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If I had a real life and a real job and was going to buy just one brand
new bike to be my one and only bike, it would be the new Honda VFR750. It
has gobs of torque for commuting, refined handling for weekend warrior duty
in the canyons, and it is comfortable enough for 600 mile days. It is beautifully
proportioned, and the simple black and red paint job is just gorgeous. This
is a bike for adults who know the difference between a damn good streetbike
and a bike that could be made into a really cool racebike but isn't.
The 1994 VFR is all new. The new lighter twin spar aluminum chassis mated
to a stiffer single sided Pro-Arm swingarm. The motor sports new 34mm flat-slide
carbs, just like it's 600F2 and 900RRR cousins. Reshaped ports and new camshafts
work with the newfound breathing capacity to offer precise, linear power.
A new 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust loses the old collection chamber, while allowing
the bike to retain its centerstand (a much loved feature missing from most
modern sportbikes). The new design sheds 22 pounds, but more importantly
it has become even more refined. The fuel tank grew to 5.5 gallons, and
it is the first production bike to offer a compartment for holding a U type
lock. (Yo Honda - what happened to the signature tankside petcock that you
can turn with your gloves on?) The bodywork pays homage to the exotic NR750,
complete with a stunningly subtle red pearl paint job unmarred by silly
watercraft style stickers.
Honda makes the RC45 for racing, and the VFR for the real world of the streets.
They're sisters, and as much I lust after the RC 45, I'd marry the VFR.
Of course, I should be honest and admit that I like VFRs in general, and
the heart of this smoldering passion starts with the Honda V-45 engine.
Think of it as two 90 degree v-twins molded together. Sure, it screams once
you get the revs up like any other Japanese sportbike, but the difference
is that it pulls hard at the bottom of the midrange. Putting along at 4000
rpm, you can open up the throttle, and it starts yanking. Most in-line four
cylinder motors will dog you right there, and the ones that don't have generally
sacrificed some top end power for this driveability. The reason, of course,
lies in the inherent advantages of a v design. The VFR walks all over any
other 750 class motorcycle (and even Ducatis) in top gear roll-ons. For
the street, there's nothing like a V-four.
Put that generous power curve in front of a silky smooth six speed gearbox,
and you have real world driveability. First gear is low, allowing you to
chug along through traffic at fifteen miles and hour without touching the
clutch. At twenty five miles an hour in first, the motor is turning 5000
rpm, right on the edge of the heart of the power band. In sixth gear that
same 5000 rpm puts you at close to 70 mph. Consider that the engine provides
seamless power from 5500 all the way up to its 11,500 redline, and you have
a drivetrain that's easy to work with. You don't need to shift when you're
busy dealing with corners, and don't have to do a tap-dance on the shifter
when you want to pass.
As an experiment, I tried to run the windy section of Mulholland between
The Rock store and the overlook a mile or two uphill in one gear. I figured
it would be sweet to just work the fat power curve. All was well until I
found the one fly in the ointment of this otherwise lovable bike. You see,
it has a rev limiter at 11,500 (I think) that doesn't just bounce the revs
like most rev limiters. It apparently cuts the power to two cylinders, which
amounts to a partial throttle shutoff. I bogged in a corner, went into the
opposite lane for a heart stopping moment, and was on my way. Keep in mind
that this happened during an experiment which, in retrospect, seems kinda
stupid. It does, however, point out the amazingly linear pull of the engine.
I know this rev limiter means that the engine will last a lot longer, and
I did get used to it immediately, but knowing that it's there is a bummer.
Of course, most normal people don't go on single gear experiments like that,
and there's no need, since the bike slapshifts just fine, and has easy clutch
action. In fact, it offers nice controls all around. The brakes offer firm
modulation, and with dual twin piston Nissin calipers squeezing a pair of
full floating 238 mm discs up front, you stop when you want to stop. The
VFR stops just as well as the CBR600f2. The instrument panel has been revised,
and it features a central white faced tach, which is all I usually ever
look at. (Maybe that's why Paul gets so many speeding tickets - Ed.) There's
a digital clock mounted high in the panel, which is something you generally
have to add onto bikes yourself. The mirrors are some of the best I've ever
used on any motorcycle. It also has a temperature gauge, which isn't offered
on every water cooled bike, and a fuel gauge. The fuel gauge is critical
on this one, because it doesn't have a reserve tank. Instead, it has a warning
light which goes on when the tank is down to it's final gallon.
That final gallon, I figure, is good for forty miles, since I got between
160 and 190 miles out of each full tank before the light went on. Unfortunately,
the endless editorial demands at the office prevented me from taking the
bike out on a long tour, which would have doubtless yielded significantly
higher mileage. This one, unfortunately, mostly got ridden around town during
the week, and into the mountains on the weekends, with nary a long tour
into the hinterlands. This, by the way, is the CA Bike difference when it
comes to bike testing. If you need dyno runs, clutch killing quarter mile
times, and lap times, we know you'll pick up not just one, but all of the
big national bike magazines. That's why we conduct surveys. That's also
why we try to make our bike reviews let you know what it's like to actually
live with the bikes we test.
So I'm tooling down Lincoln in Venice, one of the worst pieces of pavement
in California. It's greasy down the middle of each lane, and the blistered
and patched concrete is pocked with missing bits. The road is raw, and the
VFR's cartridge forks are giving me a smooth ride. An hour later they're
giving me explicit feedback a I take that big loop on Topanga way too fast.
The bike handles lightly when I'm trying to park, and is rock steady at
speed.
The riding position is just a couple of degrees more forward than last year's,
and it is very comfortable for either cruising or hard riding. I know Corbin
already makes a new seat for the VFR, but it doesn't really need it. It
doesn't need much of anything, in fact. It's not the kind of bike that needs
pipes and jetting, because it's not a repli-racer. It works so well that
at first some of our testers didn't really know anything specific to say
about the bike other than "It's great," and "I think it got
faster." The VFR is the kind of bike that you can almost forget about
when you're riding it, because it just offers clean, but not overly sensitive
responses to what you want to do. And that's the beauty of it.
But I'd be remiss in describing this bike if I didn't mention that it looks
even better in person than it does in pictures. The aforementioned candied
pearlized paint looks like it is glowing and wet, even at night under a
single light bulb in the garage. The black rims look mean, and aren't as
hard to keep clean as white ones. Take off the grab rails, fit the seat
cowling, squint a little, and it looks like the NR750. The headlights look
all cat-eyed, which looks sharp, but is just the result of new plastic over
the old lenses. Honda really should have given this new bike new plastic
lightweight lenses like on the 95 CBR900RR.
The intakes all do something, although the tubes over the indicators don't
ram air into the airbox. The back NACA ducts keep the rear bank of cylinders
cool, although they do look like they came off a Camaro. The radiator exhaust
strakes look a lot more purposeful than those of the RFs, and one thing
I can say for sure is that the bike doesn't cook your feet the way older
VFRs like to do.
The bike went up $800, to $8199, which puts it squarely in the midst of
750 class bike prices. Unfortunately, most dealers aren't discounting them,
because they know they will all sell. The new VFR's biggest competition
is really used VFRs, because once you get hooked on the V-four, there's
no going back. But if you read the classifieds regularly, you'll figure
out pretty quickly that they are rarely offered for sale. A VFR holds it's
price well, like a Ducati or a Bimmer. It's a keeper. In fact, I wanted
to keep this one - just ask the rest of the CA Bike staffers. But I couldn't,
so it's back to my beat up, recovered theft old one. If you're looking for
an outstanding all around bike, buy one of these and think of me. You lucky
dog, you. - by Paul Peczon
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