Here's another bike history, this time about a 1984 VF700 Sabre which currently has just under 130,000 miles on the clock. The owner and author is Joe Miller, Joe.Miller@udayton.edu. Joe says the bike is now for sale: As I mentioned in the previous posts, I am wanting to sell the Sabre because I am not using it continuously and I find that storing it has been very hard on it. I am starting by advertising it in San Jose, CA where it is now stored, but if you know of anyone who is interested please give me a call at home(513.854.9222)EST or work(513.229.4523). Thanks. --------------------------------------------------------- Model: 1984, Honda Sabre, VF700S Purchased: American Cycle, Berkeley, CA Nov. 16, 1984 Rebecca and I had moved to El Cerrito in the summer of 1984, leaving behind family, friends, and motorcycles in Elkhart , Indiana. At that point I was not interested in bringing out my Yamaha XS750 or Suzuki RE5. By the end of the summer I was seriously looking at a new motorcycle. I was considering the Honda CX650 but they were long gone and so looked at the Sabre. I had not looked at it before because it was more of a sportbike/new technology than I wanted but as soon as I test rode one I was convinced. 130,000 miles later and I am still convinced. It was on sale for only $2875! I can distinctly remember driving it home on a November evening just as it was turning dark. It was winter time in northern California. That meant rain and cold temperatures but generally not freezing so I could still ride. It was great!! But the first thing I got was a clear fairing and backrest which evolved into my proto-ST1100. I kept a log of everything I did to the Sabre and so I think that will be the best way to continue. *Nov 1984-Purchase *Mar 1985-Fairing(National Cycle) and back rest/luggage rack. I have always liked the light clear handlebar mounted fairings and this worked out fine for me. The backrest(Aschco) was for Rebecca and to be able to carry something on the back. It was the strongest backrest I have ever seen. I also added case savers. I had an Eclipse tankbag and saddlebags. With this setup I had a fine touring mount and took a summer 1985 trip to Colorado Springs. *July 1985-4000mile service *September 1985-8000 mile service. This was close to the end of the warranty year and so from then on I changed oil and filter myself every 3000 to 5000 miles. The motorcycle shop I purchased the cycle from had used Pennzoil 10w-40. After a year or so and countless magazine articles I switch to Golden Spectro 10w40(synthetic/petroleum blend). Using Golden Spectro I was able to lengthen oil changes to around 5000miles and I believe the engine and clutch worked much better. But at 130,000 miles the engine doesn't use anymore oil than when it was new which means I don't add between oil changes. More recent articles have pointed out that seldom has any mechanic seen an engine failure because the oil failed(so far I have never heard of an example). Rather the engine lost its oil and failed. *Feb 1986-11,500 miles. Changed oil and filter and replaced sparkplugs. Discovered that the dealer had put in high heat range plugs which did not suit my riding style at all. Going to the normal heat range helped cold starting a lot and idle. Since that time my bike has been one of the easiest starting motorcycles around. If it has set for 2 or 3 months it has to crank but if it has been recently used it seems to begin with one turn of the engine. I should point out that I was living in San Francisco and so could ride year round. Thus the bike never sat for more than several weeks before being ridden. *May 1986. Got a nail in the rear tire at 12,600 and so replaced it with a Dunlop Tour Elite. It had Dunlop's on so I stayed with that brand for now. *Sept 1986-14,000. Replaced Battery *Feb 1987-19,600. Replaced original front tire(Dunlop) with an Avon Roadrunner(AM21). *July 1987-26,000. Changed Antifreeze. *July 1987-27,000. Replaced front fork seals and front brake pads(OEM). The fork seals were well done at the local Honda shop and have not leaked since. *Oct 1987-31,000. Replace seat with a custom built. I considered a Corbin but went with another seat builder in the Bay area. The special seat build worked fine for us in the beginning but eventually it wore out and felt uncomfortable both seat wise and control wise. I replaced it with a Corbin(1994) and wished I would have done this originally. *Nov 1987-31,500. Mounted new rear tire(Avon AM20). Replaced original shock with a Fox Twin Clicker, and front fork springs with Progressive. I decided to go with the Fox since it seemed to have more adjustment possibilities and they were local(San Jose). However the bike has never ridden as smoothly as I had hoped by putting on the Fox. I believe the interaction of the prolink suspension and fox shock worked against each other. Over the years I have had the Fox factory rebuild the shock so it has continued to work well but never as well as I had hoped. *Feb 1988-33,500. Changed oil and filter *April 1988-36,600. Changed oil and filter *May 1988-38,000. Changed clutch fluid. Found regulator wires burned. Cleaned *June 1988-39,000. Changed oil and filter. Changed to Spectro 10w-40. replace battery. Went to Fox factory to rebuild shock and help setting it. *Sept. 1988-43,300. Changed oil and filter. Replaced spark-plugs. *Oct. 1988-45,000. Changed front tire to Dunlop K591 from Avon. *Nov. 1988-47,000. Changed oil and filter. *Jan. 1989-49,500. Changed antifreeze. *Feb 1989-49,700. Mounted Pichler Fairing and Krauser hard bags. Replaced mufflers, rear brake shoes, and rear tire with Dunlop K491. I decided to go a long way in shifting the bike's focus to sport touring. Looking back I unknowingly built a proto ST1100. It took some time to fit all the parts but the results were very pleasing and I have not regretted the changes. The Krausers were very easy to use and carried much more than the previous soft bags. The bike also seemed to fit together well and work well. In fact the bike seemed to run a lot better. *Aprl 1989-50,000. Changed oil and filter. *May 1989-52,000. Rebuilt fox shock and continued adjustment for softer ride. *June 1989-54,400. Changed oil and filter. Replaced rear differential oil. *June 1989-55,000. Replace front brake pads(OEM). *June 1989-55,500. Changed front fork oil to 5w. Replaced front tire with Avon. *July 1989-56,200. Valve adjustment. Check cams. Replace sparkplugs and radiator hoses. Change antifreeze. The cams were the properly hardened models and so have held up very well. *July 1989-57,000. Changed oil and filter. *Aug. 1989-57,126 to 63,040. Trip from California to Illinois and back. *Aug. 1989-59,300. On the bypass around Omaha, NE the temperature gauge (which are LEDs) went completely blank. I made it to the exit with a totally dead battery. We tried to charge it but it was gone! Replaced the battery and took off. By the time we reached our destination the battery was again dead. We ended up replacing the stator and regulator at the Honda dealer in Normal, ILL. *Aug 1989-62,200. Replace oil and filter at Honda dealer in Idaho. *Sep 1989-65,330. change oil and filter *Oct 1989-65,700. Replaced read tire with Avon AM21. My experience with the K491s was very poor compared the Avons. The K491s ran very hot, did not have a good feel to the road and felt unstable in the rain. The Avons felt great, had good traction in the wet and gave great wear. So I have stuck with them and have not been disappointed. *Dec 1989-67,500. Replaced steering head bearings, adjusted valves and check stator and regulator. I decided to replace the head bearings because of the Pichler fairing adding weight to the front. But after much sweat and hard work(by my mechanic!!) we decided they didn't need replacing because of the unique design by Honda. *Mar. 1990-68,300-change oil. Because I had to remove the fairing to replace the oil filter I decided change it every other time. *May 1990-72,000-change oil, filter and sparkplugs *May 1990-73,000-change front brake pads. I have always used Honda's pads and they worked fine. I wanted to change the front brake hoses to steel but never got around to it. *Aug 1990-75,000-change oil and filter. Had Fox shock rebuilt and revalved. *Nov 1990-79,000-change oil and filter. Replaced front tire with Avon. *May 1991-83,300-change oil only. *June 1991-84,300-Clean and re-oil air filter. Replace rear end oil *June 1991-84,600-Adjust valves, Change brake fluid. *July 1991-85,400-Replaced battery *July 1991-86,300-Replace rear tire with Avon. Changed oil and filter. *Sep 1991-89,550-Change oil only. Re-lube rear suspension linkage. Change antifreeze. *Nov 1991-93,188- Change oil and filter. Begin to hear cam chain noise at idle. Change front brake pads ( used EBC) *May 1992-96,388-Change oil and filter. Replace front and rear tire with Avon. *July 1992-98,800-Change oil only. ***Aug 10, 1992-Turned 100,000 miles on short trip.**** *Mar 1993-102,468-Change oil, filter and rear end fluid. Replace clutch fluid. *July 1993-106,178- Changed oil only and sparkplugs. *July 1993-106,973-Changed oil and filter. Replaced fork oil. Replace gas lines. Clean anti-dive but still not work. The anti-dive feature of the front forks stopped working around 50,000 miles and I had tried several times to fix it. Rebuild rear suspension pivots. *Nov 1993-110,997-Change oil and filter. *Mar 1994-114,075-Replaced rear tire. Avon. Changed oil only. *April 1994-115,873-Change thermostat(original) and antifreeze. battery ok. *July 1994-117,503-Adjust valves, change sparkplugs, oil , filter, rear oil. *Sep 1994-119,600-122,895. Trip across country to Ohio and new home. 119,700-Had Corbin build new seat to replace original special build. 120,800-Battery failed in Nogalis, NM. Replaced battery but clearly stator was broken and needed replacement. *Sep 1994-122,919-replace oil and filter. *Feb 1995-122,919-Decided to replace cam chain tensioners which had become very noisy and ride back out to California and store there for our annual trips there. Replaced stator and regulator as well. Replaced front tire(previous had 26,278 miles with tread left). Replaced clutch fluid. Re charge shock. *Mar 1995-126,072-Changed oil. *Sept 1995-127,630-Changed oil and filter. Rebuilt Fox shock. *Mar 1996-129,800-Changed oil only. Fan motor not come on. *Sep 1996-129,800-Bike stored in San Jose. Thoughts and conclusions Have thoroughly enjoyed the bike, but as I grow older find the harsh ride and somewhat topheavy feel more and more difficult to accommodate. The reliability of the engine and frame has been superb. The pichler fairing and Krauser bags have worked wonderfully. There are only several things I would have done differently on the maintenance side. 1. I would have gone to a Corbin or Russell daylong seat much earlier. 2. I eventually ran a tube for airflow from the front of the fairing to get air to the regulator under the seat and this helped the life of the regulator greatly. But in retrospect I would have moved the regulator to some place in the general airflow and would have rewound the stator with heavier wire to be more durable towards the heat. Most bikes have the solid state regulator exposed on the side so heat can escape and not hidden under the seat right above the rear exhaust. 3. The Pro-link suspension with the Fox shock never seemed to adjust well. It worked best on my long trips where I was fully loaded and obviously over the GVWL. Then it seemed to work just fine! 4. For my usage I cannot say enough good things about Avon tires. They in fact replaced both front and rear when I complained that they were "cracking" while still new. 5. As noted at the beginning I wish to sell the bike to a good home and would entertain any offers. Best, Joe Miller Joe.Miller@udayton.edu