Nominations for worst gas/food stop on I5?

Just got back from a trip to SoCal (left Saturday night, got back last
night). Anybody been to the station maybe 5 miles south of the Coalinga
exit (198) on I5, on the west side of the road? Don't recall for sure, but
I think it was an Arco, possibly on Jayne.

This station had it all. Nasty gas (engine ran roughly until next tank in
Gilroy), relatively-high price, didn't take credit cards (other than ATMs),
*huge* line inside the store to pay, made worse by nearly everyone trying to
pay with a normal credit card, and a bunker-style bathroom which actually
wasn't too bad for men, but the women's had a very large line.

I'm not sure why this station is so busy, when there are much better
services just 5 or so miles further north. I stopped there because I wasn't
sure how my gas was running (fairly small tank).

By the way, the wind at night over Pacheco Pass is *not* fun, at least not
on a VF500. For some reason I get rattled a lot worse when descending into
a corner; you never know for sure where it's going to come from, and I feel
more in control modulating speed with the throttle than the brake.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

 

Wind can be fun even playful because you have more control over it's
force than it can exert on a VF500F and I covered 98,000 miles on
Honda's sweet little V4 to know...

For some reason I get rattled a lot worse when descending into

Yes... if you enter corners slow enough by modulating the throttle
without the aid of the brakes it will afford you to roll on the throttle
before the apex... this technique coupled with keeping your weight off
the bars and employing a late apex makes for a smooth safe down hill
corner...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

indeed, that pass is even a bit scary on my normally unflappable bmw
r1100rs. and, yeah, lying down on the tank helps a lot in wind

 

LOL! Me too, and I instantly recognized it by the description. When I was
there on my way down to L.A. a couple weeks ago, the pay at pump (by ATM)
wasn't working so you had to go wait in the long line *twice*. I think the
whole stop set me back nearly half an hour on my trip! I have my usual
"stops" on I-5-- my favorite is the Apricot Tree Inn-- but this time somehow
I miscalculated or wasn't paying attention and wasn't sure if I was going to
make it that far, so I stopped. I'll never make that mistake again.

 

My Ducati is relatively

It did help to try and get low, but the fairly large backpack I was wearing
probably didn't help!

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

 

Wind can be fun even playful because you have more control over it's force

My VF is very jealous; it's got virtually no miles at all. My previous bike
(a Honda CL360) was used for commuting (including a lot of Santa
Cruz/Redwood City runs) and was piling up 15k miles/year for a while. My
wife bought me the VF500 for Christmas back in 1984 and it's got... get
ready... a whole whopping 7600 miles on it. 800 of which were put on in the
last two days! Trouble is, any day nice enough to ride a motorcycle is also
a good day to be on my bicycle, which remains my first love.

98k miles. What type of saddle did you use, and how tall are you? My 6'
frame has never been too comfortable on the VF500. One of these days I'll
try installing the clip-ons that I bought some years ago, thinking that it
might help to get stretched out a bit.

Another thing- was yours a 1984/85, or the '86 which was detuned a bit?
Mine is the earlier, and she will *not* idle when hot. Constantly cuts out.
She also runs very, very hot in city driving (but can cooly cruise all day
at high speeds).

Thanks-

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

 

I advise not to wear a backpack while riding: it restricts movement
(which tires you more quickly) and if you go down you'll likely break
your clavical. The straps and pack drag on the pavement and put the
force right on your wish bone. Get a cargo net or bungies to hold stuff
onto your pillion seat (or right behind your seat).

BTW: I stop at Kettleman if I must stop - it is about halfway between
here and *there* (and barely within the max range of my GS) and there
are so many gas stations that I can pop into the one with the shortest
lines (plus there's an In-N-Out there!)

 

Harris Ranch has the best burgers and steaks in the state, with a gas
station nextdoor. They also have a runway parallel to I5; when I owned a
plane it was a good destination to fly to for the "$50 burger".

Ken Ishiguro

 

1986 was the detuned year. Slightly smaller carbs, -500 rpm rev limit,
and like all honda v4s of that era, '86 was the year they got harder
cams. The first 1500-ish '84 models were recalled for rod bearing
clearance problems, a buddy of mine did several engine swaps on brand
new on-the-showroom floor VF500Fs. I've had two '86 models, and the
first went 92000 mi before getting clipped by a red light runner in
SF.

They are small, based on the domestic VF400, but cruddy 80's
suspension aside, they work great. It's completely normal for the temp
around town to get to 7/8 scale before the fan kicks in, just make
sure the fan switch is good and you've got fresh coolant.

Enough anorak for the day,

-Anton

 

A low mile 500 is a prize... take care of it... I converter mine to belt
and it's been coined the Belt-0-Ceptor...
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/pics11-3-03/imagepages/BeltCloseUp.html

Stock and I'm 5,11...

Not detuned to hurt top speed but the 2mm smaller carbs did moved the
powerband down into a more street usable range...

Not idling is a problem and I would suggest pulling the carbs off and
cleaning the low speed circuit which tends to get clogged while the bike
sits... in addtion I would increase the main jets and unplug the air
screw so they can be adjusted as well...

The term "very hot" has to many meanings... I can only go by the
position of the temp needle when you think it's too hot...

Does the fan comes on???

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

'86 was the year they got harder

Negative Anton...
Honda's great camshaft crisis almost kill the publics love affair with
the V4... the real culprit was Honda's short cut in manufacturing the
cam bearing blocks separately from the heads... miss matched components
didn't allow the tolerances to add up and the slop they created let the
camshaft to flop about basically tilting the cam on it's end by the
pressure of the valve spring...

Honda was typically silent for a long time and this led to all sorts of
home cures including better top oiling kits... shorten oil change
intervals... larger gapped valve clearances... installing new cam
tensioners... auxiliary cooling fans kits... etc etc etc... but none of
these address the root cause... Only after Honda took a lot of stick did
they finally go back to the timely process of line boring the cam
bearing blocks on the head so the tolerances complimented each other...

If your 500 sports a rubber valve cover gasket that incorporates half
moons (86)then you have cam bearing blocks that are properly line
bored... but if your rubber gasket is just straight affair all around
the valve cover (84-85) then you have the suspect separate bore
blocks... to know for sure if these cams are about to self destruct
(look for the first signs of damage at the edges) you should plastic
gauge the tolerances between the cam and cam blocks to insure they are
in accordance to the shop manual...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

Mine is the earlier, and she will *not* idle when hot. Constantly cuts

The idling issue has been there from day-1, and continued after a complete
carb overhaul (funny the things you have to do to a bike after it hasn't
been ridden for a couple of years and you neglected to drain the gas...). I
should have also mentioned that, if you hold the throttle open just
slightly, it idles just fine. If you set the idle about 200 rpm high,
there's no problem at all. Or if you set the throttle so it can't close all
the way.

It's also a bit temperamental restarting when hot, but it's never failed (a
couple times where I worried about the battery though!).

Yes, I'm going by the movement in the gauge, which may or may not have much
meaning. But once you get into stop & go stuff, it moves very rapidly, and
the fan does engage.

 

Day 1??? that's a enough of a challenge where I'd like to take a shot at
fixing once and for all... I'm in Sac and at comcast.net if you wish to
set up an appointment at the Busy Little Shop... no fix no charge...

Next time it's temperamental try holding the throttle full open while
cranking... and soon as it pops close the throttle...

The gauge movement means this... as soon as the needle raises above the
orange block the temp is 100 F degrees... beyond that normal range is
180 to 240F... fan should cycle at 240... far orange block is 300 F and
signals danger the system will boil over into the over flow tank...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

Negative Anton...

Ya got me, I forgot about the line-boring. The original machine that
machined the cam bearings looked like a giant end mill, and the cams
walked around quite a bit. Pulling .003-.009 out of the blocks and
plastigaging the cams usually fixed the early ones. The later
tensioners were better as well.

If you're going to remove the carbs, make sure you buy new OE honda
intake boots, 'cause you'll never get the carbs back on without them.
Something to try now would be to drill the idle mixture screw plugs if
they haven't already been, and fiddle with them.

Yes, the half moons are the giveaway. Remeber the silly 'setting tool'
that honda wanted you to use to try to make the lash work right?

-Anton

 

I find the boots only need replacing if they have hardened with age...
other that that the carbs will slip right back on if you fully loosen
both the bottom and top clamps and apply a little grease to help things
side home...

Do I ever Anton... at it was silly... I made a sillier one just to keep
form buying Honda's...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

By the way, the wind at night over Pacheco Pass is *not* fun, at least not

To say nothing of how cold it can get even in summer if the morning overcast
is present. We pulled over riding two up two weeks ago and dug out the
electric clothes. Seems the pullout before Fruitopia going into Gilroy is
patrolled by some nasty wench in a p.u. truck who will ream you no end for
stopping on her private road for such matters. Luckily for me, the little
woman onboard dealt with her in a "womanly" fashion. <lol>

B~