on 45000 (ish) miles and has never had the valve clearances done going from the history.
Yours makes me want to make mine tidy again but I doubt it'll ever happen. Following this with interest and if you need to know anything about them I have a fair idea as I've rebuilt/replaced lots of service items!
They're fantastic bikew though, I've put 15000 miles on mine in a year and it still runs great.
It's currently sat on 45000 (ish) miles and has never had the valve clearances done going from the history.
Yours makes me want to make mine tidy again but I doubt it'll ever happen. Following this with interest and if you need to know anything about them I have a fair idea as I've rebuilt/replaced lots of service items!
Lovely bikes VFRs, I've had two of them a white 86 FG model (ex-Honda UK demo bought as a year old with 5000 miles on it) and then a red 1990 FL model bought brand new after a road test while the 86 bike was being serviced.
A good strip, clean and lube should put most of those things right, the floppy clutch lever is probably down to the clutch slave leaking all the fluid out passed the seal so that'll either need a rebuild or replacement depending on whether the cylinder has been damaged due to corrosion.
Good luck, I will follow this thread with interest as I wouldn't mind doing one of these up as my next project bike....
A good strip, clean and lube should put most of those things right, the floppy clutch lever is probably down to the clutch slave leaking all the fluid out passed the seal so that'll either need a rebuild or replacement depending on whether the cylinder has been damaged due to corrosion.
Good luck, I will follow this thread with interest as I wouldn't mind doing one of these up as my next project bike....
Thanks for all the replies. Motorsport Tom, i'll probably be asking you a lot of questions. Peterg, i think you are bang on with regards to the clutch slave cylinder.
My first post, above, is about two weeks behind. I'll use this to bring it up to date.
Firstly, my C90 is sold. I dont have space for 3 projects bike and a car. The good news is, it was bought by a guy who manages a BSB team and he's using it for a charity John O Groats to Lands End run.
Back to my VFR. After getting the bike home and giving it a hose down i've made a list of jobs needing done, and i've made some progress on the VFR.
I drained the tank of 12 year old stagnant fuel ( that went in my Clio ), put a gallon of fresh fuel in, and fitted a new battery. After checking the levels, i gave the starter a try. It didn't start first time, but it did on the 5th attempt! It ran rough as f
k, but after 5 minutes, once the fresh fuel was in the carbs it settled down to smooth idle. I was amazed. I was convinced the carbs would have to be removed and cleaned out properly. At least i know now that the engine is sound before i spend money on it.
My " to do " list is now ;
Full wash / polish /wax
New front tyre ( any recomendations? )
Front brake was seized. It has free'd up quite a bit now with getting pushed about. I'm hoping a clean of the pistons and new fluid will be enough.
Front forks lowers need a repaint.
Forks. Hoping to get away with polishing the chrome and changing the oil and seals
O/S/F mirror needs repainted
Fuel guage wasn't working, but its starting to respond now. Think the sender may have been semi seized. Its getting better every time i work on the bike.
Fuel tap was seized solid on the on postion. I've lubed the cables and its starting to move. I think it will free off with some attention.
Engine needs a full service.
Clutch pedal is floppy and the master cylider is dry. I've assumed it is the salve cylinder ( as Peterg said earlier ). I bought a used one off ebay for £10.
It has a carbon fibre tank protector which is falling off. I assume 3M tape will be fine for this?
The downpipes and collecter need a good wire brushing, and if sound, then painted.
The back tyre is like new, but i need to change it ( any recomendations? )
Rear caliper is sticky. Needs a clean and fresh fluid.
The Meta alarm works fine, even the remote. Unfortunatly there is no spare alarm fob or code card for the alarm. I may end up removing the alarm as you can't get a spare fob without the code card. I'll have to look into it more.
That's enough to be getting on with just now. I want to get the bike into the same condition it was when it was laid up in 2003. I'm already planning a MotoGP Euro trip with my brother for next year ( He's got a ZZR 1400 ).
Lastly, does anyone know where i can get a carbon fibre end can? I've never had a bike new enough for CF and i'm quite excited about it!
Thanks for reading.
My first post, above, is about two weeks behind. I'll use this to bring it up to date.
Firstly, my C90 is sold. I dont have space for 3 projects bike and a car. The good news is, it was bought by a guy who manages a BSB team and he's using it for a charity John O Groats to Lands End run.
Back to my VFR. After getting the bike home and giving it a hose down i've made a list of jobs needing done, and i've made some progress on the VFR.
I drained the tank of 12 year old stagnant fuel ( that went in my Clio ), put a gallon of fresh fuel in, and fitted a new battery. After checking the levels, i gave the starter a try. It didn't start first time, but it did on the 5th attempt! It ran rough as f
k, but after 5 minutes, once the fresh fuel was in the carbs it settled down to smooth idle. I was amazed. I was convinced the carbs would have to be removed and cleaned out properly. At least i know now that the engine is sound before i spend money on it.My " to do " list is now ;
Full wash / polish /wax
New front tyre ( any recomendations? )
Front brake was seized. It has free'd up quite a bit now with getting pushed about. I'm hoping a clean of the pistons and new fluid will be enough.
Front forks lowers need a repaint.
Forks. Hoping to get away with polishing the chrome and changing the oil and seals
O/S/F mirror needs repainted
Fuel guage wasn't working, but its starting to respond now. Think the sender may have been semi seized. Its getting better every time i work on the bike.
Fuel tap was seized solid on the on postion. I've lubed the cables and its starting to move. I think it will free off with some attention.
Engine needs a full service.
Clutch pedal is floppy and the master cylider is dry. I've assumed it is the salve cylinder ( as Peterg said earlier ). I bought a used one off ebay for £10.
It has a carbon fibre tank protector which is falling off. I assume 3M tape will be fine for this?
The downpipes and collecter need a good wire brushing, and if sound, then painted.
The back tyre is like new, but i need to change it ( any recomendations? )
Rear caliper is sticky. Needs a clean and fresh fluid.
The Meta alarm works fine, even the remote. Unfortunatly there is no spare alarm fob or code card for the alarm. I may end up removing the alarm as you can't get a spare fob without the code card. I'll have to look into it more.
That's enough to be getting on with just now. I want to get the bike into the same condition it was when it was laid up in 2003. I'm already planning a MotoGP Euro trip with my brother for next year ( He's got a ZZR 1400 ).
Lastly, does anyone know where i can get a carbon fibre end can? I've never had a bike new enough for CF and i'm quite excited about it!
Thanks for reading.
My mate has left his VFR parked in my back garden for the last 5 or 6 yrs and I've been nagging him to get rid of it.. it's a 94/L VFR 750, it's been under a substantial cover which has protected it well.I put some fresh petrol in last year and it started fine, it would need at the very least a battery, tyres, c & S as they were knackered when it was in use, service, the only thing missing is the plastic seat hump/cover .. what does everyone think it would be worth as is?
With regards to tyres I've ran my through a couple of sets of PR3's for all year round use but if it was more of a toy I'd probably go for pilot powers.
With regard to the 200M the bike could be worth anything between £500-£1000 depending on exactly what needs doing, the mileage and the exact condition of the bike.
Look on ebay for completed listings to get a true idea.
With regard to the 200M the bike could be worth anything between £500-£1000 depending on exactly what needs doing, the mileage and the exact condition of the bike.
Look on ebay for completed listings to get a true idea.
Hooli said:
I'd sling a pair of PR3s or PR4s on it. Can't fault them for all round riding & they do plenty of miles so ideal for a euro trip.
Another vote for PR3s. Also, you only mention the front, but I'd have thought the rear will definitely need replacibg if it's been standing for 11 yrs.Wire brushing the down pipes? Are they not stainless steel? The earlier models certainly had stainless, and the down pipes on my 86 FG still polish up well except for some areas of discolouration. Mine had also been almost unused for a long time when I bought it. It would start and run fine but was hesitant between 6000-8000 revs. Carbs were very dirty. Make sure you know the price of float bowl gaskets before being tempted to clean yours!
Wire brushing the down pipes? Are they not stainless steel? The earlier models certainly had stainless, and the down pipes on my 86 FG still polish up well except for some areas of discolouration. Mine had also been almost unused for a long time when I bought it. It would start and run fine but was hesitant between 6000-8000 revs. Carbs were very dirty. Make sure you know the price of float bowl gaskets before being tempted to clean yours!
Gareth9702 said:
Make sure you know the price of float bowl gaskets before being tempted to clean yours!
He's not wrong - 30 quid per carb for the float bowl, carb to airbox lower plate and pilot screw O ring on the FV model. Hunt for good quality pattern parts, I'd say! That said, some of them aren't available, so I've had to order genuine.2OOM said:
My mate has left his VFR parked in my back garden for the last 5 or 6 yrs and I've been nagging him to get rid of it.. it's a 94/L VFR 750, it's been under a substantial cover which has protected it well.I put some fresh petrol in last year and it started fine, it would need at the very least a battery, tyres, c & S as they were knackered when it was in use, service, the only thing missing is the plastic seat hump/cover .. what does everyone think it would be worth as is?
If it's cheap enough I might be interested in taking a look.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff