Newbie from New Jersey

Greetings Everyone!

My name is Rick and I'm from Atlantic County, New Jersey. I'm new to this forum—obviously—and somewhat new to motorcycling. This season was my first season and I did it on a 2009 Kawasaki ER-6n that I just got out of. I racked up over 9,500mi in the course of five months and now I'm looking for a bit more bike.

I quickly found that a cramped riding triangle—at least in the knees—wasn't conducive to being a mileage monster. There were +14hr days were my knees and ass were scream'n. I'm looking for my next bike to be a sport tourer and the '06-and-up VFR800 is on my list.

Yea, as you might imagine I have some questions about ways in making a bit more softcore and touring friendly seeing I said an standard/naked bike was a bit cramped for me but that's best suited for a non-intro category. I'm looking forward to fraternizing with you folks and gathering as much knowledge as I can.

Cheers!

 

Welcome aboard

 

Welcome aboard Rick. Another Jersey guy here, but I'm at the north end of the state.

Good luck in your search for a bike. There are plenty of mods to make this bike more touring friendly, but the stock ergonomics are pretty friendly to begin with. Usually the first things that people will do is put a set of Heli Bars (or similar), and an aftermarket seat (Sargent seems to be the preferred, although I have a Corbin and like it). Only our good friend Emon from this sight has ever said he loved the stock seat and hated all others lol!

If you come across a bike with bags, a power commander and aftermarket exhaust, those are some nice options. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of threads that will talk about the PC.

Use the search function on the top right of this forum and I'm sure you'll have several questions that will be answered.

 

Welcome aboard, my man. You have come to the right place. I rode my nearly stock (except for Sargent seat, throttlemeister, heli bars, and Yoshimura pipe) 3012 miles from Atlanta to Ottawa and back through New Hampshire New York, Penn, Va, and NC. The only thing that failed was my brain (I left my tank bag along the TransCanada Highway). I can't say this is the best bike. I can only say it served me well and now that I have a 6th gen which is even better, I am sold and would try to sell you on it if you were in front of me. Good luck in your search. Ditto what Pilskin said. And check out VFRDiscussion's classified, Craig's list in your area, or CycleTrader.com. There are great deals out there. Run it by folks on the chat here before you buy anything.

 

Welcome Rick.

I have a mint, I mean not even broken in yet, 2001 red Gen 5 with $900 of aftermarket goodies on it for $4500 & I can deliver it. I live in the southern end of Burlington County. Let me know if you're interested.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

What exit? I used to live at 98GSP or 7ANJT. Jackson. Now I'm in Vegas, but miss NJ.... sometimes...

 

Welcome. I think if you get yourself a VFR, you will definately be happier with the longer rides. I have ridden mine from Vancouver Canada to middle California twice now. And I am old (er) with back issues. But the ride was not bad at all. Take away the rain cold and lava dust on the Siskeu Pass. Messy shit that is.

 

Get yourself a nice radar detector and get a ear phone jack for it. I used to use mine on my tank bag and wired it directly to the battery. I dont miss NJ an ioda, Komunist Republic, VFR is a nice scooter, its not a super fast bike but its fast enough to lose your license on anyway. Cheers and have fun shopping for your new ride.

 

Welcome, Rick. I'm from Middlesex County. Sold my 2003 VFR recently (still riding my VTX1300) but keeping an eye out for another VFR myself.

9500mi in 5 months in NJ is an impressive feat! Got any picture of the Kawi?? I really like those.

If you end up with a 6th gen and need any help with maintenance/wrenching, let me know and I will be glad to lend a hand. I'm no super-mechanic but had a bit of experience with my 6th gen.

I'm 8A, myself

 

Welcome - the 06 VFR is a good choice and has the lower VTEC threshold - people can debate about it but, the 6th gen has a better suspension than the 5th gen so any VFR from 2002 and above is a good choice for a tourer rider IMHO (I love my 5th gen with suspension mods). If you do not like the 6th Gen VFR VTEC engine for whatever reason then the 5th Gen is the better VFR choice and makes a better occasional trackday bike. I am in NYC and just recently picked up an 05 VFR in New Hampshire. My first thought would be to find a VFR in stock condition if possible with low mileage. I also gotta recommend checking the VFRWorld classified listings and the VFRD calssified listings. If you buy a bike from a VFR forum member you will get a good bike with some sensible mods (once again just my opinion), and all the history of the bike. You also stand a better chance on getting documentation such as owners manual, service manual, spare key and extra parts. Also when you deal with an individual you can get the original stock parts in case you need them. You can check in the area at dealers like CycleExchange in Andover NJ - they currently have three VFRs for sale. The 03 Black VFR with the flame graphics has some issues I bought it but returned the bike because there is something wrong with it. They also have two White 06 VFRs both over $6k (one has a little less than 8k miles and the other has less than 10k miles, one has a sargent seat the other has a stock seat. Burgers Motorcycles in Three Bridges, NJ has a sweet looking 03 VFR with 15k mi, but they want $5,600 for the bike. I was looking for a VFR most of the season and Dealers in the NYC Tri-State area were not very negotiable with the prices so I checked the forum classifieds and looked for out of state deals. Again just an opinion, but you should be able to find a 06 VFR in excellent condition for $5k - $6K with under 10k mi. I would also say check the bike's VIN for recalls before purchase. Good Luck with your search!!!!!!

 

Welcome, fellow Jerseyan! I just picked up my VFR in Sept and coming from cruisers, it's a big adjustment- IMHO. I still ride a kawasaki Nomad 1600 (love it!), but i have a ton of work to do on my '02 VFR, just to get it up to speed. My good deal didn't turn out as great as i thought, albeit it's in gorgeous physical condition - needs new: tires, chain, sprocket, fluids, also bought HeliBar Risers, Lizard Skin by TechSpec, new air filter, fuel filter, and hard bags. I picked her up in Long Island - you can get better deals for some reason over there. I like my VFR, but don't love it yet... more sport than tourer in terms of riding position (to me), but not as drastic lean angles as other dedicated sport bikes. My 2 cents. God Speed on your search. peace.

 

Hello & welcome

 

Wow! Thanks everyone for your warm and comprehensive welcoming. I've never subscribed to a forum where everyone was as kind and verbose as you folks.

I started this off by multi-quoting but soon realized I'd have to multi-quote everyone. To respond to KC-10 FE, I much appreciate your offer but I'm quite set on the 6th generation Viffers, most notably the '06-present refresh.

To respond to a few other Jersey folk on here, I'm exit 40 off of the GSP; it's the rest stop near White Horse Pike by Atlantic City. It's interesting to see a few cruiser folk on here as I myself have been seriously considering a cruiser for my next bike too, specifically the V Star 1300 tourer. Read tons of reviews and I'm positive if I get a cruiser, it's the cruiser for me. A bit less certain in the sport touring department but I must admit, after trolling this forum a bit, I can say with confidence the VFR800 Interceptor is now on the top of that list.

I also saw here and elsewhere that there are some 40-somethings knocking out some serious miles on their Interceptors, I'm confident it'll me more cozier than the tiny ER-6n. Also, for the person that requested some pics of my ER-6n, once I get back on my PC, I'll go ahead and do just that!

Again, thanks everyone! Cheers!

 

Welcome aboard! Its a very nice and friendly site.I hope you are having a good time.

 

Two Things...

Elwray & Pastorgumby, I have a question for ya guys.

As mentioned, I'm contemplating a cruiser as well. I'm reading testimonials and seemingly sound evidence that cruiser bikes aren't quite as comfortable as one might think they are for the long haul. I wanted to hear your input seeing that you also ride sport bikes. I'm thinking I'm getting mixed signals because each respective group has a different frame of reference. My hunch is: the sport bike guys talk about VFR's being comfortable 'cause they mentally compare it to a CBR or ZX whereas the cruiser crowd says their cruisers aren't comfortable because they juxtapose it to their Buick Roadmaster or La-Z-Boy. So, what say you VTX1300 and Nomad 1600 owner, can I log +12hr days on 'em provide it I have the proper wind protection to fight against the parachute-like riding geometry?

Secondly, as promised to Elwray, here's some pictures of my last bike:

 

That Kawasaki is gorgeous! I prefer the VFR, but still love that bike

As far as the comfort goes between the VTX1300 and the VFR800, bottom line is I preferred the VTX. The VFR is more "fun" of a ride as far as sporty handling, acceleration, and braking goes - but I just couldn't ride it for more than a couples hours at a time.

BUT - compared to something like a Ninja/GSXR/CBR, the VFR is extremely comfortable. The seating position isn't awfully bad in itself on the VFR - I just prefer the "stretching space" I get on the cruiser:





Between the foot pegs, crash bars, and even passenger pegs I have a lot of places to put my feet. And the fairing provides great wind protection. If I'm on a long boring stretch of highway, I can pop the cruise control on an just lie back for a bit

I feel like a better seat would have gone a LONG way in making the VFR more comfortable for me. Possibly a different set of clipons/handlebars, too.

If you're going for a "comfortable sport bike" I think the VFR is the ticket. It's not quite set up for touring as much as something like the ST/FJR1300's, but it's a lot sportier.