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    Vladimir Quisbert Ramirez
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    Honda vt500e

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    Honda vt500e

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    5 views7 pages

    MC Sport Feb 85

    Uploaded by

    Vladimir Quisbert Ramirez
    Honda vt500e

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 7
    Life with Honda’s VT500 twin JUNE was flaming and at ast we had our backs to London and were speeding westward. Neither Stor enjoyed motoreny travel ut our time Was fimited "so, in company ‘with, thousané of motoring tamales fieeing the reat wen” on that Fitay afternoon, we cepted the MS's Soreicted” monotony. in return, for. quick {Efveranee home I was our consolation that Stile they were geting away fom Hall we Thankfulp, mere returning #0 i Only those fortunate enough to find themselves no Tons Sound to hve in London can possibly apprecate the ter joy in such an experence ‘Beyond Reading trac deny dropped. a lute and ts speed increased, To escape dlangtous. bumbling aboot” involved with Constantly overrking 66 mp lores an being Sreraken by 8 mph care, we Kept tothe “an fine qverages whch. equentymeemalized oud he 99 mpi mark Somewhere ‘over the grand ills of the Marfporough Downs. o thereabouts Ne Dogan 80. Mororeyele Sport, February 985 Views of i troublefree VTSO0, which covered so many inthe hands of the writer to overhaul another motorcycle. As we ‘overtook, ils. tider cvidently saw us asa Challenge and literally bent to hs task with great enthusiasm by plopping Mat over his tank and peering between his speedometer and fev-counter. For afew miles we ran together but it was evidently too much for him for he gradually disappeared from view behind us. ‘By this time I atleast, was laughing out lou. Roger, on the pllion, should have been, would have heen, but for difficulties with turbulent hat [had not suspected and which wil be duly reported, Even now puzzle greatly over the Sort of circumstances that might encourage the mature ovsner of an apparently splendid Norton ‘Commando Mk IL to Wear a false nose on what he clearly believed was a fst ride. Because we rode together for some time it was possible 10 Study him and there he was, grinning, yes frinning, madly up at us from his tank and over the top ofa large plastic nose, which was secured beneath goggles and an open-face helmet. Perhaps he was demonstrating an opinion of sorts, about motorcycling in general. or ‘Commandos in particular, Maybe the nose was ‘lays hauled into place for practical reasons on his motorway trips, or possibly a stray one hac. lodged on to his tank top on route and had jammed, unfelt, over his own when he had taken tora racing crouch, There again, he may have tisliked Hondas and was using the nose as subtle fll. Even so, it leaves many questions unanswered, such as why the owner of a ‘Commando felt the need t0 lie at so far from his machine's maximum speed? Maybe he had actualy fallen over in the grip of an agoniz nasal attack of some sort and was appealing tous for help through & grimace of unspeakable pain (jou may well sigger, you cisbelieving readers, you, but another good friend of mine, Erie, was ‘once stricken bY a lightning bolt "attack of trapped spinal nerves as he was siding his “Itis a long time since | have ridden a motorcycle that so well satisfied my ownership needs, which are not the same at all as my rider’s dreams” Clubman's trim BSA RGS through North Wales, Followed by a small group of curious fiends, including me, he code howling for mils, frozen by agony into place until he dismounted by simply’ toppling, still rear-set and clip-on into a grassy verge. He entered hospital in the famous Golde eroueh but upside down in a car, legs protruding through the vehicle's reat window. Mind you, Erie was the ‘same bloke who, on a similar” machine, ‘iscovered one day at over 100'mph on the Mi ‘that his front tyre had punctured only when he slowed to 90 mph and found himself inthe grip (of 2 diabolicaly powerful and plaialy terminal weave. Congratulating himself on his clearheaded and classic method of dealing with the problem, he returned to 100 mph. And then reflected on the six miles that lay between him and the end of the motorway at Carlisle") But whatever was aficting the Commando rider and his machine remained his own problem for ‘we sped on. giggling. Should anyone care to ‘write in with a reasonable explanation of what was going on betwcen nose, man and roreycle, Roger and I would love to know, via the correspondence pages, of course ‘Anyway, we maintained our steady tralic speed towards the Severn Bridge. The VTS00 ran on, smooth, stable, quiet and entirely within its limits. It would maintain 90 mp with ease, Which fora touring S00 earying 350 Ib of blokes is pretty good going. And before anyone writes in to point out that a pre-war Speed Twin would ‘equal it, must point out tht, whatever its other fine qualities, no, it would not. Much more than brief spurts of speed were the ruin of many an ‘old British bike, as the advent of motorways ‘quickly proved T became conscious of Roger shuffling about fon the back and wondered whether it was due to 8 delayed effect of the Commando riders tricks for my riding. Abropiy, an arm thrust forward over my shoulder, gestculating at the service area turn-off we were approaching, and any amount of strangely muffled cries suggested that Something nasty was happeing up at he back ‘We rolled to a halt in @ quiet corner of the service area, for I was convinced by this time that when I saw Roger's face it would be blighted by an alien conk at leas. It wasn't but he leaped off and on hopping around, srabbling at a helmet which had been misplaced to the ‘back of his head and & pair of gopsles offering fine beard protection but lite else. Exactly what Roger said is best not repeated in devent company but it all. boiled down 10. his exasperation with the untorgivably poor pillion design of the machine. ‘Everyone who has ridden pillion for more than afew miles onthe VTSO0 fas also complained. The seat is much too high and the foottests are also too high and excessively forward, although it does incorporate a very Useful grab handle. The real problem lies with the volume of turbulence that collect mainly at 4 point filled by the pilion riders head. Up to 70 mph itis merely a nuisance but from there on the power of the turbulence inereases until it passes beyond distracting into the unbearable. Despite numerous attempts at on-route ‘adjustment of helmet and goggles, both of which fit Roger perfectly, they were jiggled about by ‘the wind until he could take it no longer Fortunately the sereen was attached 10 the bikini firing by plastic rivets, which we sheared Yow cant fave iat that! What happened to ie at Cunsi Ba a Motorcycle Sport, February 198581 HONDA VT500 with a screwdriver blade. With the screen removed, we continued the journey, to discover With relief that the VTSOO%S aerodynamics had become naked-machine normal Roger rode a comfortable pllion, more-or- less anyway, for the rest of the trip and I discovered during atainy ride a week oF 0 ater that without the screen in place much less water splashed around me than previously. Plainly, Hionds's stylists have lost their corporate head by equipping an otherwise smashing motorcycle with such a stupendously thoughtless item. Far from contributing something, or even nothing, which might be excusable, the bikini fairing Positively depressed all” aspects of the motoreycle’s performance! Let's leapfrog a few more miles 19 order to clear up the fairing business. ‘Between 13,000 and 14,000 miles the VTS00 ‘went through a difficult phase. Nothing actually ‘went wrong — it never did and I frequently stood looking at the hard-used _motoreyele, twinged with guilt over the lack of attention it received — but it began to demand some care. ‘The fault was high-speed instability. In the frst pliee, one of the two fear-suspension units was heginning to suffer from a failing damper. This, in my experience, is. pretty common with Hondas. Rather than simply replace it with “another of the same type, it seemed sensible to ‘temp an improvement through an alternative, but actually finding 2 suspension specialist that catered for 2 VTSO0 was not easy. Inthe mean: time the lack of damping vas showing up as excessive wear onthe rear tyre, which was being allowed to skitter during flerce speed changes and hard cornering. This only exacerbated the problem. So, t00, did the air-assisted front fork’s refusal co comply with all attempts to correctly relate i Air-assisted forks 1 do not like air-assted forks, which are not the same thing as pneumatic suspension systems ‘Aivassisted forks are tricky. decetil and ‘unnecessary. There is nothing they can do that -metal-sprung forks cannot do equally a well and ‘more reliably. Too many of them, Because they are merely lazily adapted conventional forks, fare equipped with an insufficiently. large reservoir and in consequence are impossible 19 corcecty inflate and balance ‘When a small foot pump was connected 1 the \VTTS00's fork Schreider valves one thrust down almost doubled-up on the recommended © psi perl. Half a pump movement solved nothing for did a short biycle pump. and a long one 1was, ike the foot pump, too much, During this phase I did discover that no fork air was Infinitely preferable to cither too much oF ‘unbalanced pressures. M. R. Holland, the suspension specials, ceame to the rescue. Like everyone else, the ‘company had no special VTSO0 rear-suspension lunts in stock, but would T accept a pair of competition Sebae ‘units built to "Honda's damping and spring ratings? T leapt at the chance and, for £53.30, began to enjoy aide with slightly firmer damping, although the Springs were slightly too soft as were Honda's for serious high speed or heavy two-up touring. ‘This is nota fault, merely a charactensie. You can’t have it both ways, and the VTSO0 errs on the side of comfort, “The real improvement was to the front end. however, In tetum for my request for fork modification, which I imagined would take the 82. MotoreveleSpors, February 1985 The thing just went and went, asking for nothing, giving everything. Twin- cylinder motorcycles feel rightforme... form of shallow spring. spacers that a local ‘engineer was on the point of turning up for me. Holland sent a very well made piece of ‘equipment. that more closely resembled ‘something from a dental surgery than anything ‘else. In fact it was one of their American made uik air-suspension pump-cum-gauges. Its tiny fingeroperated pump buffs about 1 psi into the forks per stroke and the permanently connected gauge registers pressure continually. There is 2 ssnall hand-operated pressure relief valve. The price atthe time was £20, although I understand that this has now risen a litle. The pump/ gauge has since been in great demand, and Treckon it's worth every penny. I still dislike ait-assisted forks but at least the things are now ‘manageable ‘Contact Hollands at: Unit 2, Benner Read, Wardentree Estate, Spalding, Cincolnshiee. Tei (O75) 4831. The gauge is also useful on tyres, although the pump isn't designed for such heavy-duty work ‘During al this, che worn rear tyre intruded by demanding « change. The previous ones had been a set of Yokohama Speedlines, price 4693.38 the pair, ited at 11.240 miles when the second set of original Bridgestones had. worn ‘out. The Yokohamas were supplied by their British distributors, Norton Andover, which i now owned solely by Mike Jackson, the Hampshire millionaire, whose views on the motoreyele industry and its folk entertained as every month in Bike magazine's infamous old columa, Ham Spoofs. Unfortunately it was too true to life and the listening special award presented 10 him by the Mandsrins of the British, er, industry, turned ‘out to be a silver bulletin disguise and poor ole ‘ap, sorry, Ham. disenchanted with journalism, ‘disappeared into deepest Hampshire to Become high priest of the local Cargo Cult, along with his pariner, Peter “Clouseau” Sellars. ‘We seem to have strayed from the point in hand, which was “tyres. The Yokohama lightened tow-speed handling. and increased responsiveness but without notieably affecting high-speed behaviour. They gripped well in all conditions and were wearing ‘well ‘until the ‘damper went phi Another set of tyres By 14,000 miles wear was severe enough to warrant another set of 1ytes. This time Piel Phantoms were adopted, at a price of £104. The contrast with the Yokohamas could not have been greater. The Italian tyres woighted handling tothe extent of encouraging the sort of lowespeed mild steering roll norm experienced with the fitment of an hydraulic steering damper. Within a few miles the characteristic disappeared entirely and I tater lightened steering further by increasing Honda's recommended solo tyre pressures of 25 ps front and back by 2 psi. They utterly transformed highspeed manners, although its problem explaining exactly how. Quite simply, the ‘Phantoms remained implacably stable regardless ‘of road conditions, and disciplined the ‘occasional previous waywardness ofthe VTSDD's chassis before it even arose. What had already been excellent handling and stability ook on & sharp super-sports edge. One ‘major advantage of running a middleweight revealed itself in regard to the tyres: they, atleast the Pirelli Phantoms. seemed to wear down imperceptibly. After 4,000 miles of hard use they were sill going strong, which is ‘not possible with s heavier, more powerful 1,000, ce machine used similarly. ‘The VTS00 hed always performed admirably but with correctly pressurized forks, Sebac rear ‘units and Phantom tyres it was terrific! Purely as an experiment, more in hope than expectation, the fairing sereen was replaced and immediately upset the machine's perfect balance. In cross-winds, especially, it destabilized the ‘machine and during heavy lorry overtaking felt thoroughly unpleasant as it shook about, With it removed, the middleweight Honda returned to its equable nature. Ground clearance during ‘cornering was remarkebly good, thanks to the machine's marrowness, and some spirited cornering matches with a Triumph Bonneville fnd a Yamaha 250 LC proved itt be the equal ‘of both in every respect. In my own opinio {or this must go tothe areat deal of the credit ing positon, which had plainly been meticulously arranged by Honda, Everything harmonized "perfectly — the semi-backstop splittevel seat, the correlation of Seat and forests, and. the correlation of footrests and handlebars. ICT have one grouse it concerns the impossibility of any handlebar adjustment, although no-one who rode the ‘machine, and they ranged from a sit Tin teonager through a ft 2in 30-year-old to a Sit in 39-year-old, found any cause for complain. Indeed, the latter was somewhat dismayed 10 discover a Japanese machine’ that actually exceeded the practicability of his beloved old 500 “Matchbox”. Occasionally I covered 400 tiles with only a single, brief hal for fuel and, despite high cruising speeds, for « 500 tourer, E always finished the tip in fine spins ‘More than any other feature ofthe Honda, it Js this particular one that proved so attractive — the thing just went and went and went, atking for nothing, giving everything. You might say ‘that all Japanese motorcycles do this; well, most fof them do, but nome that I recollect like this fone, Fours I admire and respect, although I isle the numb fingers so many of them induce bby means of their treacherously high-frequency vibrations but, apart from a Honda Gold Wing. there are few. any, 1 would actually bu Twin-cyinder ‘motorcycles feel right for me they go dobbs dabba dabba, not vroom vroom vroom, which must ceveal that my formative years were a longtime 380, ‘The middleweight (400-680 cc) choice these days encompasses all the diversiiation of the big brigade, witha Toss of perhaps 25 per cent of their performance, for a price saving of at Least 50 per cent. Fours apart, top of the class is probably the £2,869 Ducati (no Cagiva yet?) ‘Which for all its growing. reputation for robustness is still pure exotica, followed by BMW's £2,660 R65, Guzzi's £2,200 VES, Morini's £2,045 Maestro, Laverda’s £1,999 SOOT, Yamaha's hugely underrated £1,929 XZS50, which I found to be one of the best middleweights T have ever ridden and is immensely popular in Germany, and the VIS00 ‘whieh, at a mere £1,875, isan unbeatable snip. ‘The advantage of the VT300 over most ofits rivals lies in Japanese heritage, The best Japanese movoreycles keep going under Conditions that usually defeat European machinery, although T exelude BMW from this following personal experience; and their spares sistribution is wider and the machines are cheaper. although this can be negated by horrendous spares prices. f you compare Moto Ninety ides per hour was neve nighest comfortable emis Speech nl regards of cine and whe Mororeycte Sport, February 1985 83 HONDA VT500 Guzti and Honda parts some time you will see the truth of that, To discover a motorcycle incorporating the best of both works, European ‘character and Japanese convenience, is rare, but the VTSOO has got it Tt feels like a motoreycle should. as light and agile as you could wish, yet with the sophisticated reliability of the best Japanese Imachinery. Why it has ‘not proved 10 be as popular asthe CXS0Q, which it exceeds in every espect by miles, is a mystery. Its exhaust note has all the rythmic sounds of a V-twin yet ‘without the vibration that accompanies anything ‘within or without the dynamically ideal 90” ‘vlinder configuration. ‘The VSO) cylinders ate arranged at SP, ‘which should cause vibration. In one ofthe most Important design innovations to have left Japan, Honda engineers have spaced the separate crankpins at 76° to each other. I freely confess an innocence of the finer points of crankshaft balancing, although I fully appreciate the basics ‘of orthodox layouts, so perhaps you share my Jgnorance of the reasons for this particular rankpin offset? ‘The mysteries of engine balancing are greater by far even than those of ‘cam design and I take my hat off co the wizard ‘who originated the VTS0O's crankshaft, It means that Honda may chose whatever V confguratio happens to suit the shape of the motoreyce i hand. Persistent rumours Were it not forthe persistent rumours erziving {rom Japan that Honda is probably going to shed its V-four interest and return 10 in-line fours, oubrless because: of the coupling of these machines’ various mechanical failures and the stuceess of Kawasaki, where Honda so recently feigned, I would have thought that Honda's future would be firmly with this new, revolutionary V. The VTS00 does not vibrate: none ofits ype ‘would and the result may be felt inthe machine's Derall performance, which is smooth enough in Al respects to deceive a rider into believing his high mileage is unremarkably low. Its appetite for fast big mileages i extraordinary ina touring 500. In my experience, no vibration existed at all at low speeds an almost imperceptible murmur barely made itself felt at 4,000 ppm (51 mph, $2 kei, in top geat) and from there on the engine fan as smooth as an electric motor 10 the top Speed of 110 mph (177 kmh). Unusually for tin, it was almost too smooth, because once beyond 6,000 rpm (77 mph, 124 kmh) all engine ‘noise faded away to an iniscemible drone and 2 Useful litle power bonus stepped in, both of ‘hich encouraged much too much high revving, Tnless avery close account was made of the instruments, Admittedly, the 9,500 bloodsine (68 mph, 142 kr in third gear) seemed to be a Tong way away but the VIS00 rushed so eagerly towards ity much like a good four, that an expensive mistake in fact awaited very close indeea! Ninety mph (145 kml, 7.200 rpm) fepresented” the machine's highest. cruising Speed, which it would maintain almost regardless of incline and wind. Tigh speeds ate all very well, but most of us actually need a motoreyele with good manners at Sty trafic speeds, and to such travel the Honda fdapied with fluid ease, It was narrow and Steered like @ moped, its controls were Tight Tesponsive. and progressive, it was quiet and ‘ogile its clutch operation and gear change were 84 MororeyeleSport, February 1985 Open road cruising sp nice and easy, and its engine was tractable feough to manage 20 mph in top gear at a mere 1.704 rpm, and it would accelerate rom there if necestiry, True, the torque at those speeds was ‘modest, but it was sulliient, Not until 4,000 pm (Si mph, 82 krah) did torque begin to pile Up, but from there it surged in ’AS the miles mounted no appreciable change occurred in the Honda, apart ftom a tiny oll ‘weep from the rev-counter drive connection in the front cam box. In the space of 18 months and almost 20,000 mils it gave no more trouble than f bicycle. This is the sole list of unscheduled 47 miles, hesitant starting traced to dry electric starter button and cured. by applying WD40, 14,000 miles, broken rear Gamper replaced by Sebac units, 14,800 and 15,282 miles, reatlight bulbs replaced. ‘A light but persistent tapping noise intruded at around this time, An inspection ofthe valve Clearances revealed that to had closed up a Tittle. "They were corrected at home. but not ‘without the necessity of bending a feeler gauge blade, although the task was no more dificult than gapping & Triumph, say. The main problem vd and handling, were impresive lay with the close proximity of the top of the engine to the frame, but it vas a small thing, ‘Apart from ths all seemed to be in good order. so the covers Wore replaced and, as anticipated, the tapping noise remained. Oddly enough, it isappeared ‘completely Two weeks ater, a phenomenon de enttely to my adoption of ful-face helmet for a week or so, a friend suggested, Thete canbe alot of truth in that, but fot in this instance because the tapping never tetured, I suspect a temporarily jammed ‘cam-chain adjuster. What else? The machine was by no means faultless. Quite part from the previously discussed flaws, spitting-back on the over-run remained persistent and apparently incurable, ut it was Infrequent and quit. No faults were apparent in the ignition system, the exhaust system or the ccurburettor, To this peculiarly formed, ouble-barretied instrument's credit, it maintained perfect tune for the whole test period, requiring nothing more than an fdle-screw adjustment 0. decrease tckover speed, at 10,000 miles. An oecasional spark tacking on one rear eslinder plug Was traced to Enclosed dise brake made front-wheel removing a lengthy chore a cracked plug cap and subsequently cured with 8 light application of that marvellous cure-all, ‘Araldite. Towards the end of the test period Slight wear in both the gear-pedal linkage joints fand the side stand pivot allowed the extreme ends of the two pedals to kiss and cause poor gear changing T collected the VTS00 from Lawrence Pierce, one of the Automobile Association's motoreyeling engineers who had initiated the Tong-term test forthe AA's magazine, Drive, he bemoaned the £34 price of a lost side-panel replacement. Shortly after taking over from Lawrence I almost did, too. When one side panel weat spinning, fortunately in boomerang Style across'some meadowland bordering the Wye Valley road, I topped and, in replacing it, say the other was loose as) well. Careful inspection suggested that the plastic based

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