Considering a Sport Touring Bike

I noticed hardly any mention of the 6th gen Interceptor, is the V-Tec scaring people?

 

It's a nifty bike. Heard nothing but good things about handling, and ergos, if you can do them. The OEM bags are Givi bags, and are very good. Those that love them wouldn't trade them for the world. I think the 800 is still slightly underpowered, for the segment. But, still a good street motor.

You'll find a lot of them for sale about the time the first major service is needed. Which is the valve clearance check. It's quite labor intensive and can be shockingly expensive to have a dealer do it. Basically, the tech has to lock in the V-Tec'ed valves by partially dismantling the works and inserting a locking device. Re-assemble. Then run the check. Dismantle it again to remove the locking device. And final re-assembly. This all greatly increases the labor time. I've seen a lot of people not want to go through the expense. I recall there might be shortcuts that can be taken. One is just to not do the lockout and only run clearances on the regularly used valves, and trust the v-tec'ed valves are fine.

 

Embrace the ugliness... try a few

 

I found a pristine 07 Interceptor with the factory bags for 4K, that’s the red/white/blue one.

 

You should sit on a multi. They have a great seating position. Reminded me a lot of the feeing I got sitting on a hyper. Both bikes felt custom tailored to me. Haven’t ridden either

 

Exactly, I have both and use the VFR for 1up and FJR for 2up longer trips. The VFR has a great soul and sound, the FJR not so much but gets the job done quite well

 

The Vfr is a nicely balanced bike but it's slow, mainly because of the sidemount radiators being very inefficient.

 

I have a KTM 1090 Adventure R. Only difference between it and the bigger bikes is that they have more power and some extra electronics.

A friend with an F800 GSA and I are planning to ride from the North end of Seattle to the 'Welcome to the Arctic Circle' sign north of Fairbanks. Up and back in 9 days with (hopefully) a shot at the Iron Butt 1000 in 24 and 1500 in 36 awards. Only issue I have with the 1090 is the seat could be a bit more comfy after about 4 hours. Working on that now. It is a TALL bike.

I would not trade mine for anything I have ridden so far, but it is pretty much subjective to what works for YOU.

Cheers !!!

 

I think we are all thinking far to practical. Here is the sport bike for us old farts with bad backs, shit its even go two wings so its has to be twice as good a the V4R....

 

looks like Godzilla ate a Transformer and then threw it up
and *too

 

"They" == Ducati? If so, hopefully a "design study" for a future model?

Give me a Panagale V4 and a track, and I can probably turn it into a streetfighter "starter kit" in about 2-3 laps...

 

That's because people on multi's are nobody's friend.

 

Had the FJR for many miles, 5 cross country trips. It's good at this. Heavy and stabil as a tank and kinda vanilla but not as much as the Honda ST. I like a little soul in a bike. Have been pondering the same decision. As good as the FJR was I want something lighter now.
You consider the Triumph ST?

 

VFR owners typically don’t perform the first valve check until 40K-50K, depending on comfort level. And, I’ve yet to see anyone mention this service as a reason for an owner to sell one. It’s not nearly as bad as you make it out to be and can be done by a competent owner with a service manual and lockout tool. An experienced tech can do them in a few hours.

That’s market correct.

Any of the painted panels are very difficult to source, should you have a mishap. I know of a couple guys who’ve bought complete anniversary bikes, just to have a spares.

Complete bullshit. The side-mounted radiators have absolutely nothing to do with their output. VFR’s have made around 105rwhp, for years. And, there are other, higher horsepower bikes using side-mounted radiators.

Changing out the inward sucking fan blade for an outward blowing VTR blade tremendously helps efficiency. Even further is to add an auxiliary fan to the right radiator to gain airflow.

 

The ST1050 is a fantastic bike. My only complaint was the thing absolutely cooked my right foot. The catalytic converter is right under there, with the fairing capturing that heat, and airflow blowing it straight up. I ended up with a Tiger 1050, partly for that reason.

 

I had a friend that lived out of country and he kept his Triumph ST here. He used it so little that this winter he offered it to me for $2,000 just to get it out of his garage. I think it was an 06 with under 10K miles. I took it for a couple mile ride and said no thanks. It takes a shit-ton for me to walk away from a steal but there was just something about the bike that I didn't like. Maybe because it felt like i was sitting in it rather than on it. I just didn't mesh with it at all.

 

I agree, the fact that it weighs almost 500lbs is what makes it slow, but honestly who needs more than 100HP on the skreet anyways.

 

Sean and Broome?

 

I don't NEED that 5th beer, but if it's there...