1983 Honda VF400F Motorcycle

Description

Soichiro Honda’s eponymous company was founded in 1948 and gradually established itself as one of the first and certainly one of the finest exponents of motorcycle manufacturing in Japan over the next decade.  It wasn’t until 1959 that Honda began exporting bikes to the rest of world, with America naturally a key market, and two new models - the Benly and the Dream – were launched that year.  Honda expanded rapidly, becoming the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964, with a range to suit just about every purpose and budget.  Part of Honda’s early V-four family of road bikes, which kicked off in 1982 with the VF750S cruiser, the VF400F was launched at the Cologne Show later in the year, squarely targeting the sports bike market.  Discarding convention, the new Honda saw a compact tubular steel duplex-loop frame inspired by the 500cc GP race bikes combined with a four-stroke liquid-cooled V-4.  Innovative features included ventilated inboard disc brakes and Honda’s torque reactive anti-dive control (TRAC) system, along with air-assisted front and rear suspension combined for superlative handling.  Officially on sale from April 1983, the VF400F offered incredible performance from a relatively small capacity engine; fed by four 30mm CV carburettors and rated at 55bhp (with one of the highest specific outputs of any bike at the time of 137.5bhp per litre), the 90-degree unit redlined at an incredible 12,500rpm.  The gearbox was a six-speed unit with a hydraulically-operated wet multi-plate clutch.  An expensive bike when new, the VF400R was sold in relatively small numbers and only survived in production for a brief period in the early 1980s.