RE: 2014 Honda VFR800F: PH2 Review

[Fastdruid]

Jon Urry said:

Wheelies don't seem a very VFR thing to be doing

Bah, Mine (an '88 VFR750FJ) power wheelies in first (and I have the court summons to prove it!)

Seriously though, I found the later bikes just a bit too 'nice' and dull, the original 86-89 bikes were full on sports bikes, just the game moved on and the later models of VFR went soft.

Seriously though, 26 years later and despite 50cc more the latest bike has 1ft·lbf less torque, only ~<2HP more yet is 8Kg heavier?

Thanks but no thanks (although ABS would be nice).

[TimmyWimmyWoo]

I wonder if anyone has put the VFR1200 engine in a Blackbird? That'd be a bike I'd like to ride!

[Fastdruid]

supersingle said:

<snip> I'm currently lusting after the last vfr750, gear driven cams. There's loads about as they tend to be looked after by sensible owners.<snip>

Ah yes, I forgot the lack of gear-driven cams. Bah.

[Countersteer]

It will be a very good bike, because every VFR has been a very good bike. What it won't be is enough of a good thing to tempt existing owners away from their current models. In short; 105bhp is no more than the '89 model made, 242kg is so much I had to double check that they weren't talking about the VFR1200 and, for all it's tech-de-force, chain-driven cams just aren't the same as gear-driven, which holds a very high upstanding amongst most VFR owners (not to mention service costs). The looks are questionably bland also. And all this for 10.5k
Honda shot themselves in the foot back in 86. Everyone in the know at that time knew how good that bike/engine was. Indeed, they built a following from that. Now, the current model doesn't even figure in the 'Ride' power survey thing - not that I could find anyway - and it used to be top of the tree.
1000cc, gear-driven V-4 and you can keep your quickshift, V-TEC, TC nonsense. This is the way back into VFR owners hearts and not these Band-Aid snake oil solutions.
I have the last of the 750's, had it for 17yrs, done over 90,000 miles and am about to take it into Europe this year, I'm that confident in it's reliability. It's only just run in...

[supersingle]

Fastdruid said:

Jon Urry said:

Wheelies don't seem a very VFR thing to be doing

Bah, Mine (an '88 VFR750FJ) power wheelies in first (and I have the court summons to prove it!)

Seriously though, I found the later bikes just a bit too 'nice' and dull, the original 86-89 bikes were full on sports bikes, just the game moved on and the later models of VFR went soft.

Seriously though, 26 years later and despite 50cc more the latest bike has 1ft·lbf less torque, only ~<2HP more yet is 8Kg heavier?

Thanks but no thanks (although ABS would be nice).

How does the early VFR ride? I like the looks and they seem to sound the best of the lot. The only thing that puts me off is the tyre sizes. Worth putting different wheels/suspension on?

[Fastdruid]

supersingle said:

How does the early VFR ride? I like the looks and they seem to sound the best of the lot. The only thing that puts me off is the tyre sizes. Worth putting different wheels/suspension on?

It is probably the fastest 'bad' tarmac bike I've owned.

Issue with putting newer tyres on is really that the originals are cross-plys so while they are 17inch wheels (on the 88/89, 86/87 are 16in F/18in R) they are narrow (110F / 140R) and you can't run radials without changing the suspension. That said I run BT45's on mine (which are relatively cheap) and have no issues with them. Indeed the narrower tyres may help the (relative) nimbleness (it's still somewhat of a bus compared with my other bikes) and I find can get away with a lot of abuse on even bad tarmac.

The weight is rather rear biased so ride it from the front, it won't stoppie (front locks and slides first) but brakes incredibly well (same size pads used for years so I buy OEM Honda pads which are Nissin ceramic backed ones) and has enough power to surprise many newer 'faster' bikes (especially from low down) as they don't get into power until going much faster.

[urquattro]

Best bike I every owned, FJ 748cc VFR, no vtec, no problems, 100% reliability - really missed.


also had a more radical old bike as well,


isn't old age a sod of a nuisance.

[Fastdruid]

urquattro said:

Best bike I every owned, FJ 748cc VFR, no vtec, no problems, 100% reliability - really missed.

That's a very nice if non-standard colour VFR (all VFR's should be Red, I'm pretty sure there's a law regarding it)
Oh apart from these colours (I want this VFR750 so badly)





That for anyone that missed it this was the championship winning full factory race HRC VFR750F. Titanium exhaust, magnesium flatside carbs etc.

[Gorbyrev]

thanks for that - learned shed loads, especially that fantastic bike whine coming from the gear driven cams, makes sense. Doing my DAS this year and this is precisely the sort of bike I'm looking for.

[urquattro]

Fastdruid said:

That's a very nice if non-standard colour VFR (all VFR's should be Red, I'm pretty sure there's a law regarding it)
Oh apart from these colours (I want this VFR750 so badly)





That for anyone that missed it this was the championship winning full factory race HRC VFR750F. Titanium exhaust, magnesium flatside carbs etc.

Surely those are RVFs, RC30 and developed from VFR as competition and race bikes, I realise some on the road but more radical etc than the VFR, please correct me if I am wrong.

[Fastdruid]

urquattro said:

Surely those are RVFs, RC30 and developed from VFR as competition and race bikes, I realise some on the road but more radical etc than the VFR, please correct me if I am wrong.

Nope, you're wrong. Although of course as with all race bikes it's probably easier to count the parts that haven't been changed.

That's the '6X' a rather special double AMA winning 1986 VFR750F (RC24), HRC pretty much took the running gear from the 'factory' RVF pure race bike (quick release forks, different swingarm, wheels, brakes etc), added a shed load of very special engine goodies, a titanium race exhaust and sent it on its way. 135hp @13k and 165kg dry. It won the AMA twice and came 2nd at the TT.

The VFR750R (RC30) was the engine developed from the '6X' along with a new chassis and cycle parts nearer to the '6X' and as a base model was a far better race bike than the VFR750F (RC24) so the RC24 never really raced again.

Edited by Fastdruid on Monday 7th April 21:37

[ChesterUK]

I had a VFR800i ('98S) and it was dead easy to ride, comfortable for long journeys, enough torque for the road, and loads of character with the V4 engine. I like the idea of an up-to-date one, but now I'm a Z1000SX owner, the whole game has moved on so much. There's just no way I'd lose 260cc and over 40 horsepower, and the gorgeous styling of the SX for this. A new template is set.

I don't get this thing with fashion and adventure bikes. Kawasaki's best selling bike (even after the mind shattering ZX10R!) is the SX. They can't get them in the country fast enough (trust me, I'm hearing dozens of complaints about that!). Where the hell has this idea come from that Sports Tourers are not fashionable anymore? Why are BMW going to make a faired S1000 then? The fact of the matter is people are fed up of leaning on their wrists and want to get out for longer journeys on their bikes, but still want to feel special. Sports Tourers are well and truly in, getting more relevant (especially on UK roads), and the sales figures support this.

[Aclucas]

I'm another VFR owner (first gen 800i) and although it looks nice, it's not £10500 nice, when my 14 year old bike just works and goes as well as this. Apart from the exhaust pipes being a consumable (fixed with a stainless one which sounds very naughty) it's been completely reliable.

[urquattro]

Fastdruid said:

Nope, you're wrong. Although of course as with all race bikes it's probably easier to count the parts that haven't been changed.

That's the '6X' a rather special double AMA winning 1986 VFR750F (RC24), HRC pretty much took the running gear from the 'factory' RVF pure race bike (quick release forks, different swingarm, wheels, brakes etc), added a shed load of very special engine goodies, a titanium race exhaust and sent it on its way. 135hp @13k and 165kg dry. It won the AMA twice and came 2nd at the TT.

The VFR750R (RC30) was the engine developed from the '6X' along with a new chassis and cycle parts nearer to the '6X' and as a base model was a far better race bike than the VFR750F (RC24) so the RC24 never really raced again.

Edited by Fastdruid on Monday 7th April 21:37

So they are mongrels, RC30 bits added to an RC24 prior to RC30 as a stand alone variant, it seems to me anyhow, claims to be part right as an old age stroppy

[spareparts]

smilo996 said:

Honda seem to have lost their way recently.

BULLSEYE.

I've had several Hondas (2 x VFRs, 954 Blade, CBF1000, etc) over the years, and yet a short walk into the recently refurbished Chiswick Honda dealership (Europe's largest honda dealership!) had me walk through and out within 2 mins. There isn't a single Honda that looks exciting or interesting at the moment when compared to anything else out there.

This new VFR is as exciting as a double dose of Valium.

[y2blade]

Having ridden all previous models (including the not very well received VTEC one) I have no doubt this will be a fantastic machine.

[Fastdruid]

urquattro said:

So they are mongrels, RC30 bits added to an RC24 prior to RC30 as a stand alone variant, it seems to me anyhow, claims to be part right as an old age stroppy

Hahaha, you can claim all you like but it was built in 1986 and are RC24's with RC24 HRC 'race parts', the RC30 was a much improved model that came out three years later in 1989! The RC30 engine was derived from the VFR750F RC24 '6X' but as th '6X' was a development exercise, I doubt the '6X' parts would fit or be identical to RC30 parts.

Much though I like the RC24 the RC30 takes everything good about it and improves it (apart maybe from the lack of fuel gauge, clock and adjustable screen). :-)

Edited by Fastdruid on Thursday 10th April 11:06

[Richyboy]

100ps have done an english speaking review of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAJKuO81TU0

[ZesPak]

Aclucas said:

I'm another VFR owner (first gen 800i) and although it looks nice, it's not £10500 nice, when my 14 year old bike just works and goes as well as this. Apart from the exhaust pipes being a consumable (fixed with a stainless one which sounds very naughty) it's been completely reliable.

If I know a bike is going to be reliable for 10+ years, with many miles and not a lot of work, it's worth £10500 every day of the week in my book.
Of course we don't know that.

Honda's are quite expensive, but they have the reputation, a big dealer network and very good residuals to start with.
I like the new VFR800F, but I loved the underseat exhausts and I'm sad to seem them go!

[Silver993tt]

A real shame Honda didn't provide the fabulous DCT box as an option. It would perfectly suit this bike, even the blade. Hopefully within the next 5 years it will be an option on all of the range. Quickshifters are crude and mostly only work on the up-change. DCT provides a much faster change both up and down.