Looking at buying 86 VF700

First, a bit about my background...own a '98 VFR of my own that I've got about 28k on.  Done all the standard mods to the air box, PC, pipe, etc, helibars, Sargent, cleaned up the rear fender fugliness.  Love, love, LOVE my bike.  Rode it to Pensacola a few years ago with a buddy.  Been around bikes my whole life, raced motocross for a lot of years.

My gf started riding on her own last year on a Ninja 250 we bought her.  She outgrew it, and we sold it a month ago and looking for her something to go on short rides of a couple hours or so with me, that'll actually keep up running 60-70 on back roads.

Since I'm so fond of VFRs, I've showed her a few 4th-gens and a 5th or two, but she says we'd look too much like twinkies. Then I came across this bike the other night on local Craigslist.  I showed it to her and she actually likes it.  In the interest of full disclosure, I'd love to have this bike for myself just because of what it is.  Being able to justify it as 'her' bike makes it even better.

It's literally about three miles from my shop.  The owner is firm on his price.  Says its in nice shape except for the leaking petcock (which is $45 new to replace, since the gasket apparently isn't available by itself).  Tires will probably need replaced due to age.  Starts and runs and rides.  Says its has a little bit of a henky idle sometimes, but not with any specific regularity.  Gonna go check it out Friday.

Is this as good of a deal as I feel like it is?  I know tires will be limited since they're 16", but she's not gonna be pushing things anyway.  I thought about sourcing some 17s maybe from an F2 or F3, but that's a future project.

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Looks nice!  Sounds like very minor problems.   If as described (no cracked, busted plastic, etc) it would be a lot of bike for the money.

Steal it and fix it up.

Totally agree with Cogs and Mike. If it was three miles from my house I would snap it up. Say hello to Nicky for us!

It's funny, ya know.  Nicky's parents' (Earl and Rose) house is about a mile from my shop.  Our softball league fields backed up to their house and we'd hear the boys riding the practice track at night.  Tommy, Nicky and Roger are just local kids that raced out of the same shop I did when they were growing up...we still see them out at the local restaurants for dinner when they're home...we've raced some local MX races together back in the early days before their road contracts barred it (OK...I was racing, they were just goofing off. LOL).  We all see them just as local guys that are really, really good at what they do. It's like if you went to high school with Michael Jordan...it's hard to see him as this huge star like everybody else does. 😄

2 minutes ago, Fulch13

It's funny, ya know.  Nicky's parents' (Earl and Rose) house is about a mile from my shop.  Our softball league fields backed up to their house and we'd hear the boys riding the practice track at night.  Tommy, Nicky and Roger are just local kids that raced out of the same shop I did when they were growing up...we still see them out at the local restaurants for dinner when they're home...we've raced some local MX races together back in the early days before their road contracts barred it (OK...I was racing, they were just goofing off. LOL).  We all see them just as local guys that are really, really good at what they do. It's like if you went to high school with Michael Jordan...it's hard to see him as this huge star like everybody else does. 😄

Can you confirm what I heard about the Hayden's, that kathy was faster than the boys when she raced?

Oh yeah, buy that bike.

Yes, I have been told the same thing about Kathy.  Though I personally have never ridden with her.

Update...I went and checked it out today.  Definitely rougher than it looked in pics.

Rear plastics have a crack in the right side and a few nicks n scrapes, and the front corner under the tank has gotten hot and actually curled back about a half-inch.

Lower fairing are primered white and look to have never been painted, though they DO have decals on them, which I suspect were bought off the internet.  They also don't fit perfectly, and where they meet under the belly looks like one of the tabs is broken off.

Upper fairing has a few scrapes that have been painted with not-quite-matching touch up paint (though the factory paint otherwise is still nice), and it looks there used to be flush-mount marker lights.  The upper is either cracked or the paint is mangled where those lights sat. (See pic).  I'm thinking maybe the bike was dropped, those flush mounts crunched a little bit and so they stuck the stock signals back on.

The petcock leaks, and has leaked long enough that it's work the paint OFF below it.  There's also a couple scrapes in the white of the paint.  The rest of the tank is nice and shiny, though.

The filler panels between the tank, gauges and fairing aren't fit well, and the right side appears to be broken off toward the back.

Fork seals definitely need replaced, as do the tires.

Fires right up with no smoke.  When sitting at idle, though, it starts to bog down.  The owner would reach down under the left side of the tank (presumably to the idle adjuster) and bring it back up, but after 30 seconds or so, when you blip the throttle, the revs would STAY elevated until you turn the adjuster back down.  I'm thinking this may just be a good carb cleaning needed, but not sure.

There are two hoses sticking out from under the right side of the tank.  One appears to be vacuum and is plugged with a golf tee.  The other appears about the size of fuel line and is plugged with a damned ink pen.

So with all THAT info...thoughts?

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Still looks like a pretty good deal.  My petcock leaked, you can buy the parts and it is pretty easy fix.  the bad idle should be cured with a good carb clean.  Tanks and those side panels show up sometimes on ebay.  One or both of the hoses could be the hoses that attach to the underside of the tank, one is a drain, but I think there is another besides the fuel line.

I'll offer a counter opinion here and say she should get what she wants and not what you want, especially an older bike that looks a little rough. What is she riding now? Does she have a bike that she lusts after? Maybe a Triumph Street Triple or Yamaha FZ09? Oops, sorry, that's what I want.

She's really been very indecisive (*cough* *cough* like all women *cough*) about a new bike.  She started on a Ninja 250.  I've shown her SV650s, FZ6's, Yamaha 6R's (NOT the R6), F3s and F4s, Katanas, etc, etc.. When I showed her the Viffer, her response was 'I like that'.  I think it might be the red white n blue.  She wants something sporty, but I'm not about to put her on a full-on sport bike.  She liked a ZR1100 Godzirra a buddy had, but that's way too much bike.  She doesn't like the Monster, or the SpeedTriple.

IF she like this bike that is not a bad price.  I would not hesitate to reinforce the issues with it while taking a second look at it by touching all of the areas that let it down.  I would also not be afraid to unroll 10 crisp $100 bills and make the owner tell me agin how firm he is on the price.

Carb cleaning, sorting the petcock and hoses (sounds like a vacuum hose that shuts off the petcock with a golf tee in it, thus the leaking stain on the tank) and finding some nice plastics can be done but another way to look at it is the bike has been pre-dropped and is therefore not $2k or more.

9 hours ago, Fulch13

She's really been very indecisive (*cough* *cough* like all women *cough*) about a new bike.

The difference (IMO) is that women can't decide because they don't know what they like, while men can't decide because they like too many! But back to subject at hand, if she likes the VF700, then it could be a win-win situation. But just curious why you sold the Ninja before replacing it. Sounds like she's got nothing to ride right now. Maybe that's another difference between men & women.

It was just ridiculously inept at keeping up at even sedate back roads speeds.  It wasn't designed for that, and we didn't really intend to get to that point with that bike, but we did it once and said goodbye.

She was also thinking that she might not want to ride on her own, but with me.  She's kinda rethinking that now.

And the funds from it will finance the new bike (or part of it anyway).

auggius The difference (IMO) is that women can't decide because they don't know what they like, while men can't decide because they like too many! But back to subject at hand, if she likes the VF700, then it could be a win-win situation. But just curious why you sold the Ninja before replacing it. Sounds like she's got nothing to ride right now. Maybe that's another difference between men & women.

Funny, I'm a female and I know exactly what I like and don't like. I see a bike and I know right away if I like the lines, the looks, and if it's worth it to me to invest more time in deciding if I want to test ride it.

Also, why sell a bike before you know what the next one is you want? Better to have one bike than no bike at all.

OK, fortunately that's a VFR, NOT a VF.  If you can get it running right, the cosmetic issues will fade into meaninglessness, so offer him a bit less.  It's a tallish bike for short-legged riders and a bit top-heavy compared to most 600s/750s.  There is no petcock vacuum line under the tank, just a drain hose.

The price is OK, but it does need work.

That bent plastic under the petcock can be from the gas leaking on it. Looks like the right had lower faring is not mounted as it should, there is a secon hole made for the rear fasner under tank and the top 3 are not all mounted as should. To me it looks like a possible bent upper subframe, so your tought of a possible drop can be true. If the upper faring subframe is bent, it should show as cracks in the paint. The running sounds like the float needels are leaking in the carbs, wifes former bike, was just doing that (even not a VFR) and the cure was new needels as housing for the carbs. The Yoshy pipe looks nice! But have to say that compare to what I was offered (but did not have money to buy sadly!) for 1500€, this needs a LOT more work, as it was almost a minter...But yes, it still has potential. These don´t grow on trees....spechally almost stock ones!