VOL. 54 ISSUE 9 MARCH 7, 2017 P111
which is semi-wide and just
soft enough. The wind-
screen does its job nicely
and is fully adjustable via a
manual lever that is reach-
able from the cockpit and
operable with one hand, but
the accessory heated grips
(yeah!) don't get hot enough
(ahhh) on real cold days;
they are no match for heavy
winter gloves.
Lacking in the comfort
department, however, is the
absence of cruise control.
For some that might be an
issue, but for me, it wasn't at
all. For a long time, I wasn't
even aware that it didn't
have it!
Hand guards are a nice
touch, for sure, but their
presence might suggest that
the VFR is capable of going
off road. Think again.
Yes, Honda calls the
VFR1200X an adventure
bike, and adventure bikes
are normally capable of
tackling some moderately
challenging dirt roads, but not
the VFR. I found it was best
to leave the adventure to the
pavement on the VFR, or you
will indeed have a real adven-
ture, but not the fun kind. The
VFR really isn't meant to go off
road—it's just too heavy and the
suspension isn't designed for
it, neither are the tires. A really
well-maintained fireroad is about
all the VFR can handle without
scaring the bejesus out of you.
As I mentioned, the VFR
is heavy, Honda says 631
pounds, ready to ride
(about 23 pounds less for
the manual-trans VFR). The
VFR's excessive weight,
however, is more of a factor
on the dirt than it is on the
tarmac, where you don't no-
tice it nearly as much. That's
because the bike is well
balanced and handles like
a much smaller motorcycle.
Suspension, on the other
hand, isn't as smooth as the
rest of the bike; I found it to
lack any sort of plush feel
over the smaller ripples and
square-edge hits, though
it did soak up some of the
bigger G-outs okay. I admit,
that I didn't fiddle with the
adjustments (both the shock
and fork feature preload and
rebound damping adjustabili-
ty) as much as I should have,
so I will give it the benefit of
the doubt in the big picture.
However, for the dirt, there
is no doubt. This is a street
bike.
The VFR uses a linked ABS
braking system that I found
to work beautifully; it's strong,
smooth and very predictable, and
you have great control at both
ends. Unfortunately, ABS can-
not be turned off, increasing the
VFR's ineffectiveness in the dirt.
Traction control, aka Honda
Selectable Torque Control, can
be disengaged, however, via an
easy-to-reach button on the left
fairing. There are three levels of
control (not including off), and I
Maybe I'm just
getting lazy, or
maybe I just
like doing—or,
in this case, not
doing—something
different, like
riding an
auto bike.
Comfort is
one of the
VFR1200X's
strongpoints.
