This is me and my ride. I bought it brand new from Lake City Honda/Kawasaki in Warsaw, Indiana in July of 1995 after drooling over various VFR's for a couple of years. Since I've purchased it, it has seen a few minor modifications, including an unintentional one involving some idiot mini-van driver that ran a stop sign in '97. But it's been repaired and it looks beautiful once again.
As you can see, the most obvious mod I made was the addition of the high right-side exit exhaust from Two Brothers Racing. I was very pleased with the fit and finish of the pipe, although not so happy that it took two months to ship to me, for some damn reason. The tank bra was a necessity to prevent unwanted scratches, and it contributes a little to the appearance too. A couple of decals were added for a personal touch and to make it look a little racier, although I tried not to get carried away and give it a vandalized look.
A rear photo shot shows another view of the high-exit exhaust and the creative engineering used to retain the passenger footpeg. Another mod shown here is the rear fender, which was bobbed to clean up the look of the tail end of the bike... it looked strange and naked at first, but after getting used to it, it looks pretty cool. By the way, that's a stock Dunlop D204 tire on the rear. That thing stuck to pavement about as well as Tupperware. Both tires have been replaced with Metzeler MEZ1's, and FYI a 180-width tire does fit on the rear... it looks and works fantastic. (Racer-wannabe's, save your breath about "wider is not better"... bla bla bla...)
Here's a pic of me that my buddy Jake took of me pulling up the front wheel... this was right after I swapped the rear tire for that delicious Metzeler. I love doing wheelies, but some simple advice: do it in a safe open area, and don't get caught. And don't crash either, but that goes without saying.
Contrary to popular belief, VFR's are capable of pretty decent wheelies, thanks to the torque output of the 748cc V-four. They're surprisingly stable and don't get away from you too easily (like I saw happen to a guy on a new ZX-9R). By the way, why is it you never see any cool pictures like this of Harleys or BMWs? .....just a casual observation.....
A few nice Honda pics worth checking out!
Picture of a beautiful mint 1997 VFR in New Port Ritchie, Florida... sporting an unknown high right-side exhaust and polished frame and rims (64K)
Picture of a stock VFR testing at Laguna Seca Raceway in California... great action photo (20K)
Picture of the legendary rare exotic Honda NR750 (right side) - my dream bike (59K)
Picture of the NR750 from the left side... the color is much better in this pic (40K)
Footage of Max Biaggi at the 1998 Czech GP nearly doing an end-over wheelie at the finish line on his Honda NSR500 (274K animated gif)
Audio of the VFR's growling V-four motor unleashed with an aftermarket exhaust - 10 second .wav file (376K)
- Join The VF/VFR Mailing List - list archives are also here
- The Texas VFR Garage - lots of good VFR links here
- Try the Harley-Davidson Owner's Group (HOG) Qualification Test I created! (yes, link works again now!) :)
- Honda Motorcycles
- Honda Rider's Club of America
- Honda Sport Touring Association - not just for Honda owners
- AZ Motorsports - Honda Parts and Accessories
- Western Honda - Scottsdale, AZ
- Electrex USA - replacement regulators and rectifiers for those troublesome OEM units
- Two Brothers Racing
- Erion Racing
- Honda CBR1100XX Owner's Organization
- CBR World - 600? F2? F4i? 900? 929? 954? 1000? This is the place for you
- Dave Kear's CBR900RR Home Page - Lots of great pictures here!
