1985 VF 750 F - Cafe-able?

cleeuw

cleeuw

Active Member
Came across a decent deal on an '85 Honda VF 750 F ($800 CAD, running, w/title and plenty of spare parts). Anyone seen anything cool done with these bikes? I love the look of the frame over the motor. I like that I could have the modern sport bike frame/suspension, but that I could put on some good tires, a round light and tail and get cruising.

(I may be saying all this due to my 78 CB400 motor being a POS)

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/mcy/2607486159.html
 
I've got an '85 VF700F and I love it.

It's the same bike with shorter piston stroke to bring the displacement below 700 cc to get around the tarrif imposed in the US against "large" displacement imported bikes in the mid '80s.

I love the stock looks, but it'd be interesting to see one cafed out.

BTW, don't get too excited about the "modern" frame and suspension on this 26 year old bike. The rear shocks weren't much good when new and have a high failure rate (I replaced two before switching to a modded CBR600 shock) and the front isn't considered to be much better. Also, there was a top end oiling problem with the early Honda V4's which tended to make them eat up cams so watch out for that.

CC
 
BTW, don't get too excited about the "modern" frame and suspension on this 26 year old bike. The rear shocks weren't much good when new and have a high failure rate (I replaced two before switching to a modded CBR600 shock) and the front isn't considered to be much better. Also, there was a top end oiling problem with the early Honda V4's which tended to make them eat up cams so watch out for that.
Click to expand...

Good to know. It's information like that that is plenty useful when negotiating. Any idea what the source of the oiling problem was? Channels getting plugged?
 
That thing is half way there to an adventure bike - I'd be inclined to finish it that way ;)


Not really a good cafe donor in the traditional sense, more streetfighter / tracker IMO.


As for the cams, if it's still running now, they would have either been fixed under warranty or this bike wasn't from the "bad batch"
 
cleeuw said:
Good to know. It's information like that that is plenty useful when negotiating. Any idea what the source of the oiling problem was? Channels getting plugged?
Click to expand...

As I understand it there were a couple of problems with the cams/oiling. There was a metalurgy problem with some of the cams. Also a weak oil pump that didn't flow much oil to the top end at low rpm's. There are a few kits and plans out there for fixing the oiling problem. My bike has about 30K miles on it. I had the valve cover gasket off a few weeks ago to fix an oil leak and my cams looked fine. ;D
 
Going to have a look at it this weekend - interested to see if those spare parts include street tires or not.

I agree the tail has a fighter-look to it, might have to go that route instead. First step is to see what kind of shape it's in.
 
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