FX 650 Vigor

[Saul]

@boboneleg. Can I pick your brains a little mate.  What do you think of a Honda FX650 Vigor.   There is a 2001 with 14k for sale near me and I am sort of interested, I had it in the back of my mind that you had one.?   Anything to particularly watch for.   I will search the net as well but always interested in first hand experience.  

[boboneleg]

11 minutes ago, Saul said:

@boboneleg. Can I pick your brains a little mate.  What do you think of a Honda FX650 Vigor.   There is a 2001 with 14k for sale near me and I am sort of interested, I had it in the back of my mind that you had one.?   Anything to particularly watch for.   I will search the net as well but always interested in first hand experience.  

I've never had one but it's basically a Dominator engine in a road bike .  14k is no mileage so that's a great start, have a good look at the rims as Honda's of that time period suffer with rim rot.  @Sir Fallsalot may be able to help you more .

[Pedro]

Rim rot

[Pedro]

Cool looking bikes, but quite low?

There used to be a few around here, but usually that less road version, with the yellow or red tank.

 

edit: the SLR, that’s what was more common around here, the SLR650. Same bike with a taller suspension?

[Buckster]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Rim rot

@Six30 calls that lube.

[Sir Fallsalot]

Not sure about the vigor but if it's genuine mileage and been kept out of the weather i cant see why it wouldn't be a good bike. Something to look out for are parts they are getting harder to find now, for example i just rebuilt the rear suspension on my Dominator and found most of the bearing collars for the suspension linkage are no longer available and i ended up having to make one myself so check for play on the suspension and wheel bearings when your there.

Not sure if the Swingarm pivot bolt is a problem with these bikes the XR has a habit of seizing in there but the setup is different between the two bikes.

Splines can wear on the front sprocket drive shaft but again shouldn't be an issue on a low mileage bike

Something you wont be able to check is the 650 engine had a problem with the cylinder heads cracking between the valve seat and spark plug hole which can let the valve seat drop out when they get hot.

Another issue because of their age is the flexible part of the oil feed pipe from the frame to the engine can collapse internally and starve the engine of oil and you won't know about it until it happens shouldn't be a problem on a low mileage bike though. 

Read up on how to check the oil level as its a dry sump and a pain to check sometimes. Ask the owner to explain to you how to check the oil level and see if he knows how to do it correctly that should give you an idea if he is mechanically sympathetic or not.

 

 

 

 

 

[Saul]

8 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Not sure about the vigor but if it's genuine mileage and been kept out of the weather i cant see why it wouldn't be a good bike. Something to look out for are parts they are getting harder to find now, for example i just rebuilt the rear suspension on my Dominator and found most of the bearing collars for the suspension linkage are no longer available and i ended up having to make one myself so check for play on the suspension and wheel bearings when your there.

Not sure if the Swingarm pivot bolt is a problem with these bikes the XR has a habit of seizing in there but the setup is different between the two bikes.

Splines can wear on the front sprocket drive shaft but again shouldn't be an issue on a low mileage bike

Something you wont be able to check is the 650 engine had a problem with the cylinder heads cracking between the valve seat and spark plug hole which can let the valve seat drop out when they get hot.

Another issue because of their age is the flexible part of the oil feed pipe from the frame to the engine can collapse internally and starve the engine of oil and you won't know about it until it happens shouldn't be a problem on a low mileage bike though. 

Read up on how to check the oil level as its a dry sump and a pain to check sometimes. Ask the owner to explain to you how to check the oil level and see if he knows how to do it correctly that should give you an idea if he is mechanically sympathetic or not.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pointers Fred.   

[Catteeclan]

9 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Not sure about the vigor but if it's genuine mileage and been kept out of the weather i cant see why it wouldn't be a good bike. Something to look out for are parts they are getting harder to find now, for example i just rebuilt the rear suspension on my Dominator and found most of the bearing collars for the suspension linkage are no longer available and i ended up having to make one myself so check for play on the suspension and wheel bearings when your there.

Not sure if the Swingarm pivot bolt is a problem with these bikes the XR has a habit of seizing in there but the setup is different between the two bikes.

Splines can wear on the front sprocket drive shaft but again shouldn't be an issue on a low mileage bike

Something you wont be able to check is the 650 engine had a problem with the cylinder heads cracking between the valve seat and spark plug hole which can let the valve seat drop out when they get hot.

Another issue because of their age is the flexible part of the oil feed pipe from the frame to the engine can collapse internally and starve the engine of oil and you won't know about it until it happens shouldn't be a problem on a low mileage bike though. 

Read up on how to check the oil level as its a dry sump and a pain to check sometimes. Ask the owner to explain to you how to check the oil level and see if he knows how to do it correctly that should give you an idea if he is mechanically sympathetic or not.

 

 

 

 

 

Think the rear suspension is pretty much the same.