I just joined this site recently and want to express my appreciation for the warm reception I have received. Of all the motorcycles I have owned this is the first time I have felt like I belong to the right family, if you will. Your help and advise has been beyond my expectations. I have been struggling with the pain in my back and neck riding my 02 vfr but I feel that I must find a way to resolve those issues because I want to continue to be an active participant in this group. By the way, I am going to spend the money to try to get the riding position acceptable to my back and neck. My spine specialist says he feels if I can ride more upright I should be able to continue to ride this bike.
Welcome to the community, cirv. Glad you chose to join us here. You could try bar risers to help posibbly reduce/eliminate your back and neck issues. Heli Bars and Gen Mar risers come to mind.
Might I suggest that as well as tweaking the vfr you attempt to somewhat tweak your body. Exercises can help and with time the muscles needed to ride the vfr will strengthen if used consistently. Go for more short rides for awhile (pain is not good).
Hey, welcome you'll like this place.. just a suggsetion, also fun too, is go try other bikes out to see just what your up aginest. also not kidding cause I went and saw one made a lot of difference, could be you just need to see a physical therapist to straighten ya out or maybe a Chircpator and or a real good massage therapists as well. worth there wait in gold if they're really good..
welcome to the group. I have a lot of back pain also. My regimen consists of exercising at least 3times a week with abs at least 2 of those, back at least once (traps/lats). I try to remember good sitting posture when in a chair but mine is usually awful (hence the pain). When on the vfr I slide all the way forward to the tank and arch my back for a while to stretch and try to keep it fairly sttraight when I ride. I still find myself hunching over sometimes, but all in all I do much better than I would on a pure sports bike with clipons.
I have the same problems you do with the back (herniated disc) and neck. My solution was to put Helibars and a slightly taller screen on. The small increase in height made a lot of difference to my back. It is not perfect but I can live with it a lot more easily. I am 5'11" by the way. I found with the extra height I needed a bit more wind protection because I was getting hammered by the wind at higher speed. Went with the Zerogravity Sport Touring screen. I find the higher screen helps the neck because there is less wind pressure on the head. I can now tolerate much longer in the saddle:smile: . I still have to stop and stretch more often than most but overall a lot better. I can't do really long runs but they are hell in a car to. I also find if I concentrate on keeping my back straight it helps. Another thought is to go with a lighter helmet. I am going to switch to a Shoei or the like which are more expensive but noticebly lighter as my present helmet is getting toward the end of its life. Just have to scrape up the cash. If I am forced to give up the viffer I will probably go with an ST1300 but I am not there yet and resisting. I just like the viffer to much.
