What defines a sports bike?

[Spudly]

Specifically, I'm looking at VFR750Fs.

Looking at the wikipedia entry, it seems to be considered a bit of both.

The Pan European is also considered to be a sports/tourer, obviously leaning further towards the tourer side.

If you were looking at a VFR750 between the years 94 - 97, would you consider it a sports bike or a tourer?
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The Old Apprentice

[illuminateTHE...]

Two wheels and an engine for starters.

Would say a sports bike is a bike optimized for speed in rather than comfort etc.
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yzf r125 [SOLD] sv650 [CURRENT]

[Im-a-Ridah]

It's relative for the time period, and personal option, obviously

I'd suggest the VFR750F is a sports tourer. I'd also class pre 2003 ish perhaps ZX6R as sports tourers.

The pan is a fat tourer, nothing sports about it.

[Copycat73]

they were quite often referred to as a sports tourer ... a compromise..
.... probably do most every thing you gonna want of it more than adequately.
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caveat emptor

[Polarbear]

As said, the Pan is a tourer, nothing sports about it.

I would say a sports tourer is a bike capable of approaching sports bike performance but with a more comfortable riding position.

A VFR 750 is the archetypal Sports tourer in my view.

The FJ1200 started life as Yamaha's flagship sports bike but was soon relegated to the sports tourer genre as faster, better handling and more uncomfortable bikes appeared.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[G]

[nightshaddow]

[Derivative]

Imagine the bike on a race track.

Does it look utterly ridiculous? It's not a sports bike. (Pan Euro, Goldwing, most adventure bikes).

Does it look at home? It's probably a sports bike. (fully faired, back breaker position, etcetera).

That's not going to help you with the inbetween cases, but that's basically pedantry anyway. Anything that can do 0-60 in 4 seconds is reasonably sporty.

A CBR125 is fully faired but it'd look like a mini moto on a proper track.

[mr jamez]

For me the VFR is plenty sporty enough, considering the state of the roads round here rock hard suspension isn't much use. The only thing I would say is not at all sporty on the VFR is the brakes, bit of a let down.
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NSR 125F > BROS 400 > NC30 > BROS 400 > Trumpet S4 > '97 VFR 750

[G]

Race bikes are meant to be small.

Look quite appropriate, to me .

https://www.asiatradingonline.com/honda-cbr125-04.jpg

[Dilyan]

Imo, a sports bike is about acceleration and riding position. Should start like a missile and reasonably uncomfortable on a long run (tankful +).
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Current: 2007 VFR800; Ex: 2001 YZF600R Thundercat
Škoda Octavia (yes, a taxi driver)

[G]

I chose the GSXR1000 because it was comfortable.
Also it has similar acceleration off the line to a cruiser*.

* Rocket III.

[Snipet]

Ive recently purchased myself a '97 VFR750, and acording to the insurers its a super sports

https://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/883947_10200929648790555_1355020968_o.jpg

I was always under the impresion that the VFR's were all sport tourers.
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First Bike: Pulse Rage 125cc Second Bike: Kymco KR Sport 125cc Third Bike: Kawasaki ZR7-S 750cc
Forth Bike Honda VFR 750cc Fifth Bike Honda NT650 Deauville Fifth Bike Suzuki GSX650F

[Musketeer]

For me sport bike is a track focused and uncompromised bike.. something like R6, R1, GSXR, ZX10R, ZX6R, newer CBR RR etc.

Sport tourers on the other hand are powerful 600-1200cc faired bikes, with sporty look but less track focused, bigger and comfier.. in this category I would put your VFR750. But other good sport tourer examples are VFR800, Thundercat, Thunderace, ZX12R, Hayabusa, Sprint 1050ST etc. None of them track focused, but with raw power and speed combined with good road usability.

And there is also something in between i.e. some older 600-1100cc bikes that used to be classed as sport and now more like sports tourers. Probably ZX-6R F/G/J is something in between a sport tourer and sport as well as they are quite big and comfy on the road compared to modern sport 600s.

But that's how I see things. I'm not an expert.
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[RhynoCZ]

If it's a racer replica or has an R after the number that specifies its displacement or SP (=SportProduction), then you're quite sure it's a sports bike. ZX-R, GPz-R CBR-RR, YZF-R, VTR-SP, GSX-R and so on

It still depends on the era, but I think that the R or SP is quite determining. I'd say high performance and hi-tech is what says SPORTSBIKE at any era
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[G]

[Derivative]

[G]

[FirebladeRuss]

I guess I'd considered my Fazer thou as a sports tourer.

The newer FZ1 fully fared looks quite "in between" as well.
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[UnspeedySam]

I consider my 2001 ZX6R a comfortable sports bike that I am happy touring on. Some may consider it a sports tourer because modern sports bikes seem to have shrunk in the wash and become a lot harder and more focused. Basically it's all down to opinion.
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[map]

FWIW a lot of the bigger bikes start out labelled as 'sports'.
Then as technology, style, trends etc. overtake them they get labelled as 'sports tourer'.

My definition would be a sports bike has to be track focused. You know the sort, as seen on the racing circuits but with headlights and indicators.
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[TheBikerStig]

What typically defines a sports bike is that its fast. Or at least fast for its category. In motoring sport usually involves some form of racing and therefore speed is obviously desirable.
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I am usually naked when posting to this forum.

[Teflon-Mike]

Once upon a time, people made 'a motorbike'...
https://motors-bay.com/img/Ariel/ariel10.jpg
There you go.
What do you mean you want something more 'sporty'?
OK... well, if you go talk to Old Bert down in stores he may have some lumpy cams and a bigger carb knocking about!
You wanna do Trials?
OK, go talk to George in the work-shop. Chap with black face and goggle eyes. He can knock you up a high level pipe for it.
That's how it worked.
You had, Trials-Bikes; standard bikes stripped chopped and adapted for the sport; or you had Race Bikes, that were standard bikes stripped chopped and adapted for that sport.
First real specialisation in biking was probably the speed-way bike; stripped to nothing, and when they started chucking the gearboxes away often getting special frames.
"Sports" evolved though, and through the 50's Trials became the three branches of dirt riding, Enduro, Scrambling and Trials; Road-Racing branched out, endurance racing, short circuits, closed roads, while hill-climbing, a spin off of (old) trials very early on, developed sprinting & drag racing.
Specialisation had begun. BUT, by and large, you still bought a regulation 'standard' motorcycle then adapted it for your chosen sport.
1950's, on the wave of new consumerism and increased disposeable income, people were getting well into 'sports' and bikes particularly enjoyed a swell in popularity.
Trials was the most accessible and popular, and probably the earliest to see the factory's offer customers 'Trials Replicas'.
Had started in perhaps the 1930's where the Brit Factories has started offering variants of the standard models as either race-replicas or trials replicas.
1950's though saw the US market demand ever more specialised 'sporting' replicas, and the hopped up road bikes of the era started departing more significantly from the 'standard' model, which now, left bereft of any other title had to really be called a "Road-Bike" to distinguish it from Trials Replicas, Road-Race Replicas, Scramblers, and Street-Scramblers!
Diversification had happened, and the Japanese manufacturers assidiousely assaulted every possible 'niche' market.

But, perhaps not that quickly. The dirt-bike genre departed from the standard street bike fairly early, as long travel suspension was evolved for them, and the 'Street-Scrambler' became a more descreet genre.

The 'standard' motorcycle was still a single or twin cylinder machine; and differences between those with more touring leanings, or sporting pretentions tended to be slight. Size or number of carburettors, heght of the handlebars, and perhaps some engine differences like the cam profile or valve sizes.

Late 60's; things all changed with the advent of the 'Super-Bike'; Hondas immortal CB750-'Four' coming along and fundementally changing the game.

Still, fairly concervative, a regular 'Road-Bike', though, with less scope for adaptation towards other specialisations other than perhaps racing or touring.

Captivating the American market though, the 750-Four was soon customised by owners, seeing them given barfn door wind-jammer fairings and hard luggage for touring, or stripped down and 'Cafe-Racered' for sporting use, or even hacked about to make choppers...

And by the late 70's; the factories, though not so much Honda were making varients of thier 'Standard Street' bike, in pre-customised guises.

Kawasaki Z1000 came in many; They offered a version with ape-hanger handlebars and stepped king & queen seat, a precursor to the modern cruiser, then called a US-Custom. A version with a barn door fairing, and boxes, that was the favouirite of American coppas, and actually spawned a solo seat 'police' model; as well as the standard street-bike and the Lawson Super-Bike race-replica.

1984.... America was grumbling at the weight of Japanese imports, and muttering about 'emmission controls', as a back-door way to kurb the techno marvels from Japan.... but it rather back-fired and convinced them to ever more high technology.

And this is where we get to the VFR750's ancestry.

Because the CB750 had remained pretty much a 'standard Road Bike'. But its air-cooled engine was unlikely to meet tighter US emmission controls, and water cooling was seen as the way forwards..... only the wide accross the frame four cyclinder engines were already grumbled at for being too wide, and the crank-cases having to be lifted, raising the centre of gravity precariousely to get any decent ground clerance from them.

Honda's answer was to make a water cooled V-Four. Half the width of a four, it could be water cooled without becoming undult wide or compromising ground clerance.... that was the theory... and after making much about it being the way forward, was utterly refuted by the new water cooled Kawasaki GPz600 & 900R's of only a few months later..... which went onto sales success, while the VF750 flopped in a heap of knackered cams and cam-chains!

Suzuki, meanwhile, without the mega-corp resources of either had adopted a different route, and re-invented a little old technology, and adapted thier hardy air-cooled fours, giving them a big oil cooler and some nifty jets to get the heat out of the engine through that, without having to go fully water cooled. And to promote the idea, took it endurance racing.... then offered a very close 'replica' of thier endurance racer to the buying public. The GSXR had arrived. Ironically it was to become the back-bone of the Street-Fighter movement, devolving the factory-Race-Replica back into a standard road-bike, when the GSXR had been the ultimate conclusion to owners taking standard road bikes and evolving them into Cafe-Racers.... but still!

[b]VF750![/b] It was a 'Standard-Street-Bike' sold with the intension it was a pretty useful alround, but slightly 'sporty' motorcycle out the crate, you could than adapt to better suit your needs. Bikes were still more usually every day means of transport, so it had to be every day useable. Only it wasn't. It had a habbit of chucking its cams and cam-chains!

750 capacity, was legacy of the 750-four. It was seen as that bikes direct replacement. And that bike had defined the capacity as a class.

Kawasaki's Z1 and Z1000 had defined a new one, that of the litre bike; and Honda offered a big bore version, the VF1000F for that class, which didn;t so suffer such cam-catastrope's but still suffered by association. This was also designed as an every day, all-round 'sporting' Street-Standard motorcycle.... probably a little more inclined on the touring side, the thing was rather hard work to try hustling through bends, though capable enough.

And the VF1000 was the basis of a Honda 'Homologation Special' open class Endurance / F1 / Superbike racer; to replace the CB900R... This was to be the VF1000R, which got aluminium frame, full fairing and a few tweeks in the engine to make an out the crate class leading 140bhp.... just as the Super-Bike rules were changed to drop the capacity cieling to 750cc!

But, it was the Daddy of the VFR750F, 'Standard (sporty) street-Bike, that followed the VF750, gaining an aluminium frame like the 1000R and its innovative gear driven cams.... to stop them making a bid for freedom via the sump oil. The VFR750R or RC30 'homologation special', an outright race bike made in just the required number to qualify as a production bike, was the VF1000R's imediete successor and the 'Race Replica'.

Backing up to the GSXR750 & 1100; those bikes, set the trend for full-on, all out track-bikes for the road. Early watercooled GPz's were like the VF & VFR sporting street-bikes, not full on track specials with lights, and to some degree, when Yamaha cought up with the FZR's, even they weren't the full on uncompromising track-specials they pretended at the time.

Cult of the 'Race Replica', however, directed the evolution of the sports road bike, down an avenue towards ever more full on track-bikes with token lights, through the 1990's.

Popularity of the VFR750, came then from its older virtues of more alround usefulness, making it a more 'freindly' road bike, and attractive to people that wanted more from thier biking, without it being a boring commuter or lardy tourer. And becoming a top seller, and actually defining a new class of 'sports-tourer'. And that, and Honda's pride in not wanting to admit that they had effed up in the 'V-Four Concept' kept the bike in the catalogues.

And possibly a little ironically; helped create the modern genre of 'Naked' or 'Street-Bike' suggested by people asking for more 'traditional' motorcycles, without having to buy a cruiser, or making them, chopping broken fairings of Gixxers, and making street-fighters; initially promoting the Yamaha Fazers, then the Kawasaki and Honda 'Retro's, before we got things like the Hornet.

SO! Long way there.... the VFR750 was originally an ordinary "Street-Bike"... an every day all-round motorcycle with a little sporting pretension, mostly to be aquired from association with teh RC30 Race-Special.

It became the benchmark, for the new class of 'Sports-Tourer' as this evolved around the pre-existing VFR and other more old fashioned machines like the FJ1200.... (Come on; show your age! How many of you remember the FJ11 appearing in the magazines, along side the GSXR11 as an open class full sports bike? Maybe along side a Guzzi Le-Mans and a BMW R90S in a group test!)

So its both, a 'Street-Bike' and bench-mark "Sports-Tourer"... but generally..... VFR... encapsulates all it is in just three letters!
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[biker7]

Clip on bars, an 'R' after(or before) the name, good power to weight ratio, light and compact, sticky tyres etc. Some say they are uncomfortable but as you move around a lot in the seat , you don't really have time to get comfy. Sneered at by cruiser riders Too focussed for sports tourer fans. Targets for cops. All that's bad and wonderful about biking. Sports bikes - I love 'em.
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Fat Bob (2019)

[CaNsA]