Looking for advice on purchase

I haven't been on a bike in 22 years. My last experience quite frankly scared me off them ( VFR750 with turbo + cheater bottle.... I didn't know about the bottle until AFTER I accidentally hit the go switch).
Anyway, enough about that....

I am torn between settling down on a cruiser to make the wife happy, although she says she wants no parts of the back seat of a bike.... or getting a VFR dressed out with saddlebags to allow me to do mild touring trips.

Most of my riding will be to/from work and pleasure rides. I'm not looking for topspeed, as I have a turbo'd sports car that will get me arrested easy enough with a lower chance for a serious injury if in an accident. Handling and ride characteristics are important. The VFR on paper and in person appears to fill the bill quite well.

I guess I want to know the difference in price (about $2k) from a 1300cc cruiser to the VFR will be a better investment.

I realize this isn't a cruiser or all bike forum, so you could say I'm leaning in the direction of the VFR already. If anyone has words of wisdom that might sway my opinion in either direction just feel free to post.

Thanks for your advice.

 

I was in the same position you are now earlier this year and did not find this site until after I made the decision. In fact I was trying to set up a time to go pick see an bring home a M50 when he decided to trade it in on the last Vstrom his local dealer had in stock. So the search began anew. He actually did me a favor. I had always loved the look and characteristics of the VFR's and found one probably for less than the M50 would have cost me. In retrospect I don't know what I was thinking. I have always been a sportbike rider, although older and wiser one now, and always will prefer/have more fun riding it than a cruiser. The nice thing is now we have the internet and boards like this to help us with any issues and gives us community. Now that I have been here a few months I have already lowered the bike so I can flat foot it, changed to a K&N filter, Heli bars, ZG DB windscreen and Sargent seat making the bike much more comfortable than when I got it stock and as comfortable as any cruiser, and a lot more fun.

The other thing I forgot about when considering getting one versus the other is seating position: Much like not wanting to get rid of my P/U for a car as the ride height and visibility is much better on the VFR.

Hope this helps as someone who can relate to your situation. And welcome to a great site.:strong:

 

Wlvrine,

My VFR is my second bike. My first was a very sweet Shadow Vt1100 ACE Tourer. I enjoyed it thoroughly and put 30,000 miles on it, 16,000 of those in 4 long tours. I bought the VFR with the goal of touring on it. I have 6,500 on it this year, including one 3.500 mile tour, and I find the sport bike position much nicer than the legs-in-front-of-you, sit-on-your-tail position of the cruiser. I think I am more in control on the sport bike. (Think of all your coaches telling you to be on the balls of your feet, shoulders square, head up, knees bent, ready--that is exactly where the VFR puts you.) I hit a few patches of ugly road construction on my most recent multiday ride, and it was no where as unnerving as it would have been on the cruiser. And I rode 440 miles in the a cold rain, and I the bike handled beautifully. I don't push it like some folks here are able to do, but I think it is a great all around bike.

 

I have a co-worker pushing me towards the infamous 'Busa or ZX-14.
He says I'll just want to upgrade to bigger after I get my feet wet again.
I don't feel I'll need to go bigger. The only benefit of bigger is more ability to carry 2 (neither me nor my wife are 'college' sized anymore).
The Zuki and Saki both offer a lower seat height which is critical for my wife as she is only 5'4", but now that I read that lowering the VFR is possible......
I'm uniformad as to all of the mods available for the VFR. I feel comfortable is saying that VFR mods are like Subaru mods... Available, but not as cheap as the mass produced honda & nissan parts.
The VFR appeals to me for nostalgic reasons, as well as the fact that not every wheelie, stoppie stunt testosterone junkie has one. The streets here are FULL of CBR, Ninjas, GSXR, and Busa's. I relish in being different.

Thank you for the advice.

If there are some solid vendors you have worked with on the mods and parts, please share them too.

 

Surprisingly the mods are not what I would considered expensive if you are willing to do the work yourself. Most of it is not difficult and witht the resources here can be easily handled. Lowering was free, Helis $220, Sargent seat $320. Not sure what K&N cost as it was part of an overall maintenance when I first bought it.

Helis I bought through Kia here under a group buy, Sargent through Sandhills Powersports on web.

I think the VFR is the perfect all around bike depending on where you are. If it is real hilly and you are 2up then maybe with full luggage you might want more, again depending on your current non-college frames. Riding alone I don't think you'll ever wish for bigger IMHO.

Warning: One last thing, this board does cause addiction and could cost you a lot of money in mods if here often.

 

Just buy a VFR, you won't regret it. I've owned mine for 11 years now and LOVE it. I can put 5-600 miles a day on it (did it last weekend) and get on it the next day and do it again. The ergos are better than most sportbikes, and let's face it, that engine sounds AWESOME!

 

Well I had a stock 750. The turbo bike with spray was a loaner from a mechanic. Needless to say I turned on the nitrous without knowing about it. Quite a shocking surprise.