Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ment screw is located at the bottom of the shock and can be reached easily enough. Up front, the inverted fork offers only preload adjustments, via screw-type adjusters at the top of the fork legs. Each leg also has what Honda calls "chip guards," which consist of two, small castresin plastic-like pieces mounted on the sliders to protect the stanchion tubes. Providing stopping power are a pair of twin-piston, 2%mm floating discs up front and a single twin-piston 256mm disc out back, which are bolted on to new, five-spoke black-painted wheels, wrapped by Dunlop 0202 radial tires. The new VFR features many small but welcome updates, such as a larger-capacity gas tank (5.0 to 5.5 gallons); a storage area under the seat specifically designed to hold all popular sizes of "U"-type antitheft locks; a convenient Ll-lock mounting hole in the frame that permits easy lock-u p from the left side of the bike; a digital clock on the instrument panel; and - in the interests of space and saving weight - easy-to-remove but obtrusivelooking bolt-on/off passenger grab rails. Previous VFRs used flip-up grab rails. Another area where weight was drastically reduced was the instrument panel itself. It's now a lightweight, one-piece (Opposite page) "y.ou're type who likes to maintain a low profile, then the new VFR750 might not be for you -this bike turns heads with Its bright red coloring and exotic styling. (Below) Talk about userfrlendlyl The VFR Is an easy motorcycle to ride and is very forgivin g, thanks to Its super-smooth and torq uey motor, excellent tran smission, plush suspension and comfo rtable seating positio n. And for $8100, It's priced about right. electronic panel that features a newly developed, flexible thin-film, printed circuit board. The display includes a central white-faced tachometer and an electronically activated speedometer that reads up to 175 mph. A small electronic sensor installed at the countershaft runs the speedo. The panel also includes a fuel gauge, as well as a low-on-fuel warning light - thank you very much. However, there is no readily accessible on loff! reserve switch. rc ~//erbdard h er e ' s nothing quite li ke the sweet sound of the VFR's motor. Hit the starter button and the VFR quickly rumbles to life. "We call it our mini Y-eight," says Jim Ba tes, Honda's press relations guy, prior to our rolling away fro m American Honda's headquarters in Torrance, California, on the new VFR. We certainly have to agree with him. The YFR produces an earp leasing, low growl from the V-four motor, leading you to believe that as soon as you twist the throttle, the handlebars will rip right out of your hands and leave you flat on your back, when quite the opposite is the case. Instead, the VFR s till has one of the smoothest, most docile, yet powerful and exciting motors on the planet. It might not be the fastest 750 sportbike around, but it certainly is one of the most enjoyable - thanks to its .broad powerband, excellent torque and energetic engine. It pulls well off the bottom and jus t keeps pulling and pulling until tapped out in sixth gear; redline starts at 11,500rpm. But perhaps what the VFR's motor likes best is to be ridden in the middle of the powerband, around the 4-6000 rpm range. Here, you can take adv antage of the YFR's ex ce llent low-to-midrange power; you can go plenty fast on the VFR at th ese se ttings. In other words, you don't necessa rily have to scream or wring out every possible rpm from the . engine to have fun on it. The tr ansistion from no throttle to thro ttle is, once again, smooth. There's no real lashing or abrupt transfer of power from the engine to the rear wheel. This makes the YFR very easy to ride and insp ires confidence when throttle control becomes critically important, like while lane-splitting, or rolling on and off the throttle in comers. Even the Clu tch is unusually smooth. You can barely feel it when the clutch engages or disengages the transmission, while either taking off from a standstill or clicking up through the gears at speed. The feel on the gearshift lever is a tad on the notchy side, though. There is very little vibration to speak of. The majority of the buzzing is felt at lower rpms and mostly around the footpegs. As you rev out the motor, the vibration gradually becomes less and less noticable, but never goes away completely. Still, vibration, or the lack thereof, is one of the VFR's strongest virtures. The YFR's motor seems sensitive to outside air temperature. It didn't seem to take much for the radiator's cooling fan to spring to life. We never had the chance to ride the VFR in temperatures over 85 degrees, but the fan came on quite often in every d ay s top- a n d -go traffic and w hil e lane-splitting. A fair amount of heat could be felt between the rider's legs by the lime the. fan came on, leading us to believ e tha t the VFR might be a real cooker in the summertime. Equally as pleasing as th e YFR's engine are its suspension and handling qualities. Our VFRcame set up for everyday commuting - a little on the plush side, but we liked that. For casual everyday riding. the VFR works like a charm. Both ends glide over the pavement as though it was riding on a cushion of air. II really is that good! Okay, the front end needs some stiffening up for more aggressive riding, but that's easily accomplished via a large screwdriver. Otherwise, the VFR is quite tolerable for long stints in the saddle. The YFR begs to be flicked into the comers. It takes little effort on the rider's part to initiate the turns. Once leaned over, the VFR feels solid and stable, and there's nothing to bump your knees or feet on while crawling around on the bike from comer to comer. There's ample ground clearance, as well. To top things off, the brakes have more than adequate stopping power to haul the 465-pound bike in for the turns. Both binders have a positive feel. Ergonomically speaking. the VFR is very comfortable. The handlebar I seat/footpeg relationship forces the rider to lean forward slightly, putting a fair amount of pressure on the rider's arms and wrists, which is not out of the ordinary for a sport bike. Overall , the VFR's seating position is well within acceptable limits. The w indshield does an admirable job of keeping windblast off the rider and there is very little turbulance to speak of . Reading the instruments is easy enough, although the white background on the tach too k some getting used to. All of the other instrumen ts are placed around the cen tr ally mounted tach - the speedo is mounted just to the left of the tach; the smaller circular gas an d engine temperature gauges are posi- -... . J-< ~ 25

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