GT Motorcycles News » Honda head-turner will make you grin

It doesn’t take long before you’re twisting the grip and just waiting for its turbo-like boost in power.

Some days are good enough to live up to the memories you make of them — like on a crisp morning when the time and temperature are perfect, the gas tank swishes cool between your thighs, you flip down your helmet visor, turn the key, twist the grip, feel the roar and you just ride.

Where does the line between sport and touring begin to blur?

Probably with the Honda VFR800A.

While we could argue that bikes like the Honda ST1300A or Yamaha’s FJR1300A were designed to be the true blend of sport and touring, the VFR makes for a nice intermediate step toward touring and away from the hardline sport dedication of the CBR lineup.

The VFR allows a little more long- distance ergonomic comfort. It is a bigger bike, with more upright seating that’s pushed slightly rearward, a longer and easier leg stretch and an accessory list that includes available touring add-ons such as hard bags and a trunk.

Not that the VFR will have any trouble hanging with the sport bike crowd. This 25th anniversary Freddie Spencer edition Interceptor, as tested, is still a head-turner, coming dipped in HRC red, white and blue racing colours and with no shortage of the power and attitude that heralded its original debut.

The V4 VTEC engine is a little different, idling with a ‘chuffa-chuffa’, almost V-twin roughness.

Open it up and you get a roar distinctly different from the CBR’s dental drill scream.

Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7000 rpm, the mid-rush thrust multiplies like somebody flicked a switch as the VTEC cam configuration kicks in and the engine erupts with a chainsaw-like howl.

It doesn’t take long before you find yourself repetitively twisting the grip, grinning and just waiting for that almost turbo-like boost in power, in a rush very similar to the VTEC thrill of some of Honda and Acura’s four-wheeled, free-spinning performance engines.

Some will prefer the more linear acceleration of the CBR’s inline-four but that’s just the fun of having all these different flavours of motorcycles.

There’s something for everyone. And with a size, weight and price bridging the gap between back-road sport and long-haul touring, the VFR800A Interceptor nicely blends the best of both worlds.

Honda Canada is only bringing in the ABS version model for 2007 and it should be at dealers now.

SPEC SPECS

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled 781cc 90-degree V4 VTEC DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

FUEL: PGM-FI fuel injection

TRANSMISSION: Close-ratio six-speed & O-ring-sealed chain drive

SUSPENSION (FRONT): 43mm HMAS cartridge fork; 109mm (4.3 inches) travel

SUSPENSION (REAR): Pro Arm single-sided swingarm with Pro-Link single HMAS shock; 119mm (4.7 inches) travel

TIRES: 120/70ZR-17 radial front; 180/55ZR-17 radial rear

BRAKES: Front dual 296mm discs ABS Linked Braking System three-piston calipers; rear single 256mm disc ABS Linked Braking System three-piston caliper

SEAT HEIGHT: 805mm (31.7 inches)

WHEELBASE: 1,458mm (57.4 inches)

DRY WEIGHT: 218 kg (481 pounds)