I got one brand new in Cali back in 83 and took it with me to Germany in the ARMY, Best time of my life!!

A sportbike with a V-4, water-cooled, 4 valve per cylinder engine, with a split radiator section and chin fairing: the design was radical in performance and looks for the time. Nothing goofy about it, as I recall seeing it and reading about in the magazines when it was first released. An extended ride on one in 1985, up a twisty mountain road, didn't disappoint either. Even today, after owning a slew of superbikes since then, I recall the tingles of excitement the Honda brought to the market with the Interceptor.

I bought that same bike, same color new in 1983. They are good riding fun motorcycles, but they had top end problems right away and Honda first replaced what's called the oil control vale, to get more oil to the top ends, and then did a full recall to replace the cams. The top ends were never quiet, and hopefully your bike has had the cams replaced. It must have if it's running as good as it is. I now own a 1985 500 Interceptor. Yes, the V4's are nice running machines.

this video is fun for me. Back in the day I owned a 1983 Kawasaki GPZ 750. A fun era of bikes. Have fun , stay safe. Thanks for a trip down memory lane while I am sipping my coffee and watching this morning here in Connecticut. Peace.

The 750 Interceptor was king of the streets and track until the Gixxer reinvented the class forever.

For $1,400 I bought a long term stored 1986 VF500F in 2010, and after new tires, brake pads, and new chain and rear sprocket, that 34,000 mile bike was fantastic! It did not need any other maintenance at all, and I rode the heck out of it for 3 years and 10K miles. That V-4 was a great engine, with a surprising amount of torque, and did wheelies with ease. I sold it with a flat rear tire, for $2500... Great value for me!

I bought a new '84 GPZ 550 and had a blast with it. Can't believe it's been 40 years. I bought an '07 VStrom DL1000 this year and still enjoy riding after all these years.

I loved my 1983 interceptor, powerful, smooth, comfortable. My 1000 interceptor was unbelievably fast!

Love it. I commuted from Temecula, CA to San Diego on one. Still one of the best looking bikes ever made.

You can get an additional oiling system that fits behind the oil filter, to get more oil to the cams. check valve clearences. Theres a racer fix for it as well thats an engine out job for engineered oil lines . Its a big job to do . Get a manual for it.

Looks great and that instrument cluster is awesome.

Beautiful bike! I'm a big fan of the Honda V4's. Had a V65 Sabre and a V45 Magna. Always liked the Interceptors too.

My first on road motorcycle was an 83 interceptor. I even took my road test on it. I sold it many years. It left me with a lifelong love of sport bikes.

I have had several Honda V4s. I had the Honda Sabre V65 and really miss that bike.

I have a 1990 vfr red with white wheels. Still under 10k miles. All original. Bought it to flip. Can't bring myself to let it go. Love it.

I have the same bike...ten years newer. It's really crazy to me just how different the '93 VFR750F is to the original Interceptor and Sabre. All three are great bikes apart from the early 750 oiling issues, and the 750F is by far my favorite bike I've ever ridden. Even almost 60k miles on it's still awesome.

Owned an ‘83 in the same color model and loved it. Cams didn’t get enough clean oil and would self destruct. There was a fix developed by a racer that tapped into the oil galley lower down and ran oil directly to the cams. Also the valve train could be a bit of an issue. If I recall correctly, the valve rocker was Y-shaped and you had to adjust the valves in pairs with two feeler gauges simultaneously to prevent the rocker from twisting and preventing setting an accurate clearance. Otherwise it was a great bike…at least for me. Enjoy.

I keep a 1999 5th Ed in pristine condition. Great motorcycle! Powerful enough to get me in trouble, if I don't behave. Good handling and brakes. Decent range and extremely reliable As I am not getting any younger, I wish it was lighter and lower. 🙂

That model of Honda V4 is legendary for lunching its cam chains beware of rattling noises !

Have owned my current VF700 Interceptor (1984) for about 25 years, having a nostalgia connection to the model from my early riding days. It was the first street bike I spent any time riding back in the early 80s. Your review is spot-on and hit all the good and not-so-good aspects. At the end of the day, it's just an honest, low-price, good handling, nice looking unit for people who want a little bit of sport riding without getting into trouble with too much power. Be careful about any low-mileage bikes as there were many cam problems in the early day, causing engines to fail. Parts for that specific issue are very hard to come by. If someone tells you as a buyer that it has had that repair, get the paperwork and have a quality mechanic familair with this specific bike, take a long hard look before purchase.

The baby interceptor 1988 VTR250 was my second bike, it was comparable to a ninja 300, the vtwin at 14k rpm sounds great, also very reliable

Good stuff! I'm glad the purchase worked out for you and I look forward to the mini bike series. Especially the Papio SS!!!

A Friend had one and it was an overweight slug. I rode circles around them with my 84 GPZ750 Turbo.

Early Interceptors were the first modern motorcycles I was aware of as a kid. And yeah, based on how they looked. Project bikes ... nice if you have the resources to tackle them.

Check camshaft history on Intercepter, My brother had one and he said people kept blowing the motor because of the cam.

for that kinda money you could buy an '86/'87 VFR700/750, a much-improved bike with a light alloy frame and more power, no noisy cam chains. alot of VFs had cam wear problems.

the mini bike series sound awesome! i cant wait!

Wow the memories. I had my riding test on one of these back in the day…

Nice job so far. 👍 Which tires did you end up finding and getting?

Im still riding my 84 Interceptor 1000 that i ordered in the fall of 83. A proper bike it is, the Interceptor series...

Cam chain guide issues on those v4’s. Rattling noise around idle or just off idle. But it’s a great engine and super smooth.

I got a magna of the same year .. 750cc .. fun fun fun

I owned one. The power band is incredible. Loved it. The only problem was the stretched timing chain issue and subsequent self destruction if not addressed. Actually i had the VFR4. Fast bike.

Maybe try adjusting the valve lash and timing chain tension if you haven't already. Might help with that top end noise

The v45 engine is known to have issues with oiling of the front camshafts, might be the top end noise

Love it! I had 1983 CB1100

Paced it with the same vintage seca 750 5 speed several times running my favorite turkey creek canyon loop. The interceptor could eat my lunch at top speed due to loss of stability with the seca 750. It was like the interceptor had a sixth gear and a forward cg with less drag. Truthfully bellow triple digits was a wash and the gravely sporadic canyon turns pretty much even out the playing field too.

thats cool id love one it reminds me of my MBX125 that i learned to ride on a distant lifetime ago

Not exactly the same category, but I've got a 1986 Yamaha XJ700 Maxim that is just sewing machine smooth / quiet. Currently not running due to gummed up carbs (four of them, one per cylinder), but it's a fun, easy-to-ride bike.

I think that's a great price for that bike. Since it was tracked that top end rebuilt is a good idea especially if, like you said, the fuel pump was going out, those valves might need some attention. My only advice would be to practice panic braking in the parking lot and get comfortable with that front end since there is no abs

Good review

Ooh we'd like to 👀 the QT Papio ss😂! & Yeah younger me couldn't ride long on my sport bikes, though I enjoyed the speed. Today I just fly Mach+ Rated aircraft - where as Cruise? He does it on Green screen lol. Unless ofc invited to go up w/THE Best out of Miramar in where? SoCal Buddy!

Lovely looking bike but pay attention to the cams. In Europe, this generation of V4 Honda was known for unreliable engine and it was said that they made the camshafts out of chocolate! To put their reputation right Honda developed and launched the VFR 750 in around 1987/88, with reworked gear driven cams. These bikes were over engineered and consequently mechanically bulletproof!

I had this bike brand new keeps it for a week and sold it .

Theres so many cheap vfrs. And they are so beautiful. What a temptation

8:25 Nice old long bed chevy.

I use to own this bike it has a real bad tank slap if you go past 110 mph it needs steering stabilizer real bad and I was told cams can not be fixed

Now all you need is a GPz 900 Top-Gun Nijnja Kawasaki !!👍

0:26 is that ratchet strap, strapped into the brake lever...?

there is one for sale in the uk today at £6000 the covaids tax never went away and pushed prices of everything out of sensible reach

I've owned the VFR 800 loved the V4 sound coming off throttle. Going to look at a $1000 2006 Kawasaki 650R. Going to pull the plastics off and make it a naked super twin..... Nope probably buying a junker lol

its really funny that all those cool retro looking ones has the name interceptor... even if it is a retro cruiser or a street racer one...

Niiiiice, really nice bike

So, can you intercept stuff with this bike? 🤔

🔥🔥🔥

the bike looks a lot better than anything modern. Now all the bikes look nearly identical.

Back in the day, I beat this "bendover bike" on the streets of SF on a '72 R75, but that was more about the riders....

Im 54 and it was my dream bike is my dream bike

🔥🔥🔥👍💙

i like mini bikes. they fit in the elevator and i can bring one to my apartment if i need to fix something. my apartment dont allow us working on our vehicles in the parking area....so i bring it in my apartment....LOL

$3000 for a 40 year old machine that doesn’t run? They should have paid YOU to cart it away. Keep your hand on your wallet young man! Lol