Honda Interceptor

Honda Interceptor

Best Bargain:

Psst... Hey, buddy, looking for a smokin’ deal? Who isn’t looking for a deal these days, right? Well, listen up: American Honda has made a “permanent price reduction” on remaining-stock 2007 Interceptors, which originally retailed for as much as $12,099 for an anti-lock-brake model. In turn, dealers are passing on the savings to you, the consumer. Official new base-model MSRP is $7939.

We’ve been riding a 2007 25th-anniversary non-ABS VFR800 (red-white-and-blue retro-racer paint; blacked-out aluminum frame and wheels), and it’s every bit as good as we remember. Aside from an EFI mapping update in 2006, the current Interceptor is fundamentally the same motorcycle that originally debuted in 2002, a bike we called “Honda’s Magic Motion Machine.” Significantly, that was the first go-around for Honda’s variable valve-timing system (VTEC), which coincided with a switch from geared to chain cam drive.

Due to be replaced this year by the new-for-2010 VFR1200, the fuel-injected, 781 cc, dohc V-Four may not come standard with a fully adjustable inverted fork, radial-mount front brakes, adjustable windscreen or other state-of-the-art features we’ve come to expect from the latest racer-replicas or sport-tourers, but as we said back in 2002, “What the Interceptor does best can’t be quantified.” On its way out or not, the VFR800 remains one of the best-balanced, most-versatile streetbikes produced at any time by any manufacturer.

Matthew Miles