Show Us Yours: Alan’s Honda VFR750

Sam Hewitt

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13th September 2018

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Here are pictures of my indulgences – most notably the 1994 VFR750. This is the second time I have owned this bike: the first time was over seven years ago when I bought it off a work colleague. It was (and is) a fabulous bike but I had an early FireBlade at the time which scared me more than the VFR so I sold the VFR to a really good mate of mine.

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Move forward to the April 29 last year and I found myself on the VFR while my mate was riding my MT-09 Tracer. It was a sunny Sunday so Mitch (VFR owner), Pete (SuperDuke owner) and I went for a short ride.

Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. I all but amputated my right foot and the poor old bike was a bit bent and knackered. I can’t remember it but at least I had a ride in a helicopter: well, the Air Ambulance. I paid my mate for the VFR and the remains were mine.

A decision of the head said that it was fit only for spares but looking forward to many months of recuperation the VFR became my therapy.

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Despite hardly being able to move in the early days I slowly pulled the bike to bits and started sourcing replacement parts. It was always a ‘refresh’ rather than a restoration so it was put together using stainless bolts and fasteners and the odd deviation from original. Despite its age and almost 50k mileage it was in great mechanical condition so I only had to replace a few bits due to corrosion. I repaired all but one panel and had a few bits powder-coated. Racepaint UK sorted out the paintwork for me and did a lovely job.

I spent far more on the bike than it is worth but it kept my sanity intact and now I have a nice VFR 750 in the garage with the rest of the toys!