Soul Survivor

Honda went out on a limb with its V4s in the early Eighties. One of the best examples of the early models was the 500cc version. John Nutting rides a survivor and recalls its launch in South Africa.

- John Nutting

V4 engines have mostly been the design choice in Grand Prix motorcycle racing since the early 1980s. They are compact, smooth and deliver more easily-managed power in the premier prototype class. Yet there are barely more than a handful of V4 road bikes in production these days.

The virtues of a V4 racer are just as valid on the road, but they come at a price, which is why just a few large machines use the layout. It may be the ideal, but a V4 is tricky, and therefore expensive, to manufacture. And the smaller the V4 engine’s capacity the tougher it gets to sell, with a 500 costing almost as much to produce as a 750 or even a 1000, yet riders would reasonably expect the price tag to be lower.

A case in point is Honda’s VF500FII featured here which was launched in 1984 with a hefty £2550 ticket in the UK. This was almost as much as an exotic Ducati 600 Pantah from Italy, and more than Kawasaki’s GPz750 or Suzuki’s GSX750ES. And Honda’s own super-fast VF750F V4 cost just £400 more, which was worth stretching the wallet. At the same time, Yamaha’s Powervalve RD350LC offered the average Johnny almost as much performance at a much more affordable £1695. It was a no brainer. No wonder the VF500FII, a brilliant example of Honda’s engineering expertise, was a sales failure. Which makes surviving examples like the one owned by Dave Sheppard a rare treat to ride. He found it in mint condition with just 3000 miles on the clock in 2013, since when he’s doubled that on weekly VJMC runs. “It’s a lovely bike,” he says, and after a spin on town and country roads I agree.

It’s been more than 30 years since I first rode the VF500FII at its launch in South Africa and later in the UK for a