Just rolled in yesterday from a 3,022 mile trip out to Rapid City, SD and back on my VFR. I rode up to my buddy's place just east of Minneapolis and we took off on the superslab out to the west side of SD to play around in the Badlands and the Black Hills area a bit. This is the first (what I would consider) long trip on the VFR and it handled the task very well. It definitely wasn't any match for my friend's 2010 CBR1000rr, but I was riding on a LAZ-E-BOY compared to that bike. :biggrin: I have taken multi-day trips on many different styles of bikes and the VFR seemed to give me the best mix of all of them. It is less comfortable than the FJR I owned, but also about a thousand pounds lighter :tongue:. I have road tripped to Phoenix on a Sportster, North Carolina on a Busa, and Florida on an FJR in past years. Anyway, I had two Go Pro's mounted on the bike and a Drift HD on my helmet, so I have quite a lot of video that needs to be edited. I plan to update with videos as I get time to watch them and edit out the boring bits. We met and talked to lots of interesting characters along the way, found a "dental" inspired car and had a stand-off with a buffalo! All in all, it was a great time and as a solo sport-tourer, the VFR was definitely on par as the best "all around" bike for this type of ride. The best part of road trips are the crazy people you meet and the unexpected detours that are taken. My friend Dave and I usually just have some kind of destination in mind and then we just wing it from there, so the trips always seem to be a bit interesting.... For obvious reasons, the FJR or ST1300 was built for this kind of trip. Having owned an FJR, I have tried to mimic many of the things that drew me to that bike for long distance trips (minus the 600lb weight). The only real concern I have with the touring aspect of this bike right now is the windscreen. Not long after riding on the highway for an extended period of time, did I wonder if the stock windscreen would have been a better choice. I currently have the Givi and it does an excellent job of getting the wind to hit me right in the helmet... This resulted in an insane amount of helmet noise (even with earplugs) and it was amplified on days with strong crosswinds. The stock screen would have put more wind on my chest, but I think the end result would have been quieter in my helmet as the air hitting it would be cleaner. This is the only aspect with the bike that I have to "deal with" or find a different/better solution. Any suggestions that I haven't already searched to death? :wink: CLICKY If I ever travel across South Dakota again, I will have to find a different route to take as I90 is not on my list of Top 10 roads to ride.... The speed limit is 75mph and apparently "strictly enforced", yet we did not see a single officer from the eastern border all the way to Rapid City and back. The only way to pass the time is to do it Cannonball style and move across the state as quickly as possible! :biggrin: Stay tuned for more. Josh
Nice report. Glad to hear the bike held up for the trip and was interesting to hear about how the screen worked for you. Your bike looks great too...something about the white color for me...
