you know...

Every time I see a picture of the VFR1200 I think it is one of the most beautiful bikes I have seen in a long time.. looking at it through certain angles really shows off the lines of this bike..

people may disagree with me, but for me I think the bike is one of the best looking out there..

 

No arguements there. The 7th gen is one fine looking machine.

My only complaint is that ........................ uh................................. wait a minute ....................................... thinking ................................................................. Nope, sorry, can't think of any complaints, other than that I don't have one.

 

For me, I would have to change the exhaust. The stock can just doesn't float my boat, but that's just me. It is a really nice motorcycle.
John

 

I have always appreciated function first and visual design should follow suit. This is my main gripe about cruiser bikes that have been designed, not as motorcycles first, but as some cartoon representation of bikes of yesteryear. The VFR1200 has a fairing not so much designed for looks (even thought I like the look) but for function. It channels air where it needs to be while keeping hot engine air off the rider as well as offering the rider some good weather protection. It is an amazing piece of engineering in and of itself. To me the beauty of the design is how it functions in real world riding and in they vein, like all VFRs, it's gorgeous.

 

Obviously, if I didn't like the way the VFR1200 looks, I wouldn't own one. Still, I would stop short of saying it is classically beautiful. The front end styling is very unique and the layered fairing is probably the most radical of all the Hondas that have it. From a functional perspective, the fairings worked very well. They effectively channel engine heat below and away from the rider. About the only time I feel any engine heat is if I am stopped on a very hot day and there is a tail wind that blow that hot air back toward me. Plus, for their diminutive size, the fairings shield the wind from the rider quite well, without the bulky and massive approach taken by the big heavy STs.

The tail end styling is very well executed. To me, it is very important that the bike looks good in 3 different configurations:

1. No luggage
2. Top case only
3. Top case + panniers

In town, I ride mostly with top case only, and a lot of STs don't really look good without panniers. VFR1200 is one the best - if not THE best - sport tourer is this regard. The non-removable rear fender is actually a plus in my book. It forces Honda to pay attention in integrating it properly with the rest of the bike, instead of being a tacked-on afterthought like on a lot of bikes.

All in all, the VFR1200 is a fine looking machine that subscribes beautifully to a form-following-function philosophy.

 

Top cases on any bike get ya mistaken for a harleydood or one of those cats who have to have a whole bunch of thier shit with them to go to Walmart.

What is nifty is to look up what "form follows function" really means.

 

Since hot days come around as often as Mother's Day, I don't really pay much attention to them.
My VFR12 doesn't like heat. Maybe the air temp sensor in the air box is on the blink or the ECU can't compensate as it runs rich. Or maybe heat is just too unfamiliar and the ECU has A.I. Whatever.

But as to the fairing being unique and functional? You betcha. The designers obviously spent a great deal of effort to both protection, looks and slicing through wind without getting thrown off course by large gusts. Something my previous ST sucked at. I would almost sh*t myself when high wind speeds were forecast. Honestly.
Wind is nothing if it's dry but if it rains it would really scare me sometimes.

Not on the Honda. It doesn't matter anymore whatsoever. Sometimes you see even cars moving in their lanes because of the unpredictable gusts of wind. To the extent my wife offers her car for safety reasons.
But the Honda remains unfazed by whatever the elements throw at it and I always have the top box on it. It just doesn't matter. The box limits top speed but with the right tail wind even that is much higher than you'd expect.

That Honda managed all this and still made it look good is a testament to what they can do if they put their mind to it.
I agree that the rear fender integrates well with the whole bike and I for one have seen no need to shorten it, something I've done with many bikes.
No double bubble or any of that nonsense many of my older bikes had to have: protection is adequate.

I don't want to finish on a negative note so I'll leave it at that. It looks and is quite unique.

 

The part about going faster with a topbox in a tailwind is true. I know a guy who has his nitrous bottle and plumbing stashed there. Almost as fast as the mach 1 91.

 

I know what you mean Befbever, a few weeks ago I started home in a hard rain from work, the wind got so bad most cars were parked on the side of the road. I couldn't believe it, the bike hardly got blowin around. It actually wasn't that bad, rain gear held up, tunes were good, had to keep the speed under 80km though. Next day heard that a tornado hit down about 15km's away at that time. Could have never continued with my last bike, the bigger VStrom.

 

Considering you guys must be used to some bad weather up there, 80 km/h and cars parked is saying something.

The last time it was that bad was a February storm when standing at the lights, empty freight train wagons were being blown off the track right alongside me. I managed to get my then CBX750 to a friend's house, saw some rooftops being blown away while waiting there and didn't make it home (by car) until very late.

A few years back it was raining hard and extremely windy and the highway was closed due to a biker losing his life. This was in the evening. I took the B-roads and was scared shitless by the wind bouncing off the buildings in towns, trying to take my front wheel from under me. This was on the Futura. It was the longest time I ever spent on my commute and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been that scared on the Honda.
The Futura just is notoriously bad in gusts of wind or behind a van or truck. The Honda is exactly the opposite.

The next day I read that the biker was a seasoned one, older than I was, on a cruiser he commuted on every day. He got blown off his bike and got back on his feet only to be hit by an 18-wheeler.

So yeah, the fairing on the Honda is no thing to underestimate.

 

Just think, If Dorothy had been on a 1200, she wouldn't have had those red shoes, told that mutt they weren't in Kansas any more and maybe got to OZ a little faster.

 

If she had the 12, I think she coulda made it down to Birmingham and had that shot and beer with the bass guitarist from Lynard Skynard.......... Probably would of never made it back to Kansas.

 

With a 1200, a
bit of a tailwind and a top box, Evel Knevel could have made that canyon jump too.

Spent a few months in Enumclaw, WA a few years ago. The name according to lore means "Big Wind" in what was the local Native American language. Gusts of 100 mph. Same deal here on the Ogeron Coast.

I think maybe the word " Enumclaw" may have a dual or even triple meaning.

So you dudes are saying that in a high velocity crosswind, there is little or no effect on the fairing on a 1200?

 

Kidding aside, stability in the wind is one of its cazilion positive attributes. Maybe because it weighs a cazilion lbs and the distribution is like a weeble, coupled with well thought out aerodynamics.
Sorry, hard for me not to kid a little.

 

The problem is that since Honda came up with this aerodynamic wonder, pretty soon everything will start looking like a 1200 VFR. Aircraft, skateboards and even those rigs that the stormchasers use and God forbid, Harleys.