Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzerd
I have always lusted after the Honda VFR but in reality I have loved the Ninjette as a daily commuter - great gas mileage, easy to work on, parts are (relatively) cheap and available and they are fun to ride without risking triple-digit speeding tickets. The Ninja 300 looks like a nice bike.
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I'm a huge fan of the 5th Generation Honda VFR800 (the '98 to '01 year models). The V-4 engine with its flat-plane (180 degree) crankshaft sounds like a little Ferrari, the gear-driven camshafts have a great sounding straight-cut gear whine, and the variable-length (2 path) intake gives it a very nice "intake honk" that changes at about 7,000 RPM when the second path opens up and the engine-mounted single-sided swingarm looks great. And, the Honda PGM-FI makes it a truly modern bike (no carbs). Plus, Honda build quality.
The 5th Generation VFR was definitely the "best of the breed" among the VFR generations, it was the last year to have gear-driven camshafts and the first year to have Honda's PGM-FI system.
I like them so much I've got 2 of them: a '99 that I keep here in Denver and an '01 that I keep in Alabama where I spend a lot of time.
My '99 has an aftermarket Vance & Hines S4 Stainless exhaust canister on it which really lets you hear the unique V-4 engine sound, the firing order of this engine is wonderfully irregular, 1-0-1-0-0-1-0-1-, and results in a nice burble at idle and a rumbly operating sound throughout the rev-range.
Here's what a 5th Gen VFR800 with an aftermarket exhaust canister sounds like (not my bike but a very good video, if you watch the whole video he takes the bike through its paces: highway and surface streets, neighborhood):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcZcY2oJ-nM
V-4 engine sound explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwEbwKBic6w
But with all that said, I still love my '05 EX250 and so does my daughter. She has pretty much taken it over from me and her feeling of ownership is so strong she's even given it a new pet-name that she prefers.