'How I bought a bargain VFR750' by
Tim Pestridge
(Original article published in MSL
magazine, Spring 2000)If you were asked to name the best
all
round bike of the past decade, I
bet
most would reply Honda's VFR 750F.
And
so it has been in the press.
Released
to an audience of sceptics back in
1986, it was the bike that Honda
had to
get right. Everyone knew about Honda's
failure
with the VFRs parent, the VF750,
which
badly tarnished Honda's image
after
many reports of engine failures
due to
a design fault, bad oil ways
and 'chocolate' camchain
tensioners.
Thankfully, Honda learnt by their
mistakes, and blessed us with an
almost
unburstable vee-four 750 motor
which
over the last fourteen years has
put
the VF nightmare to rest. Hunting them down is easy - the
free-ad
papers, local papers, Auto Trader
(http://www.autotrader.co.uk) are all
brimming with VFR's at the moment,
and
dealers are more than happy to
sell you
one as they know they won't leave
you
stranded on the hard shoulder. I found this little H-reg. gem in
a
very small bike shop in Ashburton
in
Devon, nestled among a mountain of
bike
accessories. It was being sold SOR
(sale or return)
for the local retired owner, who's
heart condition wasn't helped by
the
VFR's 100bhp. I was suspicious of
the
naff stickers plastered over every
panel of the bike, as they often
conceal a wealth of nasty
scratches,
and I got a fright from the six
inch
hairy spider the owner had stuck
behind
the screen ! Although abused visually, a quick
sprint up the road showed the VFR
had
been well looked after
mechanically,
and it still felt like top quality
tackle. It sounded just a little
too
rorty, which I traced to a totally
rusted through exhaust can. But even after covering 26,000
miles
the whole bike was taut, pulling
strongly and smoothly from almost
no
revs, and bald front tyre aside,
it
felt like a new bike. I made a few
calculations, £13 MOT, £100 for
front
tyre fitted, £60 for a standard
exhaust
can from breakers and a good old
polish
up should see the VFR healthy
again. 1000 miles later I'm enjoying the
VFR
more and more, the vee-four sounds
great and performs faultlessly,
reliably and delivers a realistic
balance of power, physical weight
and
size that's perfect for the
majority of
real road riders,
and fine for me - until the next
unmissable bargain! Buyers Guide The early versions were the FK-FG
from
1986, which you can buy from as
little
as £1500. The FL (pictured) was
introduced with a single sided
swingarm
and revised styling from 1990, and
you
can pick these up from £2000 -
£2700. The FL was followed by the FM,
FN , FS
and FV, which all gradually got
more
sports orientated, until the
newest
adaptation, the VFR 800 in 1997. Dealers will welcome VFRs both as
PX's
and as sellers, but not always for
sevicing. The DOHC 16 valve vee-
four
causes few worries mechanically,
but
they often get neglected by even
main
dealers because of the headache
the
engine layout can cause.
Carb balancing is a royal pain,
and the
right hand front spark plug often
goes
unchanged service after service
because
of it's locality behind the
radiator,
so be warned.
One dealer said "You can't go
wrong,
with a VFR can you?" That is
unless you
buy a stolen one, check out the
bikes
history by using one of the
reputable
vehicle history check firms. If
you're
an average user, tyre life should
be
around 7000 miles for a front and
5000
for a rear, and Michelin Macadams
are a
popular choice
with a pair fitted for £230.00.
<br>
<br>
The VFR falls into group 14
insurance
which will sadly put this
excellent
bike out of reach for many younger
riders. You're liable to find most
VFR's fitted with a combination of
any
of the following popular
accessories:
mudguard extenders, Scottoilers,
aftermarket rear shocks, tall
screens,
tank bags, alarms, heated grips,
GIVI
luggage and many more.
All good stuff, but don't let
people
trick you into thinking they
increase
the value - they don't. TP LATEST VFR NEWS: Thankfully the
exhaust
hole is only in
the downpipe from the header
pipes, and
is a weld it up job for the dealer
in
Ashburton. The pipes are all spit
into
sections, unlike the earlier
models
which were a complete system,
meaning
one rusty bit meant one whole
replacement. |
