First IBA Saddlesore 1K on my 8th Gen VFR

[SpookyDriver]

I know these types of rides are pretty boring to read about, but thought I'd post it up here in case any other IBA riders are around.  I used to be pretty active in the Ironbutt Association, but I took a break from the long trips after my kids were born.  If you're not familiar, the Saddlesore 1K is an entry-level certificate offered by the IBA.  It's a documented 1000 mile trip completed within 24 hours.  You use a map of your route and fuel receipts to verify the time and location of your stops to get your certificate from IBA.  There are no benefits other than the satisfaction of the ride, but it's a fun challenge and I have now completed 8 of them over the years, mostly on BMW and Triumph adventure bikes and one on my old Blackbird XX.  

 

I recently acquired a new, old stock 2014 VFR800 that had been sitting in a crate at the dealership for over 6 years.  I was looking for a "purely pavement" sport-tourer since I've primarily been riding adv bikes for the past 15ish years and I missed having a quicker, sportier bike in the garage.  The VFR was a bit smaller than the liter bikes I was browsing, but the price was too good to ignore.  After sorting out the ergonomics to fit my 50 year old knees and back (Helibars and BLS peg lowering blocks,) I set off at 6am Tuesday morning from my house in Crockett, Texas with the rapidly brightening sky to my back.  I had planned my loop to keep the sun at my back in the morning and evenings, which makes a long ride like this much more pleasant. 

 

My route would take me north and west to Abilene, then south through Uvalde to Corpus Christi until I turned to go back north and east to College Station and then east to end at my original fuel stop near my home.  I mostly kept to state highways and tried to avoid interstates as much as I could.  Using a Valentine 1 Gen2 integrated with JBV1 and Waze on my phone helped me keep track of weather, speed traps and traffic along the way.

 

Other than the lowered pegs, raised clip-ons and new tires (the original OEM tires were hard as a rock after sitting in storage for so many years), the bike is a stock non-Deluxe model with the OEM quickshifter.   I'm 6'4", 220lbs with a 36" inseam, so the bike is a bit cramped for me...at least compared to my other bikes.  Overall, the ergos felt similar to my '01 Blackbird if my memory serves me right.   But I still had no real discomfort during the 2-3 hours between fuel stops and a quick walk around the parking lot worked out the kinks in my rebuilt knees.   

 

The bike performed flawlessly on the long slab of highway.  I ended up with an official 1015.4 miles in 17hrs and 32 minutes.  Overall, I burned 29.3 gallons of 93oct for a final result of 34.6 miles per gallon.  My moving average was 63.5 miles per hour since I stopped for a total of 92 minutes for fuel, food and water.  Weather was mostly in the 60s/70s and I rode through some light rain for a couple of hours.  The Conti Sport Attack tires that the dealer installed at purchase were fantastic in the wet.  I'd never used these tires before, so I had no idea what to expect, but they gripped very well under heavy braking and in some of the twisty roads I chose in the Texas hill country.  I didn't push the bike very hard in the corners for reasons I'll explain later.

 

The engine and transmission really impressed me on this bike.  Having never used a quickshifter before, I constantly forgot it was installed.  40+ years of grabbing a clutch lever has burned that habit into my muscle memory.   Still, the bike was happy to bang off the rev limiter or just sit in 6th gear at 75-80mph for hours at a time.  The clutch is one of the best I've used in a quite a while and gear changes had just the right amount of "notchiness" for lack of a better term.  Very positive mechanical feel as each cog slipped into place.  My big BMW and Triumphs feel a bit sloppy in comparison, even if they work just as well.  The front brake was very easy to modulate and has great feel at the limit.  The rear brake was very grabby, but that may be to the lack of feel I get with my giant clown feet.  I finally decided to just forget it was there most of the time unless I was sitting at a stop light/sign.  I'll see about adjusting it a bit later.  

 

However, I'll definitely need to address the suspension pretty quickly.  It's far too softly sprung at both ends for a guy of my size and weight.  On smooth highway, it's not an issue, but broken pavement really upsets the front end and tight roads really overwhelm the shock and forks if I push it.  I messed with the preload and rebound damping as much as the OEM bits would allow, but I'll start looking for upgrades later this week and see what I can find.  Once I get that issue solved, the Interceptor will be pretty close to perfect for days when I don't feel like wrestling with the big bikes.

 

 

[Sparkie]

I've done a ss1k on my 2014 vfr800.  I thought the paperwork was harder than the ride.

With 2021 being an odd numbered year, I'm looking forward to the iron butt rally!!!

[Magneto]

Spooky we are dying to see pictures, somehow they are not loading with your message...

[Wald]

Spooky, nice riding!. For suspension setup check Dave Moss Tuning on youtube, it will give you a lot of insight about suspension setup.