Wooo Hoo

So Spike, where does this friend of yours ride?

 

MV Augusta bad bike?

My point was not that the MV is a bad bike by any means.I'd love to have one. But if you really believe that anyone can get more than they paid for one, I think that I can get Jarhead to show you some land in southern Louisiana that I'd like to sell you.

My point is, while they are muy cool, they are not very logical, but as a guy who sells Harleys for a living and writes for a motorcycle magazine. The bike that you buy rarely has much to do with logic. My garage is testimony to that concept. The NSU SuperMax single that I'm restoring, while historically significant, isn't very fast, or pretty.

Bessie's in Birmingham has a top of the line 06' 999 Duc on the floor that no one has even made a 50% offer on yet. If the owner get's desperate enough, I may buy it. And a Gixxer will cook my ass at Barber's.

And if I buy the Duc, you can be assured that I will be down for maintenance a lot more often than any Suzuki.

 

So does that mean you'd be selling the sleeper 95 VFR?

 

Mostly Marin county CA

 

Bought it for 23k, dealer offered him 27K; there is only like $100 in the world. Even Honda's NR750 from the 80's that sold for about the equivalent of about $60k, never officially imported into the US. Last time I saw one for sale they were asking $80k for it; about a year ago. Also shortly after he bought his MH900E, they were selling for higher prices on EBay than he had paid. People were even paying a couple thousand just for people's place in line. Bike not delivered yet.

No interest in LA land, thanks though :tongue:

And talk about impracticle, Hardleys.

And actually, cleaning out the bathroom last night, I came across a recent edition of Sport rider where they compared the MV 1000, R1 LE, and a duck. The MV actually beat the R1 in 0-60, 1/4 mile time and speed, and 60 - 80mph (?) roll ons. So really not the embarasment European bikes were in the 70's and 80's.

Around here, SF bay area, the duck would have sold quite a while ago frankly. While I rarely ever saw one when living in CT, MA or RI, maybe twice my whole life. It is rare I go a month out here without seeing one. When I lived in Marin, most weeks I saw at least one (not including neighbors and friends). Also saw a few Bimotas. Just a different world. A lot more people, with a lot more disposable income.
Back in 2000 when Aprilia first came back to the US, they had a version of their 1000 cc bike that went for about $32,000 if I remember. I really liked it, but didn't have any experience with Aprilia, that was a big risk, for an unknown player. There was like 40 of them in the US or something low. It sold in about a month and a half or so.

The 999 to the GSXR should do reasonably well, depending on rider and which GSXR. Everything equal, it will get beat, but they are very capable machines. And most people in normal daily riding won't notice the difference in outright power. Never mind Ducati's upcoming, very limited edition 4 cylinder bike, supposed to push 200 HP. What you will notice is the style and the panache of the Duc, as well as its quirks frankly. They don't really do it for me, but to each their own.

The Duc's reliability has improved leaps and bounds above what it was in the 70's and 80's. TPG really put a priority on that. But heck, even mait. like valve checks are more frequent than the the GSXR.

And heck, my brother in law sold his hardley for more than he paid for it too. Special situation, but still, it can happen.

 

With reference to Duc/Augusta reliability

I'll be keeping 95 VFR. The Gear cams, no ABS, no linked brakes make it the best VFR for me.When Brian Slark (Norton spoken here/Barber Museum)
heard a Duc-head calling my VFR a "Very Fine Refrigerator", he said "At least the light comes on everytime that he opens the door".

Out of all the bikes that I own or have owned, only my 97 Superglide hasn't broken down in 30 K miles. I'm not stupid enough to think that anything is the best bike made. But being that they're all paid for, they are the best to me.

My SV650 only has 5k miles, so it had better not break down anytime soon, or I'll kick it's skinny ass!

I will probably buy a Duc again, but I still know that they're pretty damn unreliable. But I know of no one who rides a Duc for it's reliability factor.

I'm through selling my bikes for a while. I just hope to add more!:first:

 

By the way, I got a press release on a new low price MVAugusta 750, rumored to be coming in around $10K US.Allegedly a Suzuki killer Does anybody have info on this?

 

I'm with you on that. I'm keeping my VFR as well, IMO it's the best at doing a lot of things really well can't wait to see how she runs with that new shock.. More on that later. even thou it's a tad short on overall power still a pleasure at the end of the days ride haha, Been looking at Ducs 998/996 I'm not to sure thats a good way to go, yea I love the looks, the sound is awesome still Hmm not sure, I'm waiting for the 1098. Maybe even a sport model VFR is in the near future?? Hey Honda, ya listening probably not..I'll just hang on to what I got.