My first bike was a Suzuki Bandit 600S which had been binned and repaired. I'll admit to being very nervous about getting back onto 2 wheels after an early binning experience but my confidence was returning. Having come into some cash I decided to give myself a treat. I had stared lovingly at a VFR750 that used to park up near my office and thought the VFR800, which had recently replaced it in Honda's model line up, would be a good choice. A full on sports bike would be too much so something which was comfy but with a good reputation for quality and reliability seemed ideal.

I dutifully trogged round the dealers and negotiated a decent deal with (spit) Motorcycle City at Clapham. Nice shiny red VFR800 duly ordered. After much nagging it eventually turned up and was ready for collection in June 1998. Only problem was that delivery day coincided with several feet of water falling from the sky so I decided to wait for a day as I didn't wish to try new tyres on London's roads combined with excess quantities of rain.

I remember seeing the bike being wheeled out and thinking "this can't be mine". The finish was superb and it glinted in the sunlight. I tentatively rode it home and despite some really stupid riding manoeuvres got it and myself home in one piece.

Well what's it like? It really is an excellent bike. Mine gets ridden almost every day as I use it to commute into Central London. Although it's quite a big machine it carries its weight very well and is narrow enough to get through gaps that scooters find hard. The handling is neutral which is to say that it inspires confidence in a non knee down merchant like me. It will happily pootle though London traffic or waz down the lanes of the BOTAFOT and BOTAFOF runs. I occasionally have a little play with other sports bike riders on the way home from work and the VFR will happily keep up. The engine is delightful with a fantastic sound which gets more addictive the more beans you apply. There is a steady supply of smooth torque with next to no delay from the fuel injection system which makes it sublimely easy to be doing silly speeds in next to no time. I've only had my bike up to about 120mph but it's good for a bit more beyond that. Many bike testers have remarked on the linked brakes and said they don't like them. To be honest I've not found them to be much of an issue although I have scared myself once. The rest of the time they have not been an issue even when called upon to deal with 7 year old kids who decide to dash across the road with no warning.

Early on I did the Honda MAC course on the VFR. The course was great fun and taught me a huge amount - particularly how not to ride into walls on country lanes! The second day of the MAC involved a ride to Hastings, which still counts as one of my best ever days on a bike. I have taken the VFR on some reasonably long runs for which it is ideal. It's also had a nice half day hooning round Cadwell Park that was fantastic fun. The VFR is capable of far more that I am handling wise but it was big grin time flicking it through the Gooseneck.

In terms of reliability it has let me down only 2 or 3 times. Mostly punctures (you should the shit you have to ride through in London) and a flat battery from standing in the cold. These are easily fixed. The most serious was a regulator / rectifier failure which saw the bike fail in the middle of rush hour London traffic. This took a week to fix courtesy of Motorcycle City's (allegedly) incompetent repair service. Needless to say I've changed dealers for servicing. Mine is now almost 3 years old and approaching 16,000 miles and due for a major service.

Insurance has been reasonable although I have had some outrageous quotes. Not having had any sort of accident / crash for a long while is now starting to help with the old NCB helping to keep things reasonable.

I love the VFR and can't see me selling it for a long time to come - after all it's only just getting run in given the mileage these things can do. All in all an excellent machine.