Hi all, Well I picked up my new baby two weeks ago… a sexy red ’04 VFR800 with less than 1600 miles on her. She’s barely broken in, clean, brand new really. I found her in Salt Lake City, UT being taken care of very well, just under ridden, but I plan to change that! I picked her up on Friday and the very first thing I did was to replace the stock bar ends with a ThrottleMeister. I had an 800+ mile ride back to the SF Bay Area to make, and I figured that little addition would pay for itself. I hit the road Saturday from SLC and picked the hottest weekend of the year so far to tackle the deserts of Utah, Nevada, and the hottest desert of all, Central California! I saw temperature extremes from 55 to 105. It took me from 8am to midnight, with several stops along the way, but I made the 811 mile ride in one day! (I’m proud of that accomplishment) :first: My butt didn’t hurt (when I was off of the bike), my hand never once went numb (thanks to my lovely new ThrottleMeister), and with the exception of a bit of dehydration, I was none the worse for wear. Some observation from my ride: 1. Need new windscreen. The wind protection is adequate, but the noise level hitting my Arai helmet is deafening. I’m thinking a double bubble windscreen might kick the air flow up just enough. – Any suggestions? 2. The bars could stand to be about an inch farther up and back for the most comfortable of riding positions. – I’m 5’9’’ maybe if taller with longer arms it may be perfect, but can’t change that very easily. 3. At 6500rpm in sixth gear you cruise at right around 100mph, and I was getting 44mpg for most of the ride. 100mph! 44mpg! That Rocks!!! – I have noticed since then that city riding is not nearly as efficient, maybe 35mpg? 4. I’m not sold on this VTEC thing. I had it in my Civic, and never noticed it. On a motorcycle it’s VERY noticeable. I like the technology involved, but the execution could be better. At 6800rpm or so it kicks in. If you are hard on the throttle then its great… more power + faster revs = good times. If you are cruising along soft on the throttle and you hit cross over, then it sucks. The engine seems to have more drag and you NEED to give it more gas. When you do – BAM! – you’re off! Well, I just wanted to cruise… not take off. If you unlucky enough to hit right at cross over and the engine oscillates back and forth on you, then it REALLY sucks. It’s kind of like you’re on a bucking bronco… but it’s not quite that bad. 5. Who put this VTEC cross over at 6800rpm? Don’t they realize that is right about high end cruising rpm? It should be about 7500rpm… then you ARE hard on the throttle and getting that extra kick of power is great! So besides a new windscreen, I'm working on getting a Laser X-treme exhaust for her, and other than getting used to the VTEC, I think this bike is just about perfect. Now I need to find some longer distance rides to go on. I wish the coast wasn't so foggy this time of year. Yosemite... here I come! Well, enough rambling. I’m sure very few people read this far anyway. Cheers, Sean These pics are from Skyline Blvd overlooking the San Francisco South Bay, one of the many world class day ride availiable here in sunny California.
hey, I made it all the way through. glad to 'hear' your excitement. you should've stopped by when you made it to the central coast area. I could show you the good roads. there is a 6 mile stretch of new blacktop with over 70 curves just 15-20 miles from my front door. AND, it's low traffic cause it's narrow and out in the country. reg
Nice.. They have sorta cured the kick in on the 05-06 from what I've heard. look at Staitunes or leos for exhust too, thats if you haven't yet. and your so lucky to live just south of some of the best roads in this country, N.Ca #36, 299 etc. now go and have some fun. be safe and watch your 6.
I just took a similar ride but without the extreme temperatures, my butt started talking to me when I went over 80 miles without a break on the second half of the trip. Just got done ordering a Sergent seat to take care of that!!! Great idea on the ThrottleMeister, My hand is just starting to come back to normal after 2 days from the 850 mile trip. Man I thought I had a boring ride on I-5 but I wouldn't trade I-5 for that ride back from S.L.C for anything, Drove it for a softball tournament one year and remember it well :bored: I know exactly what you are talking about going thru Central California, It's like a blow dryer one foot in front of your face turned on high :flame:
