This is what the bike would look like if I rebuilt it to factory defaults for the date.
Add the chin-scoop in white...hmm...
In November/December of 2004 I thought how much fun it would be for my boy to have a motorcycle as his first vehicle. He would be 15 in Febuary and a year after that could get a permit. I remembered being that age and I know I would have loved something like that. Getting an older bike on the cheap meant he could have more than a glorified moped. With a year to fix any problems, we had plenty of time.
After quite a bit of research into good "first-timer" bikes I decided on the VF500F. Small enough that I could convice his mom it wasn't too dangerous and quick enough that he would have a blast. In March of 2005 I won an ebay bid on an '86 VF500F for $630 that needed work but was all there except for the chin-scoop...in Atlanta but no problem—ex-truckers don't percieve distance as a barrier.
Once we got it back I kicked it over with a battery borrowed from another bike and it ran exceedingly rough but did start. At this point I asked my boy to help tear it down and fix it—this was part of the deal we had made to get it for him—but it never happened. And his interest in riding bikes or even learning to drive never really kicked in until his senior year...when he was near 300lbs and just too big for it now.
Now, almost six years later, I have decided to fix it up for myself. My interest in biking is expanding and I have some ideas on what I would like to do here.
|
I do not have the ebay pictures but this is pretty much what the bike looked like. The only real diffences between this pic and my bike is that the wheels are white and there is no chin-scoop. This is what the bike would look like if I rebuilt it to factory defaults for the date. |
|
| There is some additional plastic that can be added to that same base model/year to make it a little more like a crotch-rocket. But I already have a dressed bike and don't really want another one just now. | |
|
|
What I prefer is the red and white look of the VF400F from '83. This was only shipped to Asian and EU markets—never made it to the US. It is bold and the red frame really stands out as different. | |
| Or maybe this custom red/white/black of that same model. I have not decided if I will change the fairing but the color scheme is not something that you see on every bike. Add the chin-scoop in white...hmm... |
|
|