All I Want For Christmas is........

A VF1000R. With ten days left till Christmas, it looks like my wish will not be fulfilled this year. That is unless someone out there has grown tired of their 1000R and is willing to donate it to me. I'm not holding my breath though. The 1000R was not most sharply honed back road weapon of it's time. It is heavy,even in it's heyday, but still handled well at speed, although it's weight becomes more apparent at low speeds. It also was hampered by a stiff price tag for it's day. It was built in the guise of "FWS" HRC works bikes that Freddie Spencer, Mike Baldwin and Joey Dunlop were using to tear up the competition.
That bike was a beast, the road going version didn't quite live up to it's legend. It did have a bit of grunt though, pumping out around 122 hp. Also sports gear driven cams. The specs are as follows,
Engine...............................DOHC 4stroke 16 valve v4
Bore & stroke.................77 x 53.6 mm
Displacement...............998 cubic centimetres Compression Ratio........10.5 : 1
Carburetors.................4 x 36 mm cv type
Max Horsepower...........122 ps/10500 rpm
Max torque..................9.4 kg-m/8000 rpm
Ignition......................electronic advance
Transmission...............5 speed
Final Drive..................O ring lubrication sealed chain
Wheelbase..................1505 mm
Seat Height.................810 mm
Ground Clearance.......130 mm
Fuel Capacity.............25 L including 4.5 reserve Wheels......................NS-type aluminium Com Star
Tires.........................120/80 v16-v250,140/80 vr17-v25
Front suspension.......41mm 3way adj. rebound damping 155 mm travel
Rear suspension.........Pro-link 3way remote adj. rebound 123mm travel
Front Brakes..............duel floating disks with duel piston calipers
Rear Brakes...............ventilated discs with opposed piston calipers
Dry Weight................238 kg
I have been using craigspal to track down a suitable unit for the last few months. I can search All of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio at the same time with this program. Or the whole country if I care to. A couple have popped up on my radar, but were not the best examples. For a low production bike, they seem to pop up for sale round these parts more than one would expect. I can't really tell you why, but I have always lusted after this bike. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention, and gives me goose bumps I could remove ten coats of paint with.

Time is running out fast for Santa to slip one of these beauties under my tree. But I will continue my search until the right example shows up in my gun sight. Until then, I will be have to be content to feed my midlife hunger with the FJ.

Till Next Time............