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Any motorcyclists on this forum?

Certainkindoffool

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Be sure to keep a 6 ft social distance from any of the woodland creatures like bears, alligators and snakes. :p

Any free motorcycle is the worlds best motorcycle! LOL
VTX isn't a bad ride, I had quite a few come and go on the used floor. They are a nice comfortable crusier but sadly under powered for a big heavy bike. Not nessacarily a bad thing but owners usually outgrow them pretty fast.

Give that a lot of thought. Dual purpose bikes usually don't do anything really well. Also a hard sell on the used market IME.

Bears are the only thing I suspect I will have to worry about here in Ontario. But, I can easily outrun my friend - on or off the bike - so I feel pretty safe.

Free is excellent. However, I'm around 250lbs and I had to crank up the suspension to the max to keep from bottoming out over small bumps. For the weight and displacement, I find it pretty slow. No idea what I'd end up with if I bought another cruiser, but I've always liked the V-Rod.

Its for exactly those reasons that I was considering it. The f800 seems to be pretty cheap on the used market, and I would like to do some more intensive camping/touring/off road trips . Sport bikes are out for me, after all the injuries I've had I can't contort my body that way - tried to ride my wife's Kawasaki ZR-7S and it was painful. I figure an adventure bike is as close as I can get. And, I'm unlikely to do any serious offroading beyond mucking about at a touring destination.

Any suggestions that would be a better fit for my criteria?
 

Sal1950

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Any suggestions that would be a better fit for my criteria?
No not really, all your conclusions seem spot on.
If your tall enough to ride and handle a f800, go for it, just make sure you get a good price buying it so you can bail-out without getting hurt if you ever want to sell it. ;)
Good Luck
 

Certainkindoffool

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No not really, all your conclusions seem spot on.
If your tall enough to ride and handle a f800, go for it, just make sure you get a good price buying it so you can bail-out without getting hurt if you ever want to sell it. ;)
Good Luck

Thanks! I'm a cheap SOB and rarely over pay for things my wife doesn't want.
 

raindance

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That Tuono's a beauty, I love the Italian V-Twins. My Ducati 900 Monster was a awesome ride, now they're 1200's :p Hope they come from the factory with steering dampeners now, mine loved to shake it's head at speed. I put a dampener on it but that handling issue was why I eventually sold it.
@ayane as Ray said, do be careful. Motorcycle riding requires complete attention at all times, you can't ride down the street daydreaming about last nights fight with your S.O. or whatever. A moments distraction can turn into what would be a minor fender bender in a cage, to a life changing incedent on a bike. Take an accredited course somewhere, lots of good life saving info available their. I ran one at the dealer I used to work for and trained thousands of safe riders.
A friend of mine had the Tuono - it was a V4. It would wheelie at 60mph... I had a monster 696 and sold it because the steering was just far too light at any speed and 80mph in second gear just isn't good for my relationship with the cops :).
 

Sal1950

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I no longer felt safe on public roads and am getting too old to fall off on the racetracks.
I sure don't bounce as well as I used to, that's a fact! LOL
 

RayDunzl

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Sal1950

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MRC01

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Rider in years past. Stopped due to getting old enough things don't heal so well anymore, and the ubiquitous cell phone in the hands of automobile drivers.
...
Still have an old Honda 750 Four which I need to spruce up and sale. ...
I resemble that. My first motorbike was a '74 Honda CB-350-4. Next a '78 CB-550-4 which I rode for 90,000 miles at which point the primary drive chain (connecting crankshaft to clutch) broke. In the 750-4 you mention, the crankshaft to clutch drive is gear-driven not chain-driven so it lasts essentially forever. Also had an '83 GPZ 750, a '92 GSXR-750 (last year of air cooled), a '96 Harley Fat Boy, a Harley Sportster 1200, and a '99 Honda Magna VF750C.

After decades of riding motorbikes as I gradually aged, I realized that I had more fun riding bicycles and flying airplanes, so I gave up motorcycles. Now I just have lots of good motorbike experiences and memories.
 

lennard

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Since the age of 17 (a while ago), have always cycled and motorcycled: currently in the garage: 1999 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, 1979 Suzuki GS1000E and a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird.
 

weasels

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That's a sweet ride.
Won't be too fast as it's only rated at 65hp
Have fun and be safe.

I learned to ride (probably like a lot of folks) on a 250cc Suzuki. Definitely way less than 65hp but the appeal to me was how much fun you could have on a bike even if you weren't going all that fast.

I ride an Indian Scout 60 which put out around 70hp at the wheels on a dyno and it feels plenty fast on public roads. Still can make you pucker up when you need to avoid a soccer mom in an SUV who clearly doesn't see you.
 

Blumlein 88

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I resemble that. My first motorbike was a '74 Honda CB-350-4. Next a '78 CB-550-4 which I rode for 90,000 miles at which point the primary drive chain (connecting crankshaft to clutch) broke. In the 750-4 you mention, the crankshaft to clutch drive is gear-driven not chain-driven so it lasts essentially forever. Also had an '83 GPZ 750, a '92 GSXR-750 (last year of air cooled), a '96 Harley Fat Boy, a Harley Sportster 1200, and a '99 Honda Magna VF750C.

After decades of riding motorbikes as I gradually aged, I realized that I had more fun riding bicycles and flying airplanes, so I gave up motorcycles. Now I just have lots of good motorbike experiences and memories.
Yeah, those 750-Fours were something alright. Knew someone with a motorcycle escort business. He settled on the 750 Fours from Honda. They generally racked up toward 150,000 and sometimes 200,000 miles on the engines and transmissions before things wore out. Other parts wore out, but the main drive line worked with some impressive reliability and longevity. In my opinion among those in-line four UJM's Suzuki made the nicest riding versions.

Also liked that V4 Magna. That engine put so much of the weight down low, it rode like a much smaller bike in the good sense.
 

MRC01

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Yeah, those 750-Fours were something alright. Knew someone with a motorcycle escort business. He settled on the 750 Fours from Honda. They generally racked up toward 150,000 and sometimes 200,000 miles on the engines and transmissions before things wore out. Other parts wore out, but the main drive line worked with some impressive reliability and longevity. In my opinion among those in-line four UJM's Suzuki made the nicest riding versions.

Also liked that V4 Magna. That engine put so much of the weight down low, it rode like a much smaller bike in the good sense.
When I bought the 550-4, I thought I was getting that same reliability in a smaller package. When around 35,000 miles it developed a "chunk-chunk" sound in the crankcase at idle, I looked up in the manual and saw that the clutch was chain driven, not gear driven. And the chain had no tensioner; the chunk-chunk sound was the chain slapping around at idle. If you revved it above idle, the noise went away as the chain's inertia prevented it from slapping around. At that point I knew its days were numbered, it would never last as long as the 750. Honda never intended the smaller bikes to last more than about 30,000 miles. It was impressive that it lasted nearly 100k miles.

The Honda 750-4 is one of the best classic motorbikes from the 1970s, for sure. And they do last when properly maintained. Remember filing points, setting dwell & timing, adjusting the valves every 4k miles?

That V4 Magna 750... I jetted the carbs, shimmed the needles, installed V&H exhaust, Dyna ignition, and it made 90 RWHP on the dyno. With no flat spots in the response, just a juicy fat smooth torque curve. And that V4 with its 360* spacing and the V&H glasspacks was one of the best-sounding bikes on the road. With the extra power, I installed stiffer suspension front & rear, and SS braided hose for the front brake. It was the nicest riding of all the bikes I owned. Its only weakness was that it really wanted a 6th gear (or a taller 5th gear with a bigger jump from 4th) for freeway cruising.
 
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