Top marks for repeated use of the word 'vestigial'.
It can be a good thing when used to describe a woman's clothing.
I found a similar thing as yourself with higher bars,at first I used the same input as a sportsbike,which only served to unsettle the bike. A finer touch is required with more leverage!
Dear god, this bike needs a hugger. And a fenda extenda. Washed it today, and it was lagged. Literally, the downpipes were coated with several mms of baked on shit. Being naked it was always going to need a bit more than the usual hose off of the fairings and wheels, but the 'mudguards' on this bike are ludicrous, and could do with a redesign.
Along the way we made a few more discoveries and comparisons, so here goes.
It is a noisy little beast. I am not one for replacing cans but this one sounds way louder than the VFR when ticking over. It also has an annoying (to me) habit of popping on the over-run. The VFR would sing at high revs, but this one is just playing at being a hooligan at the time. I also miss the smoothness of the V4.
Honda's quality control appears to have gone to pot. The pegs and hangers are alloy, very similar in looks to those on the VFR. Unfortunately 2 wet trips and the new alloy is marking up badly. Yes folks, after 4 weeks and 300 miles it is looking worse than the the VFR after 10 years and 37,000 miles. I am not impressed. I am sure a session with autosol will restore it, but it shouldn't need that sort of TLC this quickly. God knows what it will be like when they start spreading salt on the roads.
There is a small space under the pillion seat. Just big enough to contain a puncture repair kit and a few essential tools, just in case. Unfortunately this small space leaks like the proverbial sieve. So the cleaning today included cleaning the rust off the tools. Now enclosed in heavy duty sealed poly bags.
The instrument cluster is less than ideal. With the sun shining from the wrong direction it is close to unreadable. All those clever displays are useless if you cannot read them.
Skub wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:49 pm
Mudguards stopped being mudguards some time ago. They are now called fenders and are purely an aesthetic addition to your bike. Form over function!
My bike is the same,hit a puddle on an otherwise dry road and it's plastered from stem to stern,including the rider.
I remember as a kid fitting a mud flap to my GT185 front mudguard to stop rain and shit. Have they ever been any good ?
On the finish front you can't really compare Honda's then flagship bike when they were at the zenith of their build quality in the 90s. To a new budget Honda probably built in Thailand down to a price. Even current flagship Honda's can't be compared to the VFR from what I've seen. Honda peaked in the 90s.
Supermofo wrote: Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:06 pm
On the finish front you can't really compare Honda's then flagship bike when they were at the zenith of their build quality in the 90s. To a new budget Honda probably built in Thailand down to a price. Even current flagship Honda's can't be compared to the VFR from what I've seen. Honda peaked in the 90s.
Still annoying though
Cadmium plating, solvent based paints, heavy metal treatments...
Another ride, and another report. Probably the last.
The vestigial (I like that word) screen is OK(ish) at 70, but at 90 your neck muscles get a pretty good work out.
I need to rethink my clothing. On the VFR I never bothered with liners in my trousers, side mounted radiators and underseat pipes meant I never got too cold. This one doesn't come with central heating.
Joining fast roads is a tad more difficult. On the VFR you could accelerate into gaps in L1, no matter what speed it was travelling. A bit more caution needed with that baby Honda if L1 is fast moving.
Fueling is an issue at small throttle openings (it was on the VFR too). This EuroX compliance stuff has a downside too, never had this problem with carbs.
Other than that, I am beginning to like it, and after a bit more practice it may become a hooligan machine, at least on smaller twisties. It would make a seriously good commuter for city centres.
I've junked the 'eco' gear on my bike and will eventually get a remap to improve throttle response. I want a bike the way I want it,not one fucked up to save the planet.
Skub wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:49 pm
Mudguards stopped being mudguards some time ago. They are now called fenders and are purely an aesthetic addition to your bike. Form over function!
My bike is the same,hit a puddle on an otherwise dry road and it's plastered from stem to stern,including the rider.
The Multistrada came with 2 bits of plastic wrapped in bubble. 1 is the front extender that actually gives some protection rather than "standard", The second is the larger wide and long rear fender to replace the small plastic diamond that comes as standard. I fitted both for my commuting as they made a huge difference. When i asked why they came separate, Vince who owns the dealership, said he asked the same at the factory while on a visit.
The reply from the Ducati representative was <shit Italian accent> "They serva da purpose but they looka da sheet"
On balance it is a positive move. Been out today wandering about, mostly on twisty single-track roads, many that ended in a dead end. The VFR would have been no faster on most of them, but would have been a headache when needing to turn around and back track. The CB500F, is shorter, lighter, and has a better lock, so all that worry about exactly what I will find when the road runs out is no more.
Where I did miss the VFR was the few miles of fast dual, and even on that there was an unexpected bonus. A scamera van was lurking but probably logged me at 70ish instead of the 90-100 that I would probably have been doing at that spot.
Yup on Tuesday when I rode to Southwold the sat nav logged my max speed at 81mph. I suspect on a GSXS thousand it'd be a fair bit higher but I'd not knock much at all off the journey time overall. Most of the ride was on b roads or single carriage a roads with annoyingly spaced cars
Supermofo wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 1:37 pm
Yup on Tuesday when I rode to Southwold the sat nav logged my max speed at 81mph. I suspect on a GSXS thousand it'd be a fair bit higher but I'd not knock much at all off the journey time overall. Most of the ride was on b roads or single carriage a roads with annoyingly spaced cars
Most of my single carriageway stuff no overtaking was possible. Even meeting a small car was mostly slow down and ride VERY close to the hedge, sometimes it was make the bugger reverse. Extra hp would not have helped.
