VFR400 for track bike?

[Durbs]

Want a track bike for this season, originally planned to use my GSX-R 750 but as it's my only transport, cant risk it.

Have seen a few VFR400's for sale pretty cheap - one 1987 NC24 for £650 looks nice. Are these thing asking for trouble or are they pretty reliable?

Would an 87 VFR end up in me spending £'s on keeping it running in anyones experience? After something cheap thats as maintenance free as an SV but is not an SV.

[fastdruid]

RVF400?

http://www.fastdruid.co.uk/forsale/NC35.html

Druid

[fastdruid]

Have seen a few VFR400's for sale pretty cheap - one 1987 NC24 for £650 looks nice. Are these thing asking for trouble or are they pretty reliable?

Would an 87 VFR end up in me spending £'s on keeping it running in anyones experience? After something cheap thats as maintenance free as an SV but is not an SV.

Problem with NC24's is spares and tyres, they don't take modern tyre sizes although they are still fantastic.

Major problem with them is the collectors, they rust, fall apart, are rocking horse poo to get hold of and need the engine out to swap. NC30's & NC35's are a *far* better bet.

Druid

[Durbs]

RVF400?

http://www.fastdruid.co.uk/forsale/NC35.html

Druid

That looks like the sort of thing - what are they like reliability-wise i.e. it'll do a full season without anything except fuel & oil adding?

[fastdruid]

Well its the same as any bike, the more maintenance the better, I'd advise *not* to do nothing apart from fuel and oil :) but they are pretty reliable.

Had two issues (both pretty minor) no real grief with it at all.

Druid

[EssexDave]

I can agree with druid. I had about 20,000 miles of trouble free riding from a 1991 VFR 400 NC30. Beautiful bike, lovely to ride. Handles brialliantly.

And by the way, that was 17,000 miles with no servicing (I'm a bad boy I know)
The oil didn't even need topping up once.

The problem with NC30 is the 18" back wheel so as druid says, modern tyres are harder to come by. You can do a RVF wheel conversion to an NC30 though, Not sure how much work it is but believe it's reasonably simple

[fastdruid]

Actually the 18 rear isn't a problem on the track, Alpha10's and BT090's come in those sizes and are as sticky as a sticky thing. Its more a problem on the road.

No the problem with the VFR400 NC24 is the 16inch front combined with bias tyres, they take Front: 100/90-16 54H, Rear: 130/70-18 63H Try getting modern tyres in those sizes!

In comparison the VFR400R NC30 takes a 120/60-R17 front and 150/60-R18 rear, easy still to get tyres for.

NC35 rear wheel conversion for NC30 is a piece of p*ss, replace the dogbones with NC35 ones and replace the rear wheel. Tada, instant 17inch rear!

Oh and fwiw if you don't want the spare fairings I'd do the RVF400 for 800.

Druid

[Mole]

Hi there, noob today, but just stumbled across this....i used to own a 89 nc30. It was my first bike and I can't believe i sold it, it was in mint condition all original stamped fairing and no cut exhaust, aaaaaaaaany way, it was perfect on the track and kept up with the 600 boys no prob. There are a few things to take into account, original fairings are not cheap and trying to find good ones will be hard, but there are thousands of chinese copies which fit quite well for pennies on the net. Parts for these bikes are getting rare and expensive, if you're gonna use it for track and not too fussed about keeping it original i'd say you couldn't have picked a better bike for the cash and the sound of that V4 will sound awsome.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:KTG3akNjIfP9yM:http://www.dapper-dogs.net/bikes/images/vfr400.jpg (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dapper-dogs.net/bikes/images/vfr400.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index.php%3Ftopic%3D16776.15&usg=__8iddk4hfsDUPtgXjhr41DhVnExk=&h=337&w=500&sz=49&hl=en&start=1&itbs=1&tbnid=KTG3akNjIfP9yM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvfr400%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Dis ch:1) not mine! by the way

[fastdruid]

Should really have asked first but are you after something you can ride there, thrash and ride home or take on a trailer/in a van?

And then just to remind anyone who has forgotten, I'm selling an RVF400 track bike (see link in sig) ;)

Druid

[Mole]

Nice collection FastD

[Durbs]

Should really have asked first but are you after something you can ride there, thrash and ride home or take on a trailer/in a van?


Will be solely track use, not wanting it on the road as got GSX-R for that so will be trailer job.

This may be a silly question but what do you do insurance-wise? If its not a road bike then i assume i don't need to tax and insure the thing but what happens if it gets nicked? Are there policies for non-road vehicles or do you just add it as a named item under the house insurance?

[fastdruid]

You can get policies that will cover you, I never thought it was worth it but it depends where you live etc!

If its road registered you might be able to get it insured as a second bike cost me £100 to insure the SV with all mods declared.

Druid