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VFR History


4corsa

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  • 3 months later...

Something additional:

The very first cam-gear-driven Honda was in 1982 the FWS1000 (Freddie Spencer, RS1000RW) followed by the VF1000R (SC16) in 1984.

1986 the RC24 and also the NC21 started the beautiful everlasting sound of gear driven cams inside the Honda V4.

 

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Honda/honda_fws1000.htm

Joe

 

P.S. The very best VFR mod (RC30) so far: HONDA REV 840 handbuild by Roland Eckert (171hp, 158kg):

https://www.motorradonline.de/supersportler/honda-rev-840-von-roland-eckert-zu-schade-zum-fahren/

(GERMAN)

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Great read. Thanks for sharing.

....I do have a few gripes with the article though:

-They lump the 3rd gen and the 4th gen into the same category. So many great things about these 2 gen VFR's that they should be separated and talked about individually.

 

-It says the 5th gen was the gutsiest of them all with tons of torque, but the 750's had more torque.

 

-"...the VFR also gained the RC45’s fuel injection system and a whole heap more midrange." 750's had more midrange too. 

 

-Not one RWB model pictured in the entire article

 

-Not even one mention of Naca ducts. Sacrilege! 😅

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Red NACA's are the best.... :beer:

 

 

herfst2_zps8c5c12e1.thumb.jpg.2b803a7d91eac01bc5f55d7ab3cb23d2.jpg.065ee35528776058199f9af181ba6566.jpg

(Redslut got totalled 4 years ago tomorrow..)

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I also take exception to some of the article's points -

 

* "Not only did it have a hideously complex gear-driven cam V4 engine . . . "

This was written by someone who's never been inside the bike or its engine.  Yes it is more complex than an inline 4, but no more so that of the hundreds of millions of 4 wheel counterparts running around with V configuration engines.  It's packed in a tight space, but it quite serviceable.   "Hideously complex"?  Fail . . .

 

* "Not only was this the sportiest VFR to date, it was also the gutsiest with a wonderful V4 that was stacked full of torque." (referencing the 5th gen).

A gain of 3 ft-lbs of torque is probably not what I would refer to as "stacked" (vs older models) - at least not something the average rider is going to feel.  Maybe I'm picking nits, but it does seem like an exaggeration on the author's part about the output gains from later gens.

 

* "Then there was the styling… Owners rebelled against the VFR’s brand new angular look. The current fashion accessory of underseat pipes was all very good for the fashion conscious, but they made fitting panniers a pain and lost some of the useful underseat storage. "

 

Really?  Here we go with personal opinion.  If the author is not a fan of the 6th gen's styling, he must be blowing his own vomit on many of the new offerings.  IMHO motorcycle styling in the past 7 to 10 years has gone to shit - there's nothing elegant, flowing, aerodynamic or appealing about much of what's coming out of manufacturers.  It's industrial machinery adapted to two wheels . . . Also, the "underseat exhaust made fitting panniers a pain" - compared to having a can on the side to figure out how to avoid?  And what if I want to run a high mount can?  Again, he seems to be fishing for something that's not there.  And he overlooks that 6th gens came with factory hard mounts.  Hello. . . I will give him that the underseat area on a 6h gen is just about useless - it's tight to fit even a Power Commander or Rapid Bike under there.  It's doable, but there's not much room for more than a pair of gloves and maybe some odds and ends.  Personally I like the 6th gen styling and have never heard it described as being "rebelled against".  But again, just my own $.02. 

 

I do agree that Honda's incorporation of VTEC in to the 6th gen was maybe partially an attempt to mollify government tail pipe sniffers (and chain driven cams to comply with noise regs) and also possibly to "showcase" Honda's technical prowess.   While fine in theory, in practice VTEC really does nothing for the riding experience.  Put a VTEC next to a 5th gen and they're neck and neck at any speed / rpm.  While valve adjustments are more of a PITA than on earlier models, an solid DIY'er can readily handle it with common hand tools  if instructions are followed closely.  What gripes me most about VTEC is the cost of parts.  When adjusting VTEC valves, you don't buy the shim (about $6), you buy the entire shim/bucket assembly (best price I could find was $32). That really begins to add up when more than a few are involved. And of course there are chain tensioners and chains (when they begin to elongate) to add to the cost equation.  Honda would have been better off to have left VTEC out of the formula and just done what the regs said they had to on the 5th gen motor.  Adding VTEC to this bike did nothing for Honda's reputation and nothing for the end user. 

 

Oddly, the article skips right over the 7th gen.  Own one or not, love it or hate it - or a departure from the traditional formula,  Honda did place "VFR" badges on it and it deserves a place in the discussion as part of the lineage. 

 

Sadly, the discussion of these is rapidly becoming a moot point.  The "ADV" craze has taken over despite the fact that the vast majority of those bikes are mall cruisers and never see a dirt road.  Most of them look like they were taken from a job pumping water out of a well before being adapted to being a motorcycle and were designed by drunk, blindfolded engineers who stuck parts bin pieces on at random, some for no apparent reason.  Whatever - to each their own.  None of those will end up at the Barber museum or will be considered quasi works of art as so many (now vintage) bikes are.  Furthermore, our time talking about and enjoying all this is growing short.  In the state of insanity where I live, the licensing of such vehicles will be coming to an end, on the basis of a utopian fantasy grounded in political agenda designed to turn campaign contributors in to billionaires to fund their campaign coffers vs scientific fact.  So be it - that is the dismal state of education / indoctrination we now face.  It doesn't have to be true - "it's true because I'm telling you it's true".  That's all that's needed to sway young minds.  Personally I'm looking to get all the trips in I can while I can before it's over.  It's been fun and a lot of enjoyment and I'm glad that it was Honda in particular went their own way with the V4 vs nearly every other manufacturer.  It's been a good ride. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I like my ADV bike for its ability to eat up the shittiest roads the USA has to offer, it’s seating position, and electronic cruise control. However, my daughter will be selling my 5th Gen, once I’m gone, because it’s the bike I’m never selling and it was a dream bike for me. 

5A897E08-9E4B-4239-BC6A-B94AA0145BF9.jpeg

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2 hours ago, ducnut said:

I like my ADV bike for its ability to eat up the shittiest roads the USA has to offer, it’s seating position, and electronic cruise control. However, my daughter will be selling my 5th Gen, once I’m gone, because it’s the bike I’m never selling and it was a dream bike for me. 

5A897E08-9E4B-4239-BC6A-B94AA0145BF9.jpeg

That's a beautiful 5th gen example.

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On 8/14/2020 at 1:56 AM, joe678 said:

Something additional:

The very first cam-gear-driven Honda was in 1982 the FWS1000 (Freddie Spencer, RS1000RW) followed by the VF1000R (SC16) in 1984.

1986 the RC24 and also the NC21 started the beautiful everlasting sound of gear driven cams inside the Honda V4.

The NR500 was the first and you can slip in the 1983 RS850R/RS920R and RS750R in between the FWS and VF1000R. https://force-v4.co.uk/hondas-racing-v4s/

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I'm not sure it makes sense to mix up HRC race bikes with Honda production bikes.  There has been a lot of weird stuff tried in the pursuit of racing success, only a small portion of which ever made it into production.  I can certainly appreciate prototype racing machinery, but it doesn't have much to do with my bikes or my reality...

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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