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The VFR1200 SUCKS


silverbird1100

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I bought one a few weeks ago after a test ride that went well but I guess wasn't long enough. I was thinking it would respond to mods better than it did.  I had the ECU flashed and forks re-valved but it still has poor fueling and feels heavier than an XX which I didn't expect being so compact.  It's the vibes that I can't live with, I've never had numbness travel up my shoulder before, hands maybe but not like this.  Seems fine on the highway but climbing up a canyon or under any kind of load is just too distracting.  Handling is good and heat management is excellent.  It's quite visceral, which is great for some but doesn't disappear beneath you like an XX or ZX14. I was expecting something totally different.  Just venting here that I have to sell another bike in search of a blackbird replacement. FML

 

Test ride thoroughly if your blackbird did for you what it did to me.  

Edited by silverbird1100
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1 hour ago, silverbird1100 said:

It's the vibes that I can't live with, I've never had numbness travel up my shoulder before, hands maybe but not like this.

It is hard to believe that a Honda V-4 would do that (not saying you are lying).  Are others on forums complaining about this?  If not, maybe there is something wrong with yours.

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It's fine on the highway, cruises great but it must be the frequency or something under load that really gets to me.  Even my FJR was a little buzzy, my bird was too now that I think of it.  Only I-4 that didn't give me problems was my ZX14.  It's not just the buzziness though that turns me off, there is plenty not to like IMO.  As mentioned I'm just venting, I'm pretty hard to please. Oh well, maybe I can find a nice XX somewhere if this doesn't turn me off of motorcycles all together. 

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After losing my 03 Bird a few years back I picked up a 04 gsxr 1k, CBR 929rr, Buell XB9r, 04 ZX10, 05 Hayabusa and a Vulcan 1500 classic. You'll never guess what I own now, some things are just hard to improve on.

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I always wanted to get a BMW K1200s to replace my bird. I would think that that is the closest to a bird. I lived all my VFRs but then again I never had the 1200 version

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15 hours ago, googus said:

I always wanted to get a BMW K1200s to replace my bird. I would think that that is the closest to a bird. I lived all my VFRs but then again I never had the 1200 version

 

Look at the K1300 - the K1200 had known weaknesses in the geartrain. A guy I know lunched a K1200 gearbox in the first week of owning it and they gave him a new bike because it was a known design flaw

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I may have been a little harsh but I just don't understand what Honda was trying to do with this bike. The 1st and 2nd gear restrictions are so harsh why did they even make it a 1200?  An unrestricted 1000 would have had way more appeal.   I kept thinking while riding it... I should have just gotten either a ST1300 or CBR1000 because this does nothing well enough to justify owning it.  And I'm an all-arounder kind of bike buyer. My 919 was probably my favorite bike out of more than 20.

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Thats wierd - as I've said elsewhere, my experiences with the VFR1200 were just the opposite. I rode one about 300 miles when I lived in Virginia. It was the most souless motorcycle I ever road. So smooth and so quiet - relatively - it didnt stir me anymore that a sewing machine does. Twist the grip and the world went by faster, but you couldnt tell the motorcycle was contributing to that. I felt disconnect from the bike. Hated it.

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  • 3 years later...

Thread resurrection. Lol. 

I rode it without bazzas first and second gear power cut eliminator. I does feel weird, not much power below 7 k rpm, and then boom !!. It feels like engine getting on pipe, cam and turbo all at the same time. 

Gear indicator works properly though.

 

Installed bazzas back on right away. Much better that way.

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