First real ride on the 8th gen

I was able to get out for a 280+/- mile ride today. I quite like the new bike. overall impressions are good, the main thing I noticed is the suspension is very stiff, at least compared to what I'm used to. I need to look into how to soften it up a bit. Unfortunately I did not get the Deluxe model so I suspect the adjustment is limited.

I got up to the snow like for a couple art shots.

 

Nice! The 8th Gens look great.

 

Nice bike eh... nice photos too, that white on white is sweet. Talk about nice weather we're having, I take it that's Mt. Rainier? Sunrise or Paradise?

 

Ditto here with snow.
In the uk we get the full suspension adjustment. I've started at the softest settings and am gradually changing things.

 

Mt Baker up North, it's a great ride up the mountain with a great view at the top.

 

White was my decision. This was last summer on top of Cottonwood Pass in Colorado.

 

Nice nice nice, Honda should have had white as an option for the 5thgens. Then they would have been super fast. Can we rename this thread to White 8th gen ride.? Be interesting to see how many more will jump on in.. I say keep em coming

 

Stiff suspension? Sure is! Ive got the DLX with adjustable suspension. Even on the softest settings its still way to hard. The suspension is my big dissapoinment with the bike, to the point that I cant see me keeping it for too much longer.

 

Wow that's not good! But I understand. I'm going to play with my suspension over the weekend to see what I can do.

 

I take it the ST1100 is a lot more comfortable in this regard?

That is disappointing that you got the deluxe and even with the adjustments it is too hard. One has to ask, what is the point?

A lot of these sport bikes are just hard as a rock. One option is to have the suspension rebuilt. Here in the US we have a great vendor (Jamie Daugherty) that upgrades the internal valving so that fluid actually flows and allows the suspension to compress and do its job.

 

I'm 90kg without gear and I found it very harsh initially, but having said that I suspect that it's just a question of really bad roads that are being driven well below the speeds that the bike is designed to be doing. After slight adjustments it was less harsh but still very firm but after a few thousand kilometres, either I'm getting used to it or it is starting to soften up a little. Maybe all the fillings that were going to shake out now have. I'll probably leave it as is until the next service just to make sure that it has bedded in properly and then I'm going to talk to a suspension tuner to see if a) I have it set up right. (b) Whether a change in springing or fork oil are necessary. On good roads the suspension is OK, but most of our local roads are appalling. Collapsed edges, deep dips due to subsidence usually with a large lump beside them where the tar has bulged up out of the dip. They're frankly more suited to a dirt bike suspension set up than a sports bike one. The GS500 coped a little better but it also wasn't capable of anything like the speed or acceleration that the VFR is. Aside from this the bike is brilliant, so I'm more than happy to mod it if necessary.

 

I have the same model as yours and I am going to change out the fork oil to a lighter weight 7.5. Hopefully that will help a little bit with the stiff front fork. I am also installing the 2016 CBR600RR master cylinder and custom front brake lines from CoreMoto today.

 

Please let me know if the fork oil change helps. I have not had a chance to make any adjustments yet but I'm planning on taking it to a suspension specialist in town to have them help set up the bike and discuss options if that doesn't help. These guys set up my Daytona at a track day and I've been very happy with it.

Dan