1987 Honda VFR700 vs Yamaha FZ700 - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article for Sale

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1987 Honda VFR700 vs Yamaha FZ700 - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article For Sale

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1987 Honda VFR700 vs Yamaha FZ700 - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article:
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1987 Honda VFR700 vs Yamaha FZ700 - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine advertisement / article.Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)Condition: Good
TAX EVASION:BEATING THEHIGH COST OFTHE 750 CLASSKeeping track of who’s offeringwhat in the 750/700cc sport-bikeclass is tough these days. Lastyear, only Honda offered a 700 sportbike for sale in the U.S., and the bike satside by side with the company’s new750cc flagship, the VFR750. Suzuki andYamaha had full-spec 750s, but neitherhad yet produced a tariff-beating 700 forthe frugal sport-bike crowd.This year the lineup has changed dra-matically. Honda dropped its 750 but re-tains the VFR700. Like Honda, Yamahaproduced a 700 from its original 750mold and added a limited-production(and almost unobtainable) Deltabox-framed FZR750 slated almost exclusive-ly for Superbike-racing use. Having givenSuzuki more than half of the 750-classmarket share, the GSXR750 returnswith, says Suzuki, increased horsepowerand improved suspension components.For 1987, Kawasaki jumps back into thefray with a superbly balanced Ninja 750that is in many ways superior to the restof the class. Separate the 750s from the700s, and you find a 700cc sport-bikeclass consisting of two specialized mo-torcycles—Honda’s VFR700 and Yama-ha’s FZ700.Despite this being the FZ700’s firstyear of production, its basic foundationis a year older than the VFR’s. Like theoriginal FZ750 introduced in 1985, the700 is powered by a liquid-cooled,DOHC in-line mill that utilizes Yamaha’sunique five-valve cylinder head. Thatbulletproof top end hasn’t changed onthe 700, and the 27,000-mile valve-ad-justment interval remains. Bringing theFZ’s displacement down to its untariffed,697cc level was accomplished by de-stroking the crankshaft; the 700’s pis-tons move 3.6mm less than the 750’s.Yamaha paid a lot of attention to lighten-ing internal engine parts as well; accord-ing to Yamaha, the piston-ring-rod as-semblies are 13 percent lighter thanthose in the older 750 motor.The Honda’s engine is also a techni-cal marvel but differs dramatically in de-sign. The DOHC, liquid-cooled, 90-de-gree V-4 utilizes a four-valve head de-sign, and the 180-degree crank providesmore even power pulses and is signifi-cantly lighter than the 360-degree crankfound in the original Interceptors. As inthe FZ, the gear responsible for movingthose 16 valves is high-tech and durable;the ball and pillow follower assembliesthat adjust at their pivots were first seenlast year on the first VFR750/700-seriesmachines, but this year the follower piv-ots have been sunk deeper into the sur-rounding aluminum castings, reducingnoise and offering more strength. Thecrank webs are lighter this year, and theelectronic advance ignition of last yearhas been replaced by a Hurricane-typedigital ignition system that provides more...16903-AL-8705-02