My new bike ordered a short delay and then before I knew it I am standing outside the showroom with my new machine being photographed outside Two Wheels by David.

New Bike Ordered

He was right, he could smell the taste of a sale and here I am his latest prized trophy. Of course I say all this in Jest, David was as usual a great help and really went out his way to soften the deal.

I rode a hundred miles that day, just here and there, getting used to the bike, nothing to get used to, it felt every bit as comfy as the 800 and the fit, feel and finish way beyond it.

The creamy power, V4 addiction still in place, still very much home and at the end of the day I had to remind myself it was shaft drive. My brother also approved.

Another fifty miles were totted up taking Eileen my partner out for a hot chocolate at one of our favourite haunts. Initially she felt a little cramped with her legs on the way there but she was fine on the way back. It was cold and I have ordered the top box to make it more relaxing for her. Time will say how it will be for her but I think it will be fine, I hope.



Monday 26th – The Ritual run in to Tyndrum
So far no real chance to assess the bike, you need a good run for that, there was nothing negative to report up to now.

Sandy had agreed to tag along, this was nice as we don’t do much biking together anymore, we used to spend a lot of time in the 80’s and 90’s riding his bikes, me as the willing pillion, all leading edge bikes at the time, CBX550, GPZ900 and ZZR1100, indeed the bike he was riding with me today was the ZZR1100.

He is a keen photographer and was looking for a good opportunity and today was it. We also decided to rig up the video camera also.

At his house and we got everything set up. We left the camera off and decided to wait until we got to Lochearnhead. Sandy took some photos and we turned the camera on at Lochearnhead.






It is a great stretch of road, it is certainly one that will live with me long after I stop riding, let’s hope I don’t need the memory.

Sandy at one point appears for the camera and shows his old girl can still muscle it, you do need fairly big muscles though.



The next section is up towards the Killin Turn off, near the Tix Tolls. Another great road, from there we headed up to Tyndrum. Petrol and lunch followed; at this point we decided to swap bikes. I don’t know who was more nervous me or him. I decided that we would ride down to Killin.






A great run, we pulled over in Killin. Sandy was blown away with the bike, enjoyed it much more than he was expecting. With that, the die hard Kawasaki man and I swapped back. I spoke to a nice chap on a Honda Pan ST. One of the highlights of biking is always the other riders you meet with their bikes.

We set off and headed to Kenmore, I had an outstanding time in the saddle, rode the best I think I ever could, it was very much a man being at one with his machine and the open road. Unfortunately you will have to trust me as the camera ran out of battery at Killin.

We rode on down to Powmill Milk bar only to have missed a much needed coffee by minutes. We swapped again and rode back to Kinghorn.

A tremendous day, a tremendous bike in a country I am proud to call my own. This was a perfect bike on a fairly dry day with my Brother who I have shared so much with.


VFR1200 – First thoughts 350 miles
It is always an expected cliché to say the latest bike you buy is always the best. I have had bikes in the past were the first few hundred miles have cast doubts on my choice of bike.

Comfort is usually one element that can raise its head only after a few hundred miles and not on a test drive.

No such fear with this bike, I Certainly felt a full 400 to 500 mile day in the saddle would be no problem.

The style of this bike is long wheelbase and that always means more room, the handlebars are just perfect for me. I am 6 feet and under 14 stone, fits me perfect.

Handling: - perfect for the road, stable, firm, controllable, easy to put right, really it rides itself. Defies its weight, the 800 was good but this is just so much more plush.

Brakes: - Really good, too good at times, you have to get used to them but again perfect.

Engine: - Absolutely incredible, silky smooth transcending controllable never ending avalanche of non intimidating drug induced hypnotic seductive delight. Sorry brilliant just does not say it.

Transmission: - It has a shaft you know, or at least I think it is, no it is, just had a look. It’s that good. I have always been a lover of shaft drive, from my very first one on the Honda CX500 almost 30 years ago. But on a sports bike and this is a sports bike, it’s not a touring bike, its not.

Gear change indicator, every bike should have one. One missed gear going into 5th other than that perfect, smooth.

So far so good, you can tell I like it, I loved my 800 but this is above and beyond, they are both V4’s and Mr Honda’s perfect engine configuration in the perfect bike.

I guess I can not sign off without mentioning the fuel and tank range, its been up for so much debate and caused so many negative reviews.

I am going to keep a fuel record but at the moment I am running it in, which means that I am keeping the engine loose, not really using the gears in an economy mode.

I think though that my original target of 120 to 140 in touring mode should be safe but very spirited riding can see the light come on at 106 miles, this is still 35 mpg, much the same as the VFR800 if pushed, which considering the extra 450cc and power is really very good.

It may still leave the debate open to whether Honda should have squeezed a bit more out of the tank. However this is not a touring bike and if you compare it with other standard sports bikes it is what you would expect. Getting my head to accept that and others is not so easy.

The Beginning

Honda VFR1200 April 2010
Having had the 2009 VFR800 I thought I had finally found the bike I have been searching for, an incredible machine. I loved my particular one with its candy red paint scheme and gold wheels with the black frame and to top it off, free Honda Luggage.

I had my invite from Two Wheels in Edinburgh to attend the VFR1200 and VT-C1300 launch. The fact that I owned the VFR800 and A VTX1300 must have made me a prime target to buy at least one of the bikes.

It was a cold February night but I took the VFR along for the run and found myself one of the few to turn up on a bike. The staffs at Two Wheels are always very welcoming, but I did feel a bit like why was I there, other than to have a nose.

It was a nice evening and the unveiling of both bikes had me in cross minds, I was not taken by the 1200, expensive and something about it did not click. I did not think it was ugly but just very different.

I know that I am a bit old school when it comes to bikes and besides I was loving the 800 and I was well aware that changing it so soon would be a huge money loss. The shaft drive was appealing as was the power but that was all I thought about the 1200.

Surprisingly the Custom VTC was very nice looking in the flesh, much better than I expected but I still prefer the good old VTX1300 and the difference in price seemed crazy. I also felt it was a chopper better suited for the American market.

David at Two wheels is a really nice bloke; he goes beyond just being a salesman, very pleasant decent guy. He asked me what I thought about the new VFR and I politely replied it was ok. “I will get you in for a test drive” he beamed. Before I could say no, I was in the dairy. He is also a very good salesman.

I went away from the show not really feeling the need to test drive the 1200, why would I, the 800 was deep under my skin and I had become aware that the V4 was truly my chosen steed. Beside even if I was interested, financially it was just not worth it. I cancelled the test drive.

Now we are into April, I have done just over 1700 miles on the VFR800, every one a treat, even a recent stint up North with the VFR lads proved to me what a versatile machine, it was a very wet day in places and I have never felt more in control of a bike.

It was now due its 6 month service, I booked it in and said to David that I would wait on it and whilst I was waiting I could try the VFR 1200 demo out.

I dampened his smell of a sale and said I loved my VFR800 and I was just curious. I was just that curious, however over the last few months the 1200 looks had grown on me, even the exhaust which I have to declare as being ugly seemed to look ok. The shaft drive, the extra power, it had remained a niggle but it was there.

At that point I know I should have cancelled the test drive, but the process had begun.

There was one other attraction to the 1200 over the 800, servicing, not only did it have longer service intervals it also had a much more simple valve train setup.

One of the very few negatives of the VFR800 was the VTEC complexity. This is one aspect of the 800 that I think most owners would mark down as a negative. I personally could not see the point of it, it did not bother me and I had no problems with the way it rode. However the point of it was to increase the fuel consumption if the bike was ridden under a certain rev range, the bike only operates two valves instead of four.

I experimented with this, keeping the bike under the VTEC range and it made no difference at all to the MPG.

The fact that valve clearances alone would need the camshafts out just to check them seemed ludicrous, let alone 3 times to actually change shims. So killing two valves seems to be pointless if it makes no difference to the MPG.

The 1200 system is much simpler and you can check the clearances without removing camshafts. This is how it should be. Only one set of valves is shimmed as the other has rocker locknut adjusters and this is the side most likely needing adjustment. Yes I know I am now looking for excuses to change but it is a valid point.

6th April
This was my test drive date, I took the day off. David rolled out the demo for me, he gave me the keys and said have fun and sees you in about an hour.

An hour in which I was determined to fight with my conscience and surely common sense and cost would prevail.

That must be why then that after the test drive I had arranged to leave my 800 there and get a lift home and so the story begins and yet again another new chapter in my biking career.