Just Like Joey’s?

After the turn of the millennium, Honda’s VFR750F V4 had gained an enviable reputation as the one of the best sports tourers on the market.

In 16 years of development it had been so honed and refined that Honda felt confident to even start incorporating more sporty features from its racers in the 782cc version in 1998.

So, having ridden the first versions in 1986, I was well primed when Honda revealed that it would be replacing the VFR800Fi version with a new model for 2002 featuring special valve gear that would widen what was already one of the broadest power curves in the industry.

So it came as a huge disappointment during an event hosted by Honda at Box Hill to find that the VFR800VTEC actually felt peakier, with a sharp jump in the power half way to the red line. What Honda’s engineers had done was to incorporate a design in which all four valves in each combustion chamber opened fully