Wednesday 10 November 2010

VFR1200 (again)

Yet another comment in defense of the VFR1200 (which I've published despite the fact it's getting tiresome and tedious) from TSK. According to him...

"Phil:

the 120 mile range on the VFR1200 is a myth. I'm able to easily achieve 6.0L/100Km with normal riding... and I like to cruise at 90mph. That gives a range of 192 miles to empty. If I'm slabbing for long distance and keeping the bike under 5k RPM, I can stretch to 220 miles.

The warning light comes on around 150 miles, indicating that I have another gallon of fuel left so if I back off the throttle I can get another 50 miles easily.

Read my "badlands" post from a couple months ago on my blog. I failed to plan my fuel stops properly and had to stretch it... I rolled into a petrol station with 286 Kms on the clock and put 16L in the tank. I could have done another 50Km if I was careful. "


That's his words, not mine, so now for the maths:-

6.0L/100Km = 46.97mpg (4.546 litres = 1 UK gallon)

Honda says that the VRF1200 has 18.5 litre tank (including reserve)

So that's a theoretical maximum of 191.1667 miles.

Now ALL the UK bike magazines and owners are reporting that in "normal riding" the VRF1200 makes between 35mpg (which is 7.7l/100km or 142.5m/tank) to 37mpg (150.6m/tank) figures that are backed up by the experiences of Deauville owners who have had the opportunity to ride the VFR1200 in the UK. OK - that's more than 120 miles (see Crosstourer post) but still nothing special for a bike that's effectively a Blackbird replacement, so I don't expect many Blackbird owner to swap to the VFR (although some undoubtedly will).

On top of that, on his web site he claims that the VRF1200 isn't fast enough and he's had to de-restrict it. What a waste, because either TSK rides like a nun or he's a complete ------- (your words, not mine).

The worst thing is - it's people like this who have such a total conviction the their choice of bike is THE only bike worth riding that makes them such a bore / pain to other bikers. So as far as I'm concerned, this is the last of his comments that I'll be publishing because he's just lost all credibility in my eyes. Sorry I've made the mistake of inflicting him on the rest of you.

1 comment:

TSK said...

I dare you to publish this comment. I subscribed to your blog because I appreciate the perspective of other riders and I enjoy thoughtful prose. Sorry to be a bore but my comments were merely meant to clear the air and defend the VFR against what is becoming incredibly tedious and ignorant observations from people who have never ridden one.

I would never insinuate that the VFR1200 is the only bike worth riding. My mileage figures are carefully observed, calculated and shared on fuelly.com. Every time I fill up I ttake a photo of the trip odometer and the fuel dispensing pump so I can log my data when I get home. I'll take my careful calculations over your anecdotal bullshit.

I derestricted the VFR because I could... and because I like fiddling with it. Not because it needed it.

I like all motorcycles and I've owned several. I made an inaccurate assumption that you were the type of person who was interested in hearing other perspectives. Apparently you're just an ignorant fat cunt.

Go ahead and remove me from your followers list so you don't need to subject your readers to my tedium any longer.