Maybe too late, but it might be a good time to service your Ohlins forks, possibly change the springs or re-valve them? And your rear shock, too...

My first bike was a VFR500, and it was everything everyone mentioned above. Extremely reliable, smooth, and great riding. Great exhaust note. Comfortable until I grew out of it, physically. What a joy it was to just touch the start button and ride (and get 50mpg...).

Ducati's are sexy, no question, but there is no substitute for Honda engineering. I say go for it!

Ride all day and still a decent track bike:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1153775091.jpg

I'm gonna see if I can find one (maybe an '02 or newer?) to sit on and see how the fit is.

IFR is the way to go flying around SoCal anyway. . . Gets you around all that airspace crapola. Plus you can pick up a TEC in about two minutes, so it's not like you're burning lots of gas holding for release. . .

*sigh*

I miss flight instructing. . .

As soon as you get one, trash the stock seat and replace with a corbin.
It makes a graet differance

Great bikes - I had these two

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1153780619.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1153780873.jpg [http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1153781139.jpg

This site was one of my favourites when I had a VFR

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~john/vfr/

I also kept every road test I could find - conclusion in all of them -

THE BEST ALL ROUND MOTORCYCLE EVER MADE!

Actually, I think Baby Interceptors were designated VF500F.

For those of you with VFRs, is the weight a problem? On paper, they look pretty porky. (Not criticizinig, just asking.)

Hell, I've never owned one, but even I say "VFR" when I hear the Q, "What's a good all-around bike?"
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Also, as was mentioned earlier, the Yam FZ1.
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I almost bought this one in '04.
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1153806898.jpg

My brother had a VFR800. Damn good bike, best of both worlds.

Noah-
I got my 96 VFR after having a 94 Duc 900SS/CR and a 90 FZR400, both of which were quite light -and light FEELING.

The ~550 lb wet weight of the VFR sounded quite intimidating but it's not a top heavy feeling porker like an old ZX10/11 et al. However, you will notice the relative heft the first few times you ride one...it's not heavy feeling so much as it is a *slight* bit more deliberate.

the viffers carry their weight quite well. It's not like the RC45 was THAT much lighter than the streetgoing 750.

Will you be able to throw it around like an SV650? no. Will it be a fantastic compromise, especially for commuting, sport touring, and general backroads blasting? absolutely.