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…
Grey Market Week continues with another weird and wonderful small-displacement sportbike from Honda, the CBR250RR. At a glance, it might be easy to dismiss this little 250 as a primitive commuter like the current CBR300, since these days, that’s exactly what you’ll get. The CBR, Ninja 300, R3 are all clearly built as budget-friendly…
Although small-displacement two-stroke sportbikes like this Honda NSR250R have been finding their way over to the US in shipping containers and across the border from Canada for a while now, they’re still relatively rare here and can be difficult to register for road use. This one is titled in Washington State, so that should help…