Does anyone else have a bike that you look back more fondly on that it deserves? This was my first project bike. It was really beat up, and I made a lowball offer that the seller accepted. Oops, just bought a project!
Redid the fork seals, the whole braking system, chain and sprockets, tires… But there were still even more problems than I had time for (paint, rust, fuelling weirdness, rear shock issues). I always wish I still had it until I remember how much more work it needed.
Back on its day this bike became quickly famous for its handling, probably a decade ahead of its time, and the smaller alternative to GSXR750 (600 came much later).
It was also known for a design fault in the engine case where it would run dry of oil and mess up cranks and gear boxes, something the 750 and 1000 engines didn’t have. It was almost bad enough for a recall, I am not sure if it was ever.
This brief moment of development to have 16" front wheels came at a time when forks were still perceived as glorified noodles, and the 16" was calling for a much more rigid fork to compensate for the light steering effect. By the time better forks appeared (45-50mm up.si.do) the sportsbike industry shifted to 17" wheels, more manageable by common mortals, quicker than 18. MotoGP bikes appeared larger on photos than they actually were because of their special 16.5" wheels, few people knew this. When a motogp bike stood next to a sup.sport production bike. it looked like a minibike, and the GP riders were mostly mini-size as well.
The VFR series bikes at the time was what Honda offered as sport bikes, not touring bikes as later vfr. This was before the CBR-rr frenzy. The line went 500, 750, then there were VF1000 and VF1000R. The last was a limited production supersport of the time, and people either loved it or hated. There was so much hi-tech that went to the vf1000r at the time it appealed more to engineers than sportbike riders. This bike had HRC written all over it, and was nothing like the rest of the VFs. Although riding it didn’t impress people as much as the tech. it carried.
Sorry for the long history lesson “kids” :)
I don’t ride but that is a beautiful bike. Hard to believe it’s from 1985!
My mind suddenly went right to the first American Ninja movie, the opening scene where he’s riding through the mountains.
Nice bike 👍🏼
V4 Hondas are remarkable though. Great engines! I miss my '02 VFR800 but it had electrical problems. Mechanically sound though!
Probably my 2006 Rieju MRX50 or 2005 Aprilia RS50, both bought as projects, never got them to be road legal, but had a lot of fun wrenching and riding them.
I technically still own them, but now I live on the other side of the world, maybe I’ll bring them here someday
