Here in 2025, I can tell you that I've had more than one conversation in recent years about whether Honda's lost its way. Me, I'm clearly a fan of the brand, and I have the VF500F carbs sitting on my workbench to prove it.
But although they'll probably make me tear my hair out, I also can't deny that they're from a time when Honda, as a company, took more weird and wonderful chances than they've done in a while. It's just the facts; if you've been around as long as Honda has, sometimes you take chances, and other times you don't.
I mean, on the one hand, you have Honda's seriously insane stab at oval piston bikes in the NR 500 and NR 750. And of course, the RC30. But on the other, you have an increasingly large number of current models that don't seem to change much but their colors from year to year. Sure, you might like one paint and graphics scheme more than another, but is that excitement? Is that innovation?
