HONDA

This isn't exactly a first for me, but it sort of is. I've owned and ridden a few Hondas over the years, most notably the '86 XL600 streettracker that I've posted about, as well as an old CB125 "peashooter" project and some other dirt bikes, but this is my first modern Honda street bike.

Behold my new 2001 VFR800FI Interceptor

I say modern only because it was born this century, not last, but it's a fine distinction because it's a 2001 which is the last year of the 5th generation VFR that started production in 1998. After '01 Honda went with V-Tec camshaft technology, which some of the diehard Interceptor riders didn't really cotton to. But it is fuel injected, which was one of my priorities in a street bike.

Here's an old mechanical drawing that I lifted from Cycle World of the VF1000R Interceptor engine. Such a wicked cool design. Vee four engine with gear driven cams in an era when everybody else was putting the money into inline fours. The exception being Yamaha with their V-Max, but that was aimed at a different market segment.

I'm looking forward to putting lots of miles on this Interceptor...