2006VFR vs 2005 Blackbird 1100xx vs 93 Ducatti 756 sport

A mate of mine managed to borrow a blackbird from a mate of his. And another mate of his, came along on a Ducatti 756 sport - We all went out riding on Xmas eve day.

Anyhows, my mate had a ride of my VFR and got off and declared it was the best handling road bike he had ever ridden. He was sad he had to get back on the blackbird "barge".

In a straight line drag, i was not too far behind him, he got up to 230 km/hr, and I chickened out at 220. I flew past the Ducatti. The guy on the Ducatti was very impressed with the VFR because he never thought I would have any chance of keeping up to the 1100.

However the Ducatti flew past me in the twisties - its a nimble wee thing. However I think the guy in the seat had less fear than me so it might not be a good comparison.

 

Interesting when you can swap and compare with bikes catering to different rider tastes.
Personally the 'Blandbird':biggrin: didn't appeal to me when i was shopping, it's like an oversized VFR without any of the traits that make a VFR what it is.

Give the VFR some stick and it won't be too far behind any bike except for the 1000cc + sport bikes.

 

A well setup VFR with Pilot Powers is a good handling road bike and capable of hanging with Supersport machines through the tight twisties, have supprised the CBR600RR/GSXR600/R6 folks quite a few times now :biggrin: , so what did you think of the Blackbird, besides having a little slower turn in thought they handled ok ?

 

The pickings in the comparo are pretty diverse.

-big bore supersport
-13+ year old duc
-new VFR

i'm sure any of those bikes in the hands of an pro would outhandle/perform a schmo like me on any bike i choose.

 

actually never got to ride the blackbird.

mite get a chance in the weekend

 

I would agree. this bike wouldnt lag behind my old r6 much if any in a strait line. plus it feels way more stable and im much more confident in the twisties. I rode 300km without getting off twice last weekend without the discomfort.

 

:first:
and that's why the VFR rocks. its plenty sporty to hang with your supersport buds and its comfortable enough to get you to and from your destination with a back ache.

is the blackbird just a slow busa?

 

the Blackbird is a Hypersports bike like the HireBus and is only a little slower 290kph vs an unfettled Buses 304. The Blackbird is smoother to ride and being a Honda better built...a Blackbird or 2 regularly join our VFR rides and are certainly no slouches through the twisties and woosh away at will on open sweepers and long straights.

My only critisim of a Blackbird is the long reach to the bars and they sound pants with loud pipes, the VFR's marvelous v4 has the BB thoroughly beat for quality of exhaust note.

 

is sounding pants a good thing? first i've heard that one on this side of the pond.

pretty funny if so. pants are good, sometimes.

i might start using that one. a few other favorites are:
the bees knees
the dogs bits
the cats meow

 

Errr, not quite, must have picked it up reading too many UK Motorcycle Mags, saying something is " Pants " is like saying it is " Total Rubbish ", my saying a BB with loud exhaust sounding "Pants" means I think it sounds crap, but then a lot of aftermarket piped IL4 bikes do when compared to the VFR's wonderful sounding V4...:biggrin:

 

Update ...

Had another ride with the blackbird. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a ride on it tho.

However we managed to get onto a nice - like a really really nice - piece of twistie section, probably about 15km long - smooth good surface and fun.

My mate is a beter rider than me - im a little cautious in corners.

I can say, I managed to keep up with him and he told me afterwards that he was riding just about as hard as he could.

Heres the good bit, I had a pillion on the back, he did not.

Both of our consensus was, that given the same rider ability, the VFR will blow a blackbird away in the twisties.

And on the straights, the vfr was not too far behind to warrant the loss of fun in the corners.

Soasfar as im concerned - VFR All the way !!!

 

YES! WE ROCK!

thanks for clearing up pants for me. :wink:

 

The Blackbird has a great reputation and following. I rode a 1998 had it on the highway. It is a scary fast bike and it was comfortable for me (6ft/220lbs - size 12 feet). I think either the VFR handles better in corners or I ride a VFR better. I want a second bike, but the VFR is such a do everything bike. I am planning on keeping my 2k VFR and have considered getting an older VFR as a project. I have decided to sell both - my 1994 Suzuki Intruder and 1983 Honda GoldWing so I can get totally away from crusiers and settle in with the Sport Tourer world (I took a ride on my Suzuki Intruder after riding the VFR for about a month, and it was a scary ride - Brakes and suspension do not compare to a Sports type bike). I guess once you go to the Sports side of motorcycling some people cannot go back to the crusiers. Would anyone consider the Honda CBR F4i as a good second bike (used for commuting to work, running errands and chasing women). I am thinking about getting a used one as a second bike. I have considered an older Honda F2 as a second bike, but I am so picky I would need to do toooo much suspension work and a Race Tech fork replacement before I would be happy.