What is a VFR700?

Forgive my ignorance, but i keep seeing people who've owned a vfr700. What is it? I thought all early vfr's were 750's, at least they were in the UK.

 

IIRC, and I am not from the US so I could be wrong, the US govt put a import levy on bikes with >700cc to protect Harley. AS a consequence Honda and a few others sleeved their engines down to 700 to avoid the levy. When the levy was lifted, bikes went back to 750.

 

honda made a vf700 sabre....mid 80`s,,,,,

 

It was 1984 and Harley was bitching that nobody wanted /buying their overpriced 40yr old junk and that they would soon be bankrupt. So the US Government stepped in and put a tarrif on any imported motorcycle over 700cc and If i remember the tarrif was $1000 more if you wanted a 750cc sportbike..

 

All correct except they de-stroked the motor (cheaper/easier) rather than "sleeved" it. With some gearing changes, they had about the same relative performance. Besides other color choices (white or blue/silver), they also had different instrument clusters.

The 750 was nearly $1k more which was quite a lot even today but especially in 1986 dollars. The US tariff actually began in 84 with the original VF series but there were no color differences between the 700 and 750. The tariff also helped jump start the 600 class.

 

Lotsa info out there. Here is what I found on the Harley Tariff:

A 45% tariff surcharge was imposed with a scheduled phase-out of five years. Harley’s recovery was so successful, however, that it took the unprecedented step of asking that the tariff surcharge be repealed one year ahead of schedule, in 1987.

 

Thx for the heads up guys, was totally confused about all of this and blissfully unaware that the vfr700 existed. Over in europe we only ever had the 750, not havin' had the issues with harley of course as they are a minor manufacturer over our way lol