First commute to work

I also keep a spare Rectifer Relay, tire plug kit, H4 Bulb and tools with me year round. Forgot to mention but a good backpack is worth the investment and bungee net.

 

Kevin,

I've commuted on a bike daily for the past 20 years. I currently have about a 40 mile commute. Others have already given you great advice. A few more short pointers:

- Visibility is the name of the game. Bright reflective vest if not already part of your jacket / suit.
- Get good riding gear and always wear it. Either inherently waterproof or have rain gear available to put over. Cold and wet is a good way to get careless / hurt.
- Ride like you're invisible. Constantly relook / adjust your lane position to avoid the errant cager.
- Treat all intersections with great respect. Slow down and be aware.
- Even without the add-on flasher you mentioned, you can manually flash your brakes to aid visibility from the rear. Every time I brake, I grab the brake quickly a couple times to flash the brake lights before holding the lever in.

You'll get more road-savvy as you get more miles under your belt. No substitute for experience.

 

I could not agree more. Along those lines, you would be surprised the difference a Headlight Modulator makes. I have one that I use when traffic is really heavy and I split lanes. They are legal in all 50 states and the cagers part like the red sea.

However, you do get some weird reactions to them as well so I just use them when splitting and at other times but not all the time. I also use them when approaching a left turn Larry. I just turn them on until I pass him. If I'm in areas with lots of roads/shops that people can pull out of I turn them on. Basically I use them as a defensive measure.

 

One common swap with the 5G VFR for lower bars is to install some VTR1000 Superhawk bars. I went with those when I first got my VFR since I was used to lower bars also. The '93 has the same size forks but I don't know if there would be clearance issues with the fairing, they just fit on the '99.




If you can find them on eBay they should be fairly inexpensive, I don't recall the specific year these were from.

Also, if you run across a set of bars from a VF1000R, they would fit the forks, be even lower and give you some angle adjustment. Your best bet is to look for bars from a bike that has the 41mm forks that have a low rise like you're looking for.

 

As a fellow road cyclist and VFR rider, I would say that the best thing you can do to be seen at night would be reflective material. Because you are travelling at higher speeds, the small blinking lights wouldn't be as effective as when you're pedaling. A good vest or jacket (agree with the high-vis for daytime as well) with a lot of reflective material is VERY effective. I wear an ICON MilSpec vest every time I ride.

I commute to work occasionally on the VFR and it's about 50 miles round trip. Definately not as fun as just a good ride. Besides, cars are bad enough...commuting car drivers just seem to be even worse. I ride my road bike to work more often than my VFR. I can ride bike lanes and canals, etc, and only have about two miles where I really have to watch the cages. On my Specialized (Roubaix) I usually wear a bright yellow jersey, blinking rear light (at night), and still assume that nobody sees me.

My longest ride so far is a couple 50 miler's and I routinely do a good mountain climb (South Mountain). I love twisting the throttle, but cycling is so damn good for you. Love the feeling after a good 3 hour ride. Legs pumped, endorphins crankin. Then again, draggin knees through the twisties...I just can't make up my mind! Guess that's why I have a road bike, a mountian bike, two Interceptors, and a dual sport! :wink:

 

Kevin,

I enjoy my daily 50 mile (round trip) and mostly freeway commute on a VFR (6th gen 2007). I have been doing that for the last 2 years. I only stop riding when there is a high probability of ice forming on the road. It is not as exciting as a track day or on a twisty road but it definitely beats driving in a car. For me, VFR is built for commuting because that’s 90 percent of my riding.

It may have something to do with my riding position. I typically use my core muscle to hold and move my upper body and put as little weight on the handle bar as possible. This way I get to exercise my core muscle on the whole trip. There is a lot of similarity with riding a bicycle. Just like what you talk about climbing or riding on bicycle, it looks easy sitting on a motorcycle. To become one with the bike is not as easy as it looks. A good riding position gives me better stability and maneuverability. I can plan and response to changing conditions with more confidence.

50 mile is a lot of bicycle riding for daily commute. So I do my bicycle ridng mostly on weekends. Similar to riding a bicycle, I like to lower my head or eyes to barely above the windscreen and my back is more or less horizontal. It is not to the point of what a racer would do but it is low enough to reduce wind drag and noise. I find that the stock handle bar is a good compromise because in heavy traffic it allows me to stay up higher for better visibility.

For commuting, I have Givi side cases and a Coocase top case. They give me enough carrying capacity for the office bag, lunch and exercise gears. I often go out for a jog, tennis, or roller skiing during lunch time. At work the cases can store most of my riding gears (helmet and boots at least) as well and I don’t have to carry them inside. I stick to riding with all the gears all the time (ATGATT).

 

Well, I have completed a few more round trips to work.., last week, only the 1 day was done. this week, I rode in yesterday and today, I still need to get home tonight. tomorrows weather is iffy from 4pm on, so I am not sure. Thursday and friday look good though. at this rate, I will need to do an oil change every few weeks...then tires will start rotating through my garage....

I have yet to score the OEM clip on bars, still not liking the hands up near the face as I am prone on the tank along the highway. my bars are just way too high.
Kevin

 

Bite the bullet and get stock honda clip ons. To digress, I discovered on road bicycling and am pretty hooked, anything that challenges my physical condition is kewel. Love those prices with the mail order bicycle stuff compared to the stores around my neck of the woods. I wouldnt hesitate to spend money on my vfr if it meant a better bike, regarding ur hand postion.

 

thats just cause we get to lane split .......

 

I got a hold of a pair of these and installed them. there was some mucking around with the whole thing, but i managed.
Tried it out yesterday, seems good to me.
Kevin

 

I commute everyday, rain or shine from about March 1 to January 1. If there is no snow in the forecast I will ride in February if I can. About twenty miles if I go the most direct route and with a little "creative mapping" as I like to call it, the return trip can be as long as 50-75 miles. I have a 05 Tacoma that I have put less than 20, 000 on in the last four years. I agree with alot of the posts, it just takes some getting used to the experience. Absolutly no better way to travel. Somebody posted that " on the bike it's always fun and in the car it's an exercise in frustration". It's the truth.

 

This dawned on me a while back. I always HAVE to go somewhere in the car, whereas I always WANT to go somewhere on the bike.

 

When you drive the cage, you commute to and from work. When you take the bike, work falls between two rides. I have been commuting about 90%, 100 miles round trip so long as there is no snow. And when I have to take the cage, I pout for sure. Sure is nice being able to get around the traffic they way you can on the bike, and can't with the 350 feet long truck.

 

So True...