This was my first sportbike. I traded a 1974 Gibson Flying V and $100 for her in July, 1988 to a college friend of mine, Ben. Ben had some issues and needed to unload the bike. I was more than HAPPY to take it! This bike symbolized FREEDOM to me. I logged 10K plus miles on her, and was sad and bit nostalgic when I sold her a year later in July, 1989.

I earned my wings on this girl. In my opinion, STILL one of the best and most forgiving beginner's bike out there. She handled as if on rails. If I had a more powerful bike at the time, I might not be here today. She would never let you get in over your head. I wore out two sets of Dunlop K-591's in a year on her. At the time, I felt those tires provided the best overall performance for the "Baby V". It's 11.0:1 compression and 68 horsepower motor produced plenty of power, but not TOO much power. Original cost? $3,398

Earliest photo of this bike I know of. Ben is standing
to the right of it. The occasion? Our band "Free Beer"
was playing a Delta Chi frat party. Note the beer cup
on the gas tank. Ah, those were the days!!!! Ben still
owned her at this time. - March 1988

Imitating the famous "Cycle" and "Motorcyclist"
magazine covers of the day. -October 1988

Being extremely squidly with one of my best friends
Ford Kellogg. Yeah, the keg was empty, but we filled
it later that day! -October 1988

I did no mods whatsoever on this bike, even though I dreamed of it. Being a poor college student, there was no way of affording it. I kept her stock, except for the huge amount of maintenance needed when I first bought her. New tires, chain and sprockets maxed my credit card out right away. I decided right then and there that I was going to learn how to do ALL of the work on my own bike. $40 per hour labor at the time was a lot of money.

In my buddy Scott's apartment. Scott taught me
the nuances of riding hard and the reward of a
cold liter of Guinness Stout afterward!
-February 1989

I really miss this bike sometimes.

In front of Scott's apartment at
the University of Northern Colo.
-March 1989

I feel fortunate to have owned one of these in it's prime. It blew away the old Kawasaki GPz 305s and 550s, and stomped the Kawasaki EX 500s too! Still a great bike to try out if you can find one. If you want to beef it up a bit, you will have to comb the continents for old HRC VFR400 parts from Japan. They were raced extensively there, and used a lot of the same chassis and engine bits.