In my quest to find the perfect sports touring motorcycle (just an excuse to ride lots of fancy new expensive bikes actually…), I spent a couple of hours on a Honda VFR1200F today. The bike was from Hatfields of Crowthorne, it was dry and sunny but cold.

OK – I stopped at Bulldog for a coffee 🙂

First impressions: don’t like the colour but other than that, it looks a bit BMW-ish. I think it’s the fairing with the round badge and the swingarm/drive shaft assembly.

The heated grips were awesome – too hot in the end. The bike was really comfy and suited my riding position. I took it down the M3 and it absolutely flew along. With only 600 miles on the clock, I didn’t thrash it (too much) – suffice it to say that the exhaust valve gives a VTEC-ish kick when actuated and the sound changes from a V4-fart to V4-howl!

The mirrors were clear at all speeds.

The steering and handling were what you’d expect from a new bike, although I did have a bit of trouble riding around the mini-roundabouts in Crowthorne as the transmission was really jerky at low speeds. Is it a(nother) Honda fueling issue? Don’t know but I didn’t like it. It does the same at low speeds in high gears.

Better than the K1300S that I rode the other day?
No (see comments on jerky transmission).

Would I like one?
Yes please.

For £12K+?
No thanks.