Honda - in a decidedly atypical "Hold my beer, watch this" move - decided to take that ideology to heart. If there's one thing that we as automotive journalists know to be a universal truth, it's that adding R to a vehicle's model name makes it faster. We're not entirely sure what kind of drugs the Honda powersports design team is on, but they're clearly working. Honda didn't mention a price bump for the Rebels in its press release, but we'd expect there to be a modest increase over the $4,499 and $6,199 for the 2019 Rebel 300 and 500, respectively. Next, it gets a much-needed stiffer suspension, both front and rear, with the front, in particular, benefiting from a change in fork oil specification, improving the damping.Īlso new for 2020 is a revised gauge that offers riders more information including a gear indicator and fuel level - both things that new riders coming from cars can take for granted but which didn't use to be so prevalent in the two-wheeled world. This design reduces the force needed at the clutch lever by around 30% and helps to tame the rear wheel under deceleration, which builds confidence. To start, both the 300 and 500 get a new slipper clutch. The little Rebels are still well-built and un-intimidating motorcycles, but for 2020 they get some simple but highly-effective technical updates that should make them more attractive than ever to new riders. The Rebel line has been one of the most popular and long-serving nameplates in Honda's history and while it was relegated to the status of " that thing you rode during your MSF course" for decades, the new Rebel 300 and 500 that Honda introduced back in 2017 have gone a long way toward breaking it out of that mold. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here.Being small in stature and making modest power doesn't mean the Rebel goes short on style. The 1985 model you see here is one of the cleanest examples we’ve seen for a while and it’s due to come up for sale with Mecum in January. In the mid-1980s the Honda VF1000R claimed the “fastest production motorcycle in the world” title with a recorded top speed of 150 mph, a title previously held by the MV Agusta Monza which was later claimed by the Kawasaki GPz900.įinding good examples of the VF1000R that haven’t been crashed or ridden hard by their former owners is getting harder with each passing year. That said, compared to modern superbikes the riding position is standard if not a little more relaxed. Some magazine reviewers in the 1980s did criticise the bike for its very committed riding position, the foot pegs are rearsets and the adjustable clip-on handlebars do necessitate the rider leaning reasonably far forward. The braking system was similarly advanced for the time, with twin floating discs with dual piston calipers and sintered metal pads up front, and a ventilated disc with an opposed piston floating caliper and sintered metal pads in the rear. The suspension on the VF1000R was notably advanced for a road bike in the 1980s, the front suspension featured air-assist 41mm tube diameter forks with 3-way adjustable rebound damping, TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-Dive Control), a fork brace, and equaliser, a pre-cursor in many ways to the modern suspension used on many current superbikes. In the rear the monoshock suspension was a Pro-Link unit with 3 way remote adjustable rebound damping. Four 36mm CV type carburettors were fitted, on the other side of the head there are four headers into two exhausts, which exit one per side at the rear. The 90º V4 had a 77.0 x 53.6mm bore x stroke with a compression ratio of 11:1. This was an impressive power figure for the era, however more impressive was the sheer volume of advanced engineering that Honda had squeezed into the model. Honda first introduced the VF1000R in Europe in 1984 with 122 bhp at 10,000 rpm and 66 ft lbs of torque at 8,000 rpm. The use of straight cut gears means that the VF1000R makes a very particular whining sound when running that’s typically loved by its owners, but well-meaning passersby have been known to stop and explain to the rider that their bike “doesn’t sound right”.
Honda motorcycle 1000 series#
The VF1000 utilised chain driven cams, so a broad series of changes were required to create the VF1000R, particularly to top end. The most famous modification that was made to the V4 in the Honda VF1000R was the addition of gear driven camshafts. All models had an advanced V4 998cc double overhead cam 16-valve, liquid-cooled engine but the VF1000R had a series of modifications to boost power and bring the bike closer to the Honda FWS1000 race bike which was competing in the Daytona 200 and AMA F1 class. The Honda VF1000R was the high performance member of the Honda VF1000 model family.