I looked at an '87 VR with 50K miles on it today. Owner is asking $1200.00 dollars. I am tempted, but it has some "issues" that are obvious. First, it is beaten pretty badly. Plastic, vinyl, chrome, paint and metal pieces are all cracked, pitted, scraped, scarred, bent, gouged, loose, etc. They all seem to be in place, but they are pretty well abused and neglected. I kept looking though, because for the price I was more interested in the mechanical soundness of the bike than the cosmetics or looks.
The owner cranked the bike and let it idle while we talked. The starter turned the engine over slowly, but it fired up quickly. The idle was rough, and it spit and sputtered for a moment after the start-up. The off-idle response was also noticebly sluggish when the throttle was twisted. I shut if off for a few minutes while the owner and I chatted about other things that needed attention. He told me the fork tubes were leaking, and would need serviced. He acknowledged they were probably empty of fluid after I easily squashed them all the way to the ground. He told me the bike had been tuned-up a year ago. Coulda fooled me. We also discussed how to remove the seat (he didn't know). I wanted to see if I could locate the source of an obviouse oil leak/seep.
After a few minutes I started the bike up again, and it fired off pretty well. Twisting the throttle resulted in a sluggish (pathetic) throttle response. It gather RPM's rather slowly, and did not seem to have any umph off idle. It turned weakly while starting, but it did start. The owner later told me he had put a new battery in the bike this past spring.
I have not ridden the bike yet. What things should I look for on this generation of Venture that might not be so obvious to the un-trained eye? If the owner will allow me to run it down the street I will go through the gears and see how the motor pulls and accelerates, runs at road speed, decelerates, etc. I also want to see if the thing will start, stop, hold a set speed, turn, track and other such important and interesting things.
What should I expect to pay for fork seal replacement and fork service (and new Progressive springs?) for this rig? Are the brakes on the VR known to be durable/reliable? If there are carb problems on the Ventures are they a PIA to deal with? It has a oil weep somewhere on the back cylinder bank, as made visible by a considerable amount of gunk collecting on top of the rear engine case. Is this typical for a 23 year old Venture? Are the final drives on these bikes pretty durable, and do they give tell-tell signs if they are about to go out?
Thanks for any input. If there other links or posts that addresses these issues, please advise. I would be glad to link to them; otherwise, I look forward to your replies.
