1985 Honda Sabre VF700S in Palatine, Illinois

1985 Honda Sabre 700Currently showing 19,100 miles.I spent a summer with one of these bikes back when they were new, and had wanted one again for many years. So, when this one turned up local to me around September of 2020, I couldn't pass it up. The bike was in decent shape for it's age when I got it and most importantly, it was complete. So many of these bikes have lost side covers or have been chopped up, modified, converted to bobbers, etc. I have spent the last few years just enjoying riding the bike while spending time in the garage cleaning and somewhat restoring it here and there. It has been a great journey, but other projects and interests have come along, so it is just time to move the bike onto the next owner. If I had more space, I'd probably keep it forever.Significant new or rebuilt items:
Valve cover gaskets (adjusted valves while they were
exposed, no notable wear on the cams), New tires - Front: Shinko Tour Master / Rear: Shinko 712New front and rear brake pads/shoesMaster cylinders, calipers, and clutch slave cylinder have all been rebuilt. New braided brake and clutch lines. Rear air shock, which was seized, was replaced with a used Daugherty Motosports non-reservoir coilover.New
headset roller bearings. New coolant lines and hard line O-ringsI have a bunch of additional photos that were taken as I was doing various projects on the bike that I will share with the buyer. I wish I could share them here, but I just can seem to find a way to do so, due to Ebay's policies. Not sure if there is a way to send links directly to potential buyers before the close of the auction. (Very limited Ebay knowledge)Mechanically, the bike is solid and ready to ride. If I were to hang onto it, the next thing I would do would be to go through the carbs. Only because, based on what I can tell, they have never been opened up at all. Honda installed covers over the adjustment screws at the factory, to discourage tampering, and those covers are still in place. So, the good news is that these carbs have never been opened and rebuilt incorrectly, or messed around with and thrown completely out of whack. The only adjustments I have made have been to get the carbs better balanced, which really improved the overall smoothness of the bike. I have made a couple videos, showing a cold start, a ride and a hot start to help show that the bike is really running, driving, turning and stopping just as it should.Video of a cold start: https://youtu.be/bbnJTW90-6wVideo of a ride. Not the best view, but it gives a good indication that the bike runs and sounds great, and that all of the gauges and dash are functioning as they should be:  https://youtu.be/utvEviIEIqgVideo of hot start and a walk around:  https://youtu.be/TyWXc2KUgdk The not so good:The rear brake shoes squeak when cold. I fought this quite a bit, but it actually seems to be resolving itself. I think the biggest issue is just that I was being impatient and not giving the shoes time to bed in to drum. The squeak can be heard in at the first couple of stops in the video of the ride. By the end of that video, you can tell that it is gone. Still just a tiny bit of noise from the front pads can be heard. Pads and shoes are from Brake Crafters, so I don't know if they may be a bit harder than OEM units?I am not proud of how the painting of the wheels
went. No matter what I cleaned the rear wheel with, it wouldn’t take paint
well. I should have opted for sandblasting and powder coating, but I was trying
to hold to a budget. I ended up coating it with a thicker Plasti-dip type of removable paint. The front came out a
bit better. You can just see in one of the pictures of the bike that
the blue stripe on the right side of the tank is peeled off above the 'A' in
Honda. I’m thinking that, at some point before I owned it, it sat with the
handlebars turned and brake fluid dripped on the tank, eating through the clear
coat and the stripe. It did not reach the base coat or expose metal. The inside of
the tank is very clean.During a ride last season, the original seat cover cracked on one side. The foam in this seat is in very good condition, thankfully. It should only need a new cover at this point.No warrantee expressed or implied. Buyer is responsible for any shipping charges.$100 deposit via Paypal at time of purchase. Balance to be paid before bike pickup via certified check or Paypal.

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