I came across this eBay auction this morning and thought it looks a little too perfect for a 28-year old owners manual. Turns out that it is, in fact, a new reprint from a company called Helm who supplies aftermarket auto and moto manuals. This company is news to me.

Our Florida seller has this new manual after selling his VFR and is offering it at auction with an opening bid of $7.50 or $15 buy-it-now plus shipping of $3.92. That's a pretty good deal considering Helm charges $58 with shipping & handling. They also offer some service and parts manuals.

You can find Helm here:
https://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?Style=helm

I featured this very nice 2007 VFR800 back in July. I noted at the time that the seller was asking "top dollar for a top-level example." Well, winter is here and the realities of the used bike market have come to bear.

The price for this beauty has been reduced from $6750 to $5700 (or offer), a much more reasonable ask.

I also noted that this bike shows an impressive 4334 miles and includes some nice extras. Here's my original post:
http://v4dreams.com/shop-blog/nice-6th-gen-for-sale-in-chicago

I came across these Honda branded tools on VFRworld.com. Offered by forum member Sohnos, he's asking $50 plus shipping from California.

I'm willing to bet that not too many of us have these in the tool box, so here's your chance. These are the tools specified in the Honda Factory Service Manual for 1986-89 valve adjustments and the 90° sync-ing screwdriver, which I think should accommodate any carbureted VF/VFR.

Contact Sohnos directly via the forum link.

SOLD: $28,600 +commission

This first-year example of the RC30 just sold from the Adam Lindemann collection through a Gooding & Company auction.

The selling price was surprisingly low compared to similar sales over the past few years. I don't have any insight as to why, as the bike shows only 6500 kilometers and seems to be an original Japanese import in beautiful condition. There's not many details online beyond this from Mr. Lindemann:
“The great Japanese superbike that proved that their motorcycles were as good and actually better than those from Europe. This early-production model was imported from Japan and has the Japanese stickers and details of the first production versions.”

In any event our buyer seems to have scored a great deal. His is an impressive collection, some of which are shown below, along with a fun little video of this VFR on the road.

What's that? You thought that your RC30 collection was complete? Wrong.

​Here's a Japanese-language sales brochure including a vinyl record of various sound bites, back before the phrase "sound bite" was a thing.

The eBay-UK seller lists the item as "genuine" and in "good used condition." The listing price is $441 USD plus $58 shipping to the U.S.

​It's only money...right?

Recently, I was disassembling a set of 2d-gen carburetors for rebuild and found this assembly mistake. We can see that a section of the diaphragm's outer rim was not in contact with its groove (red line). This, of course, will result in a vacuum leak, resulting in that slide not working correctly.

When assembling the slide/diaphragm it's necessary to lay the rim of the diaphragm fully into the carb's groove — don't forget to locate the lower tab (yellow arrow) — then hold the slide in that position with a finger while installing the spring and cover with the other hand. Without allowing the slide to move, hold the cover in place with a thumb while installing the cover screws. If everything's correct, the slide will then move up and down with a slight vacuum "drag."

One of the many little assembly details that make it all work.

Yesterday I was in disassembly mode with a client's carburetors and found the scene shown below inside #1's float bowl, and only #1 — the other carbs were dry and relatively clean. When I see that black goo coating the jets I know I'm in for a cleaning challenge. In this case it was the pilot and "choke" circuits. The arrow is pointing to the choke jet, which is fixed in place, adding another layer of difficulty when cleaning.

(Below) When the pilot screw was removed I found this sticky mess on the tip (left photo). This tells me that the passages serving the pilot circuit are full of this stuff and surely clogged. Fortunately, this goo hasn't been here long and cleaned up with aerosol brake cleaner and a scrub pad (right photo). After the better part of an hour in the ultrasonic cleaner the passages eventually cleared with tiny wire probes into the jet and several blasts of 100psi compressed air followed by repeated flushings with brake cleaner. In severe cases clearing internal passages of this varnished gasoline can be very difficult, and therefore time consuming. In this case, everything eventually cleared and I'm able to move forward with assembly.

UPDATE: SOLD $7200 w/27bids
​
What: 1983 VF750F Interceptor
Where: Raleigh, N. Carolina
Why: Low-mile survivor
Price: Auction closes Nov. 28

Live on Bring-A-Trailer is this great-looking first-year 750 Interceptor showing only 4072 miles. Not many details from the selling dealer but the bike appears to be unmolested save for the period F1 mufflers, the right side showing a bit of rash. I don't see telltale signs of restoration work, so I'm assuming this is being represented as an original condition example. The comments so far are centered around the infamous cam issue, but the seller hasn't yet responded, so that's an open question for bidders. Two days in we're at only $2500 but the bidding would probably gain some traction if some sort of assurance could be had regarding a cam oiling modification or maybe a cam inspection, neither of which appear likely.

In any event, this looks like an exceptional example of an important model in the Interceptor's lineage. Not all bikes were affected by "soft cams" and most were discovered/fixed early on, so the whole thing may be a non-issue. This would make a nice addition to a "riding collection" or an awesome entry into classic bike ownership. This auction could go anywhere, so I'll be watching with interest.