As a "pre-internet" old guy, I've always been impressed with the ease with which we humans adapted to this new social phenomenon. We make "friends," buy and sell things with a new-found trust that never existed before email, and find it perfectly normal to think everyone in our real and virtual worlds is fascinated with what we're having for dinner or how our latest garage project is progressing, complete with hi-res photos.

It's all good stuff as far as I'm concerned. There's no way our motorbike hobby would have the depth and interest without the virtual world, and a big part of that is the people — people like Falco Verkleij of Boskoop, The Netherlands (Holland).

Falco, 25, works as a professional mechanic with a background in cars, transport trucks and off-shore hydraulics. He found his beautiful '86 red/white /blue VFR as a neglected garage find — for only 300 Euros! He stumbled on this site and I was able to supply a few parts to help with the process of bringing the bike back to life. As the photo shows, he's now out enjoying the Interceptor and impressing the locals.

Falco also rides an '02 Yamaha Fazer FZS600 and a couple of scooters, including the only Honda Spree in Holland ('86, of course) which his Grandfather brought from the U.S.

The whole purpose of maintaining this site is to share information and experiences about these great bikes. Meeting the people behind the emails is a real bonus. Cheers, and ride safe, Falco!

Eighteen months ago Patti and I trailered home this 1987 VFR700 F2 (left), which would become number 14 in the progression of Interceptors passing though my hands.

Non-running, clutch inoperative, layers of Rustoleum covering cracked bodywork and dented fuel tank, it was quite a moto mess. This past Fall I began the process of bringing it back to life and after two or three reversals of direction, it has morphed into what I think is a great-looking mild resto-mod VFR.

The list of modifications grew steadily over the winter. Originally conceived as a budget red/white/blue bike assembled with bitsa this and bitsa that, after test riding it in February I decided it was such a nice running and riding bike, that I should take it to the next level.

Here's some of the highlights....
The style has evolved into an original white look with an appropriate amount of black accents. All the bodywork panels are repaired with plastic welding (the right way). The fuel tank is the one that came on the bike and required stripping and basic bodywork. The color was matched to the original Pearl Crescent White and applied by a local professional paint shop. Reproduction decals were special ordered from England. I elected to use a round Honda winged foot emblem on the tank for a little vintage touch. Mirrors, fairing infill panels, and instrument surround are redone in satin black. The front fender has been reshaped to give a visually lighter profile, while the rear fender has been eliminated and LED signals added — the front signals are NOS, tucked close to the fairing. The seat is reupholstered in black vinyl, and an aftermarket windscreen added.

The bike came to me with a 17-inch front wheel from an early CBR600 to which I mounted a fresh Avon Road Rider tire. The wheels are black with a painted white pinstripe along the inside of the rim to tie into the white body. The mufflers are unique. I've removed the rear baffle chamber, shortening the OEM muffler by 5 1/2 inches which freed up back pressure and sound. The exhaust system was then painted hi-heat black and the mufflers buffed to a satin finish. The carburetors have been jetted to match the exhaust and K&N air filter. The engine pulls strong to redline and sounds much throatier than stock.

Other personal touches include the engine covers getting a bronze powercoat treatment to mimic the '86 bikes. For a cleaner tail, the old rear turn signal mounts and seat lock have been shaved from the subframe. Galfer stainless steel brake lines replaced the originals front and rear. The rear brake lever has been smoothed and polished along with several more detail touches throughout.
(click on an image to enlarge)

Mechanically, all systems have been addressed. Brakes, clutch, steering head bearings, engine adjustments and tuning. Forks rebuilt, chain & sprockets replaced, fluids flushed. Master cylinders rebuilt with new sight glasses installed.

I consider this build to be a sympathetic restoration, as opposed to a full restoration. It's been brought to a level consistent with the overall condition of the bike, as best it can be represented. No stories, no excuses. There's still some bits of original patina of a 30 year-old bike but the use of as many original parts as possible is important, at least to me. So, if a particular part is visually and mechanically serviceable as is — the master cylinder housings, for example — then they are left as is.

This bike is being offered at $3300. Included is a clear title, an owners manual but no tool kit. There's also no seat cowl available. Trailered delivery is possible. Please click on the first photo for a link to the Flickr album with 43 high-resolution photos. For a short walk-around video and the running bike, here's a YouTube link.

Thanks for following along with this build and please pass this info along if you know of someone who may be interested in this Interceptor.

Cheers.

I came across this product while searching for something-or-other on Amazon. S100 has a line of cleaners with generally good reviews, so I thought this would be worth a try on the dulled and grayed-out black engine surfaces I tend to work with. It comes in a 4.5 ounce aerosol can, which may not sound like much product, but a little goes a long way. There's a short metered spray tube which helps put the product just where it's needed.

I tried it on Project Magna, an '82 Honda VF750C, with some very dulled engine cases. After cleaning the engine and allowing it to dry the S100 is simply sprayed onto any surface that has "lost its gloss and original color." I'm here to report that this stuff works. It leaves behind a bright, black, glossy finish that genuinely surprised me.

Having said that, I have no long-term experience with Engine Brightener. Will it hold up under heat and time? Well, there's 126 customer reviews on the Amazon listing with only 8% at less than a 4-star rating. It sure made the Magna pop.

(click on an image below to enlarge)

The paint work is completed for Project 14 and it's time for decals along with mounting the tail light, headlight and front turn signals.

I had to do some searching for the gold reproduction decal kit. I finally found a supplier in the UK, but their trim scheme differs from the U.S., with the tail light fairing reading "750F" as opposed to our "Interceptor" script. I took a shot, emailed the supplier and they were happy to print me out a batch of three sets with the "Interceptor" script added.

Applying decals can be tricky, especially with the red/white/blue sets, as they're pretty large — air bubbles are more of problem with the larger size. But these gold sets are smaller, so a little easier. I use the wet method, spraying the body part and the back of the decal with a water/soap solution which allows repositioning the decal before a final wipe with the squeegee.

In the photo above I'm deciding where to place the mid-fairing decal while using the computer photo in the background as a guide. After a thorough squeegeeing the face paper can be carefully peeled away. The decals are left for a few days for the liquid to evaporate from under the decal and can then be clear coated, if desired.
(click on a image to enlarge)

Next I'll need to mount the tail light assembly into the tail section, but first I want to erase years of dirt, scuffs and sun damage. I begin with a sanding using 3000- or 5000-grit wet/dry sandpaper followed by machine polishing with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound or something similar. I was fortunate to have a set of new-old-stock front turn signals in my parts stash, though they suffered from many years of "shelf use," but the same treatment had them looking new again. Let's get this bodywork mounted up!
(click on an image to enlarge)

What: 1984 VF1100S Sabre
Where: Wayazta, Minnesota
Why: Well preserved first-year V65
Price: $5500 buy-it-now

In America, more is better. So, if the successful VF750 Magna and Sabre were good, then a big block version would be better, right?

In the early eighties displacements were growing with 1100cc regarded as top dog in all the street classes, sport, touring, cruisers and "standards," as they were known. In 1984 Honda joined the fray with this bike , a 1098cc (65 cubic-inch) V4 with some 100 hp (at the wheel), shaft drive, a 60-pound weight gain over the V45 and somewhat heavy, ponderous handling characteristics. The V65 Sabre would stay in Honda's lineup for only two years.

Our seller claims to be the second owner of this exceptionally low mileage example. It appears to be in complete and original condition and the seller indicates it's in need of some deferred maintenance to put it back on the road. I suspect that the buy-it-now price will prove to be a bit....excessive. Typical V65 values hover around half of the asking price, though this example isn't exactly typical. The auction ends Friday evening.

Project 12, aka The Blues Project, is back on the rack. After suffering a spill with its previous owner there's a bunch of cosmetic issues to deal with, including the Yoshimura slip-on muffler.

Here, I've begun smoothing the damage to the front edge of the aluminum muffler where it took quite a hit.

And here's a look at the rash suffered along the entire length of the muffler. The green tape is covering the Yoshimura badge to protect it during the next steps.

I begin with a heavy rasp to knock down the deep gouges. The blue on the file is chalk — rubbing chalk on the file keeps the aluminum filings from clogging the file. I'll follow with a finer file.

Switching to wet/dry sandpaper, I begin with 100-grit on the filed sections, and 400-grit on the scratches, then move progressively finer.

I'll end with 5000-grit which makes the final polishing a breeze.

Here, the final sanding shows a smooth but cloudy finish.

Aluminum polish applied by hand is all that's necessary to bring out the shine. The entire process took about an hour.

Ironically, I'd already repaired this same muffler two years ago when I first had The Blues Project in the shop. Good thing aluminum is so forgiving.

Kevin Cameron (Cycle World) writes an internet series of briefs about the significance of classic motorcycles, and in this installment he relates how the first VF750 Interceptor represented an all-out effort to bring a new-age redesign of the modern sportbike. The earlier 1000cc AMA Superbikes, even in race form, were never able to mesh their ever-increasing power to the inferior handling of the old school tube frames and wimpy suspensions. This was a big factor in the AMA's lowering of the Superbike class displacement to 750cc.

Engineered more as a "designed to race" bike, Cameron claims that Honda were caught a bit off guard when the street version proved to be a sellout success — Honda now had a winner on the street and track. Honda V4s would go on to win five straight Superbike titles.

(click on the image for a link to the article)

Project 14 is in the final stages of assembly and this time I've chosen to do something about one of the items that Honda overlooked on an otherwise nicely finished model — a 1987 VFR700 F2.

The rear brake pedal is a cast aluminum piece with kinda crud casting marks left in place (top lever in photo). In addition, the pedal is finished in a silver coating, probably paint. Some machine wheel grinding took care of the casting line and sandpaper erased the coating. I finished up with progressively finer sanding followed by hand buffing. Much nicer, I think.

If you'd been fast enough with your checkbook several months back, you may have scored one of these race machines in street clothes. But like a new pet puppy, the initial buy-in is just the tip of the iceberg. If you plan to run this beast in anger, here's a partial list of the cost of spares.
Exhaust System = $24,000
Fuel Tank = $5000
Oil Change = $565
Forks = $22,600
Throttle Bodies = $16,300
Oh, and after about 2000 miles of race use plan on replacing the major engine internals. Ouch.

At Performance Engineering (http://performance-engineering.co.uk) they've prepped an RC213V-S for some endurance racing next season. Here's a video they shot during the initial run-in on their dyno. This was a break-in session, but if you skip to 3:45 they give the machine its head. The fire breathing exhaust on deceleration is pretty cool.

From K-Speed Customs of Thailand comes this unusual bobber/cafe racer build. Unusual in that K-Speed chose to use a V4 motor and its associated size, weight and radiator as the centerpiece for a style that's typically known for simplicity and visual lightness.

The usual hipster custom cues are here: severe tail bob, blacked-out everything, ridiculously low bars and bulky Firestone tires — or in this case, Fuckstone, I kid you not. But looking at some other details this might just be the front guard of a new sub-genre; I'll call it the muscle cafe.

Shaft drive, big motor, cast wheels, leather-wrapped tank, plus the power, sound and revs to let the boyz know this ain't no wheezy Beemer or tractor-motored Triumph. Those four cylinders translate to cojones, my friend, so shut the fuck up and have another latte.

For more details, visit the Pipeburn.com article here.