Honda Test Ride Days
Well I rode down to Seltzer’s Honda today for the upon house and to specifically check out the new VFR and Nt700V.
Since it was a Thursday I pretty much had the place to myself except for a few Goldwingers. So without further ado here’s my brief observations on the two bikes.
When I sat on the VFR I thought there was no way I could do a big ride with this thing with it’s current ergonomics. The seat to peg layout was ok but the clip-on’s were way too far forward and low for my liking. There is a lot of weight on your wrists, but I think this could be easily solved with helibars or something. While riding the bike it almost seemed like riding a naked bike. I could see the top of the windscreen but I had to deliberately look down to see the instrument cluster.
The engine on this thing seems to make torque all over the place. Very responsive, but as others have said, the fuel injection is VERY twitchy. The transmission was silky smooth and suspension seemed more than adequate.
One thing to note is that as I entered the highway from 1st gear I rolled on the throttle and the engine cut power twice. I think this bike has some fuel injection glitch.
I also think anything over 3rd gear seems to be just to conserve fuel because under 70 you don’t need to be above 3rd for any other reason.
Overall, it’s a nice bike. However, the ergos would prevent me from considering this as anything other than a long heavy sport bike. The rear sear is almost non-existent.
I wanted to like this bike, I really did. I mean it’s got everything a Vstrom rider looks for in a bike. It’s butt ugly, has a v-twin, bags and an awful windscreen.
Sitting on the bike it has a fairly upright seating position. The pegs and bars seam to be where you think they should be. A very neutral position. That’s where the good ends.
The engine is horrific. I mean really bad. If you don’t rev it to about 2700 RPM when getting going it will stall. Power seems to come on above 3000 rpm, but by 6500 rpm this thing is weazing. on it’s way to an 8000ish redline. I was used to the Wee-strom that will pull away from idle and pull quite nicely all the way up to 10,500rpm. Oh did I mention that the Wee will do all this very smoothly as well. Well as smooth as a twin can be. The Honda had vibration all over the place. Bars, pegs, and seat. Hopefully what they saved in engine development they put toward loctite to keep all the bolts on this thing.
Other than that the bike was ok. The windscreen was a little large for my liking but the integrated bags are nice and have a nifty handle to open them. Larger lids are available overseas if you want to increase capacity.
The rear seat seamed to be about the same size as the V-strom, but the V-strom weighs less has the same or better range and makes more power.
Overall it was an enjoyable day. Perhaps I’ll head back over this weekend and take the Goldwing for a spin again. It’s really a hoot. Of course the DN-01 was there calling to me as well. Maybe take the 50cc Ruckus out on the freeway, who knows.
Oh, they also hooked me up with a free bottle of Honda Spray Polish so that was worth the price of admission.
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