Adding another Motorcycle to my stable

[aviationfred]

I am stepping into the modern Era of Fuel injection, Linked Brakes, Factory saddlebags, Vtec V4 engine.

The bike was for sale in Golden, Colorado. Fortunately for me the bike has went unsold over this Winter. The price had been dropped to a 'Give Away' price. A big thanks to Alan Humes for going to look at this for me and facilitate the purchase. A Huge shout out for storing it for me for a few days. I can't wait to ride it.

The New Stead is a 2008 Honda VFR800 Interceptor. The White 8 spoke wheel is from a 1990 VFR750 parts bike that I purchased over a year ago. The 8 spoke wheels are highly sought after for installation on the VFR800's.

Fred

[ribbert]

I am stepping into the modern Era of Fuel injection, Linked Brakes, Factory saddlebags, Vtec V4 engine.

Fred

They're a great bike Fred but to this day I don't like linked brakes. The harder I ride the less I like them.

Noel

[gumby302ho]

 Fred you dont have the 5th gen VFR with gear driven cams for bragging rights. I have always been curious about how they ride. The guy I bought my blackbird from said he had owned one with all the vtec issues\complaints aside and world bragging rights as being the best all rounder motorcycle he said it felt heavy up high carrying alot of weight and did not like how it turned into corners. Thats one man's opinion, Vtec or not I would love to see what boils in the 800 boiler V4. Cant help but think about the big heavy grand father the VF1100. How many of you older gentlman rode a VF1100 aka V65 Magna off a dealers lot and felt untouchable. Nice bike Fred and yes I am a little jealous.

[giantkiller]

Friend of mine had a v65 Sabre?  Don't know if that's how it's spelled. Massive torque. Was funny watching it leap frog off the ground when he would do a wheelie. Because of the torque on the drive shaft. Unfortunately I  saw him go down twice. Because he throttled it up a little bit coming out of a corner and it kicked the wheel straight out from under him. Not from spinning the tire but from the shaft torque. I  let him ride my fj and he immediately sold it and bought an fj....That I later bought from him.  And is now my fj1350r.  But I'm sure they must have come up with a solution to the shaft torque.

Nice looking bike Fred. Probably rides like a dream.

[giantkiller]

Come to think about it. The vmax wasn't it shaft drive ?  I don't remember it leap frogging.  Maybe it was just the Hondas of the time. Sorry Fred for going on about old bikes.

Back to your great find. I'm already envious of all the looong rides you'll be on. In style and comfort.

[Bones]

My older brother had a Yamaha XS1100 shaft drive and remember how the back of the bike would lift up under acceleration, it was a weird feeling.

[giantkiller]

My older brother had a Yamaha XS1100 shaft drive and remember how the back of the bike would lift up under acceleration, it was a weird feeling.

My friend could actually get the back wheel to come about an inch, 8nch and a half off the ground by accelerating hard and chopping the throttle. Could do it repeatedly going down the road @ about 20-25mph. Used to LMAO.

[ribbert]

My older brother had a Yamaha XS1100 shaft drive and remember how the back of the bike would lift up under acceleration, it was a weird feeling.

My friend could actually get the back wheel to come about an inch, 8nch and a half off the ground by accelerating hard and chopping the throttle. Could do it repeatedly going down the road @ about 20-25mph. Used to LMAO.

They all did that back in the 80's, it was commonly referred to as "shaft Jacking" and afflicted Goldwings, CX's, Guzzi's, XS 11's, BMW's etc. It was a significant price to pay for a maintenance free shaft drive. If you went into a corner a bit hot and backed off, the rear end would squat leaving you with even less ground clearance and upsetting the front end by changing the steering geometry abruptly mid corner and the bike wanting to stand up. Combine all that happening at once with going into a corner too fast and it made for some arse clenching moments. The introduction of the "paralever" fixed all that.

For those that haven't experienced a shaft drive, you couldn't pick it from a chain drive these days.

Noel

[Motofun]

I owned a V45 Sabre.  Only a 750 and on the heavy side for sure.  Never felt shaft jacking was a problem...the real issue was the tires available at the time were poor.  Sold it before the advent of modern radial tires for MCs.

[aviationfred]

I am thinking of replacing the bodywork with a set of Per-Painted reproductions. These are what I am considering.

You also see the difference the 8 spoke wheel on the Rothmans version has versus the OEM 5 spoke wheel

Fred

[fj1289]

I like the top one - the wing motif works well with the funky bodywork.   I think the Rothmans and the RVF versions are trying to hard to look like a GSXR1000...

[aviationfred]

I like the top one - the wing motif works well with the funky bodywork.   I think the Rothmans and the RVF versions are trying to hard to look like a GSXR1000...

The Rothmans and the RVF RC45 paint schemes are from the 1990's.

Fred

[Millietant]

I like the top one - the wing motif works well with the funky bodywork.   I think the Rothmans and the RVF versions are trying to hard to look like a GSXR1000...

To quote John McEnroe..........  You cannot be serious  

Don't you think those bikes are trying to look like famous Honda's (RC45/NSR500) from long before the GSXR 1000 even broke cover ?  

My favourite of those is the Rothmans NSR livery, but my real favourite VFR livery is one that isn't shown - The red/white/blue livery from the late 1980's

[giantkiller]

I like the top one too Fred. Very nice not too. Much. Keep it simple. 

[fj1289]

Well, the other side of the pancake I suppose - most of Fred's bikes are nicely understated, so maybe hit's time to make one stand out?!  In that case, maybe the Rothmans livery