Looking to buy: Any tips or Advice?

I recently moved across the country from Colorado to Florida and in doing this i brought my 2007 KTM 450exc with me, when i was in colorado i really enjoyed the bike because most of the areas i rode were dirt or hard packed clay, so i ran dual sport tires on the bike year around and enjoyed it to heck, since moving to Florida i have found that there are VERY few places to really ride outside of 1 national park thats 2hrs from me and a few motorcycle parks that cost money to ride at every time i want to go there, so i bought a set of supermoto tires and rims to convert my bike to a more sportier bike to make it easier to ride on the roads to ride with other street rider groups around here, but i have found that i am nervous most of the time riding with groups, they typically ride on roads that have posted speeds of 55+ and most of the time do faster than those posted speeds so i really am having to ring my bike out to keep up and at those speeds on such a light weight bike the wind pushes me all over the road... so i am nervous half the ride riding and the enjoyment of riding is just not as fun as it could be.. in colorado i would take multiday trips on fire roads and camp overnight along the way, ya i can still do that down here but its to hot most of the year to do it so i feel like a touring bike would better suit me for year around riding..

I know nothing about the bikes, i went up to a local bike store to look at some used bikes they had and the VFR800 really stood out to me when i asked him which bikes he had that are decent touring bikes, the guy said the VFR is like a 80% street/20% fireroad type of bike leaning heavily toward street.. the one i looked at today is more than likely not going to be the one i possibly purchase, because it was a 2006 with 48k on the clock and they wanted $4k for it, i found a few slightly older models with far less miles around the same price or actually cheaper within 150 miles of me.. i think monday i may travel about an hour to look at one of those...

Basically i was curious what tips or advice i should know looking at one of these, i am leaning on the VFR over other sport touring bikes because just from a few quick googles the motor seems to be very reliable since im finding used ones for sale with 60-100k on the clock...

*i Contacted my insurance company today and got quotes on a bunch of different bikes i looked at yesterday, i am glad i did because the VFR seems to be a very affordable bike to insure surprisingly...based on the insurance prices i was curious what years you recommend i target over others?? are the 1200 better than the 800?

just to post it, these are the quotes i got from my insurance today
2001 Honda VFR800 161.43/yr Full Coverage
2003 Honda VFR800 187.01/yr Full Coverage
2006 Honda VFR800 222.39/yr Full Coverage
2010 Honda VFR1200 388.08/yr Full Coverage
2008 Kawi Concourse 390.71/yr Full Coverage
2011 Kawi 1000Z 815.44/yr Full Coverage
2008 Yamaha R6 911.03/yr Full Coverage
2008 Yamaha R1 1437.19/yr Full Coverage

 

Hi welcome to the crazy world of VFR owners + When I read this I got a chuckle, 80% street 20% fire road? I don't know what there they call a fire road there, but here I would't take a VFR on no stinking fire road, can they? Meh... any bike can do anything to a point, thing is the VFR isn't a light weight and nimble for lots of gravel. Even then the tires will make up some of that diff, I'd look at the cross runner, that one may be a better choice, same engine. or better yet the African twin. O la-la Just saying that comment caught my eye, I'd say VFRs of the norm are 90% street 5% track and 5% hooligan poser. but I know a few here that wouldn't stop when they saw gravel, but again they aren't so much an adventure bike say like the KTM or BMW are.

 

Welcome storx, good luck on your search. ...typical salesman not knowing what he's talking about.

 

That salesperson is such a liar. Everyone knows the VFR is best suited for tight twisty roads and triple jumps not fire roads.

 

You're going to get some heavily biased views here, asking about the merits of the different VFR's!

IMO the 5th gen is the sweet spot, you get a (slightly) simpler and more reliable motor with gear drive cams, similar performance, and bit lighter compared to the 6th gen you were going to look at. Hands down the 6th is a better looking machine and has slightly better forks, but is more complex and heavier. Either model is a great sort touring bike.

From 2006 the 6th gen bike had some electrical improvements, and some will be ABS-equipped. All VFR's suffer from occasional electrical woes but these aren't usually expensive to rectify, mechanically (aside from occasional cam chain tensioners) they're as good as it gets.

 

Last time I did a triple in my VFR I hit it head on. NOT GOOD! I realize that some of you guys are great riders, but personally I will stick to doubles from here on out.

 

The sales dude spotted you for a noob and did know what he was saying. If you asked for that same BS in writing or somewhere anywhere in print, it would be a whole new story. What ya learned is where not to shop for a bike or any bike.

Insurance is regulated on a state to state basis usually by an insurance commission or similar moniker. More homework on this one for better rates. I'm in Oregon.. I use a National outfit for my bike insurance. My Broker was in TX and is now in CA. Washington state does not require motorcycle insurance. IMO a local insurance rep will have all this stuff in writing.. if you can translate Cuneform to Chinese to legalese you'll be just fine especially if you bring your own really big magnifying glass.

 

Well guys, i think i may have experienced the wiring gimmicks of the bike today without ever owning one, went down to a local dealership that has a fairly clean one with a custom paint job of blue skulls added over the oem color, bike started up fine let it warm up, the gas very very low, so we rode it over to service so they could put a gallon of gas into the bike, then they let me take the bike on test drive, i got about 3 miles from the dealership and was just about to turn around and head back when the bike just died at the light i was sitting at.. was soooo embarrassing because the bike would not start and everyone was honking at me as i tried to push the bike across 3 lanes to get out of the road.. that bike is no slouch when needing to push it by hand.. anyways i tried numerous times to try and start the bike, it wouldn't do anything but flicker the headlights... thought maybe the solenoid was bad because it was buzzing when trying to start the bike, so i pulled the seat and tried to jump the bike with a key, but it wouldn't do anything.. had to wait for the dealer to bring a trailer to come pick me up.. they they tried to sell the bike to me at half the sticker price basically once i got back...

 

You bought it right? Sounds like a steal, maybe the battery wasn't charged, easy fix for half off.

 

no i did not buy it, the battery was def not the issue because when we got back to the dealership, they thought the same thing that maybe the charging system was not able to keep the battery topped off and when they tested the battery it was perfect on voltage, they even connected a jump box to the battery to see if it would start that way with no change.. if i knew the issue was an easy fix then i would think about it, but not knowing the cost of the repair is what bothers me, i rather ride then work on a new bike...

I did look at a FZ09 they had on the lot, but they wouldnt let me test ride it because it was apparently a consignment sale with specific directions that it was not to be test ridden since it had ultra low miles on the bike.. the bike felt really good when i sat on it in regards to posture.. may look into finding one to test ride tell i can find another vfr800 to look at, the next closest one listed for sale is 4hr drive, which im not interested in doing, im in no hurry to buy so i have time to wait for more to pop up...

 

Just out of curiosity what was the bike price after the 1/2 off? I'd offer $1500 for it since at that price you could part it out and get most of your money back in the worst case scenario.

 

A running bike that just stopped and won't restart, was it cranking over? if not it is a starter issue, providing the battery and solonoid are ok, if cranking over and not starting it is a spark problem. I wouldn't think these were major issues but a good dealership would have a mechanic on hand so he should have been able to diagnose where the problem was fairly quickly

 

It was a little mom and pop motorcycle shop, so it wasn't like a Honda or Kawi dealer with trained professionals probably

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

$2k for a 2006? How did the body look? Had it been down? Was it near the ocean or the bay?, salt air can cause corrosion in electrical connections, could be a simple fix or simply a bad switch. If it sounded good and drove OK while it ran, then there potential for a great buy. 48K on VFR engines is not a big issue as long as the rest of the bike doesn't look abused.

Even it bought and just took it to a good mechanic, you would be $$$$$$ ahead.

 

The body looked good, I seen no evidence that the bike had ever been wrecked.... the blue skull flames were air brushed onto the body, not really all my cup of tea but didn't look terrible...the test ride it rode decent, initial throttle in was a little off, seemed like you couldn't give it to much throttle right away or it stumbked, but if you rolled into slower it ran perfect....think that may be stale gas

 

Whoa... SMH what ever, offer them 1k or run the other way, god knows what else is lurking under the paint.

 

Storx, where you at?
Check out searchtempest.com
Shows all craiglist and ebay listings.
If there mechanic couldn't get it started..
Glad ya walked

 

I know a GREAT Sport Tourer complete with bags and a bunch of extras. Looks fantastic, well cared for, and comfortable one or two up. A little older, but still very desirable.

http://vfrworld.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=6436&title=1993-vfr-sport-touring-bike&cat=1

Larry

 

Wow, thats a whole lot of money for an older bike.

 

Yes, it is.

Find another anywhere that is as sorted and optioned as this and in this condition!

Thought someone was bike shopping?

Larry