Reed's Ride

Hey reed... Wait a few months, I may end up selling my (now black
and ugly) VFR. I hate to say it, but on my morning commute, a 600
supersport would be better!

 

Apparently, it still is. Douglas Coupland also recomends it as an
intergral part of the Vancouver experiance.

Reed.

 

(Nicholas C. Weaver) wrote in

Keep me in mind. I'm apparently following the Nick Weaver school of bikes
now.

What happened to it?

Reed.

 

It got stolen by a bastard thief...

So I reported it stolen as soon as I noticed (it was stolen out of my
garage so it was missing for a couple of days beforehand).

A week later, I get a notice from the city that it got a parking
ticket. So I drive down to ML-King area where it got ticketed. No
luck. Try the next day, walk the neighborhood, knock on doors, ask if
anyone's seen a bright yellow motorcycle. No luck.

Driving home, hearst was closed (construction) and I cut through
walnut & virginia. When what do I see on the left hand side but a VFR
painted Krylon Black.

Now the VFR may be many things, but it is the "Old Man's" sportbike,
ridden by people with taste. Nobody with TASTE would willingly
repaint a VFR Krylon Black with a still primer gray tank.

Get out. My VIN. My Plate. My Bike. Locked the wheel with my
U-Lock, called the cops. No luck on prints (prints don't stick to
Krylon very well).

The damage was impressive. Punched out steering lock and gas-cap lock
($750 to replace). The bastard first tried to spraypaint it red on
the bike, but that didn't work, so removed the plastic, primed it,
primed the tank (on the bike) and spraypainted it black.

And a bent clutch lever, as the bastard had the gall to crash it at
about 3 MPH, scuffing his rattlecan-black paintjob. This actually
pissed me off the most: If the thief had smashed it across the
freeway at 70 MPH, smearing his (imagined) flip-flop, shorted, and
T-shirted sorry ass across 4 lanes of traffic, I would have been
happy in a "The Karmic Balance has Realligned" sort of way. But no,
he had to drop it at low speed.

I got the locks fixed and the clutch lever, and I tried test-sanding
the plastic to see if it is salvageable (it is not). Of course, the
test sanding makes it look even uglier... [1]

So now I have an UGLY VFR, rattlecan black with some weird
sanding/scuffmarks on it, with a primer gray tank, until I either
decide to sell it or shell out $2k for canadian bodywork, as airtech
and the usual suspects don't make spare VFR bodywork, and since the
front fairing is cracked, the side fairing is pitted from the effects
of the krylon, etc, the plastic really is totaled.

And now that I'm commuting (Richmond to downtown berkeley), I'm really
loving the VFR again on the freeway, but it is a bit of a bear on the
city streets just due to the mass.

I'll probably keep riding it for at least 6 months and make a decision
then: Sell it and get a Datona 600 (its a 600 supersport with good
ergonomics and I FIT ON IT!) or buy a set of blue or forest green VFR
bodywork from Canada.

Its broken me of the idea of buying a ST bike, but that doesn't matter
as much as my GF now has an EX250, and will probably get a Vstrom 650
soon, so I don't need to carry a passanger.


[1] No, I did NOT have collision and comprehensive insurance.
Considering over my lifetime to date, across all vehicles, I would
have paid in somewhere between $3k-6k, I'm still slightly ahead of the
game.

 

(Nicholas C. Weaver) wrote in $2fn8$:

Argh. That truely is tasteless. Do you think he was under the delusion
that changing the color (while leaving the VIN and plates?!?) would help
him keep it, or do you think he just wanted it a different color?

I never knew you had a vengeful side, Nick. Wow.

How could the bodywork be that far gone? Nothing even a profesional
could do?

Why Canadian? Is theirs cheaper?

You didn't buy it becaues it was beautiful, didja? It's a VFR.

Frankly, it actually sounds pretty cool to me. But then, I would think
that, and I didn't have to pay for it.

You moved?

If you decide to ditch it, let me know. It sounds entertaining.

Sounds like you've got the best of all worlds, then. Glad you moved away
from the ST.

Ouch. It does work out, but still. Insurance is as much about the
delusion of having your big expenses spread over a wide timeframe as it
is about possibly saving money.

We should go ride sometime.

Reed.

 

Nice.

The small one would be the ex250, then?

Reed.

 

Delusional, I'd bet. If the thief had any clue, he woulda not
bothered with a VFR.

I'm not vengeful, I just believe the Universe should do the work of it
for me.

A good paintjob, MINUS PREPWORK, is $1k+. Since the plastic is PITTED
from the krylon, and the front fairing is cracked, its no longer worth
repainting, correct at least.

Cheaper, but only slightly. It's more a matter of selection...

In the US, we had Red, except for one year when it was yellow.

In Canada, it was sold (at various times) in red, yellow, blue, green,
silver, and black.

It looks really REALLY good in blue (saw one when visiting seattle,
got an image here:
http://www.mcnews.com.au/Testing/VFR/VFR800_Blue_RHF_600p.jpg
),
and I think green is even better but haven't seen one in person.

Silver is also nice:
http://www.mcpoolen.se/images/mc/2001/honda/vfr/silver-sida.gif

Hey, I liked Buttercup in yellow. It looked good.

Yeup. Got my PhD, now have a postdoc. To celebrate, I moved into a
Real Apartment (tm) up in the Marina Bay Parkway Yuppie Holding
Ground.

Partially its just the OWCH. An ST1300 is more than the price of a
civic!

Definatly.

 

One can hope that he got a blood blister, and that hematoma is slowly
working its way up his (mostly useless) brain, where it will lodge
somewhere and make him go numb in his pee pee for the rest of his life.

Time to go Street Fighter, baby! Either that, or fur.

Charles

 

That is her bike. She just let's me ride it.

 

Well duh! Unlike yourself they're all wasting their time posting
instead of working hard and making money.

But I'm a man of my word. If you cough up the prepped R6, I will show
up and race it anywhere within the continental United States. This
with absolutely no 600SS competition under my belt at all. Once more
to prove that the arrogance of youth trumps the timidity of age,
fogey!

Even if I don't place a podium finish rest assured your sponsorship
dollars will go a long way to attracting attention to Morrow
Enterprises. Think Jamie Kennedy...

 

Oh. Then, what shall your small bike be?

Reed.

 

Dunno, yet. I'm focusing on the Adventure first and riding the little 250
until then. After that...I have to see if anyone makes anything better
than the little 250 or I may get a new one.

 

Can't really streetfighter a VFR: The front fairing is needed to
cover up/manage the instrument panel and those wonderfully bright
lights, while the side fairing is necessary for the radiators to work.

 

Woah, woah, woah, woah!

Those radiators actually WORK?!?

 

Your ethics are unimpeachable, sir.