I've owned a 1987 Honda VFR750 for five years. It had 4000 miles on the clock when I bought it, now has 55,500 miles. Apart from a few scratches in the plastic and the odd bit of alloy corrosion finish is still good. The engine has not been stripped. It has had a dealer service every 5000 miles. I also changed the oil every 2500 miles.
I could've done the valves and carbs myself but felt that such was the complexity of the engine that it was safer to leave it to the dealer. To be fair to them, it always came back running better. It took about 3 to 4000 miles for the motor to start going off tune in the early days. Once 40,000 miles were on the clock it would run rough after 2500 to 3000 miles.
A vee four shouldn't have any vibration, but of late an annoying buzz has appeared in the 7 to 9000rpm band. Whether this is just old age or some engine internals on the way out only time will tell. Still, between oil changes there is no need to add any lubricant to the motor, which suggests valves and pistons are still in good working order.
Not so fine is the gearbox. It was always a bit clunky but nothing that a firm foot and bit of thought couldn't overcome. Nowadays, there's a bit of slop, some BMW-like noises and a second gear that often slips into neutral. It's very susceptible to chain wear. The OE chain lasted a remarkable 18000 miles. Replacements rarely did better than 11000 miles. A newish chain needed an adjustment every 600 to 800 miles.
This bike's most noteworthy for its torque. A great, continuous forward thrust of potency that works in any gear even in the most unfavourable circumstance. It is a heavy bike at 480lbs, which takes the edge off it even in the lower gears - because there's no vicious power band, the effect of the torque is less obvious than on the race replicas. It's dead easy to run along at 10 to 20mph faster than expected from the sensations coming from the bike and road.
The fairing does a lot to emphasize this experience. It's not particularly wide but gives reasonable protection to my body. I soon fitted a higher screen. The tiny one that comes with the VFR throws up too much air (and water when it's wet). It either gives a dose to the chest or head depending on how much I was into a racing crouch.
The taller screen flaps about above 130mph, but as I rarely go that fast it doesn't matter. Top speed is 145 to 150mph! I've done that a couple of times on German autobahns. There are few bikes I would try that on. The VFR instils confidence during fast riding. It has a lovely neutral feel both in a straight line and when banked over.
Wet weather riding was just as good in the early days. Two things could disturb its poise. First, worn tyres will turn it very susceptible to white lines and minor road irregularities. The steering felt like it wanted to track along on its path rather than the one I would have taken. I preferred Metzelers, could just about live with their 4-6000 miles wear. It was better to replace them by the time they were down to 2mm rather than trying to make them last for a few hundred extra miles.
The second wet weather hurdle was the front brake. Immensely powerful twin discs could haul the VFR up in a very short distance in the dry. They could even be used gently in the bends. Feedback was sufficiently intense to allow me to brake hard but avoid locking up the front wheel. I was impressed until it rained.
Maybe I expected too much. A small amount of lag combined with a lack of feel to make it all too easy to lock up the front wheel. It was worse in slow riding, several times I lost the front tyre on slippery road surfaces. A foot down and manic wrench on the bars saved me from any serious damage.
I took to using the rear disc and engine braking in the wet. The rear caliper seized every winter but responded to being stripped and rebuilt - it's still working. Keeping the front disc gently on in the wet helped with the lag but the feedback was still hard to understand. The front OE pads lasted for 22000 miles - I'm not a manic braker. EBC pads only lasted about 14000 miles but got rid of the wet weather lag.
After about three years the brakes had become very vague so I put in some new fluid. Slightly better. Goodridge hose made them brilliant and control in the wet became almost as good as in the dry. A year later the front discs had become rather thin, making awful noises when I braked hard. I found some discs from a 20,000 mile old VFR in the local breaker. They are still okay. I note that newish VFR's have an entirely different set of disc brakes!
I'm happy to say that the forks have not gone the same way as the brakes. They were good to start with - just the right compromise between tautness and comfort - and have stayed that way. To the extent that the seals are still original!
The rear shock lasted for about three years. It was a tad on the soft side so I bought a used White Power shock. It's so adjustable that it can be either BMW soft or Ducati hard. I've set it up so it matched the front forks. A nice bit of tackle but expensive new. Whilst I had the back end apart I put some new bearings in the swinging arm and linkages. They would've lasted for another year or so, but I was feeling responsible at the time.
These manoeuvres, together with a new set of tyres, cleared up a small weave that had appeared at 90mph. On many bikes it wouldn't have been worth worrying about. The VFR was normally such a fine handling bike that even the mildest of weaves was annoying.
I was also worried about the effect of loading the bike up with the normal complement of camping gear. Its reaction to this was normally imperceptible but with the bit of slack in the chassis it could've turned as nasty as a Z1000 I once owned. This would speed wobble if I put as much as a lunch-box on the rack!
No, with the revitalised chassis it would slog along country roads, tear down motorways and growl through town with same easy going, natural nature as when it was new. On that particular holiday it did start to run badly for about 150 miles. A lot of coughing and spluttering as if one cylinder was cutting out. The most obvious thing to do was change the spark plugs. What a laugh!
Tearing off all the plastic and tank was not my idea of a ten minute job. The plugs were not easily accessible and had I been less competent I might easily have stripped a thread. Worse still, even with new plugs it continued to run poorly. It cleared up of its own accord later in the day. In retrospect, either a poor batch of fuel or some grit in the carbs.
The above does illustrate one of the drawbacks of having a 16 valve, DOHC, watercooled vee-four. When something does go wrong it's unlikely that it can be easily fixed by the roadside. The other side of the coin is that it's so well built that it very rarely fails on the road. You pays your money and takes your choice. Or join one of the rescue services.
I had to use the AA when I had my one and only serious accident. It happened in the London rush hour. Basically, I hurtled down a narrow hole between two lines of cages only to find the gap disappearing. The VFR isn't bad for throwing about heavy traffic. The excess torque more than makes up for its weight. To avoid becoming crushed between two cars I tried to turn the Honda viciously into a sudden gap. The car decided to accelerate forward at that moment. The bike was caught at an angle, I was thrown clear and Mr Cage tried to run over the prone bike.
The damage looked worse than it really was. The broken fairing had wedged itself between frame and forks. A replica fairing and a few used bits soon had the bike running again. Quicker than the cager's black eyes went away, I'd guess!
Adrian Perry