Pan European; short notes

Nope, sorry.
The VFR _seems_ to like a drink when fully laden. When solo, he nips along
very nicely, the bike seems to struggle when heavily laden and 2-up.
Still, I guess it is only a 750 tho'!

--
Greybeard

FLHR -03 UK (95 cu-in Stg 2. Big Boy2!)
Trumpet Trophy 1200-03
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

Okay. I had an R-reg 1200 Trophy with factory panniers and topbox. It
could get up to about 130mph, and averaged low 30s mpg. It was reasonably
comfortable for the rider so long as I kept my head out of the turbulence.
Not so for the pillion: the airflow would snap her neck round to the
lock-stops if she got it out of the dead-ahead position. Also, the thing
was a fucking behemoth, with much weight carried high up. Getting it onto
the main stand was a test of nerve and sinew; getting it off again,
sometimes doubly so. Going onto reserve was a full West End production:
fucking ludicrous.

The VFR is a J-reg 750 with Gvi-identical panniers and topbox. Capacity is
probably slightly better than the Trofe. Also, they don't seem to let the
rain in, something the Trofe did for a hobby. It gets to 130 easily enough,
and averages low-to-mid 40s mpg. It's comfortable for both rider and
pillion - daughter prefers it to the Wing and reports "absolutely no
turbulence." It's light and hand and easy to get on and off the stand and
wheel around. It's also got about a third of the money tied up in it that I
had with the Trophy.

Your mate's VFR sounds a bit fucked. Mine is a model of clarity and
precision, even two up. Range-wise, I'd expect to manage 120-130 miles
before reserve in most circumstances. I'd be looking for fuel on the Trophy
after 100 miles or so, due to the reserve shenanigans. The pillion couldn't
tolerate a steady speed over 80 for any significant distance anyway.

 

Tch! I didn't call you a sad **** when you kept checking the lights or
the cooker or whatever it was.

 

I don't think so; I've owned five K series bikes (although no RS
models.)

The old, non paralever ones are a lot cruder in terms of the steering
and suspension. Plus the choice of rubber is limiting. The K1100's a
lot better but has that stupid rubber mounting on the handlebars which
insulates one from the road somewhat.

 

Oh, probably. Thanks.

A full service is on the cards... but I've got the K1100 service to
finish, the K75 full service to do, the sidecar alignment and valves to
do, the triumph clutch to sort and.... well you get the picture.

It's in the queue behind the K1100 and K75.

 

Yeah but you know what I did to my 1100 and it was *miles* better
afterwards. That's all I meant.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,
typed

Umm...

<stares at feet, shuffles>

I had it for about 7,000 miles and I never looked at the air filter.

That might be a good place to start.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Fallen apart) Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"
Norton 850 Commando Kawasaki GTR1400

 

Heh... I'll wait until the family of field mice have left it.

 

I must say I hated the rubber mounted bars at first, but I've got used
to them, once you realise that it will, in fact, get round the corner
that you can't feel.

I have to say the odd wheel sizes limit the 1100's tyre choice as well.

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in
message

Oh, I'm used to them but it isn't a good arrangement. If I had time I
think I'd replace them with metal bushes.

Could also take a leaf out of the H1 cookbook and fill the handlebars
with lead to damp the vibration...[1]

That's true.


[1] Clearly a joke since the K runs the heated grip wires there.

 

hey, at least mine was a proper mental illness - you're just a twat.

 

As I have said before taking the slop out of the bars makes a huge
difference, in fact that mild weave in corners is mostly caused by your
negative feedback through the bars. Add some steering damper, perfect head
races, a proper upgrade to the fork internals and a high quality shock with
the right tyres.... you have as good a handling big tourer as can be had.

The 1100RS wheels allow more tyre options, hence I also said that an RS with
an RT fairing would be the best start.
Of course an RS with a Boxer RS fairing is even better possibly.

 

Standard screen and that's absoluelty correct. I've cahnged all my Trphies
to the Flic-up screen. Seems to _almost_ solve the problem of turbulance.
Pillion is certainly much better off, and in the main, unless I sit bolt
upright, like when stretching my back then I rarely have a problem (I'm a
bit of a shortarse though;o) )
It certainly carries weight high, I even have a rack on the lid of the top
box!
Can't argue about the centre stand fiasco. It can be a right scarey few
minutes of wrestling.
Don't have a problem with reserve, rarely need it, 'specially not if
travelling with my mate on his VFR. (Which in all fairness has only ever
been once and probably will stay that way!)
130 is about the top for the Trumpet, but Christ, who and where would
anybody want to ride at that speed for any length of time?

Can't argue about any of that, I'v never even been on a VFR, it's a Honda
after all, and I don't touch them!
Can't keep up with a Trophy when loaded though.

Well, I have to say, it seems in excellent order, and is pretty damned quick
when solo. Not too much of a slouch when 2-up, but seems not to like being
loaded to the gills.
I reckon you must have had something seriously wrong by not getting 130+ out
of a tank before thinking of reserve, unless of course you are flat out all
the way, then I would think that pretty bloody good! ) I think a VFR at
full chat would be bloody thirsty as well.
Keeping a steady eighty or so on my Trumpet I would expect to get over 140
miles before reserve. I have had nearly 200 to the tank taking it really
steady!
On a similar note, my neighbour, who bought my 1991 Trophy off me a couple
of years back, and rides _very_ cautiously, is always over the 200/tankfull
before he fills up, and never hit reserve yet! ;o)

Horses for courses, but having never ridden a VFR I can't comment on the
bike itself, but the Trophy is a farking hard bike to beat as full-up fully
laden long distance tourer.
And a great bike to just around for fun as well ;o))
--
Greybeard

FLHR -03 UK (95 cu-in Stg 2. Big Boy2!)
Trumpet Trophy 1200-03
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

snip>

I don't know if there's a major difference in the handling between the
K100 and the K1100 but as far as I can tell al, you need to do with
the older model is throw it at a corner as hard as you can, pucker up
and get on with it.

It's a big old unit but all bikes from that era handled like turds
and without riding it back to back with something like a GPZ1100 it
doesn't seem to be any worse than I remember bikes as being.

Mine scared the shit out of me at first but now I'm used to it I don't
worry about it. Decent tyres would be nice but when you consider that
Pirelli Phantoms were about as good as it got in 1983 you just have to
accept that it's old and ignore the problems. I'm positive that my
K100 handles better than the mid '70s boxer twins that I rode. At
least I can roll the gas off a bit mid corner without it standing up
and shaking as if it's got Parkinsons.

 

The RS doesn't have the rubber mounted tiller like bar problem so it
doesn't exhibit the same weave in long sweepers. As for the rest,
horses for.

 

I can do that on the Duke, but I'd prefer not to on the K.

The K, I set up for the bend nicely in advance, tip it in, and then keep
the power on all the way round. It seems to go quite nicely round bends
like that. In fact, I got my boot down yesterday.

Shutting off in mid-corner? Hm. Haven't tried that. Haven't tried
snorting prussic acid either.

The Ducati I like throwing at corners, because I'm certain that whatever
I do, it'll come out the other side. I like lobbing the K at corners
because it's a sort of interesting academic experiment.

It actually corners much better than it should do, given its size,
weight and soft suspension, but it doesn't handl;e anywhere near as well
as the Trophy 1200 that preceded it.

 

snip>

My 1983 K100 does better than 140 miles to reserve belting up the
motorway at 110mph and I'm not overly impressed with that when I look
at it as a long distance touring bike.

 

I can do that on the Duke, but I'd prefer not to on the K.
[/QUOTE]
You should try it. I'll probably bring mine on a French trip so try it
on that, it won't matter if you wreck it because your life insurance
will replace it.

It does repay you if you line it up well in advance of the corner but
changes of line can be accomplished if you're in the shit enough to
try it.

Prussic acid? Never tried it but I have snorted vodka and it burnt
like a bastard.

 

I had a non-standard screen. It was okay for me, but still problematic for
the pillion.

I once got 160 to reserve on my Trophy. However, when it did hit reserve,
it was chugga chugga choke fart hard shoulder fuel starvation. Which is why
I'd be getting edgy and looking around for filling stations after 100 miles.

It was a good bike, but I just didn't get on with it.

 

platypus says...

How crap is that, and they call it a full-on tourer? Normal tank range
on my Daytona is about 155 to 160 miles, and on one occasion I managed
to drag it out to 225 miles by riding like DWB/Oldbloke/Wizard/Ginge in
his R6 days.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE
Suzuki SV650 K3
Honda CBR600 F-W
Suzuki GSX-R750L
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka