The motorcycle Gods smiled upon me mightily today! The weather was almost in the 70’s so I got in a brief (very brief) moto ride on my SV1000 around the neighborhood. I like to do that occasionally because when a bike sits for too long it goes to crap.

While putting my bike away my neighbor flew by on his FZ-09. I had my helmet still on and waived to him. To my surprise he quickly slammed on the brakes, turned around and started heading down my driveway.

We talked for a bit about motos, motorcycle racing and the awesomeness that is Jack Miller.

He offered to let me try out his FZ-09 to which I replied “if you don’t mind I’d REALLY rather try out that red white and blue anniversary edition Honda Interceptor you have”. He smiled and said “follow me”. We rode back to his house then swapped bikes.

Let me just say that my first experience on a V4 was tempered just a bit by my concern with not only keeping up with my 50 year old neighbor who was absolutely hauling it way more than I expected but also hoping he didn’t crash my bike. Yeah I muttered to myself “please don’t crash my bike” a few times while I took it easy as hell on his VFR800 in the twisty sections and then took it to redline in a few gears on the straights just so he didn’t get too far ahead. I’m not about to push a bike I am riding for the first time hard at all in the turns.

The v-tec or variable timing that is on the Honda V4 Interceptor is just addictive. The deep growl it makes when it switches over is just intoxicating.

I was a little surprised by the lack of down low torque on the VFR800 compared to my SV1000 but if you keep the VFR800 revved up a bit the engine is every bit as fun as an in-line four and has a delicious top end punch of power that is absent on my SV1000 V twin. It was a strange engine but in a very good way. It only makes me wish even more that Honda would make something to compete with the street legal V4 Ducati and Aprilia V4.





If you look down the road a bit you can see the tail light of my Suzuki.

Stickman, I'm glad you got to experience the joy that is VFR800. It looks like that one is almost as low-mileage as mine.

Dark Candy Red is the best color, though.


(And yes, we see that Suzuki shirt you're wearing....)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

Beautiful bikes man. I remember lusting after the original Interceptor when I was in high school.

I got a ride in yesterday and it was glorious. I had a 84’ VF1000F it was a great bike.

Sounds like it was an outstanding day!

I'm 3 years removeed from riding my GSXR 750 with upgrades, It's been in storage and when I get back stateside I'll have it serviced and riding once again.

I beats 5.0 mustangs no problem and many other american sports cars but I'm Curious how it will do against other bikes.

Probably middle of the road considering the amount of R4's owned but I'm eager to get it out on the street.

My first bike was an interceptor 500…loved that bike.

I rode an Interceptor for years, and enjoyed every minute in the saddle. Today I'll be out on a BMW K1600GT.

Stick, sit down, grab a drink. This could be a long read...

The year was 1986, probably sometime between May and July. My oldest brother had just graduated college, and my parents were taking him to visit some colleges. They also made the mistake of leaving two teenaged boys at home for a weekend. My brother made the mistake of leaving the keys to his newly purchased 1984 Honda VFR750 Interceptor. It was a left over floor model, and he bought it brand new. White with red and blue stripes.

Let me preface, and say I started riding when I was 4y/o. And I was 15 at the time, so I had 11yrs of riding experience. But I had only ridden dirt bikes, the largest being a Honda XR250. And the keys to my brother's Interceptor were left gleaming on his bedroom dresser. So the choice was obvious...

My brother only had one helmet, and I had a buddy that spent the night. I wore the helmet, so the neighbors wouldn't recognize me. I was a dumbass teenager back then. 10ft tall and bulletproof. I still remember the clothes I wore. Official GI combat woodland camo pants, and my brothers football jersey, so the neighbors would think it was my brother. My friend went helmetless, as we only had one helmet.

So going from a single cylinder 250cc dirtbike, that made maybe 25hp, to a V4 750cc street bike, which I believe made around 85hp to the wheel, was a new challenge. The challenge was accepted, and the obvious answer was to just nail it. Everywhere. I had never ridden on the street before, except for small stints on a dirtbike. (I did get arrested for outrunning a cop on a Yamaha IT175 two stroke, but the charges got reduced to "operating a vehicle with a license", I was 13). Although at the time, that bike was supposed to do 150mph, I "only" hit 120mph, with my friend on the back, hair flying in the wind. Somehow we didnt' die, we didn't get pulled over, and we returned safely home, thanks to my 11yrs of riding dirtbikes.

My brother eventually sold the bike, but I didn't tell him for 20yrs. His response? "Yeah, I knew, I checked the mileage before I left". He never told my parents, my neighbors never knew, and my friend was able to get married and have kids.

If I found out one of my kids took out my V-Max, or GoldWing, they would be in the ground, and I would be on America's Most Wanted. I wanted to teach them how to ride, but after suffering two serious back to back accidents (one of which was the day before we found out my wife was pregnant with our second son), I decided against it. There are too many idiots on cellphones, who don't give a crap about bikers. My oldest kid was always bugging me to take out the V-Max, and he's never ridden. NOPE!!! He is home this Christmas, he is an active duty Combat Medic. So working with trauma patients, he lost his desire to learn how to ride. I've always said to learn on the dirt, you learn how to wreck. Riding on the street, with traffic can be unforgiving. I've taken him out on the V-Max a few times, but never the GoldWing. He loved it, but I am a very cautious rider. My youngest son has never gone on a ride. He has no interest, which is strange, because he loves roller coasters. I tried to explain to him, it's just like that. The feeling of freedom. My wife wanted to get her motorcycle endorsement, but found out we were pregnant with our first son, so she never got it. Then on our first ride together on the V-Max, we had two incidents with idiot drivers, and that made up her mind she is much more comfortable as a passenger. And she loves the GoldWing.

I have family in the Richmond area, if I'm ever down that way, I may show up to your house on the GoldWing.

Ride safe, Brother.

I had a VFR800 for a short time and loved it. A real hoot to ride. Took it for a solo 4 day ride on Vancouver Island in Canada and tore the hell out of nice curvy backroads.

Good memories!

Have owned three of them, V4’s that is. All VFR’s and still own the VFR1200. We’ve asked Honda for 20 years for a new RC45. Honda says no. We asked for the V5 when they raced the 211v. Honda’s answer was no. Their answer is always no. Want a V4 sportbike? Ducati or Aprilia. VFR1200’s actually have power and torque but it’s more of a sport touring bike vs. a liter that weighs 450 lbs fully fueled.

I bought one of the first Honda V4s, a 1982 V45 Sabre. I still own and ride it as it approaches 40 years old. I haven't ridden inline fours a lot, but their note is boring compared to V4.

A VFR was always on my short list, but never made the cut. I still wouldn’t mind one though.

Those V4s are something, aren't they?

Finally getting around to uploading pictures. If anyone sees my old '86 VFR 750 around, let me know, I'd like to buy it back

Rode an Interceptor when they were new. The smaller front tire made them take a dive to the inside at low speed. I was riding a V65 Sabre at the time. A more comfortable bike to ride for me.

My first bike was 1986 Honda Magna. The bike was tuned for crusing, so you could walk away from a stop with almost no trottle, short shift through the gears, and never run out of torque. It was a good first bike, but I quickly realized that crusiers were not for me, and my addiction to BMW boxers started shortly afterward.

On retrospect I really wish I had bought an interceptor, but that just wasn't in the budget. What I really jonsed after was the Saber. I was hoping Honda would bring it back, but they never did. That anniversary interceptor looks like a blast to ride, but my knees hurt just looking at it.

ASKSmith, That is an incredible story. I remember that mindset of being invincible and fearless when I first started riding. Thankfully I only had 100cc of two stroke dual sport madness underneath me but even that felt fast. Riding that VFR must have felt like being on a rocket ship.

It sounds like you have a good brother. If I found out my little brother took out my R1 I would be upset but also happy just to see him return on the bike. It’s funny though, we couldn’t be more different. I had to practically beg him to ride a restored 1976 Suzuki GT185 which looks like a baby Triumph Bonneville except for the two stroke engine. Once I got him on the bike he did appear to have a lot of fun.

I would not be happy to learn of any of my kids riding any of my motos without my knowledge. I don’t really care about the bikes. Motorcycles are easily replaced I wouldn’t want something to happen to my kid.

I know my riding is a great source of anxiety for my father. He isn’t a fan of it generally speaking. I share the same anxiety when I think about my kids riding. One of my good friends put it best when he said riding is something that’s in your blood, you either love it or you don’t. He then went on to elaborate that because of the risk and friends he has seen get hurt it is not something he ever encourages his friends to do unless they have a genuine interest or curiosity in riding.

I have a while yet before I have to worry about any of my kids taking one of the bikes out for a joy ride.

On the subject of joy rides, winter finally decided to show up. The last week of December there were a few days where it was so warm I was riding in a t-shirt. The next week we get snow.

The last ride of 2021 was a good one.