Honda VFR1200

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the launch of the VFR1200, Honda's new touring machine. It's been billed as a "sports-tourer", and it certainly seems to satisfy that label. The idea is that you can tour comfortably (well, relatively) all day, but as soon as you hit a nice windy bit of roas or a mountain pass, you can really crank the throttle and take advantage of the extra degrees of lean-angle such a bike provides.

Now, this is a big and fast machine, but isn't quite the rocket that a Hayabusa or ZX-14 is, but then, that's not the point. This bike tries to take the best of both worlds - terrifying speed and gorgeous handling versus a comfortable ride on a long open road - and combine them. But it's perhaps not quite as unique as Honda bills it to be. Certainly, the BMW K1300GT tries to do exactly the same thing, and one could argue so does the K1300S, albeit with a bias toward the sporty side. (The 39kg extra weight the VFR1200 carries over the K1300S would seem to argue that they have different applications.)

So what does the VFR1200 in terms of speed and handling? It is surprisingly nippy around the corners for such a big bike, and will easily get itself up above the 160mph mark if you have a bit of space in front of you. Due to the design and the Vee format of the engine, it does not seem very bulky when you're on it, which will perhaps lend one a little bit of extra confidence when pushing it through the turns. One of the surprising aspects of the power delivery is that it delivers

maybe a bit less at lower revolutions than one might expect, but loves higher revs - typical of a sports bike. Just as important as acceleration, of course, is stopping power, and Honda seems to deliver this in spades. With linked brakes and ABS, you're extremely unlikely to run out of braking, and the ABS is subtle enough not to interfere with your riding pleasure. It's unfortunately not the same ABS units that Honda uses on the CBR bikes, which is their top of the line.

Gadget-wise, the VFR1200 is pretty sparse. One can appreciate the design philosophy though - it's all about the ride, not about the accessories. And it's an extremely good ride. It's fair to say that it'll carve out a fair market niche for itself. Honda's done a pretty good job on the VFR1200, and it'll be hard to find a bike much better in the sports-touring stakes...

Conclusion: I would find it very hard to choose between the Honda VFR1200 and the BMW K1300GT if I had to. The BMW's accessories would probably tip the scale, but then, so could the Honda's price tag. What we'll need is somebody who has spent a few thousand miles on both to judge. I suspect that you can't go wrong with either.

Good things:

1.Very sporty feel for a tourer, fast with a lot of power in high revs

2. Narrow tank and small engine make it feel like a smaller bike

3. Excellent ABS, although it could be better


Bad things:

1. Could do with more information on-screen - such as range left on fuel

2. Fuel tank only 18.5 litres - surely a tourer should hold a bit more?

3. Heated handlebars could be standard issue, as on the BMW