VFR - VTEC or no VTEC?

Casual (subject to domestic finance meeting) interest in swapping the
Fazer for something else. Spotted a couple of VFRs:

HONDA VFR 800 Fi 799CC , 2001 Y Reg , 7,700 miles, Metallic Silver.
Full Service History. £4,499

HONDA VFR VFR800-2 VTEC 800CC , 2003 03 Reg , 2,400 miles, Silver.
Full Service History. £5,499

Both from same dealer who are talking of a trade-in range of circa 2500
- 3200 for my bike (9k miles) depending on what I buy.

I quite fancy a VFR...

--

jeremy
'02 Fazer 600 in blue
_______________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com

 

Depends if you want to pay a lot, or a very lot for a big service, when
service time comes.

 

I rode the 2001 model when a friend bought one. It's a good all round
bike but I didn't like the linked brakes.

 

Up until the arrival of the new Sprint ST it was always *the* choice for
sports-tourer in seemingly every test in every magazine. So linked
brakes and VTEC can't have been *that* bad else the rest of the package
is so exceptional as to render these as simply relatively minor niggles.

--

jeremy
'02 Fazer 600 in blue
_______________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com

 

I like my non-VTEC 800, my brother prefers his last of the range 750.
(In fairness, though, he rides mainly solo, whereas I do 90% of my
mileage with a pillion and a fair amount of that with luggage[1])

If you want sporty go with a late 750, if you want touring go with a
non-VTEC 800.

IMHO, the VTEC was a massive step backwards - increased servicing, peaky
power and a camchain.

[1] I don't really enjoy riding in the UK anymore, but tend to ride
quite a lot of miles when we take the bike abroad.

 

Have you actually had a go on a VTEC one?

 

No, but the figures on paper and the specs. tell me all I need to know.

You don't need to ride one to know that the power delivery isn't as
progressive or that it has a camchain rather than gear driven cams.

We both sat on one in a showroom and decided that it wasn't anywhere
near as comfortable for long distance 2-up stuff, either.

I fail to see what your point is, as I didn't actually express an
opinion on how they ride, only where the spec. and figures show a
backwards step.

 

None of the above. Get the best late-model 750 you can instead.

 

Paper isn't everything.

Though in this case as I've said before I'm inclined to agree - I just was
questioning the "massive step backwards" when the fact you haven't ever
actually ridden one is taken into account.

 

Gear driven cams to chain driven cams *is* a massive step backwards,
IMHO, and that's before you've looked at the torque curves. (although
that's probably more to do with the way I ride - I use the torque rather
than power)

 

Is there any issue of reliability between the 750 & 800 models - why
would the 750 be a preferred choice? To behomest, I know i need ot bone
up on all this stuff before going any further... looking for a decent
buyer's guide to VFRs - sure there was something in Bike recently

<goes off to look>



--

jeremy
'02 Fazer 600 in blue
_______________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com

 

So the VTEC and a change from gear to chain-driven cams eh? Hmm......
--

jeremy
'02 Fazer 600 in blue
_______________________________________
jeremy at hireserve dot com

 

I'd agree with the lard and boredom bit, but not sure about better
value, as a really nice 750 will easily fetch the same money as an 800 a
year or two younger.

 

Have the cam chains on your Fazor given you any grief?

Here's a challenge - see if you can find anything on the Net about the cam
chains on the Vtec VFR - I bet you won't. [1]

[1] you will find stuff about rectifiers, engine management, servicing
costs, Vtec stupidness etc - but I don't think you'll find much about cam
chain problems.

 

Hmmmm, thing is, everyone raves about how good the last of the 750s
were, which is currently inflating prices. A couple of years ago they
were quite astonishingly cheap for what they are, but market forces have
started to push prices up now.

I do know people who'd happily pay more for the last of the 750s rather
than the first of the 800s.

 

Jeremy emerged from their own little world to say

 

dwb says...

I've ridden all three variants and owned an early model 750FK. In order
of preference it'd be:

1. 94-97 VFR750F
2. 98-01 VFR800i
3. 88-89 VFR750F (17 inch wheel models)
4. 02 > VFR800 VTec

 

<fx:sulk> The shiteoldviffer is worse than the 800s? Better punt it
out.

 

Statto says...

Not exactly, it's just that the middle model 750 like yours wasn't as
engaging as the early or later ones, so tend to be a bit forgotten. They
are very worthy bikes and a bit underrated really. If I had to put it in
that list it'd be at position 1 1/2. To be bought if a decent one came
up at a good price in favour of a scruffy 800, but don't pass up a high
mileage later 750 to have one. I liked riding yours, but it was nice to
get my Gixer back again.

I only rate the early 750 below the 800 because there are so few of them
worth buying now, the second generation viffer like yours is fast
getting that way too.

 

Typical Honda then. Worthy, underrated but ultimately dull.

[snip]

Hence the "shiteold" comment earlier.