Honda VFR 1200 Automatic.

Hetzer · Super Spammer Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Karma :

I was ferrying a few bikes around for Gedges today and one of them was the afore-mentioned machine. What a steaming pile of cack. It never revs past 3000rpm before it changes up (red-line beyond 10k) and is consequently always in too high a gear until it gets going at a decent speed. Which means the motor is always juddering. It had a paddle-shifter mode but I didn't try that (two paddles where the clutch-lever should be).

I did get to put in a good few miles on the latest Blade too...I thought my RR7 had an un-compromising position, and felt small, but bugger me, this thing was like being a hunched-up rabbit sitting on top of a doodlebug. But damn...fast?! Shocked

And the induction-growl, louder than most loud pipes, especially when cranked hard over in a corner and it bounces back from the tarmac. But my lower back started to twinge after a few miles and my wrists weren't going to take more than an hour or so. Mental machine but too small and contorting for anyone taller than a marmoset. Laughing

Cool stories etc.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

carvell · Scuttler Joined: 05 Sep 2003 Karma :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvli-uU8NTw

A review there, in-case people are interested (I was).
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Yamaha TDM 850

Polarbear · Super Spammer Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :

I test rode the non auto VFR1200 and wasn't that impressed either, although the fact I think it's as ugly as sin didn't help me to like it.
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Victory Cross Country American tractor.

Hetzer · Super Spammer Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Karma :

Ah, it looks like it has a sports-mode. I did see that on the button and meant to ask but got distracted when he started showing me how to activate the paddle-shifter system (which went in one ear and out the other). Obviously that would allow the engine to rev higher before shifting gear.

Still not for me though. While I didn't make the mistake of blipping the throttle while slowing down from high speed I did miss it, it felt horribly alien. Would I get used to if if forced to ride it extensively? Probably. But it would still suck. Laughing

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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"