11-07-2014, 12:22 PM
The VFR1200 is such an unpopular bike that there is a brand-new, 2010 model on the floor at Chaparral Motorsports in San Bernardino (at least there was 3 weeks ago). I was so anticipating the arrival of the VFR1200 back when Honda was releasing teasers almost weekly (kinda like what Kawasaki just did for the H2) that I couldn't wait to put my deposit down. The first time I saw pictures of the real bike, posted on the internet by Honda, my heart sank. But then I thought that maybe the performance would make up for its ugliness; but I was wrong. I purchased every single magazine that I could get my hands on with any information about the new VFR1200, even the really expensive ones from Brittan. It seemed like Cycle World was the only magazine that really liked this bike at all. Most of the American test reports played it pretty politically-correct, and didn't really say anything negative about the bike. But, some of the British magazines came right out and criticized it out-right. The nail in the coffin was a comparison test published by Cycle World, where the VFR1200 came in last place, and they didn't even include the Yamaha FJ1300. I am almost shocked to see that Honda hasn't discontinued it yet. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have seen a VFR1200 on the road in the past five years.