Honda Vfr750

That gear-driven cam whine at 4,000 rpm is either music or madness depending on your disposition — I fell hard for it the first week. The 748cc V4 pulls strongly from about 5,500 rpm and absolutely screams past 9,000, and the twin-spar alloy frame makes this thing change direction with a precision that embarrasses most contemporaries. The 16-inch front wheel was a controversial call and you feel it in slow-speed steering — there's a vagueness in tight car parks that takes some adjustment, and the suspension is underdamped from the factory, wallowing noticeably under hard braking into corners. Honda clearly hadn't finished sorting the recipe here: the fueling is abrupt off a closed throttle, heat management from that tightly-packaged engine is punishing in summer traffic, and first-year reliability gremlins with the rectifier/regulator were real enough that I'd check the charging system on any example before buying.

That 748cc V4 pulls hard from 6,000 rpm and just keeps screaming to the redline with a mechanical howl that no inline-four can replicate — it's intoxicating and addictive in equal measure. The switch to a 17-inch front wheel was the right call; steering feels more planted and predictable than the '86-'87 bike, and you can actually lean on the front end mid-corner without that vague, floaty sensation that made earlier VFRs nervous at the limit. Weight is honest at 228 kilos — you feel it in slow car parks but it disappears the moment you're moving, and the chassis is so well-balanced it flatters average riders and rewards skilled ones. The one genuine gripe is heat: riding in summer city traffic is a leg-cooking exercise, and the gear-driven cams whine loudly enough at low speed that strangers think something's broken.

I put 18,000 miles on a '91 VFR750 and the chassis revision over the Gen 2 is immediately felt — sharper turn-in, less vague at corner entry, and a stability under hard braking that genuinely builds confidence. That gear-driven cam whine at 6,000 rpm is mechanical music, and the V4 pulls cleanly from 3,500 rpm all the way to the 11,000 rpm redline without a flat spot in sight. The weight is real — 236 kg means slow-speed car park shuffles require respect, and the original-spec brake pads are mediocre for what the bike is capable of; swap them early. Ergonomics are genuinely comfortable for eight-hour days, though taller riders above 6'2" will find the bars slightly cramped over distance.

I put 22,000 km on a '95 VFR750 and the gear-driven cams became the soundtrack of my life — that mechanical whine building past 7,000 rpm is genuinely addictive, not a gimmick. The twin-spar frame transformed the previous generation's occasional vagueness into something with real precision; mid-corner bumps that would unsettle lesser bikes simply disappeared into the chassis. My honest gripe is the weight — 233 kg is felt in slow car parks and on tight mountain switchbacks where you're constantly wrestling it upright, and the stock suspension goes soft on long two-up loads without a pre-load adjustment you'll make constantly. But light it up on an open A-road and every one of those kilograms disappears; the V4 pulls smoothly from 4,000 rpm and then hits a second wind above 9,000 that makes you immediately forgive everything.