Well, I tried and failed to win a 1996 VFR750 (the FT model). For some years, I've fancied a VFR, and for my money (which is, as you know, dispensed with great care[1]), the One To Have is a late carb-model 750. Not the injected 800 (a bit snatchy, by all accounts) and *definitely* not a VTEC. This had just under 20k recorded, fsh, supposedly immaculate, new tyres, new MoT, useful spares and extras, and an owner retiring from biking. Only slight oddity was five previous owners, but if they'd all done 2000 miles a year and then flogged it on, it's not a worry. And the bidding was stalled on £2000 with 10 minutes to go, in the middle of the afternoon, so I slapped in something shy of £2200 and got outbid. It would have cost me £2300 to raise him, as it were, so I folded. Privately, it's not worth much more than that. Azzitappens, the winning bidder has zero feedback, so I've emailed the seller and told him that if he's messed around, to get back to me, and he's replied thanking me, and said he will, if it comes to that. Plan was (and may still be) to replace the Trophy. Seat of the pants says the Trophy's worth about £3500 privately, and while I like it immensely, there's something about the superb engineering of the VFR750 that still attracts me. Having ridden several in the past, I can't think of any other bike that was so finely engineered, built and finished, and such a pleasure to ride. What a shame that the purity of the engineering and, allegedly, the rideability was lost with the VTEC (though I admit I've not tried a VTEC). [1] Unless we're talking old Italian bikes, in which case reason goes out of the window.
