2012 vfr

Well here it is May, well into the riding season for many parts of the USA, and definatly the beginning of the season for the rest of us.
The fever is high and people are ready to buy, and I am sure Honda is aware of this. So where are the 2012 vfr's. Has any one seen one yet, or are they really going to import them here into the United States?

 

Well it look like it is the same as 2010 bases on Honda website
Notice at the year on the top left (2012/2010) Hummmmmmmm
2012 VFR1200F Options - Honda Powersports

 

That's a toggle between the 2010 and the 2012. When you select the 2012 you see the new blue and an overview of the updates for this year's model.

I'm not feeling it with the blue....

 

WHAT? the 2012 has 5.0 gallons of fuel versus the 4.9 gallons on the 2010. That's only 13 ounces more fuel.
Let's be generous and assume that you get 40 miles per gallon; that's a FOUR MILE increase in range.
Pitiful.

I agree on the BLUE paint scheme. Even the Euro-only white would have been better. Blue only is NOT going to cut it in the States. I'm no fan of BLACK motorbikes (very poor "conspicuity"), but black sells pretty well in the States, and a BLACK metallic would look pretty good on this bike. Plus, Honda could develop a series of lower-fairing vinyl decals (dealer installed) to allow folks to customize their Big Viffer.

Another year or two of poor sales in the States, and I'm afraid that the Big Viffer could turn into another Honda Transalp, which only lasted a year or two here, then got YANKED (so to speak), never to return.

As my Ozzie buddy would say, these boys need to take their thumb out; (1) minimum 200 mile range. Don't care how you get there (larger tank, a "mileage map", doesn't matter) but you GOTTA DO IT, (2) FIX 1st & 2nd gear "retard" issues (again, don't care how, just do it), and (3) a color scheme NOT designed by a pimp.

 

OMG take a look at the new paint schemes on the CBR250R. Excellent.
There was a red 2011 CBR250R in the showroom right next to my VFR when I bought it. If I wasn't afraid of being murdered in my sleep, I would have made an offer on the PAIR. Clearly, Hnda has a winner with the 250 and the three paint schemes make it even better.

I realize that the VFR "liquid" paint job is a step above what's on the relatively cheap CBR250R, but it's confusing how Honda could do so well with THAT bike (hitting their market segment square on the nose) and miss so badly on the Big Viffer. I'm flummoxed.

 

I agree the blue is pretty awful. Remember the blue CBR1100XXs that Canada and others got? Horrible!

I like the pewter color I've seen on some of the European sites. That makes the Big Viffer look classy.

What's wrong with black? I like very poor "conspicuity". That means any witnesses may not be able to identify me after some hooliganisms.

"Wasn't me officer. It must have been some miscreant on an R1" :biggrin:

 

Clearly you don't ride in Houston, with
(a) Metro bus drivers mistaking the accelerator for the brake, overturning an unfortunate Civic sitting in the glide slope
(b) jacked-up 4WD pickups with giant offroad tires going FASTER in the rain, cause, you know, they got 4WD
(c) Soccer Mommies simultaneously applying make-up and TEXTING while conning the bridge of a 6000 lb Ford Expedition
(d) all manner of pigs, goats and chickens driving like pigs goats and chickens.

Conspicuity is good.

 

I grew up, and learned to ride, in Dallas. So, I expect the conditions are similar.

My biggest issue was the tractor trailers that would lose their retreads. Those carcasses littered the roads all summer.

I agree with you. We have to expect the soccer Mom texting, smoking and enjoying Starbucks is totally unaware of us.

ß!

 

And they probably achieved that by putting a different bottom in the tank that hugs everything underneath a little closer.

I like the blue itself, it just doesn't go well with the silver IMHO. But, beauty is in the eyes of the beer holder.

Word.

+1! My single biggest gripe with this bike. Wife and I are taking a trip on it soon and it irritates me to death to think I'm going to have to fill the tank at EVERY stop!

Not as big an issue for me. Bazzazz fixed that for me for a measly $62. I rode without a gear indicator for 25 years, I can live with the gear indicator bug.

See above. For that matter, the Candy Prominence Red has too much metal flake in it. Teetering in bowling ball territory if you ask me.

And of course, you forgot (4) "price". For that kind of coin, it should already come with everything in the accessory catalog. Glad I picked mine up at Honda's 4 for a dollar sale.

 

I myself JUST installed the Z-Bomb this morning. Works precisely as advertised. As other folks have said, it's a REQUIRED "upgrade", but that's a misnomer; it's really a required "partial fix" since the bike should have come like this out of the box. As a card carrying Old Fart (folks who remember where they were on 11/22/63) I thought of the gear indicator as High Tech, and can live without it, but Man it sure would have been nice to keep it.

What was surprising to me is that the tractability with the Z-bomb is excellent. I had half-expected Wheelie City (like the Dorso), but it's very controllable. I had assumed that the Honda engineers had NEUTERED first and second for safety reasons (instead of installing traction control, for example), BUT NO! If anything, the tractability of the bike is significantly IMPROVED with the Z-bomb. I'm now thinking that the Neutering (more properly "retarding") must have been some "patch" that they applied at the last minute to pass emmissions controls someplace (I'm guessing Europe/California, since their motorbike regs are now more severe than the 49 states).

I briefly considered just making a Z-bomb clone myself (I already replaced the intake air thermistor on the Dorsoduro with a DYI unit, to excellent effect, so I figured I could handle it), but it wouldn't pass my $10/hour rule (including sourcing the plugs), so I just bit the bullet and bought one.

Kudos to Bazazz for their pricing; it's high enough to be very profitable for them, but JUST at that point where the customer says "ouch ouch you're killing me, $70 for wire, a couple of plugs and a lump of epoxy, here's my credit card".

 

I'm very happy to hear that the A1-Top o the list gripe is that you HAVE to stop for gas every 170 miles rather than every 27,000 miles.

 

170 miles? Unless I had a spare gallon or two strapped to the back, I wouldn't dare ride past ANY petrol station beyond about 125 miles, especially west of I-35 in Texas.

 

Good lookin Bird Harey---- almost bought one before finding my VFR on CL at 3:00 am---don't see many at all out here in LA LA land-Where did you purchase the Z-Bomb ? why not a power commander?

 

I bought the Big Viffer last Summer for $12K from a Honda Dealer in Hog Country (Pasadena Texas, where they shot Urban Cowboy, *snort*).
I knew that the prices would likely continue to fall, so I probably could have saved a little more by waiting, but I was worried that I might then have trouble FINDING one. Oops. I'm not upset, though, cause I think $12K is a fair price, I got an extended warranty, and I've actually RIDDEN it ~5K miles.

So far, I have NOT seen any other Big Viffers outside of captivity (that is, actually on the road); OTOH I've only seen a couple of K1300S's (the other bike I was considering), versus the 9700 Harley Davidsons I've seen during the same time period, skittering around corners.

In Other Gay Pirate News : last week in Houston a man "in this 60's" wrecked his 2012 HD with 60 (yes SIXTY) miles on the Odo, causing him to "become airborne". Needless to say, (a) he did not survive, likely because (b) he was not wearing a helmet.

I didn't get a Power Commander as (1) the fueling seems fine to me, so IMHO it isn't needed if you have the Z-bomb. I'm not sure I would actually want even SHORTER rear tire life, a sure side-effect of having a well-sorted PC on this bike (2) I am CHEAP (3) I've had both the Tune-Boy ECU "editor" (on the Aprilia Fuutura) and a Power Commander (on the 2002 Guzzi LeMans), and as a general rule, I am not particularly fond of the PC. Too expensive, takes up too much room, and doesn't tell you what's actually happening within the ECU. For Triumphs, some Guzzis and Aprilias, I would highly recommend the Tune-Boy implementation (or now the "freeware" clone, which I think is called TuneEdit).

I ordered the Z-Bomb directly from Bazzaz (spelling?) on the InterWeb thing; arrived in about three days by First Class Mail.
Once you FIND the gear selector PLUG (mine was secured tight to the side-rail so a little hard to get-to) it's a three minute operation to install, including zip-tying the Z-bomb itself out of the way. Too expensive for what it is, but CHEAP for what it does.

 

+1! I usually see my low fuel warning start blinking around 110 -115 miles.

 

Since I commute about 15 miles each way, I ride in small "lumps", so my refueling is pretty consistent.
I almost always refuel at first sign of blinking fuel gauge, and typically add about 3.5 to 3.7 gallons; that is, the fuel guage starts blinking with just over a gallon left in the tank. In my case, at least since the Two Speeding Tickets In December (79 and 89 mph in a 60, both generous assessments), I've been getting 125 to 135 miles at first blinking, but I consider that an anomalous situation; I fully intent to go back to my naughty ways once 6 months has elapsed, which should put me right back at 110-115 miles to first blink, just like you.

Bad boy, No No. I know what you've been doing, since I've done it myself, at least until I got caught. Twice. On the same road. By the same cop. Me: "Don't I know you, Officer?" Cop: "Yessir, I'm afraid you do."

 

Just got the call today! 2012 is out of the crate and on the show room floor. Running the numbers now on trading in my 2010 manual. Meanwhile the wife's DCT will stay in the family.

 

I think color is the biggest factor for failure on this bike in the states. Every other manufacturer has it figured out. Sell one special color and one black model. The paint quality can be all that and a bag of chips but if isn't the color that people want than they wont buy it. Since I switched to carbon fibre and black scheme, opinions have been night and day different on the bike. I always thought it was the design that haters were down on now I realize that it is the way the design is accentuated. They were on to something with the black model that they never put out in the states but drop the silver accents. I was so hopeful that they would correct their mistake in 2012 but that didn't happen. Maybe Honda will eventually figure it out when the blue doesnt sell either.

 

SAW A 2012 at Honda of Fairfield in Ohio.

 

I am pretty happy with the color of the Big Viffer. However, I am a big fan of carbon fiber. Where did your carbon fiber panels come from?

Thank you,

ß!