Question of a potential VFR 1200 F beginner

Hello to all,
My name is Dror, a 50 year old new member from Israel who owns a KTM Adventure 2018. I want to buy VFR1200 and saw 2 in the last two days. Because these are motorcycles that are more or less 10 years old, I've consulted with two friends (Honda mechanics) about the model but HONDA only sold a few dozen of these in Israel.
after the intro....-I need your answers- from the owners of the model themselves.

Apart from the recall in the 2011-13 models, does the specific model have other known reliability problems or ones that are repeated many times?

I know that anyone looking for problems (in any model) will find them I am just trying to figure out if it is average reliability for Honda or a disaster that an engine explodes every Monday and Thursday ...

also want to know if the windscreen effective for 5.7 f (SHOI nxr) -above 100 mph....
thanks

 

Hi Dror and welcome to the MadHouse

To be honest the launch in 2010 of the 1200 VFR did not go particularly well for Honda - as a batch of engines were produced with inadequate quality control with a few reaching customers with metal swarf left lurking in the engine internals, which over time had the potential to migrate to some place critical and in a few cases pretty much wrecked an otherwise brilliant engine. The problem was mostly confined to a batch of models shipped to Europe although a few of that batch were shipped to dealers around the globe.

To be fair to Honda they rapidly issued a recall warning to dealers to inspect engines for swarf in all the original batch of VFR1200 models. If any swarf was found the affected engines were removed and replaced by Honda - with the suspect engines shipped back to Japan. That swift action should have ensured that virtually all the "at risk engines" were identified and fixed.

But this poses several big questions. Firstly whether or not all VFR1200 models were actually inspected by dealers before they actually reached customers - certainly some journalists had them for evaluation, and after testing, these may have been overlooked and simply sold on as used bikes without the check. Likewise there is no way of knowing whether all customers bothered to respond to any recall especially if they had only just taken delivery of their brand new shiny VFR1200F and really wanted to get out and ride the bike, not return it to the shop for an unknown period of time.

If you do find a decent 2010 bike the sensible approach is to assume the worse if the seller is not able to demonstrate the engine had been duly inspected and cleared as swarf free. Inherently if it is being sold on by a dealer they may be willing to repeat the swarf check and even warrant against it. For a private sale you might ask the seller if they can confirm the check was completed.

In truth the vast majority of these bikes have had absolutely no issues and have proved awesome touring machines. Yes there was a minor tweek for 2013 models which came with a marginally larger fuel tank but otherwise newer VFR1200F are much the same.

As for the screen effectiveness it really depends on your specific ergo's. Someone with the same height might have long legs and a relatively short body which will mean the standard screen will be more than adequate. Basically if you are happy to tuck in behind the screen, then even the 800s are wonderfully stable at 100mph+.

If you do choose a VFR please swing by the introductions part of the forum and say hi to the rest of the folks on here and include a photo or two of your choice - it is easy just click the "upload a file" link at the bottom and follow the prompts to select and upload an image from your computer.

Have fun shopping



SkiMad

 

thanks for the detailed answer SkiMad.
I'm talking about bikes in the private market, not agencies.
One of the items did only 30,000 km and underwent a recall of the driveshaft according to the previous owner (who rode hard on gas) and said there was no problem. I have not heard of any case of engine chips in Israel.
I started one of them (in the attached pictures) and moved it a few steps just to hear the engine and feel the clutch when the engine is still relatively cold. It seems the separate point starts relatively early. The aftermarket handles of the front brake and clutch were hard. Beyond that there was a lack of clips in the front fairing and some rust on the rod near the gear foot.
The motorcycle is parked near the sea and the salinity does its thing .... nothing serious.
-Looks great in white.