Hello from Frankfurt Germany!

Hi folks,

I'm American, living and working in Frankfurt Germany since late 2012. Without writing too much of a novel, I'll just say that I've been a (licensed) rider since 2005, mostly a corner junkie, my current addiction is my 06 RC51 (VTR1000 SP2 here in europe), and I'm counting down the weeks now until it's warm enough to change the oil and plugs and fire her up again.

I'm looking to get into lightweight touring rides, I don't mean crossing the Sahara or do-or-die-rain sleet or hail trips, but it would be cool to plan a few days at a time and ride parts of Europe. After some research I've begun to focus my search on a VFR. Almost everything I can find online says they're a very effective mix of comfort and agility, while having Honda's indestructibility. So, I'm here to poke around a bit and get some opinions first-hand.

That's it for now, hello again, and if anyone is in my neck of the woods, look me up and we'll go riding

 

Welcome to The World BTF, if a VFR is what you're looking for, then I think you picked a good place to start your search. Lots of good people here and I'm sure your get a plethora of opinions and comments. Good luck with your search.

Cheers

 

Welcome. Post pix of your ride even if it is not a VFR. You can always post again when you get a VFR. I can just imagine some orgasmic rides over there. Would love to come over, rent a bike, and ride for weeks on end over there.

 

Hi and welcome to the MadHouse:welcome:


If you are intending to buy a used VFR in Germany - then you will find most used bikes are listed on mobile.de or eBay.de

Inevitably the newer VFRs, demand a premium, but a well maintained VFR can definitely handle 100,000km, so take your time and you should find a VFR to suit your budget. If you plan to mostly use the VFR for touring, then it may be worth paying a bit more for a bike supplied with the full factory luggage set, especially as sets of used luggage are not cheap and quite rare in Europe.

A quick browse through past posts in the various VFR generations will give you an insight into some of the known problems to watch out for (sadly electrical gremlins seem to affect far too many VFRs) and questions you may want to ask sellers.

As for places to go, if you are interested in testing out the VTR (or a VFR) on real alpine roads, then you might be interested in an event planned for 17,18 and 19 July by my local motorbike club SAMVA. Another long weekend event is being organised over the first weekend in September. Details should appear the website shortly, but we already have large groups coming from Germany(Saarland), Switzerland, GB and Norway.

Its still snowing up in the Alps :smow: so it will be a while before my VFR comes out of hibernation. Hopefully once the weather improves you will find there are plenty of great riding roads in Germany and indeed all over Europe.

Take care




SkiMad

 

I go to dusseldorf alot, i take the rental car on "the Ring" would be bold do take a bike. I wana do the Alps one day. Cheers

 

I used to own a RC-51 SP-1 (2000) I would tour on my VFR and my son would use the RC-51. You will love the expanded ergonomics of the VFR for touring, but you will notice the extra weight of the VFR vs. RC-51. Loved that RC-51. My son lost it in a corner in Wisconsin when he hit sand. He was fine the bike was totaled. Miss her dearly!

 

I got better tips in this thread regarding the VFR than I've gotten so far in my post directly asking for tips about a used VFR. Thanks!!

I haven't been to Duesseldorf yet, there are soooooo many places left to see, even though I travel all I can the list seems never to get any shorter! I definitely look forward to having a second bike, I will NEVER sell my RC51, but she is simply not meant for relaxing day trips. Get her on the GP course at Hockenheimring, however, and she defies any description I've yet to muster.

I search Mobile.de and Autoscout42.de regularly, I used those sites to find the RC, too.

Thanks again, folks, I look forward to hangin around!