Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

f-i3 B ~ 24 . Impression: J.983Honda V451nterceptor VF750F Interceptor: Haceshop roadster By Karel Kramer Photos by David Edwards and Kramer Sin ce the first photos of Honda's new VF7~OF hit the pages of the moto-mags of the world, it has been one .of the most eagerly awaited motorcycles in memory. 'Honda announced its availability at Da ytona with t~e rank a n d file of re~l street ri~ers domination of the Superbike SJI'~ce man y were sh eep In wol ves clo- I h thing, a n d the rest wer e too ca n ta n- C. ass. Rep?~ts were t at one kerous. We don 't want to slig ht th e nder qualified for one of the exce ll ent effo rts a va ila ble, th e GPz m a in events with a n Inter cep tor th at lin e for exa mp le, but we a re talkin g he rod e to th e tr a ck to break in . H e ab out GP road ra ce tr ickl e-d own . fin ish ed in th e to p 20. T h e Intercep to r, b y it s technol o gy , is Ro a dsters in race r g arb a re no t a a breed a pa rt. new concep t, even roads ters that bega n So, n o w th at th e VF is h ere, h o w o n the ra ce shop dra win g board li ke does it wo r k? In our minds, th e the Int ercep to r. Racer clo nes don ' t VF750F is the bes t of th e ge nre. As a ha ve th e bes t o f ren u tat io n s am on s rt bik e o ur m a io rdiso leasure wit .,. A~_ ~, ., .., "4 .. i t is th e tenden cy it h as to let pa ra- legal sp eed s creep up on th e rid er. That 's fin e on th e race track, but on the str eet i t d oes i ts go-fast job a lm o st too effortlessly. As th e only motorcycle in the garage it g ets points o ff for a sli ghtly too radi cal crouch seating position and a la ck of storage area. We co u ld only ge t a 'tin y tank bag to fit. The VF was pronounced clumsy a t slo w speeds b y o ne tester, but others felt it was no worse than other bikes , with low handl ebars. With its GP herita ge proclaimed loudl y by th e slip pe ry lin es a n d the - GP road racer- a n d FWS road ra cer- typ e fram e, it wa s su rprisin g to us w hat a good, comfortable and effort- lessl y fast mo tor cycle it turned out to be. The Inter ceptor is to th e ca ny o n rider what a phone booth is to Clark Kent. With th e light steeri n g from the 16-i n ch fro nt wh eel , a ma zi n g leanabil it y and its stro n g and wide p ower band. the VF is a dream come true in the corners. For longer rides it was not the first b ike out of th e gar- a ge . For th e real world of 55 mph spe ed limits, a slightl y higher and rearward handlebar would be nice. Around 80 mph the seating position comes into its own . Two riders. who normally n ever hav e confrontations with the police. had conversations with a uniformed official of the law. One before she h ad logged a sin g le mil e on the sp eedo . . Part o f the problem is th e lo cation of th e speedo and th e dial fa ce. The n eedl e o f th e spe ed o is bar ely o ff o f th e peg a t 50 mph . T h e rest of th e tenden cy ste ms from th e fa c t th at th e Int ercep to r pull s from so lo w in the po werband th a t it does n' t feel as fa st as it is. The worst pa rt is it feels real f as t .~ ·en . li lel - hi 1

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