Letter From Japan
LETTER FROM Japan
ROUNDUP
Honda VFR400R: Designed to race, built for the street
Rain and racetracks don’t mix. That’s what I thought as I stood in the hairpin turn on the famous Suzuka race course. The rain became torrential at points, almost obscuring Honda’s new VFR400R, the latest 400cc sportbike to explode onto the Japanese home market (the VFR400R may well become a VFR600 for the U.S. market). The water formed small rivers around the track, and it seemed that if we were to ride the bike at all, speeds would be slow at best.
Beyond a doubt, the weather prevented most riders from pushing the bike very quickly around the course. Yet even in dry circumstances, few riders will be able to discover the outer limits of this machine unless it is on a racetrack. The reason is simple: Honda designed the VFR400R so its owners could convert it to a full-on production racer for little additional cost other than the price of the bike.
This is not to say that the 400 is a bad streetbike. In fact, it has engine characteristics that make for an easy-to-ride, pleasant motorcycle. The power comes on strong from idle and proceeds in a linear fashion to 7000 rpm, where it becomes more intense. At 7000, the power surges faster and stronger to 12,500 rpm, then drops off before reaching the 13,000-rpm redline.
Honda changed the VFR400R’s engine in substantial ways from last year’s VF400, and those changes make for more power and less vibration. The cams are now gear-driven, which reduces internal friction so that more power makes it to the new, 180-degree crank. The potential of the engine seemed remarkable to me as the bike pulled over 11,000 rpm in top gear on the back straight, which calculates to over 110 mph. Given better track conditions, the bike would have gone still faster.
Because the track remained wet for most of the day, there was a limit on how much we could test the bike’s handling. But the VFR turned out to be an agile, responsive motorcycle, one capable of nearly offsetting the weather. While other midsized sporting machines in Japan are using 17-inch wheels at both ends, the VFR uses a 16-inch front and an 18-inch rear wheel. Both ends of the bike felt perfectly balanced in vertical as well as in maximum-lean situations. Even in tight hairpin corners, the front end tracked predictably and lightly, and the rear followed with no tendency to slide.
From looking at the specifications, we thought that the brakes would be significantly better, as well, because a ceramic compound was used in the brake pads. As it turned out, the brakes indeed were strong, front and rear. The front brake’s feel was steady and lever ratio permitted an easy pull, making hard, controlled braking a relatively easy matter.
On the one hand, the VFR400R is a competent streetbike with pleasant around-town manners. On the other, racing was taken strongly into account with the overall design of the VFR, and it therefore has the speed image behind it. It is a bike with high sporting capabilities that may be best suited for novice-class riders who desire to go racing. Even in the rain, the VFR400R proved that it is more than up to the rigors of competition with the other Japanese 400cc sportbikes, on the street or the track.
Koichi Hirose
