VFR Pipe & slippers?

[Ian]

It's approaching 15 years since I got my £1000 shitter ZZR600 so I was thinking about a replacement.
Pre VTEC VFRs seem to be cheap, are they the best bike ever made? Or are they overweight, overcomplicated and boring?

The ZZR can be fun over 7000 and a pussycat below but I'm wondering if I'd hate a VFR and should just hold out for a better ZZR?

PS must be pillion friendly

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had a VFR750 as a commuter (Druid's old bike), the last carbed 750. I did some tens of thousands of miles on it, can't remember exactly how many.

Fantastic every day bike IMO, absolute peak Honda in every sense of the term! Fantastically capable, really well put together, super easy to ride, completely boring/undramatic with it Sounded fab though. Way more exotic than it actually was.

My Dad's had multiple 800s in various flavours (all brand new), never had a problem with any of them.

[Skub]

It surprises me that the early VFR hasn't attracted any classic status. Honda knocked it out of the park when they overcompensated for the woeful VF750. I haven't owned one myself,but I've ridden with plenty of friends who had them and the only gripe I ever heard was the odd regulator/rectifier failure (could happen any bike) and they can be an arse to work on for some jobs.

[Supermofo]

My Dad had an 800 pre VTEC. First time I rode it I thought it was dull. Second time was in Spain in the mountains chasing my little bro on a TL1000 and it was excellent. It handled really well and went well enough too. Always thought I'd buy one one day

[Ian]

One day, yeah... It's a box I think I should tick before I kick the bucket

[Cousin Jack]

No idea about the pre-VTEC ones, but my VETEC version was ace. You could ride in old-man mode, keep the revs below the VTEC point, and it wafted along on torque. Or you could put it above the VTEC limit and it went like shit off a shovel. Probably not up there with modern sportsbikes, but not too far off. I still miss it.

Main drawback for me was that it was lardy, and with a full tank and a big topbox it was top heavy, and I am smallish and getting old.

[Taipan]

Bloke I used to work with, who'd had more bikes than all of us put together, always said to me I should get a VFR (cant remember which 800 he recommended?) as he reckoned they were a superb all rounder, good for commuting, scratching touring etc. I always meant to own one, but its the whole fairing thing that put me off?

[v8-powered]

I had a VTEC, was the perfect all-rounder. 84000 miles when I sold it, not sure if still knocking around now?

[mangocrazy]

It's rare to find everyone in this place in agreement on anything, so the VFR must be pretty damn good. I'm not about to go against the flow, as I've owned three of them and they wank as high as any in Wome.

The first VFR750 I bought (a 1989 FK RC24) was the best built and best finished bike I'd ever owned and probably will ever own. As Mr D sez, Honda had a point to prove with the VFR and boy, did they ever. Problems with those pesky cam chains and tensioners? Stick a set of gear driven cams in and they'll last for ever. I put over 80,000 miles on that bike in all weathers bar snow in around six years and when I traded it in (for an RC36 VFR750) the engine felt just like new and the bodywork was still shiny and the fasteners were un-furry. They can be fiddly to work on, but show me any fully faired 4 cylinder motorcycle and they will be just as fiddly.

I took it on track days, I commuted on it and I took it (or it took me) to France, Spain, Portugal and the Isle of Man. The engine sounded way better (to these ears) than an IL4 and with a custom system on it sounded superb. A mate of mine reckoned it sounded like a Ferrari. That's over-egging it a bit, but I know what he meant. And those engines are the closest you will ever come to bulletproof. I've heard of them doing 250k miles.

The only real fault was the reg/rec and the fact that the mild steel collector box disintegrates way faster than the rest of the system. They are NLA, so it's one of the things to check when buying. The shock sort of fades away gently after about 40k miles and the brakes by modern standards are a bit pish. The anti-dive in the forks needs to be thrown away - all it does is cause a loud bang when you hit a big bump on the brakes. Much better without, IMHO. It was an 80s fad that died quietly - later models didn't have it.

I rode mine down to the south of France in July and it coped perfectly, apart from the clutch expiring a few miles from home. But as CJ says, the looming problem on my horizon is that it's a heavy old lump (225-230kg fully fueled) and I'm not getting any younger or stronger. For that reason alone it may have to go.

[Wossname]

I put 32k on an 800FI and the same on an early VTEC, and has zero problems apart from the paint falling off the fork tubes. The FI sounded better - even Mrs W recognises gear driven cams, but the later bike seemed more “sprightly”. I got used to riding around the 7k rpm 16v switchover point, but was glad not to have it when I changed to a 1050 Sprint.

There are still lots of very tidy VFRs around - one of the better oldish secondhand buys.

[Dodgy69]

I had one J reg. It didn't excite. Most bikes that do most things well don't.

[weeksy]

I rode @G.P on, I think it was vtec, it did exactly as I expected. Perfectly decent thing

[Ian]

Thanks all I'll go take a look at one tomorrow

[Dodgy69]

Stainless downpipes would be good.

[ChrisW]

The ones I've ridden were ace, good at everything.

One of my brothers has an 800, the Anniversary one with the silver fairing, which I try to buy it off him now and again.

[Yorick]

About 20 years ago, a few VD folk stayed at our place in MK. All volunteers for Riders for Health at Silverstone WSB.

As a giggle I swapped bikes with Viffer of VD fame.
All others on big sports bikes.

Guess who arrived first ?

The bike was very capable.

[Sadlonelygit]

As has been pointed out, collector boxes and reg/recs.
Otherwise, dare I say it, the ultimate ujm!
C'mon, even Yorick likes them!

[Druid]

My VFR750 had 56k on it when I sold it to Mad Ax on TRC, who then passed it on to MrD. I had given it a good going over, including new headers, rear shock and Firestorm fork bottoms and brakes. It was my second VFR, the first was written off after sliding down the M5 one morning (although somebody bought it and put it back on the road) As others have said it's very well made and very capable. They are quite heavy and they're quite hard work if you want to ride them quickly. They will be loads better than your ZZR600 though.
I don't like the linked brakes on the 800, those that own them do...

[Cousin Jack]

That reminds me - brakes. The brakes on the VFR are superb, and the linked system works well 99% of the time. I rarely used more than 2 fingers to haul the beast down from 3 figure speeds, and a full on emergency stop was awesome. The ABS was there, but rarely intruded. The link system was ideal for normal roads, don't know about track use. The ONLY downside was very steep downhill hairpins, a little too much 'rear' brake could make the front chime in too.

[Noggin]

It surprises me that the early VFR hasn't attracted any classic status. Honda knocked it out of the park when they overcompensated for the woeful VF750. I haven't owned one myself,but I've ridden with plenty of friends who had them and the only gripe I ever heard was the odd regulator/rectifier failure (could happen any bike) and they can be an arse to work on for some jobs.

I think the reg/rec thing is a Honda issue of the era? The early Blackbirds had the same issue

My VFR750 had 56k on it when I sold it to Mad Ax on TRC, who then passed it on to MrD. I had given it a good going over, including new headers, rear shock and Firestorm fork bottoms and brakes. It was my second VFR, the first was written off after sliding down the M5 one morning (although somebody bought it and put it back on the road) As others have said it's very well made and very capable. They are quite heavy and they're quite hard work if you want to ride them quickly. They will be loads better than your ZZR600 though.
I don't like the linked brakes on the 800, those that own them do...

It's always interested me when people say bikes are heavy (I know I say teh CBF I'm currently riding is top heavy, but it's the CG that's the issue, not the actual weight!)

I'd never ridden a sports bike when I had a Blackbird. Previous experience was a ZZR600 as a first bike. So whilst I knew the BB was a big bike, I didn't have a sportsbike in my head to compare handling and weight

I also had friends that tracked BB's and had seen them laid flat over through corners on track - so they obviously handled well, despite all the sportbike 'kids' telling it was a lardy arsed bike that didn't handle!

Weight itself is a weird thing. For me, it's whether the bike is balanced for decent handling - for what YOU want to do!! For other the top heavy CBF would be fab - for me and where I live, I could never buy one simply cos of the CG through all the hairpins and twisty mountain roads around here!!


On the VFR, quite a few peeps I know in the BB days had them. General concensus was AWESOME - except the VTEC! Not many liked the VTEC version!