Re: Any ex VFR owners out there?

[Rich Weyand <weyand@xxxxxxx>]

At 09:08 PM 6/25/99 -0400, Dean C. Harris wrote:

>I'll be getting a new bike next season...and since I'm on the T5 and Sprint
>lists you can see that I'm quite interested in the Speed Triple or Sprint
>ST.  First, has anyone battled themselves whether they wanted the cool look
>of the Triple or the more aerodynamic faired Sprint?  I'm kind of torn
>between them right now.
>
>My other bike was an 82 Honda Sabre V45.  When I first went looking for a
>new bike I thought I'd head straight to Honda and the new VFR800.  Then
>someone pointed me to the Triumph's and they look like they'd put a smile
>on my face...a bit more so then the VFR800.

<snip, snip>

Well, I got the Sprint ST and couldn't be happier.  My buddy has an older VFR,
which he also likes a great deal.  The Spd3 guys love theirs, too, so how can
you make a bad decision?

Some things that sold me on the Sprint ST:

1) I can do without the weirdo braking system of the Hondas.  Ptui.  Way too
important to keep the front and rear brakes separate, especially on bikes with
the kind of stopping power these have.  Several of us have dumped STs on bad
surfaces already (one note: the fairings protect the engine cases nicely, and
can be had from ToA quickly, and are just as pretty as new, though not cheap),
and I can only think a linked braking system would make this worse.  (As for
me, I had a several year hiatus from riding, so I have an excuse for being 
rusty!)  But how the hell do you slow down a bike with a linked braking system
on bad surface without dumping yourself?  Sweep first and only ride when it is
bone-dry out and all the dew has gone?

2) Having nifty luggage that looks good and just bolts on is important if you
carry more than a spare set of gloves.  I didn't get the bags, because I like
the look of the pipe in the high position, but I use the top box for picnics
or when running errands, and leave it off when not needed.  Comes off in seconds
and the rack still has a pretty clean look.  No standard luggage for VFR or Spd3.

3) The torque curve.  Spd3 and ST pretty much share the same torque curve, but
the VFR doesn't.  I rolled around the corner from 126 into US30 west of Palatine
over the weekend, onto wide open spaces of empty highway, and seriously dialed 
it on in 2nd from low-mid RPMs.  It's like when they pull the hyperdrive lever 
in Star Wars.  The landscape surges toward you in a mad rush and is past.  You
could swear the throttle grip is directly geared to the tach needle: you can't 
twist the throttle fast enough to stay ahead of it.  And my engine is still 
loosening up.  Not as good for racing as a higher-RPM-tuned torque curve, but 
how much of your mileage will be on the track vs. town and highway?

4) I much prefer the riding position over that of the Dukes, the Daytona, and 
the VFR.  This laying down over the bike doing pushups on the clip-ons is real
neat shit in the showroom, but gets old fast on the highway.  Spd3 and ST have
more upright positions which can be maintained for long rides without wrist
problems.  Also, the upright position seems to be a cop-repellent.  With all 
my safety equipment on, upright on a black ST, the cops don't even look twice.
The local guy with the yellow Duke is having a difficult time hanging on to 
his license.  He looks like he's being bad even when he isn't.  The Spd3 
probably has even more of an advantage here over the ST.

5) And I gotta admit, I really like the looks of the ST.  I don't care for the
'angular' look of the VFR so much.  The naked bike look of the Spd3 is cool,
too, though.  Depends on what grabs ya, I guess.

6) And finally, some people will tell you 'the Spd3 cause you can get it in
glow-in-the-dark-like-the-second-coming green' while others will say 'the ST 
cause you can get it in fire-engine-ferrari-stoplight red'.  You can get either
of them in black, though, so I don't have a preference here.  ;-)


Rich Weyand      |  _______   ___,---. ---+_______:_   |Rich Weyand
Weyand Associates| |_N_&_W_| |_N_&_W_| |__|________|_  |TracTronics
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