My new owner impressions after 150 miles

First, a disclaimer. I am hopelessly direct about what I like and don't like. Please don't take offense to any of my comments because they are certainly not intended to offend. For those of you who have purchased a 7th gen bike, I did too, so we are all learning together.:VFR1200F:

So I rode the bike today and put another 75 or so miles on it. I was paying a lot more attention to the things that I started to notice the first day out, but didn't want to worry about until checking further. Overall, I still think this is a great bike that does many things well: it's well built, its fast, it has good brakes, has good low speed and high speed handing, doesn't feel like a 600lb bike. Some things that are not so good, at least from an early point of view: It has an interesting paint color, it sounds like a scooter at low speed, it has throttle issues (hopefully this is only mine and not yours).

Throttle
By far, the thing that concerns me most about my VFR is that the throttle control is the worst I have had on any bike, full stop. I won't make assumptions about the throttle by wire, lean burning or whatever might be causing issues, but let me tell you, there are issues. At idle to off idle, everything is fine, open the throttle a 1/4 turn or more, everything is fine. The trouble is, nobody spends much time with the throttle closed or substantially open, in my case, at typical legal speeds it's usually about a 1/4 inch open. What I am experiencing is surging or flatness that is immediately followed by a surge, especially between 2k and 4k rpm. I don't think the problem is rpm related as it can happen at higher revs if the throttle is being opened just a crack. It just doesn't feel like the fuel/air delivery is working right when you are opening the throttle in small amounts. Since I admit to splitting lanes on occasion when commuting, throttle and brake performance matter a lot to me. A throttle that surges is also a nuisance riding with my wife who is now prepared to perform the Heimlich maneuver on me in low speed traffic, but it is a major PITA when inches on either side of me count. I'll keep you posted if the dealer has any ideas when I go in for the 600 mile service on Friday. Grade 'D-' on this

Handling
The suspension is stiff, but I wanted to ride a week or so before I start backing off the spring and damping. That said, the bike feels light when it's rolling and I can ride it very slow without fighting the front end. Grade 'B+' on this

Brakes
So far, I am very happy with the power and the progressive feel of the front brakes. It is on par with the best bikes I have ridden and I only hope it does not change with miles. Grade 'A+' on this.

Engine
I have to confess that I am new to V fours. It's my first, and like some of the Ducs I have ridden, I think it takes a bit of getting used to. That said, this thing has power, lot's of power, and it wants me to let it run, even though I am going easy for a week or two. Apart from my throttle issues, this bike has ideal power delivery, it just keeps pulling harder the farther you let it rev. Very similar to my K12RS in that it pulls like a beast even when you roll it on in top gear. I like that, I like that a lot. Grade 'A'

Exhaust
The exhaust pipe has not grown on me, but i am much more of a function over form guy. What I think is bizzare is that it hit me today that i had heard similar sounds from a motorized bike some years ago. My dad gave me a Honda 250 scooter that had quit running and I wrenched it back into shape and sold it. Damned if it didn't sound similar at low speed and not just the exhaust note (more on this below). I opened it up enough to just let the second port open and thought it sounded like someone snoring, with their mouth wide open. I didn't wind it up past 7k, but I am sure it will make better noises when ridden in anger. I'm looking foward to that and I won't offer a grade until I get the panties off of it and can flog it a bit.

Drivetrain
As I would have expected, the shaft drive works as well as other modern bikes, but it does make a bit a whirring noise (so did the scooter). It also has more lash than I expected and combined with the power pulses from the motor, I learned that you just don't slow down without downshifting into an appropriate gear or pulling in the clutch or you will hear some un-musical noises. I am watching a bit of lubricant that seems to be very lightly spattering the inside of the rear wheel, but i am not going to worry about this until after a couple of cleanings and the break in service Grade 'C'.

Transmission
I am used to heavier shifting bikes, so this transmission feels fine to me. It is not the trans of a 600 or an R1, but it works fine if you pay attention to balancing the power and the clutch.
Grade 'B'

Paint
I am fine with red, though I would have preferred something other than scooter red which is what the metallic flake makes it look like. My daughter will think it is pretty and will probably find it in a nail color. The paint quality looks good and I pity the body shop that has to try paint matching it. Grade 'subjective'

Fit Finish
This is the first bike I have seen that really goes to some trouble to clean up the joints between outer AND inner panels. Have you looked around your fork tubes? It's smooth surfaces in there. No wires dangling, just plastic fastners holding everything together. I think that may be a good thing, but I'm sorry, I just can't help saying once again that it looks like some of the Honda scooter engineers were brought over to work on the big bike project :wink:
Grade 'B+'


In summary, if I can get improvements made to the throttle issues I am having, I am sure I will put 40k or 50k of good miles on this bike. The bike feels like it has good bones and maybe I will post again at 4k miles or so if you folks have not set fire to me by then for calling parts of our new bike "scooterish".

 

Nice write-up! Interesting about the quirky throttle issues, too.

FWIW, although I have always liked the ST1100/1300 "on paper", every time I've sat on one, it reminds me EXACTLY of a large motor scooter. I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it does.

 

Nice write up, I hope Honda is listing. The 1200 VF is new, bound to have an isssue or two, the two piston shut down and all. (shame on you Honda, we are not children and you don't need to control our need for power). Yeah, I refuse to give it the "R". The lack of HRC heritage show im my eyes. I'm sure this model appeals to some, HAS TO for that price tag you gotta dig something about it. "scooterish"... I like that , glad somone said it who actually bought one... good luck with the bike, hope you find a way to make it the bike it should be.

 

Thanks for the write up. Looking for later updates from you then. Like to know how it does on long trips.

 

Good thread, I've got 300 on mine. I've not noticed a snatchy throttle mind I like a snappy response. What bike have you come off?
My impressions are that it's as quick as the Blackbird I had 4 years ago, I now like the exhaust and won't be replacing it with an aftermarket one and it'd has great build quality. I'm very happy with mine

 

Thanks for the honest and detailed response.

Coming off a recently sold K1200S which had a snatchy throttle (your surging comment) I'm wondering if this is exactly the same thing. Most in the BMW circle claimed it was corrected with a PowerCommander and Dyno map which fixed a lean fuel condition.

Hard to tell but I think that manufactures are still figuring out the throttle by wire on our bikes.

EDIT: v4's are GREAT aren't they?

 

I have ridden a BMW R twin and felt some surging, and while it was noticeable, it was not obtrusive. I have about 350 miles on the clock now and I find that I am really happy so long as I am on the fwy or open road and I'm really sad when I am in city traffic. I just did a fair bit of city driving this morning and I just can't believe that the throttle/engine behavior is as bad as it is on my bike. The best way I can characterize it; when I'm driving at a fixed speed, say 30mph and then want to accelerate gently, I'll start opening the throttle slightly more and the bike will not respond, I can hear the exhaust note has changed, but it's as if the engine is getting more air and no more fuel. If I then open the throttle slightly more, I get a surge as if the fuel injection starts responding abruptly to the fact that, yes, I really do want more fuel. This happens at other speeds and is fairly independent of the rev range though I am usually between 3k - 4k when I notice it most. Damn frustrating. It's such a great motor with respect to power and fwy driving, but it feels like a very poorly tuned, carbureted pig in LA traffic. My attitude is that either I can get this fixed with a month or two of being patient with Honda and letting them try what they want or I'm selling it, in which case maybe I'll try again in 2011 after they get it sorted out. For those of you considering a purchase, I highly recommend you test ride before you sign the bottom line and see if your bike has this issue. Hopefully it's just mine and hopefully the dealer mechanics won't break anything else in the process of trying ot make it better. End rant.

 

I test rode the VFR 1200 when it first came out. I described the throttle response as jerky or twitchy. It was difficult to modulate slowly. Whenever I hit a bump, the reaction at the handlebar had enough twist at my right wrist to jerk the throttle.

Bottom line, your bike is not the only one. Magazine tests have reported this but have not made a big deal of it. I didn't ride enough to determine whether it would be a big deal to me but it certainly raised a flag in my head and made me pay attention for owners' experience in this area. It was the only negative I found during my test ride.

Ron

 

I noticed the same thing on a VFR1200 in the showroom (bike has never been ridden). Very small drops of lubricant on the rear wheel, just like if the wheel was ''sweating''. Anyone experiencing this on their VFR1200? Could this be coming from the shaft?

 

The VFR 1200 I test rode had the same "spray" in the rear wheel. I didn't explore it further, meaning I didn't touch nor try to smear it nor try to feel it. What I saw might could have been brake pad stuff.

 

I am surprised by your comments on the throttle and fit and finish. I have never had a bike with better throttle control and have never seen a sports bike or another bike with fairing with paint as smooth or panel fitment as perfect.

I found the throttle responds to small movement but that just requires more hand control vs other bikes with cables.

mine had a similar issue after I rode it home. I know that if my magnas final drive is slightly overfilled the fluid comes out the vent hole and will drip it could be something similar.

 

Thats very odd mine is like an electric motor ultra smooth throttle response. I just want a PC to remove the EPA mandated lean spot in first and second gear.

 

I find the throttle response sweet, no surging just responds to input.

 

I'm glad your bike is working well, mine still is not. I ordered a 3 axis, data recording accelerometer (cheap investment after I resell it on ebay) to experiment with on my bikes and it will be interesting to see how they compare. I'll post the data when I have it.

 

Now THAT is some serious dedication and/or curiosity! Do you have a plan on how to correlate wrist movement (throttle tube rotation) with accelerometer input?

Actually, never mind the question; I'm sure you'll fill us in after you experiment. I'm looking forward to see what you find out.

 

Why use Ebay? There are dudes right here that will buy that instrumentation just so they say they have it.

I wonder who will be first of the 1200 owners to get the weight of the bike into the 900+ lb range.