I am 40 years old and sold my 98 Magna a few years ago. I put about 12,000 hard trouble free miles on it. The Magna was a great bike and I would recomend this bike to anyone., The Magna was a little on the small side but the performace was better than most in that class. The only thing that really botherd me about the Magna was the need to keep the rev's high for it to really preform and the brakes could have been better. I am looking to get back in the game this spring, but am interested In looking at vfr's this winter 98-01. I also have some time on a lot of other sport bikes but the vfr.With that being said, I feel the vfr may be the best fit for me ,I know that does not make a lot of sence. I have not ridden in a couple years .I was wondering if their is a need to keep the vfr in high rev's to get the punch of power, I like to have every now and then. The Magna and vfr are totally diffrent bikes but how much better is the vfr going to be. P.S. I have never posted anything before, I am old man.
Welcome to the site! I owned 2 Magnas - 1995 & 1996(?). liked both bikes & rode 1 down the coast from Monterey to San Diego - it was a fun ride. Personally, I am more comfortable on a VFR due to the seating position - my feet are under my butt & I can use my legs as shock absorbers. Not sure why you singled out the Generation 5 VFR (98 - 2001), but the gear driven cam shaft on those years (and earlier years as well) eliminates the timing chain & the tensioning set-up that was on the Magna & is my favorite model run. As far as a Punch of Power....?..... the fun starts about 6 or 7 grand and it tacks to 11,500 or so. I've read reviews that say it "pulls from 3,000 rpms". it doesn't. Not like a liter twin. But it will do zero to 60 in first gear .......... in 3 seconds. what do you need? more than that? there is about 100 HP about 50-ish ft pounds of torque. So you're not tap-dancin' on the shifter to keep it in the power band like a 600. It's a pretty good all-rounder & you can have a blast on a twisty road. If you weigh 290# or are 6'6 or so....may want to think it over. these days the price for a Gen5 is between $3 & $4K.....maybe less. and there are records of VFR's lasting over 800,000 miles. since you are an old guy (like me?) you may want to take a look at this thread......there are a few of us here. http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/27535-how-many-older-guys-ride-vfr.html
Thanks for the feed back and I hope your still are able to ride this time of year. Not the case here about 4-5 inches of snow and it was zero the other day suppose to hit 20 today though, CA would be nice right about now. nice pic in sig
