“I own this VFR750F Honda”
Gerry Glidewell, who owns the VFR750F-T that is the subject of this feature, is a man who considers his motorcycles thoughtfully. “I started out on Fizzies and Suzuki trail bikes in the Seventies like most of us, but could only afford one vehicle, and reverted to Ford Escorts,” he says. “But after starting again in 1992 I had a CB650Z Honda four and then a VFR750F-K, one of the early ones. I thought it was fast and smooth – you could pull in top from 25 to 70mph so easily – but was fairly heavy for most of my riding: I didn’t need a quick tourer. “That’s when I switched to CB500 twins: I had two of them. Later I had a couple of 650 and 700 Transalps, then Triumphs, a Thunderbird Sport and a 900 Sprint Sport. After those I switched to a BMW R1100S, but that was too sporty for two-up riding with my now wife Fiona, so that was replaced by a more relaxed R1150R and traded up to an even better F800S Schnitzer Special, which I still have.” Gerry didn’t forget the VFR though. “The build quality was second to none,” he recalls, “and when I was thinking about getting a classic this VFR750F-T came up. It was being sold by a mate in Maidstone who I knew had looked after it, having for example fitted a stainless exhaust. “They always rot. It doesn’t look like it has clocked 40,000 miles and runs as good as new. It was a bargain at £1800. You’re tucked in so they’re not so good in town, but on the open road it’s fantastic.”