RICHARD SUTTON’S 1997 HONDA VFR750F

This is my Honda VFR 750 1997 bike that I bought for £280. It had been outside for seven years in all weathers, leaving me plenty of surprises, believe me. With everything that has been going on in the world the last 14 months this bike project has kept me going as I work in the funeral industry and it was nice to switch off from it all and learn some new skills. Project bikes always have loads of surprises and this one was certainly no different, but I have learnt so much.

I have never bled a braking system before and I found out the hard way that the rear brake was seized. I was back bleeding the brake caliper with a syringe and a clear pipe due to the two rear pistons in the caliper being seized. The clear pipe blew off the bled nipple and had the brake fluid going everywhere. On a positive note, luckily

I learnt how to bleed the system as the clutch slave cylinder had also seized and I had to change that for a used one and bleed that system too! I have spent about £250 on it with new chain, front/rear sprocket, battery, ignition switch, petrol cap, starter solenoid, new cables for throttle and choke, new caliper pistons and seal for rear brake, and a used clutch slave cylinder as the original had seized, and some new oil.

This bike should run for a while now. I enjoy working on bikes as much as riding them; it’s nice to see how things work and know that they are done right. People think I’m crazy when I buy the rough bikes, but I have a vision in my mind of what potential is there and as I own it I can paint it any colour I want. If I break it its mine to break, but saying that it’s me who has to fund the broken parts! Ha!