St. Stephen

Here's my review from last year, hope it is helpful:

Yes.

I always expect a new helmet to be tight. It will adjust to your head and cheekbones, and you will adjust to how it feels. Far better than a lid that starts too loose. In the worst case you can change pads.

And...I bought an AGV K6 S last year, and posted a review here on VFRD. I'll try to find it for you but the short answer is I love it so far. Light weight, field of vision and build quality.

In addition to Skids' excellent suggestions...

I added Heli bars, the Honda OEM center stand, and Honda OEM heated grips, and was very happy with all three improvements.

The 2010 stock seat was significantly improved in later years (2012 and later?), you might want to look into that. Also, did your bike get the drive shaft recall done?

I do miss that bike! But I guess I've said that about almost every one I've owned...

OK Lorne. I didn't go back far enough (the end of my digital photos is ~ a little over 20 yrs ago). However, here's an action photo of me about to drag my knee, wearing, obviously, ATGATT. I challenge all here at VFRD to name vehicle brand as well as engine.  Cheers!

Ok Lorne, you got me sucked into this topic. May 2006, my riding buddy Markus chatting it up as usual with another two-wheel enthusiast at about 4000 ft near Asheville on the BRP. 6th gens, my red and his silver. I've always really liked this photo.

10 hours ago, Terry said:

You are a gem Graham. Top (and detailed!) advice.

A big +1 to that!

I always figured if I bought another VFR I'd just ask Grum if I could ship the whole bike to him in SE Australia and have him sort out the electrics!  😉

8 hours ago, vfrcapn said:

I'm still getting late-December dealer emails about Italy shutting down for 3 weeks over the holidays. From last December:
URGENT UPDATE:
Plan NOW for the DUCATI warehouse closure in Italy - coming next week!  Ducati has notified us that the global Ducati parts & accessories warehouse in Italy will be CLOSED for accepting new orders from Dec 20th through Jan 7th! NO OUTGOING SHIPMENTS will be leaving Italy for nearly 3 FULL WEEKS! 

 

The fuel sensor on my '20 MS is currently going out, but it is under warranty still.

 

Still fun bike, has been trouble free other than the fuel sensor acting up.

 

Haha, I stand corrected, Italians doing Italian things. But at least reliability is now at least very good as we both seem to agree. 

Hope to do a Feather River run this summer up there in the northern Sierra near you, it's been a few years.

3 minutes ago, vfrcapn said:

 

This is a standard option on any Ducati over the last 15+ years. 

vfrcapn is correct. I'm on the 3rd fuel tank sensor on my 2017 Multistrada, although to be fair it is the only issue of any kind I've had with the bike after 26K miles, and it obviously is not mission-critical. They replaced the first one for free but I had to pay for the 2nd one. However, that was four years ago, and their claim that it was finally fixed with a re-design appears to be true.

Ducati had a rep for manufacturing quality control--the dealer where I bought my 2002 VFR dropped Ducati because they couldn't get repair parts in August when the factory shut down for a month!  But that is in the rear view mirror, the last 15 years or so they are as good as any other manu, and seem to have upgraded the build process by learning from owners Audi/VW.

Hi St. Stephen,

Thank you for your donation of 50.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation.

Thanks VFRDiscussion

Lots of rain recently but a nice day today before it all returns tomorrow. Did a thorough chain cleaning, adjustment and lube Tuesday so felt like everything was ready and prepped for a 10 day trip! However, this was not a 10 day trip, just 60 miles. I may complain about the rain but spring after an El Nino winter is beautiful here.

Sorry it's not a VFR, but...red...V cylinders...motorcycle

Squint and you can see the Pacific ocean...

8 hours ago, bmart said:

to this day, it is the only bike I've slid both wheels on while going round a fast speed turn. 

 

You didn't mention if you stayed upright.  😎

On 2/29/2024 at 7:33 PM, bmart said:

I'm not gaslighting you, whatever that is. I'm not hip. 

 

"Gaslight" directed by George Cukor in 1944 and starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Basically the bad guy husband in the 1880's in London tries to drive his wife crazy, including turning down the gaslights and then pretending nothing was wrong. Not a bad film for its era.

I'm pretty sure this key bit of information will solve your rear shock issue immediately!  😎

Hey Philois, as bmart has pointed out, here in the states the motogp app is available on my AppleTV device, but the WSBK app is not available in the Apple app store. I too just use the website for my euro 69.90 subscription and it works well enough.

When I want to see WSBK on the TV I mirror my (Mac) laptop, which works fine. It sounds like they just made the app for phones? Anyway, while I can't say with certainty what works in Queensland, just use the website on your laptop/computer.

Nine inches of rain here so far this month. True, no snow, but still. So this ride will be nothing but CA sunshine, I'm sure.

Here's a good weather shot of the usual suspects not too long ago. Of course they've purchased new bikes since then.

Nice bike Paul, exhaust particularly.

Is that a sea of rocks? Perhaps a feature of Wales I am unaware of?

10 hours ago, vfrcapn said:

Does Honda even sell motorcycle anymore in North America? My dealer, showroom inside looks the same...

 

Yeah, "Powersports" is the word for many motorcycle dealers now, particularly the non-cruiser ones.

But hey, Honda still creates some cool bikes! Johann Zarco's LCR Honda bike was just revealed, and as an RC-51 rider I just love the livery. (apologies for the hijack)

I've always felt there might be a Hawk in my future. It would join the two other V-twins in my garage. Simple, light and good looking.

But...Triumph is bringing back the Daytona, the 675cc engine I believe. Whenever I've been behind a Daytona I just loved the sound of the triple. The 2024 Daytona is I believe under $10K. It doesn't have sophisticated suspension adjustability, or a lot of other bells and whistles, but it's around 430 lbs. and has lots of opportunity to modify into a great track day bike. Looking forward to seeing one in person.

(I too have never owned an inline four)

Apologies to Skids who just wanted to research a good bike video system. This has turned into a cager rant. But if we're honest, 90% of us are cagers at least part of the time, right?

Anyway, early covid--2020-ish--the number of cars on the road here dropped maybe 75%. And the number of speeding tickets went up about 100%. All those guys in their muscle cars (and in Marin especially the Turbo Carreras, 7 series BMW's, Ferraris...) saw the open road and took out their frustration of 20 years of commuting on highway 101 at 10 mph, in the absence of, well, almost everyone else on the road except the CHP.

One the one hand, on my bike approaching a left turn I know well when a 70's-era 911 comes through the other direction, sideways and all over the double yellow, was rather fun to watch once I braked, swerved, and realized I would not die. But it sure was a lesson that a seemingly empty road isn't a safe road. 

Well, after a few months on the smart charger, in the garage (I have friends who think garages are for cars, go figure), and not moving an inch, the RC of course started immediately, manual fast idle aka choke pulled out. It's a Honda. 

Barely over 40 miles but far enough to get rid of the moisture in the crankcase, and get my arms and knees used to the sportbike position again. Around here this time of year the back roads that aren't well travelled get a bit of moss or other plant life growing in the middle of the lane where car tires don't go, so I took it easy.   Mostly. 

I moved the odometer!  😀

PCH today just south of Tomales:

No sympathy from those of you parked for the winter, but the heavy rains here may back off tomorrow and the RC wants to go out first:

Also very cool that it mentions my favorite racer from the early/mid '80's, Mike Baldwin.  Mike was a top AMA Superbike racer, international gp racer, Honda Interceptor racer...and he was from New England, where I mostly grew up. Saw him race many times at Loudon and Pocono, as well as the 1988 Laguna Seca gp, always on a Honda. Probably one of the reasons I bought my first VFR, er, VF, er, I mean Interceptor...   😎

5 hours ago, Skids said:

Can I join in?

 

South Island 2017, 2000 VFR800.

 

Weather went from very wet 5 degrees C in the south to very sunny 30 degrees C in the North. Great trip.

 

 

Skids, at least you ride on the left at home! I've driven cars in the UK, Ireland and Australia, but never a bike. Really had to focus in roundabouts and when making u-turns the first couple of days!

OK, one more...

2 hours ago, Terry said:

 

That's a really neat part of the country. I did the Burt Munro rally trip with a mate in 2018 on my ST1100 and spent a full day doing a lap of just Southland; it is glorious in sunny weather.

 

Well, in that case I can't resist posting a few more NZ photos. Sorry, I was on an RT, not a VFR, but not that different from your ST.

I'm sure you know this tunnel:

IPA!

And you know this mountain:

The walking birds were actually very polite:

Scenic, every day:

Keep posting those ride photos Terry.

1 hour ago, Terry said:

This was my other ride on January 2, I bounced out of bed at 0430 and hit the road north to Cape Reinga, which is just like Nordkapp or the far end of the Dalton Highway as it is as far north as I can go without swimming. Actually it is only 434km from home so I was there by 10am, had a quick look around and then hit more interesting roads on my way back home, which took another 6 hours. Just for a bit of sympathy, it did actually get quite cool on the way north and I was tempted to turn on the heated grips when it hit 9C, but the weather reached a toasty 26 later in the day...

 

 

Great photos Terry. You got me to look up Cape Reinga too! Really cold here also, only a high of 55, brrrr.   😉

Thanks for the great photos. I did 10 days of riding in NZ in 2015 but all south island, never got further north than Auckland--so here's the other end of your country:  

1 hour ago, Bren said:

I'm not even retired and I don't have enough time to put on more than about 1k a year. 2 kids, a house that I built, and a very, shall we say, selfish/vindictive/physco wife does that to you. The wife bit will be ending soon but not the kids thankfully. 

 

2024 is going to be different. 

That sucks Bren, hope your 2024 is better. Hang in there!

House and two kids for me too, but fortunately not that wife part. Early days we moved for my job and my ratty GS400 got stolen at work, couldn't afford a replacement. After my only four adult years w/o a bike we went out to eat, told her I just had to get another bike (VF of course). She was fine with it. 😊  BTW, she was six months pregnant.