Ride Diary

VFR First Impressions Report

1. Ergonomics. The sportier ergos were probably my number one concern in making the transition, but once you acclimate yourself to the more aggressive seating position, it is surprisingly comfortable. At speed the air lifts your upper body and you literally float about the tank. In this position, you can keep very light grip on the clip ons while relaxing your shoulders and arms. At slower speeds you need to use your lower back muscles, sit up a little straighter and roll your pelvis forward to avoid loading up your wrists as the bike slows and your body begins to pitch forward. It takes a little practice but once you get the hang of it, it's comfortable. Conversely, your abs do a lot of the work when you accelerate as your body pitches rearward. On the VFR, you grip the machine a lot more with your thighs than anything else. Tank bras are practically universal as a result. Squeezing your thighs also keeps certain sensitive parts of the male anatomy away from the tank during hard braking. You don't just sit on the seat and hang on with your hands as needed like on the NH. I'm actually quite impressed with how natural the seating position is on the VFR once you become accustomed to it. You really only use your arm and shoulder muscles to make very small steering inputs. It's your butt and legs that keeps you on the bike and the back and abs that keeps you upper body in place.

The air pocket with the stock windshield ends right at nose height, which directs the bugs on to your faceshield, but there is no head buffeting. Turbulence is minimal due to the duct at the bottom of the windshield. The NH could be a bit turbulent at speed. So far I have no complaints with the stock seat, something which seems to be a perennial Honda Achilles heel on a lot of their bikes. Perhaps I have a stock behind. Although not a big deal in the summer, I expect that having less wind on my lower body will add a level of cold weather comfort that was lacking on the Nighthawk. While the mirrors with their long stalks are slightly dorky looking, they project out far enough to take in something besides your elbows.

2. Power train. For my money, Honda's V-4 engines are hard to beat. The geared valve train drive makes a distinctive whine that's instantly recognizable. This engine is very smooth throughout the whole rpm range and begins to pull hard from 3K rpm on up. You do need to spin it up a goodly amount, to at least 2.5 grand, when starting up from a stop to avoid a stall. The transmission shifts very smoothly and "snicks" down into first gear from neutral without the "thunk" of the Nighthawk. The close ratios of the gearing makes upshifting very smooth and there's none of the notchiness I found in the NH transmission. I do tend to forget about sixth gear sometimes. Highway speed cruising in top gear from 4,500 to 5,500 rpm is very smooth, with minimal peg buzz, as are big roll ons beyond 8K when accelerating. While more "sport" than "touring" I can see putting on a lot of miles on the bike in one sitting. The clutch pull is a little formidable if you're stuck in an endless chain of traffic lights. The stock exhaust has a nice gentle burble. I'm not keen on loud aftermarket slip-on mufflers that have more to do with style than performance.

3. Brakes. The VFR's brakes are phenomenally superior to the Nighthawk's and the bike has suspension that can keep the rubber on the pavement to avoid locking the front wheel. I know from first hand experience that the NH has a tendency to lock up easily if the pavement gets bumpy. I had the front end wash out on the NH once on some rippled pavement when braking hard due to an errant taxi. Luckily I got the skid under control, but it did point out what happens when the NH's front suspension couldn't keep the rubber on the road. The VFRs twin front disks and single rear disk scrub off speed quickly under normal or panic conditions, including avoiding an encounter with a red light runner this past weekend when I executed a near stoppie. Unlike the newer VFRs, mine has plain vanilla independent brakes.

4. Suspension. Even with the stock components this bike has a very good ride quality, even on DC's less than perfect pavement. Rebound damping is quite superior to the Nighthawk and dive, even two-up, is much more controlled. One of my supreme annoyances with the NH was its tendency to shake so violently on bad pavement as to make the throttle chop (wa, wa, wa) as you hit a series of bumps. I didn't realize how bad it was until I got the new bike.

5. Handling. The VFR's sportier handling will tempt you to go faster, that's for sure. A simple press and the bike leans, no wrestling is required. You can lean this bike in utter confidence that it will be there for you. As sportbikes go it's fairly heavy for its displacement class, yet to me it's very nimble on the MSF course at low speeds on the tight turns and large offset weave. The bike is very stable pushing through the twisties. The Nighthawk sometimes affected a squishy wallow when pushed hard that was a little unsettling.

6. Fit, finish, bells and whistles. A clock, what's that? The VFR also has a fuel gauge (there's no reserve, so don't rely on the gauge, watch your elapsed mileage), a low fuel idiot light (seems to kick on at about 3/4 gal. left) and a temp gauge to monitor the cooling system. The cockpit is nicely laid out and free of visual clutter. You don't have to hunt for anything that would require taking your eyes off the road for more than a split second. The tach floats front and center right below your view of the road ahead.

The bodywork fits together well and is backed up with foam padding in all the right places for a tight fit that's squeak and rattle-free. I also appreciate the utter lack of "squid bait" style sportbike graphics. Honda's attention to detail is evident in the bodywork and in the consistent seams between the various sections of the rear cowl, for instance. On the downside, the bodywork is extremely vulnerable to even a stationary tip over. Aftermarket frame sliders are probably in my future. As for the paint, well, it's red and applied to a high standard.

7. Maintenance. I haven't done anything to the bike yet, but I have skimmed through the shop manual. I should be able to tackle a lot of the maintenance tasks myself, including valve clearance checks every 16K miles. Lots of folks on the VFR list consider this a DIY job, so I don't see why I can't do it, especially since I learned a lot about MC maintenance from working on the Nighthawk. That said, even an oil change requires removing bodywork, so I expect everything to be a little more involved. There is the additional factor of a cooling system to monitor and maintain. Chain maintenance and adjustment is simplified by the single swingarm. No more rear wheel alignment hassles. The only gremlin these bikes tend to have is rectifier/regulator failure after 25 k miles or so. About one in ten seem to develop problems.

8. Overall rideability. Present circumstances require that I'm a one bike at a time guy, and is looks like the VFR is proving to be the "do it all" bike that I need for the daily commute, weekend sport rides and the occasional multi-day tour. I'm looking into hard bag options, yet I'm hesitant to violate the sleek sportbike look. The bike gets decent gas mileage and the 21-liter (5.5 gal.) tank will allow you about 225 miles between fill ups. I have no complaints with the ergos, buzziness, or vibration and I'm looking forward to getting out on the highway some more and letting the bike stretch her legs. It truly is shaping up to its billing as the "gentleman's sportbike."