Hello everyone. My name's Lee and I've just acquired a '99 VFR800Fi-X in yellow (hence the username, narnaviff - banana VFR!). Yellow VFR's are a bit thin on the ground here in Blighty as everyone bought the red and black ones. I particularly wanted a yellow one and had to travel to Wales to get it - my lovely girlfriend drove me there! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/badseeds/2012-03-31-002.jpg I got the bike yesterday and have done 457 miles already. I love it! I should've bought one years ago but I was always put off by chain drive. I worked as a motorcycle courier in Central London for many years before moving to Virgin Limo-Bikes and I always favoured shaft-driven machines. I've previously owned 13 BMW's and I'm on my 3rd ST1100, but I bought a Blackbird last year and it taught me that modern chains, if looked after, are really quite reliable. I knew I'd like the engine - a V4 suits my riding style perfectly and the noise is glorious. Whenever I ride it I feel like Joey Dunlop! I also have a '96 Honda CB500, an '81 Honda H100A and a '52 BSA C11G. I work with old Brit bikes at Draganfly Motorcycles and my boss is keen for me to learn more about old tin bikes, so he gave me the BSA..... I'm all about Honda's!
Welcome to the fold. The yellow VFR is thin on the ground here in the US as well. They ONLY came in yellow for 2000. How about your neck of the woods? Was yellow available multiple years? I like your choice of rides and major props on rekanizin' the VFR awesomeness! I agree that you cannot beat the sound of a geared cam, V-4. Very cool shop you work at too. Ariel cycles ... well I'll be doggone. Cheers, mate. Jose
Thanks for the welcome Jose! Yes, the yella viff was only available for one year on this side of the pond - I guess that's why there's bugger all of 'em around. There was another yellow one closer to me than the one I bought and it'd done 10,000 miles, 30,000 less than mine, but it hadn't had the expensive 16,000 mile service and still had its original collector box..... Mine's wearing a new stainless collector, has a full Honda service history and has had a new R/R and rebuilt shock. Despite the higher mileage I feel I bought a good 'un. As an ex-professional rider I've never been put off by high miles - it's a good bargaining point! Yes, Draganfly is a very cool place to work. It's very laid back and there's lots of interesting to look at. We have lots of old bikes in the basement and I almost wet myself when I found this: It was bought new by one of the partners in the business and he crashed it during 'Mad Sunday' at the Isle of Man TT back in 1992. It was a low speed spill and slide. Next to bike is a big HRC box with a complete new genuine Honda, still-in-the-wrapping, body kit for it!!!! It's sat there for 20 years and it breaks my heart whenever I see it.
I was lucky to get it as there can only be 1 per state and I have to register in the state I live. Go figure. Haaha
Bollocks! A knackered RC30 with ALL the original parts to fix it? Why is it NOT already fixed? (Does that read kinda limey?) :tongue: Jose
Sweeeeeeeeet bike and nice find in the basement. Time to get her back on the road mate. BTW welcome to the nuts house.
