Hello,
Well been curious about the new Vfr for a while now & when new world Honda suggested I come in & test ride their demo, myself & a mate on his zzr 1100 rocket headed down from gippsland early one Saturday morning to ride the new Vfr 1200 and compare it to my 06 bird which I had just ridden 170kms to get there. With my zzr owning mate riding my bird & me on the Vfr we were off for a 1.5 hour test ride, swapping between the bikes a few times, a great comparison. Is Vfr better? In some ways yes, most no. Ok,lower seat height good for shorter folk, feels lighter particually at low speed, handles better but not by much, little more comfortable shorter reach to the bars, but my bird has vario bars so very similar, more information from dash, no chain maintenance. Ok now the not so good,engine power delivery is not even in the same class, big hole in power until 4500 then mid range hit followed by lackluster top end, & if you crossed 2 plug leads on a xx it wouldn't have as many vibes as a Vfr, and as for acceleration ability another win for the blackbird. Would I sell the bird for Vfr? Not a chance, zx-14 that's another story.

Never ridden one, not about too, I like my Bird, does every thing I want it too,
Thanks for the write up tho.

I tried the vfr, and it was good, but it feels like to different bikes...I still like my Bird a little better, but I will not say that my future bike would not be Vfr 1200..

the bird is my life dont compramise it ,love it live it ,dream it. ride it

Thanks for the review. I'll keep my XX.

Thanks for that. I appreciate you risking reprisal by VFR12 owners of the world. All twelve of them.

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

Thanks for that. I appreciate you risking reprisal by VFR12 owners of the world. All twelve of them.

Personally, I cannot see myself spending all this money, only to have someone park up their bird next to "my" VFR and remind me that is actually is UGLIER than a busa!!!
It really is!
I could not bear to grab a beer and just stare at it.... Which I happily do one my one-of-a-kind sweet birdie!!!!
Epic fail Honda. Sorry but it is...

I've done a few kms on the VFR12 here in NZ (road and track) and was able to also compare it to my 06 Blackbird, I've also owned 4 VFR's including a 06 VFR800 Vtec. The VFR12 is a nice bike, it has sorted brakes with great feel and pretty good suspension for a sports tourer. The motor is typical VFR (though better sound would go along way to giving this bike the character that it so desperately needs). Things I didn't like; Fuel range (come on Honda what were you thinking?), the vibes can be a pain, and the looks I feel are not bad from the rear, but the front end looks I'm still out to lunch on, and finally the expensive price of it here in New Zealand ($28-29000 without the bags) The things I liked were, seating position was good for long distances, shaft drive is nice (though I don't mind chain) and of course the build quality (take a bow Honda).The VFR12 is a really NICE bike. Is it as good as the blackbird...No and yes. It definately hasn't got the top gear roll on mumbo that the bird has. would I buy one.....No not yet and I'll never sell my Blackbird (it's an outstanding bike) so I'll be keeping in my collection. In my opinion Honda shouldn't be selling the VFR12 as the blackbird replacement. If they sold it as the evolution of the VFR800 people would problably accept it better.
Thats my 2cents worth

Roc

Originally Posted by elvetost

Personally, I cannot see myself spending all this money, only to have someone park up their bird next to "my" VFR and remind me that is actually is UGLIER than a busa!!!
It really is!
I could not bear to grab a beer and just stare at it.... Which I happily do one my one-of-a-kind sweet birdie!!!!
Epic fail Honda. Sorry but it is...

I'm not a +1 kind of guy but uglier than a busa and epic fail Honda.

I have ridden the dealer's demo VFR1200 for about 100 kms on different kind of roads, and my opinion is very similar to pchown and rhodesda.
Good points of the bike: riding position, suspension, shaft drive, mid range torque, a little lighter feeling than BB (even though is 20Kg heavier), quality made bike.
I didn't like : Wind coverage over 180 Km/h, fuel consumption compared with smaller capacity tank, little more viby than I was expecting...
Would I change my XX for a VFR1200, No I wouldn't.
My opinion is that it doesn't worth spending so much money to buy something that its not much better than a BB.

I did a 1.5 hour test ride at the UK launch and just couldn't get over the vibes.

Them : it's the character of the engine and bike.
Me : It just vibrates.

This pic always convinces me I made the right choice :
bird_vrf1200.jpg

I've seen them but not ridden one. It's fugly. Overpriced. Small gas tank. No advantages that I can come up with over the XX. Riding position is subjective. You can put higher bars on an XX if you so desire. I don't like shaft drive. Those pipes on the VFR are extremely fugly. Everyone talks about the excellent paint job on the VFR and I will say that the paint looks nice. However it also has kind of an odd cheap look to it. Almost like you are looking at a toy hot wheels car. When you add in the fake chrome stuff around the edges it even looks cheaper. I don't need to ride it to know that I wouldn't own one. Did I mention that it is totally fugly?

Hopefully by the time I come to replace the Bird (which will be a long time off) there will be something to fill the gaping void! The VFR1200 is, imho, one of the ugliest bikes around. The VFR800 looks loads better. Perhaps Honda will have brought out a nice compact V6 turbo charged 1200 warp enabled Blackbird II by the time I need a replacement

yes, i think you mentioned that "you aren't so sure" about the design.
with the VFR, i thought it was ok, but seeing the cbr 600f with the same face, I started my freaking-out-process and now I look at the cbr 250...

2011-Honda-CBR250R-Static.jpg

...and i realize that this is the face that Honda has chosen for the next decade.
geeeeesus..!

and the 'bird is still so pretty. obviously so pretty that BMW just copied it, and made an updated version:

2010_VFR-K1300S_IMG_7399.jpg

I want the sleek and cool design back, the original japanese style.
I dont fancy the italian stuff at all

cheers,
Mikey