Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127867
FIRST RIDE .rvllU! VFR Interceptor single motorcycle for a vari ety of riding purposes, rather tha n a ga rage fu ll of finely focused mounts, this was the one to have. No t anym ore. In the very same week in w h ic h John Koci n ski b ro ug h t Honda's fou r-year quest of fou r-stroke racing' s holy gra il - the World Su perbike crown - to a success ful conclusion, the jap anese manu facturer lau nched its completely revamped VFR - d ubbed the "Intercepto r" - nn the world stage at the Paris Show. This model's all-new, fuelinjected 78lcc V-four engine is essentially a larger version o f the same motor as is used in Kocinski's title-wi nning RC45. As such, it' s a bit of a pay-back. The ROO that kicked off Honda's supremacy in the Major League of su pcrbike racing a d ecad e ago in the ha nd s of Fred Merk el was itself a sp inoff of the very firs t VFR750, launched ba ck at the end of 1985, a nd' was Honda ' s attempt to crea te a new kind of two-w heel ed allaro under by co mbining perf orm an ce and handling wo rthy of an Isle of Man IT-winning sportbik e, with the comfort and p ra cti cal it y of a more munda ne tourer. As the tens of thou sand s of VFR customers all over the world in the decade since then will tell you, Honda succeeded . However, the one thing about being creative is that you invite others to copy you while you se t standards at wh ich they can aim. Ask Chrysler. For jus t as Ch rys le r crea te d the Multi-Purpose Veh icle category (MPV) on four wh eels back in 1983 when they lau nched the Voyager mi nivan , so H o nd a effec tiv e ly crea ted it s tw ow h eel ed co u n te r par t tWQ yea rs la ter wi th the VFR750. Chrys ler went on to sell more than 6 mi llion Voyagers over the next 12 yea rs, d uring whi ch time its orig inal concept was copied an d gradually surpassed by everyone from Toyota to Ford . But then Chrysler re in ve n ted the people carrier two years ago with the born-again Voyager, a nd leapfrogged back over its replica tor rivals to the top of the MPV heap by using its unrivaled experience in the MPV ma rket to set a ne w se t of bench ma rks fo r the ne xt de velopment cycle. Now the same thing's hap pened on tw o wheels. After yea rs as the king of mu ltipu rpose motorcycles, the VFR' s s tat us as s po rt to urer su preme had By Alan Cathcart Photos by Dirk Mel kebeekID eadline r-, 0\ 0\ ..- ...0 N ... Q) ,L E Q) :> o Z 16 u lt ip u rp ose m o torcycl es usuall y end up bei ng frustratingly flawed, their effectiveness in any of the sectors in which they aim to excel usually blunted by the inherent compromises such all-arounder aspirations entail. Try taking a so-called "street enduro" with two or more cylinders any farther oiiroad than the local car wash , for example , and yo u'd bes t remembe r to take your cellular phone along so you can call for a winch to pull the bike upright when you tip it over in the dirt. In the pa st decade, the one sh ining excep tion to this usually flawed concept of u niversality has b een Honda 's VFR750, deservedly recogn ized as the ben chmark of multip urpo se motor cycling, than ks to its abili ty to delive r everyday ridability and two-up load facton; combined with the zest and perfo rmance of a good-handling sportbike, You wouldn' t ever have called the VFR750 a th rilling bike to ride, but it sure was fun as well as pr actical; for bikers who wanted or cou ld a fford just a (Above) Although similar in appearance and design to the bike It replaces, don't let that fool you , The 1998 VFR is a comp letely new motorcycle. (Right ) The twin-lamp headlight bears a family resemblance to the VTR1000. I