Thanks to all the help here, the rotten old non-running '86 VFR700 I picked up in September just made a weekend run to the mountains and back, 500+ miles over the weekend with zero issues.
It's still very ugly, and it still smells like dead rodent when it warms up. Its name is now Stinky.
In September, I low-balled a Yankee (no offense, I'm married to one) on a really ugly, wrecked VFR700 on CL with broken plastics, dry-rotted tires, leaky petcock and no battery. All three calipers were non-functioning and the forks were leaking tons of oil. But I put my Concours battery to it and it started and would barely run on choke, and there were only 5k miles on it.
Brought it home, went through the fluids, pulled a huge squirrel nest and part of a dead squirrel out of the air box, cleaned the carbs, flushed the brakes and got it started. Ran it through the gears and then dropped the cash on new tires, rebuilt the forks (parts were missing out of one tube, there was NO oil in it), bought it a real battery. Chased down wiring issues. All with help here.
This weekend Hubby on his KLR and I took off to visit a riding buddy in Atlanta, who took us up into the mountains of North GA. The VFR did just fine. Compared to my Nighthawk 750 and the heavier Concours 1000, it turns in well, tracks beautifully, and has plenty of usable power right where I want it.
I find it comfortable tank to tank except for the seat. That's the only part of this bike I can't tolerate. Having done a lot of work on seats in the past, I'm ready to open this one up and cut out the soft foam and replace it with much firmer stuff like Corbin uses, since I can't find a Corbin for it.
Nobody would ever mistake it for a modern sportbike, but it's the lightest thing in my geriatric bike stable if not the fastest, and plenty comfortable enough that I will take it on more long trips. After I modify that seat.
Fixing the cosmetics is going to take a long time but in the meantime I'm really enjoying my resurrected Honda, and I appreciate all the help ya'll have offered to get it back on the road and in good running condition.
It's still very ugly, and it still smells like dead rodent when it warms up. Its name is now Stinky.
In September, I low-balled a Yankee (no offense, I'm married to one) on a really ugly, wrecked VFR700 on CL with broken plastics, dry-rotted tires, leaky petcock and no battery. All three calipers were non-functioning and the forks were leaking tons of oil. But I put my Concours battery to it and it started and would barely run on choke, and there were only 5k miles on it.
Brought it home, went through the fluids, pulled a huge squirrel nest and part of a dead squirrel out of the air box, cleaned the carbs, flushed the brakes and got it started. Ran it through the gears and then dropped the cash on new tires, rebuilt the forks (parts were missing out of one tube, there was NO oil in it), bought it a real battery. Chased down wiring issues. All with help here.
This weekend Hubby on his KLR and I took off to visit a riding buddy in Atlanta, who took us up into the mountains of North GA. The VFR did just fine. Compared to my Nighthawk 750 and the heavier Concours 1000, it turns in well, tracks beautifully, and has plenty of usable power right where I want it.
I find it comfortable tank to tank except for the seat. That's the only part of this bike I can't tolerate. Having done a lot of work on seats in the past, I'm ready to open this one up and cut out the soft foam and replace it with much firmer stuff like Corbin uses, since I can't find a Corbin for it.
Nobody would ever mistake it for a modern sportbike, but it's the lightest thing in my geriatric bike stable if not the fastest, and plenty comfortable enough that I will take it on more long trips. After I modify that seat.
Fixing the cosmetics is going to take a long time but in the meantime I'm really enjoying my resurrected Honda, and I appreciate all the help ya'll have offered to get it back on the road and in good running condition.