Honda's big V-four all-rounder and this year's VFR800 are celebrating their 20th year of production.
The VFR and its quad-cam V4 were introduced in 1986 and since then the bike has been steadily refined from the first VFR750FG to VFR800 of 1998 and today's VFR V-Tec.
The VFR was really spawned by an engineering disaster. Honda's first V4 street bike was the 1983 VF750F, a hastily produced, Euro-styled V4 that had a habit of chewing up its camshafts and cam chains due to cylinder head tolerance problems.
The Japanese concept of "face" demanded that Honda prove it could build a successful V4 so heads rolled at Honda R&D and the bike was re-designed as a sort of Swiss watch on two wheels.
It was expensively over-engineered with superb materials and ultra-costly, gear-driven camshafts - a showcase for what was possible in a production motorcycle, given the motivation.
The result has been two decades of superbly crafted sports tourers, always featuring the latest technical gimmicks and which, despite their intimidating complexity, have earned an enviable reputation for toughness and reliability.
For its 20th anniversary Honda has listened to feedback from owners and altered the V-Tec system so that the feeling is less abrupt than on the previous model.
On the earlier machine, two of the four valves per cylinder would operate below 6800rpm, then all four valves would chime in.
This changeover point has been lowered to 6600rpm, while the rev-range in which V-Tec reverts to two-valve operation has been lowered to 6100rpm, making the transitions much smoother.
One of the first in the UK to try the new machine was VFR Owners Forum editor Keith Phillips.
After the ride he said: "The transition to four valves was so smooth that I had serious trouble identifying when it was engaged and when it wasn't. The new system seemed to work perfectly.
"Not only that, but when we dynoed the bike, we realised Honda seem to have found another five kiloWatts from somewhere!"
The VFR celebrated its 20th birthday by topping the UK sales charts for February 2006 in the sport touring category; 214 VFRs were sold in Britain up to the end of that month, which made it the second-best seller for the year to date.
- Honda SA has sold 30 VFR800s so far in 2006, at R93 000 each.