I hope this proves to be the bargain it looks like

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320063151900

A Honda VF500, plus another for spares, for just over £400.

 

The Older Gentleman says...

I absolutely loved VF500s, terrific bikes. Did I tell you about grinding
a hole in the fairing of a brand new one on a test ride?

 

No, but I can imagine it could be done. I rode one in the mid-1980s and
seriously thought about buying one, but the V4 troubles were at their
height then, and they were expensive, so I didn't.

The handling was amazing. Oh the spread of power almost as impressive.

This one looks bloody clean.

 

The Older Gentleman says...

It was a blistering hot summers day in either 85 or 86 and I went on an
organised test ride out of Bob King's in Bedford. There were all the V4s
and a few other Hondas out. We went up the A6 and turned round about 12
miles out of town and headed back. About half way is a village called
Milton Ernest that has a glorious long sweeping left hander on the way
in, unfortunately it's within the 30 limit but that's not important
right now becasue everyone on a bike ignores it until clear of the bend.
I'd hung back a bit so I could get a good crack at it, with a VF1000F in
front, the rider of which had been trotting along at a decent pace.

As we approached the 30 limit the VF1000 slowed down a fair bit about
100 yards in front of me out by the white line, so I carried on as I was
closing rapidly with the intention of going up the inside of him on the
exit, but as I got alongside him at about 100mph he tightened his line
and almost sideswiped me, so I stuffed it in a bit further and wound a
bit of throttle on to get clear. Back then I hadn't learned the benefits
of hanging off a bike to get round corners faster. Suddenly the footrest
went down, quickly followed by a horrible plastic type scraping noise
which I ignored as the bike was almost out of the bend and still riding
ok.

When we got back I took a quick look at the bike and there was a hole
about 3 inches long and about 2 inches high ground through the fairing
on the bellypan section. I walked away a bit fast, but later had to take
some stick from the manager of the shop because Honda UK weren't very
happy about their bike being damaged. My response was "It's a sports
bike, they should have given it more ground clearance"

 

In message

It looks like a real bargain (if the tappets are the tappets IYSWIM)

One of my most memorable rides on my 250LC was 50 of so miles playing
with a chap on a VF500. Bikes and riders were well matched, the sun was
shining, speed cameras had not been invented, jumpers for goal-posts...

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Lozzo

Fell off, huh?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

Wicked Uncle Nigel says...

Nowhere near, I was in total control....for once.

 

Nice. Not a twin, though.

Is that a 16" front/18" rear setup?

 

I think so. Maybe 17" rear, but 16" front, definitely.

 

The Older Gentleman says...

16" and 18"

 

Ta. There's an odd set-up.

Wonder if Haynes does a manual?

<Fire up Google>

Oh dear, they don't.

<Googles for VF500 valve clearances>

Oh, Christ. Oh dear oh dear oh deary me.

<Googles and searches Ebay for Special Tool>

Hm. This might be tricky. Lozzo, is the special cam holding tool utterly
essential or just snake oil?

 

Bwahahahaha.

Sorry, couldn't help it

I'd expected that you of all the people would've checked this before
buying the bike...

 

When I saw it up for sale, ithe auction had 12 minutes left to run. It
was on £399 and I bid £409 for a laugh. And won it.

Ho hum.

 

The Older Gentleman wrote:

This article suggests that it may not be entirely necessary and, of
course, if it's on the net it must be true.

http://home.earthlink.net/~wrenchtwister/V4hist.html

 

"This tool is superfluous. It is also part of a big coverup.....
Moreover, in August of 1985 and again in February of 1986, Honda
themselves revealed its uncertainty regarding this "solution" to the cam
problem, by suggesting in a dealer publication that the special tool
wasn't in fact necessary to get correct valve adjustment."

Phew. Thanks for that. I had a vague recollection that it didn't really
do anything.

 

The Older Gentleman says...

We never used one on the 400, we did what Dave Emerson suggested in ukrm
and held the other half of the rocker up with a feeler gauge in the gap
betweeen rocker and valve. I thought that was standard practice with
forked rockers. I've always done it that way.

You do need a Honda tool to use on the end of the tappet screw as they
have that stupid rectanglular end that nothing else fits to. Remember
the rectangle cut out in the flat bar of a C90 toolkit, that's what it's
for, but you try getting one of those tools in a VF engine.

 

I've actually got something that does fit.

 

Item 320064491133 should fill that gap.

 

platypus says...

The ukrm manual depository has a Clymer manual for the VF700/1000F
Interceptor V4s. Totally irrelevant to this bike, but whatever.

 

Already noted - it's the same bloke as I won the bike from.