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Vfr1200F Owners - Welcome To The Finest Of Honda Traditions!


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The first VFR I ever owned was the 1200 and I have found it to be a great bike. It has also awakened my interest in other VFRs and the general history of Honda V4s. Now also as an owner of an earlier VFR, I know the 1200 deserves and is a good chapter in a proud VFR story.

So it is interesting to see forum posters concerned about the poor sales rate of the VFR1200 in the USA and more recently no new model years. This is simply part of the VFR tradition going all the way back to 1986. The 1200 is a quality well designed road sport machine that was designed in its own tradition, not following the market trend. The original VFR750 was not a major market success in the US either but still became a cult bike that people hold on to for many years.

Greg Pullen in the history of the Honda V4 notes that despite the Honda VFR750F "... winning the Best 750cc sportsbike award from Cycle World an accolade it would win again and again ... the VFR did not live up to sales expectations in the US market. Indeed, some 1986 models were still available after the 1987 versions had arrived ... For 1987 only, the 700 version was imported to the US, but no VFRs at all came into the USA during 1988 and 1989".

Sound familiar?

Honda generally back themselves with their innovation ie the VFR, the ST and the Goldwing. None of these bikes were market followers, they created new niches which are still here today. They are often highly refined, quality items with good reputations for reliability.

So I would not be too worried by its lack of sale's success. We are just experiencing a reasonably predictable part of the Honda story. Critically the VFR1200 is generally highly acclaimed, not unlike the original VFR. See UK Bike magazine rating the 1200 as 5 stars, and it prevailed in the original Motorcycle USA comparison with the BMW K1300S which is a similar design brief.

I think in the end it will become acknowledged as a special bike but it will take a long long time, just as it still is for the original VFR750 which many classic bike magazines are only just beginning to acknowledge. In the end the original CB750 became a classic and so has the originally maligned and very poor selling CBX1000. So in the meantime, until I am proved right, I will just have keep clocking up many enjoyable miles on the big beast, maybe using the money I save from not having to upgrade to buy one of those very original 1986 Interceptors, in red, white and blue of course!

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  • Member Contributer

Well said.

No bike is 100% perfect, and what is a good feature for one rider is not for another. If we were all the same and liked the same things, how boring a world it would be.

I'm loving my 1200. I loved my 5th Gen and I love my 6th Gen, but on both of those models, I had to plough some money into them, to get them "better". The 1200 is no different.

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Good post, couldn't agree more. I love mine, just as I love my 800Fi1 (5th Gen). VFRs, IMHO, are brilliant all rounder road bikes. Alright, to get the absolute best out of them you need to put some money into the springy bits and so on but that's half the fun of owning them.

When the 1200 first hit the streets and people were pulling it to bits I was one of the few saying you'll all come to love it one day. Of course some will never like the look of it but even the harshest critics are now admitting that it's a great bike.

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Honda makes what Honda makes. I have not owned any of the prev gen VFRs, and bought the 1200F because it was a bike that fits my riding style the best. If somebody else builds a better mouse trap... I'll ditch the VFR1200F in a heartbeat. So far, that hasn't happened yet. And from what I see in the various mfrs' offerings and foreseeable product plans, I doubt it'll happen anytime soon. But I wouldn't mind being surprised.

Zero brand loyalty means zero rancor when Honda doesn't build what you want. Life is too short for that sort of nonsense anyway.

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  • Member Contributer

even the harshest critics are now admitting that it's a great bike.

That was me.

Me also. When pics first came out it was WTF! Then I saw the price and it was double WTF! If the price was still what they try to sell them for originally I'd still be a harsh critic.

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As much as i like the 7th gen, I have little interest in the earlier VFRs, or even the 8th gen, which is really a warmed over 6th gen - a very well executed warm over. Great bikes for what they were, but these days there are better bikes that does what they do with better power and/or lighterweight.

The 1200 is fundamentally a different bike, which shares all but the VFR prefix.

FWIW, I almost pulled the trigger on a K1300S, for the second time, recently. I'm sure I'll have one parked in my garage eventually. Now that BMW has finally killed it off their lineup too, prices should drop faster than they have been. IMO, the K1300S too is over priced at $16k+, but folks will buy it just because of the roundel. I'll wait till I can scoop one up for VFR1200 money.

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