(My) VFR1200F

I went for a Sunday morning breakfast run yesterday and something odd happened. The bike kept wanting to die on idle when cold… once warm, it was fine. Any ideas… could it be the unit that control the ‘choke’?

Did it happen when you pulled up to a stop? Mine used to do so occasionally. Would hunt a bit at idle.

I can’t get an appointment with anyone, of course, the Honda service desk man reckons that it’s a wax stator has failed, throwing the hot/cold start function out.

Thanks. I just need to locate it on mine now… any pointers welcome!

Interesting video in that link........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oVVbzTvVo

Is this one on a VFR800 the same as on our VFR1200's?

I wonder if you can fix your cold start problem by simply tightening the adjuster nut? Presumably you can still run the engine with the airbox off and see if the unit actually still works but just needs a bit of adjustment?

I'm surprised they still use these old wax units rather than something more sophisticated. I knew that one was fitted to my old Pan European but that's a bike that's been around for decades. I rather thought the VFR12 would be a bit more advanced.

It didn’t have an issue starting in this warm weather and since I’m away for a couple of weeks now, have booked it in with the local indy for my return.

Some of you may recall that I took a reccy up to Hinckley a couple of months ago for the second of two 40th anniversary celebration tours that I organised for my club of immortal superpowered advanced motorcyclists. This was the weekend… unfortunately, it coincided with my nephew’s first communion and annoyingly a sense of duty came over me. Sigh. Nevertheless, it did open the door to a solo ride through the country on a beautiful summer’s evening. My route took me up the M40 and A43 until I could break the back of the journey and jump onto the sweeping fast, mostly poorly surface and clear roads.





We didn’t move from the Hinckley Leonardo, but that’s okay, food was decent and there was beer and company. I even bumped into a fellow PHer who joined us towards the end of the evening.

The next morning, I decided to join an early run back. There were just four of us, leaving at 8am — bed at 1.30am, up at 6.45am, brekkie at 7am and off sharpish. The route was all of the local yoakle bumpy roads, with some crackers thrown in for good measure. The VFR was absolutely superb and a totally biased opinion, looks fantastic, too.

This was actually the start of a really good road through Ashendon



Of course, in my eagerness to join the crew the previous evening, I’d forgotten to top up, to the roll eyes emoji of the run leader, so we stopped at a services which had a Starbucks. Unceremonious perhaps, but judging by the number of bikers around it must’ve been the only place o. the area to stop.





After the ride ended, I headed to Ryka’s at Box Hill. Whilst the riding around there is no longer enjoyable due to average speed etc, I’ve always loved the atmosphere and being amongst bikers. This hot Sunday was particularly enjoyable and the revamped cafe and surrounding area really adds to the buzz. I even saw someone emptying the many bins interspersed amongst the bikes!







I particularly like this saddle made by Zero Gravity











Total trip



Gave the bike a good wash





Some of you eagle eyed observers may have noticed that I no longer have the windshield screen. Well, I squeezed a wash mitt underneath it before I left and cracked the already broken and repair lug, so I was forced to source another. Miraculously, available on ebay under a non standard description I was bidding against someone determine to get it and ended up paying an indecent amount, but, judging by the amount of wind noise in my lid at motorway speed without is an investment well worth the outlay.

Anyway, I await that bit for now, what a fantastic bike — if it were named Super Duper Blackbird rather than VFR, it’d’ve sold bucketloads, it’s an awesome thing.