Good luck with the Bird, looks good, a quick question about the Hurricane if I may, what year was yours, I like the front guard on that model, wouldn't mind getting hold of one...

 

It was a -92. Initially it was equipped with an ugly damagaged touring screen, and the not so nice front fender with large side sections. I replaceded the screen with a new low black one, and cutted the front fender to a more modern shape. Model year -93 and on had those fixes already in stock shape.

 

yes i know what u mean, i cut mine down but did a bad job, have seen the 93 think i will go for one of those, thanks...

 

Hi R1000

thanks for your reply

I had a chance to ride a Blackbird my self a couple of days ago, and what a bike it is!!! Build quality is exelent, and the whole bike leaves you with the impression of a really complete bike. And **** ME it's fast!!! I felt that below 6000 rpm there was no real difference between the Hurricane and the Bird, but abowe 6-7000 it's very very strong and makes the Hurricane look like a CB500.
One thing I didn't like as much as the Hurricane though is the general seating position. Beeing 190 cm tall I have a bit of an issue with that.
- First; the windscreen is WAY to low for me. Can offcause be solved with a taller screen...
- Second; the side farring is a bit short so my knees is leaning against it sometimes, and thereby put pressure on my knees.
- Third; the pegs isn't lower than the Hurricane, and I would really like some lower pegs! Maybe the pegs can be replaced with some adjustable ones

Now I have tried the Bird, and it's a brilliant bike with the looks to kill for! Now I have to try the VFR 800 to see if that is better ergo wise.
Problem is that I probably am going to miss the power of bikes like the Hurricane and the Bird!!!

If anyone have any experience with the VFR, speak up :-)

 

I believe the VFR 800 has more touring oriented ergo since some Blackbird owners takes the rised steering handles from VFR800 and put them on the Blackbird. I also think you can get e.g. a -99 VFR for the same money as a -97 Blackbird. The power is an important issue though as you say, the bike is not allowed to be lame with packing and passanger. There are adjustable pegs but the one I looked into where to expensive. If needed, I would modify the existing ones to fit instead of paying 600 dollars. There are so called vario-screens to the Blackbird to, at www.touring.se

Are you not happy with your Hurricane, if I remember right it is in extremely good condition and doesn't even takes any oil.

 

I'm extremely satisfied with my Hurricane. I've just come home from a 3½ hour pleasure trip in northern Sjælland, and the Hurricane just runs like a dream. When riding I was wondering if the Hurricane might just be the perfect compromise between touring and sport together with resonable power when you are a tall guy like me...

But you know, you just got youselfe another bike, and as I remember you were also satisfied with your Hurricane.

I love my bike but one is always looking, and one is always dreaming... That dosn't hurt

Just figuring out what to replace it with in a distant future...

 

Noe, I have ridden the VFR. I am 6'1" (186cm). The VFR is too small for me, real small 2 up. I have a friend that sold his because of that. Great bike otherwise.

Every bike magazine says the VFR is the closest thing to being the perfect bike. They say it would be perfect if it were only 1000cc and a little bigger. Are they looking for a bike more like the CBR1000F?

The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

 

Sounds like I should stay with my dream bike for 10 years... My CBR1000F [sm=drooldude.gif][sm=icon_rock.gif]

 

Yes, since your bike is in such a good condition, and you love it, thats seems to be the right conclusion.

In case you want a Bird, there are other handles at http://www.helibars.com/proddetail.php?prod=HB9703

 

I talked to the company yesterday that traded in my bike for the Blackbird. They told me that they sold the bike directly for the asked price (almost $ 4000) and that many persons seriously wanted it (it was advertised with a real nice picture, see below). They where surprised since they asked more for it than similar CBR 1000 F on the used market, and said that it could possibly have been the glossy black/grey colour that caught the primary interest. Good for them and I'm sure the new owner will be very happy with it. It was a great bike, which offered tons of pleasure over the whole spectrum from commuting to track days (did one of those plus other forms of racing).

I been using the Bird -97 quite a lot now and am glad I got the opportunity to get it and move forward in the same bike segment. It has all the strengths from the Hurricane such as power, stability and comfort but is definitely more nimble and precise and has by far much more power/performance. It feels a number smaller in size, which suits me well since I'm 175 cm's. It might be to lean forward positioned to fully comfort tall or long legged persons. The extra power is not really needed, but means there is a potential for cruising in comfort at insane speeds, and more importantly, it can be driven very fast without the need for top revs all the time you intend to run real fast. It will do about the same or slightly higher top speed as the Hurrican in 5th gear, and in 6th gear, which feels a little like an over gear, it needs to be taken up to 7 k before pulling seriously. Any time the engine is used at full power, independent of selected gear, you'll fell how the arms gets longer and what real acceleration means. It also has a very impressing low rpm behaviour, it can be cruised perfectly well down to about 2 k on 6th (30 mph and less) and from there be taken up to any speed you want on 6th gear. The end result is that it can be driven very smootly in almost total silence at low speeds on high gears, or be pulling very hard thru all gears to any speed one would like up to about 290 km/h. It's a great bike of course (like the Hurricane) which is proven by 10 years in production, so far.

I guess Honda will come with something new in nearby years to meet the 200 hp ZX14R. That will probably be the point in time when I’ll migrate to a single new bike instead of having two as now. The Suzuki GSX R1000 is used very little these days, the hart and butt chooses the Honda for every type of driving, except for plain track driving, but a sport-tourer will do this very well to as I found out earlier as long as you participate for pleasure and not in full competition.



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