comfort/ridability question

Discussion in 'General VFR Discussions' started by 2000ex, Apr 29, 2008.

  1. 2000ex

    2000ex New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    Ok I am currently thinking of buying a 2007 VFR800. They have 3 at my local shop. The main issue is. My dad has a Goldwing and can cruise forever without a problem. My question is if I get a new VFR how long can I cruise comfortably. Question because we are planning a couple trips. One to Colorado, Texas, and North Carolina for starters. I live in Indiana and we are not talkin about the around town cruise. So if anyone has traveled really long distances and taken trips on the newer VFR's can you let me know how it went and how comfortable you were. I also plan on getting the Hardbags and the Trunk.................

    I am only 20 years old and find it funny how I am the one few who like this kinda of thing. Cause all of my friends are all about the CBR's R6's and GSXR's etc.... Don't get me wrong I love those bikes but you just CAN'T go far on them. unfortunately. plus I love the V4's :biggrin:
     
  2. KC-10 FE

    KC-10 FE New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2003
    Messages:
    2,430
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Communist Peoples Republic of NJ
    A VFR is the most comfortable "sport" bike they make. It is quite easy to put in ultra-mileage days on one. If you find it to be uncomfortable, maybe a cruiser is more your speed? This is not intended to be an insult.

    The VFR is truely the most "sport" in any sport-tourer out there. I've done many 8 hour days with out a problem. As a general rule, you will run out of gas before you run out of desire to ride.

    KC-10 FE out...
    :plane: :usa2:
     
  3. RVFR

    RVFR Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2006
    Messages:
    8,006
    Likes Received:
    265
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Olympia Wa.
    Map
    ^ Spot on...
     
  4. 2000ex

    2000ex New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    thanx and no insult taken I totally understand the whole cruiser thing. But I just can't see myself on a cruiser.... See I have never ridden the newer VFR's very far. I have only ridden a couple of miles. So I was curious on how far you can go before you get tired. I think I am going to get the VFR because I really love them. and the newer ones look awesome.
     
  5. VFRShorty

    VFRShorty New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2008
    Messages:
    976
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    NW Oregon
    I was on the back of my 87 for a good 5.5 hours Sunday, no real complaints!

    I'd say get it... and if you have any issue with the seat you can always get an aftermarket one to better suit your tush!
     
  6. KC-10 FE

    KC-10 FE New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2003
    Messages:
    2,430
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Communist Peoples Republic of NJ
    I've ridden many 300+ mile loops in Smoky Mountains on more than one occasion. Every time I pass a gas station, the CBR/GSXR/ZX/YZF crowd pulls over to stretch & fill up. I wave & keep on riding. The longest I've ever done is 1000 miles in 2 days. The key to this is ditching the stock Honda seat. Trust me on that one.

    KC-10 FE out...
    :plane: :usa2:
     
  7. nvoges

    nvoges New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2006
    Messages:
    162
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    I have a fifth gen, so this might not apply. With the stock seat I was able to ride until the tank was empty with a little discomfort. With the Corbin seat I've noticed that the bike runs out of fuel before I’m ready to stop. I’ve ridden an R6 5 - 600 miles in one day and was miserable. I’ve ridden the VFR the same distances and been ready for more.
     
  8. slausmann

    slausmann New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2007
    Messages:
    34
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Citrus Heights, California
    VFR Comfort

    I have an O7 and have ridden many 300-400 mile days on it. Most of these rides have been on winding roads with as little bit of freeway. After one of these rides I am physically fine. Usually only two - three stops for gas and food. My son has a CBR1000 and is hammered and crying "uncle" towards the end. The VFR is perfect for this type of riding. The issue I have with the pure bikes is the riding position is compromised so much that they are difficult to be on for more than a couple of hours at a time.
     
  9. jonboymd

    jonboymd New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2008
    Messages:
    39
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Lubbock TX
    I am probably just a wuss (and still have the stock seat), but out in West Texas, we have 4-5 hours of riding on straight boring roads to get anywhere fun. I generally will pull over every 100 miles or so to get off and give my ass a break. I am 95% confident that if I could talk my wife into a corbin seat, I could do 150-200 between stops. Once we get to the twisties in the New Mexico mountians, or the Texas hill country, 150-200 is no problem. I guess I am having so much fun that it takes my mind off of the rock hard seat. I honestly think my 999 has a more comfy seat.
    Jon
     
  10. Raro

    Raro New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    141
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Powell River BC
    Map
    I ride an 06 and got rid of the stock seat. I picked up a Corbin seat and love it.
    I am considering some risers. I used to ride a cruiser and I find my VFR more comfortable.
     
  11. Joey_Dude

    Joey_Dude Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2007
    Messages:
    1,956
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    53
    Location:
    North Georgia
    Map
    Whoa, serious iron butt! I've done 500+ miles in one day (went from Atlanta to Daytona Beach in one day). And it was on the stock seat and I have to say I was only able to do it because I was wearing padded bicycle shorts AND I was wearing leather pants which have supple and thick leather for the bum area.

    That and some Aleve helped ;) Eventually I'll get a seat upgrade if I ever feel like a cross-country trip.
     
  12. Spectre

    Spectre New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2008
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ohio
    I'm 5' 9", 186 lbs., and 48 years old. I've owned my new '07 VFR800A (with the optional Givi top-case and side-cases) for less than a month, and have rode it nearly 1000 miles so far, with the longest ride to date being only several 200 miles rides, including a 200 mile 2-up ide. My last motorcycle was a fully loaded 2007 BMW K1200GT, so my comments here will occasionally refer to the Beemer.

    Early on I found the VFR's stock seat to be OK until ~120 miles, and then my butt would sudddenly start aching, big time, despite the fact that I always wear a pair of padded Pearl Izumi bicycle shorts under my FirstGear TPG riding pants.

    So, after ~550 miles I replaced the stock seat with a custom ordered Sargent seat with tooled-leather top, and marine-grade vinyl side walls, which resulted in a noticeable improvement in comfort. (Plus, the tooled leather seat looks great.)

    The Sargent seat is firmer than the stock seat, and of course it needs time to break-in period to begin conforming to the contours of my butt. So far, the new seat lets me ride a good 200 miles before I need to get off the bike and take a break. I expect that the miles between breaks will surely increase as the Sargent continues to break in.

    Other preliminary thoughts about the '07 VFR800A:

    1) Upper body/arms/hands riding posture and comfort: In my opinion, the '07VFR is decidedly more sport-oriented than touring-oriented in this regard. I was already quite familiar with a semblence of this forward oriented posture after riding the BMW K1200GT 13,500 miles last season, but the Beemer has electronic cruise control, which so easily and comfortably allows one to free-up, relax, unslave, and limber one's right wrist from the throttle and thus relax and dissipate any pentup tension in that joint. (I've found that this right-wrist tension is particularly common when learning to smoothly control the throttle of a fuel-injected engine after coming from a carburated engine when I first began riding a CB750 Night Hawk.

    Until one becomes familiar with how to correctly and smoothly operate the throttle a fuel-injected engine, even seemingly slight throttle inputs will at first feel very twitchy, often with rather unsettling bucking and surging, particularly at slow speeds in lower gears. (I first learned how to do so on the BMW). This in turn tends to invite stiffer and ultimately more painful positions of the right wrist rather than relaxed right-wrist finesse and muscle tone. This tension is an invitation to quickly developing right-wrist pain and fatigue, particularly on a bike with a more sport-oriented posture in which considerable stress is already being placed on the right-wrist just to hold onto the forward controls of the motorcycle.

    Unfortunately, the VFR lacks any stock/factory optional electronic cruise control, which in my opinion is rather unconscionable for any modern motorcycle claiming to be in a sport-TOURING category. Honda could easily incorporate an electronic cruise control option on this bike (and the same can be said for heated grips). Instead, a ThrottleMeister or similar device is needed in order to give the rider's right wrist even a very temporary rest.

    2) Front Fairing: Compared to the BMW K1200GT (OK, the Beemer costs twice as much), the VFR's front fairing is, in my opinion, rather narrow in terms of lower body wind protection (but not necessarily crash protection, but that's another story...). At freeway speeds, I find that the VFR's front fairing doesn't well shield and block my well-pressed knees from wind gusts that want to grab ahold of my knees and splay them outward into the rushing wind. Instead I find that I must make a conscious effort to keep my knees well pressed into, and hugging the bike, and this same lack of wind protection of the knees will quickly result in one's legs being soaked with water while riding in heavy rain unless one is wearing waterproof riding pants. Moreover, wearing thick riding pants will make one's knees even more fat, which in turn invites more grab from high winds while riding the VFR.

    3) The stock windscreen sucks, but so far, I've found the Zero Gravity sport-touring shield to not be much of an improvement, and the latter seems to me to be rather flimsy, thin, and rather ungainly looking. I ended up going back to the stock screen. Maybe Givi would be a better choice.

    4) In my opinion, after living with VFR's front forks and front suspension (in particular) I think that they leave much to be desired. Indeed, I now question their overall design, safety, and rideability. The owners manual has no clear guidelines for how to more precisely adjust them for various riding conditions, and even if one tries to adjust them there are no easily visible marking for where one has started and ended in these adjustments.

    Unlike the rear suspension (which I also think could stand for improvements) there are no click-points to count off, no easily read starting reference points, and no sure way of easily knowing where one is at without the aid of a dissecting microscope in order to read those miserable microscopic rings. I expect more from a manufacturer such as Honda.

    Overall, the front suspension seems to suck, and so I'm relegated to either trying to figure out the best possible settings for solo riding, but then that leaves me to also figure out the correct settings for riding 1-up with/without luggage, as well as riding 2-up with/without luggage. I would expect more from Honda, especially given the VFR's nominal wet weight of a tubby 550 lbs. The end result is my trying to figure out the best aftermarket replacements for these front shock, springs, valves, etc. Give me a break.
     
  13. xShadowrider

    xShadowrider New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Canada
    I used to ride a cruiser and after 30 to 40 minutes developed a cramp in my right shoulder which I attributed to the pull-back style handle bar on my particular bike ('04 Spirit). That would be followed after a couple hours with tailbone pain.

    I don't yet have a lot of klicks (1500) on my VFR but I can stay in the saddle for a couple of hours plus (all stock) without complaint (and I've got about 40 years on you!:wink: )
     
  14. nitronorth

    nitronorth New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2006
    Messages:
    290
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Kamloops, BC
    so.heres my take ....u want a ss type bike?, but want some comfort..then the vfr and the sprint and a few others are your choices..not many... ..they all offer about the same protection, ergo's, etc..just expect it to be where it looks, not as radical as the ss bikes, and certainly not the size or protection of the big st type and such. These are not meant to compete with the st, or the fjr.etc ,this is in the middle and closer to the ss bikes.
    I am over 50, and find out that i can go all day on a ss600 bike "once" i get used to the position..that usually takes a couple long days..On the other hand, the vfr is even better!.Once I drove my vfr i found it to be the best yet! Longest day for me is 900 miles,and when i travel, its rare to be under 10 hrs a day riding time.most comfortable bike I ever drove in 30 years!..BUT..it still takes a couple of full days riding, to break me in every spring .Once over that im ready! I never have a issue with the stock seat that 300 miles doesn't cure for the rest of the year..same with the bars and shields..bike works perfect for me , ONCE I get broke in.That is the most important part, and it always takes a couple good long rides to do it.
    I do not enjoy short rides on it, and I dont like it in town as no lift. enjoy my naked better there, but for a trip..the vfr all the way. (yes I have the st1100, but its a tankerbike and i use it only for 2 up stuff, so it dont count).

    I also find, after laughing at the kids on the ss bikes over the years, , that I enjoy laying on the tank! It is super comfy and great when its cold or rain.I rarely get wet in the storms, and its warm!. I usually end up there when im riding the boring stuff like the praiires. so u never know till u try!

    Another feature of the vfr that I find very noticeable is the bike is decently cool when its hot..yes it gets warm to ride at 90f, but nothing like a faired i-4 does.Much better! I found that a pleasant surprise...the sideways rad thing really helps.

    Best advice for the long ride.and this took me 25 years to figure out.....take the painkillers BEFORE you get on the bike, always wear earplugs, and dump a load of baby powder down your shorts every day....no joke. best advice I ever got!

    Expect things to hurt at first( like any bike)..with me its always the forearms..but thats dependent on where i first ride..these kinda bikes rely on the wind lift to help hold u up,and it works, so dont expect it to be like the gold wing.on the other hand, piddlin thru the city sucks for me.., but i dont ride there, so dont care....On the highway tho, once i get"broke in" I am set for the summer..same with the rear end..never had a issue on the stock seats of my vfr's, or any of my standards, after i did a couple days..Till then..yup..owieee!

    If u do ride one, leave it alone with the shields, bars, etc till u get used to it..I always fiddled before with my bikes, but this time i just left the vfr's alone and got used to them..when i did change the screens and bars, i just messed things up. created turbulence, took away my lift, turned it into my st1100...:)..no thanks..but thats also dependent on ur height and personal likes, just get used to it the way it comes before spending $$.

    stick on a cheap throttle lock, buy some bungies for a dufflebag, and spend the rest on gas!! :)

    You want a more touring bike with the size and the protection, u are in the wrong class. I wouldnt be afraid of a 600ss bike either..I have done many a long day on them and same deal, once I get used to it, i am set for the summer.

    I also have a st1100, and they rave about them, but it still puts a bit too much weight on my rear as it sits me up again, and back to turbulence with the gorky windscreens. In the end , I find the vfr(and the sprint) the best compromise between a ss bike and a st type.
    Id say if you want a ss type bike, and a bit more comfort, u are really down to the vfr and the sprint, and a few exotics...Only u will be able to judge if it works for u!

    But at 20 yrs old and liking sport bikes, I bet you would have no problem with a ss bike either. and the vfr I would bet you would love.

    good luck and let us know how it works out!!
     
  15. Britt

    Britt New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2007
    Messages:
    239
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Westmont, IL
  16. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

    Country:
    Romania
    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2006
    Messages:
    4,127
    Likes Received:
    316
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Southwest Ohio
    Map
    Jeez dude - at 20 years old you should be able to ride a VFR to California and back. I have done 3000 miles in 2 weeks on one.

    MD
     
  17. KingFatty

    KingFatty New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2008
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Long (200+ miles) trip?

    Stock seat = ASS DEFEATER! Stock seat WINS at BREAKING YOUR ASS.
     
  18. 2000ex

    2000ex New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2007
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Indianapolis, Indiana
  19. Alaskan

    Alaskan Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,727
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    53
    Location:
    Alaska
    Map
    I'm 53 years old. Last month I did a 1500-plus mile rideon my 2004 VFR in 4 days. No problem with a Sargent seat. You will die on the stock seat.
     
  20. R.W.

    R.W. New Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2006
    Messages:
    1,250
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Cloverdale CA.
    Map
    There are two type of mileage rides, the first kind I did was the first day I bought my VFR and rode 840 miles because I had to be home that night so I took the long and straight Interstate for 15 hours all the way from San Francisco to Seattle. After 500 miles on the stock seat my ass started to go numb and and the last 340 miles was absolutely painful.

    Now the second kind of mileage ride is when you mix some good twistys and interesting roads in the mix and that kind of ride keeps you refreshed, I've done 565 miles on days like that and felt like I was ready to party at the end of the day...





    P.S. A Sargent seat will make those miles much better
     
Related Topics

Share This Page