That’s a cracking looking Rf 
Thanks. It needed a bit of work and the carbs were a real mess. I just need to book an MOT now.
WOW very nice condition
Looks like an RG with the gold coloured top triple clamp and twin headlamps. But has the RF paintscheme and European “larger tank” fitted.
Nice machine though..!
Smithy.
Pretty sure the uk and european RFs in blue white and red had the gold top yoke.. the American RF in red white and blue had black top yoke
Yes, I’m a bit confused Brett as it was first registered new in the UK in 1988. Maybe they just weren’t selling back then?
OK, thanks. That’s good then. I have all the paperwork for it going back to new as the previous and only owner was or still is one of the Directors of the Honda Dealer - Bridge Motorcycles in Exeter (UK)
Hi Robert,
Quite a few of these bike hung around in the dealerships for quite some time due to the bad press the vf range received over the cam issues, I beleive honda even discounted some of them to move them on
Yes Robert, some of them sat around unsold for years, too expensive I’d suggest, I remember when I was in my early 20’s and wandered into my local Honda dealer and saw the '84 RE for the first time, I knew I wanted one but there was no way I could ever afford one, they were pretty much the same cost as a normal family car at the time…there’s talk of some being sold very late, well into the 1990’s. This is where a lot of the year model “confusion” happens I suspect…some people take the “first registration date” as being the year model of their bike, (the data plate affixed to the frame usually has the “build” date on it)…but we all know they were essentially only produced for 3 model years… '84RE, '85RF & '86RG, there was a little “overlapping” but exact production dates vary depending on where we read them. As an example, the '84RE was produced from March of '84 through to April of '85 for some country deliveries, which confuses a lot of the model designation. Another thing which is not really known is the total amount of each model…I know there were only 3298 '84 VF1000RE’s destined for delivery to Australia and New Zealand going by the list of frame numbers I have…many of these were then destined for racing duties during the mid '80’s but sadly the R’s proved to not be a good race bike…too heavy and ponderous to be really competitive. The FE was actually a better race bike depending on the track and rider, much lighter with similar power and suspension.
As I understand it, there are less than 75 registered '84RE’s left in Australia that I’m aware of. There could be more, there could be less, there’s no real way to know without scouring the registration database, getting access to that is proving near impossible. There may also be many unused/unregistered bikes stored in sheds and garages that we don’t know about…no way of knowing how many of them are about either.
Smithy.
Dear Robert!
This bike is a fully original european RF. Big tank, twin headlamps, golden triple clamp, silver bars an levers, red mirrors, oil cooling (I guess). Also the extension of the rear fender exist (very rare).
Never seen a european RF in this perfect condition.
Andreas
Thank you Andreas,
Yes, I guessed it would be, as it was owned by my local Honda dealer from new. To be honest, he probably bought it for himself in 1988 because he couldn’t sell it.
I remember back to 1989 when the Hesketh I had then broke on way down to Plymouth. A friend lent me his RF while the Hesketh engine was being rebuilt. I was devastated when the Hesketh got fixed and I had to give the RF back!
Such a wonderful bike then and still is!