Honda set the superbike class on its ear in 1992 with the CBR900RR FireBlade, for all intents dropping liter performance into a mid-weight machine. No longer would a 1000 cc bike have to be a GT weighing 500+ lbs., the CBR900RR was a sharp-handling supersport with a trim endurance fairing. The low-mile RR on offer has been fawned…
Honda’s entry into the sporty twin market was torquey and innovative, with Honda’s reputation for reliability. Though the model fell short in race breeding and wasn’t long-lived, it had moderate ergonomics, nicely tuned suspension, and masterful big twin carburetion. The VTR1000F lives on as a great used sportbike, this example is lightly customized and very…
The first generation VFR 750F was only offered with the uber-cool white bodywork in 1993 and it still looks quite good, especially in comparison to the other sportbike designs of the 1990’s (cough-cough-I’m-looking-at-you-1993 Suzuki GSX-750R). Fairly cheap just a few years ago, trying to find a 1993 VFR with the OEM white bodywork in good…
With the other manufacturers building their exotic turbocharged 80s confections around more sophisticated four-cylinder designs, why did Honda base their CX650 Turbo on a bike that was so ugly, the British press dubbed it the “plastic maggot”? Well even though a simple, pushrod v-twin seems to go against the high-tech theme these motorcycles embodied, the…
Update 6.1.2016: Sold in just one week! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc If Honda’s history of brilliant technical innovation has a downside, it’s that it sometimes posits answers to questions no one actually asked. Some recent missteps like their sophisticated but overweight and expensive VFR sport-tourer suggest that they’ve just recently lost their way.…
Anyone glancing at today’s Honda CBR400 would be forgiven for thinking it was a much more powerful machine: the looks are pure sportbike, and then you notice the decals that shout “CBR400.” But what the little Honda lacks in displacement, it makes up for in sophistication: four cylinders, six speeds, gear-driven cams, aluminum frame… Produced…
Honda’s V-Four development team found a sweet combination of chassis specifications in the mid-eighties, and the resulting VF500F was a legendary handler. As nicely as the carburetted double overhead cam engine ran up its 70 horses, the air-assisted dampers at both ends of the Interceptor soaked up the realities of the road and allowed the…
In reverence to the nearly two weeks of racing along the 37-mile Isle of Man road course, Honda introduced a British-styled tribute thumper in 1985 and built it in a few displacements until 1992. Called the Tourist Trophy and nicknamed the TT, the bike was a retro cafe racer with Honda engineering, and foretold many…