A remarkable thing about sport bikes is that they look fast even when standing still. Think of them as “high-velocity sculpture.” Except that’s not the point. All aspects of the bike seem to be engineered to provide maximum performance. There is nothing extraneous, no element that could be defined as “waste.” Everything is in its place, and everything is placed to perform.

This is certainly the case with the Honda 2010 VFR1200F. Although this is a street bike, it is worth noting that back in the ‘90s Honda split the development of its bikes with V4 engines with the racing bikes and the street bikes going down separate but similar tracks. For this new bike, the 1,237-cc, liquid-cooled, 76° V4 is predicated on development work done for the V-4 RC212V MotoGP technology. The engine is designed so that the rear two cylinders are inboard in the center of the crankshaft and the front are located outboard, thereby providing a slim design: it is even more compact than the engine of the 781-cc Honda Interceptor. Its crankshaft is designed to negate primary engine vibrations and the engine is designed to be balanced such that there is no balance shaft, contributing to the compact engine and to a weight save of nearly 3 lb. The frame is based on a four-piece aluminum twin-spar diamond configuration for rigidity and light weight. Special rectangular fasteners are used to attach body panels with minimal gap. Even the seat is made with a special process to bond the cover to the foam.