VFR800 50th Anniversary

[Johnny_E]

Well.... this happened! Put your messy garage filters on... its a work in progress lets just say.

Last of the gear driven cam engines, this was made in 1999 and limited to 250 worldwide to celebrate 50 years of Honda road motorcycles. The paint scheme pays tribute to the 1960 RC162 racer.

Nothing big planned except to preserve and enjoy it. Just over 19k miles on the V4 800 so plenty of years left. It has the linked braking system (non ABS) and a rather sticky set of Michelins on. I've a set of Bridgestone Battlax's to go on so it's heading to Dynes Motorcycles for a tyre change and precautionary once over. Its only done a few hundred miles per year for a long time, so I'd be happier once all the fuel and brake lines get a skilled once over.

Sitting nicely beside its little brother... my NMax.

 

[mikey]

There must be a fair rake of the 250 in this country cause I’ve seen a good few about over the years. There’s a guy would regularly be in Newcastle on one.
Lovely sound off the gear driven V4 and back when Honda made quality, you can even just tell by the depth of the paint on the pictures! Ride and enjoy!

 

[Stebo]

Very nice

 

[Johnny_E]

There must be a fair rake of the 250 in this country cause I’ve seen a good few about over the years. There’s a guy would regularly be in Newcastle on one.
Lovely sound off the gear driven V4 and back when Honda made quality, you can even just tell by the depth of the paint on the pictures! Ride and enjoy!

There's one other for sale at Kickstart in Castlereagh. Looks ok at first glance but has issues to my eye. Dented rear rim for starters.

Only thing on mine that takes away from it is that the upper face of the rear tail has faded a bit in the sun. A prior owner must have run the bike without the single seat cowl, because its a deep red but the tail is a shade pinker as such. I've tried a bit of red T-cut/colour magic but no change. Its not too bad so I think I'll just leave it as is. If I keep it long term a respray of the rear plastics would bring it back.

The guy I bought it off had a Black Widow can on it. Sounded immense.... but won't help my ability to slip out early on a weekend! Didn't like the look of it either... just looks wrong to me.



I had him put the OE can back on for me. Much quieter, but no mistaking the whirr of those cam gears!



Quite fancy this mind you..... just to restore a bit of that lower tone... it has a removable dB killer and has a similar length and overall look to the OE can.

 

[mikey]

There's one other for sale at Kickstart in Castlereagh. Looks ok at first glance but has issues to my eye. Dented rear rim for starters.

Only thing on mine that takes away from it is that the upper face of the rear tail has faded a bit in the sun. A prior owner must have run the bike without the single seat cowl, because its a deep red but the tail is a shade pinker as such. I've tried a bit of red T-cut/colour magic but no change. Its not too bad so I think I'll just leave it as is. If I keep it long term a respray of the rear plastics would bring it back.

The guy I bought it off had a Black Widow can on it. Sounded immense.... but won't help my ability to slip out early on a weekend! Didn't like the look of it either... just looks wrong to me.



I had him put the OE can back on for me. Much quieter, but no mistaking the whirr of those cam gears!



Quite fancy this mind you..... just to restore a bit of that lower tone... it has a removable dB killer and has a similar length and overall look to the OE can.

View attachment 430822

100% needs a can but aye, something OEM looking. Lovely bark of them.

 

[Johnny_E]

100% needs a can but aye, something OEM looking. Lovely bark of them.

Yeah - got a test ride on a VTEC one years ago before Allens closed down and loved it. Actually tried to get a VTEC in England last week, even offered the asking price, but the seller wasn't overly interested in a distance sale and sold it out from under me. Glad in the end as its nice to have the last geared cam version they made. Hard to believe the bikes 25 years old given the deep shine to the paint.

As for the can.... yeah, I like that Scorpion cos its the same shape as OE but a bit meatier. Can't be annoying the neighbours can I now.... don't want your mum at my front door

 

[Johnny_E]

Nothing like a scabby number plate to take the look off a vehicle.

Bought a "solo" shaped touring plate from Four Dot plates. Not cheap, but perfection on the quality front.

They supply 4 brackets with mega strong 3M tape. A solid and easy job to fix in place. I added a 3rd bracket, running horizontally at the lower edge of the plate to keep it down properly.

The touring plate is slightly tapered. Just waiting on a Chipex kit to sort out that rubbing damage on the tail. Must've been luggage in the past did that.

Laser cut and some nice edge detail.