Hundred Pound Hound!

Our Bert bought a pup… or has he? His £100 Hound project begins!

- Bertie Simmonds

Bikes kinda get under the skin, don’t they? Bikes like Honda’s seminal VFR750F…

Now, I try not to get sentimental, but – when I was courting my late wife – I used to trundle to her place in Kent on a Honda VFR750 F-R in teal green. Even looking back now, after 23 years I think: wow, what a bike. It was quick, comfy and devoured miles with ease, meaning I was ready for action as soon as the front hoop landed on her drive. Ahhh (ahem) happy times!

Since those heady days of the mid-1990s I’ve hardly ridden a 750, but done plenty of miles on its soulless replacement the VFR800i, and the later V-TEC models. It was only when riding a minter F-R for MSL’s sister title Classic Motorcycle Mechanics (which I edit) late in 2015 that I was transported straight back to those times. It was magical!

So, I wanted an F-R, but couldn’t afford a decent, sorted one (single parent and all that) but I did happen to know where a knackered one was sitting… Enter my friend Simon Brown. Now, he used to use my garage to put his commuter F-R in before he got a lock-up of his own. Chatting to him back in early 2016, I found that his machine was sitting bereftof an MoT (shot rear shock) and he would let me have it for just £100.

Bargain! Why? Well, I knew he’d spent £760 on it over the preceding five years, including a vital reg-rectifier replacement and Motad stainless downpipes. Okay so it had 40k on the clocks and had sat for a while, but I was happy as Larry when I pushed it into my garage.