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Supertoon
| Posted on Thursday, August 27, 2009 - 09:13 pm: |
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Last week I had an opportunity to test ride a 2008 Honda Varadero. FWIW here are my thoughts. The good, nice honda fit and finish, comfortable seat, good weather protection from a full fairing, rubber covered foot pegs, good passenger comfort adjustable preload for the rear shock, very well mannered fueling pulls nicely and without drama from any rpm, a neat little glove box in the fairing,no shaking, no roast of thigh and wow, usable mirrors! The bad, harsh un-adjusable front forks, engine a little buzzy over 5000 rpm, quite heavy, no gas gauge, loud and turbulent windscreen, design is starting to look dated. I really wanted to like this bike but it left me a little cold. It makes a very logical choice at $11 250 cdn but the lousy front end was the deal killer for me. Man, if you could shoe-horn that honda twin into a Buell chassis it would be unbeatable! The more bikes I try the more impressed I am with the Uly suspension! So you guys in the States shouldn't feel to bad, you are just missing a Honda Strom...
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Swimmonkey
| Posted on Thursday, August 27, 2009 - 09:44 pm: |
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The Honda is ugly too! |
Mnrider
| Posted on Thursday, August 27, 2009 - 11:30 pm: |
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It looks comfy but whats with those huge mufflers and maybe a bit over styled. |
Galloper
| Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 03:06 am: |
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it has no soul, it's fish nor flesh, it's a Honda. My first bike was a honda, had it for a year, traded it in for a Buell XB12S. Second best thing I ever did. Best thing I did was to trade the 12S in for the Uly (Message edited by galloper on August 28, 2009) |
Swampy
| Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 08:41 pm: |
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The passenger seating....Ugh! Also the deal maker was the girlfriend asked where the muffler was on the Uly, when I pointed underneath the bike she said by all means Get It! |
Danger_dave
| Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 09:43 pm: |
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I did a thousand mile test on one and rated it very highly. High performance engine, good comfort and an excellent all roads touring bike. It makes a V-strom appear agricultural. Co-pilot though the passenger comfort was very good too. Looks didn't do much for me. Performance did. |
Andrejs2112
| Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 09:45 pm: |
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Do those cans float? |
Skinstains
| Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 11:11 pm: |
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Cool boots... |
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