Of all the bikes I have owned, Black Betty II, my 1994 VFR750, was the best. When looking for a bike to replace the blue VFR (written off in the freak hailstorm on Mount Ousley) it eventually came down to a choice between two 750s.
One was a red one that had been heavily modified. It was on the floor at Western Motorcycles in Penrith. No doubt copious amounts of money had been spent getting it to the state that was in, but the fact that someone had fiddled with it so much was a bit off-putting. I tended to feel (and I still do) that stock is best and that, if I want to add farkles, I’d prefer to do it myself so at least I would know what had been done.
The other bike was a black 750, private sale from a gentleman in Springwood in the Blue Mountains. It was stock except for a Staintune high pipe and was also reasonable mileage (around 50k, if I recall).
After looking at both bikes, Paul and I retired to a local coffee shop to consider the options. The coffee was nice and the decision looked like a pretty easy one. So I rang the owner from the coffee shop, agreed on a price and arranged to come back on the weekend and take delivery.
I wasn’t sorry, the bike was everything I hoped it would be and lots more besides.
Here it is in the owner’s driveway. I rode it home with Paul tailing me in the car and so began a wonderful relationship. One thing that was amazing about it was that it was the only gloss black VFR I had ever seen. Most popular colour for the 4th Gen is red and then followed by dark blue and teal blue. So it was quite a surprise when I was riding home from a trip up the Pass and I came upon another black one just out on the main road near my house. I chased the rider and flagged him down and we took some photos of our pigeon pair.
Sadly, the relationship with BBII came to an abrupt and painful end when I encountered a semi trailer on my side of the road on Macquarie Pass in October 2010. The bike was a write-off (so, nearly, was I) and I never saw it again.
I guess everyone has a favourite, BBII was mine. Oh, the feature photo at the top is of BBII parked in the car park at Pie In the Sky on the old Pacific Highway.
