From: patlo@microsoft.com (Pat Loughery)
Subject: MSF:Erc review, HD FXRS vs 907
Date: 30 Sep 92 21:21:38 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.


(Sorry if you've gotten this twice.  My post last night apparently 
didn't make it out).

---- Or, why you should attend the ERC ----

This past Sunday, 9/27, two folks from work and I meandered south
a little ways to take the MSF:ERC class.  I took the Nighthawk 750,
Ron took his 500 Interceptor, and David was on a GS500.

Pulling into the lot, we found a baby blue and white VTR (dunno what
size) and a nondescript Japanese cruiser ridden by two Navy boys, an
'86 harley FXRS and brand-spankin' new '93 (still no real plates)
Heritage Softtail, an '86 Heritage Softtail, and the instructor's
GL1100 (? don't think it was a 1200) Goldwing.

Our instructor was a motorcycle traffic cop in the area and had taught
cops riding skills for close to 15 years.  Interestingly, about 3 years
ago I was in a little pickup that got pulled over by him and ticketed
for speeding around town.  Oh well.  He didn't recognize me, obviously.

The morning classroom session was pretty boring, except for one part.
A guy came into class about 45 minutes late.  The instructor looked
at his watch and the guy mumbled, pissed off, "don't bother looking
at your watch.  Somebody tried to rip off my bike last night."  The
instructor explained that there was crucial information in the
beginning and he would have to go home.  The guy refused to leave,
until our instructor got even more serious and asked to see him
outside.  Some heated discussion followed, and the guy left.  I
half expected him to come back with an M-16 and take us all out.

During one of the frequent breaks, I chatted with Earl the FXRS
owner, pumping him for info about his bike.  The two main bikes
I'm looking at to pick up next year are the FXRS-Sport (or -Con),
and the Ducati 907.  He said he'd bought the bike new in '85 and only
had to change out one part in that time (I think it was a regulator,
but don't remember for sure what it was).  He was absolutely ecstatic
about the bike.

As the range session started, things went pretty well.  My only problem
was having to go back to the head of the line twice during the "lock
your rear brake" exercise.  That one was frazzling - all you do is get
up to 20 or 25, and lock the rear brake up holding it locked till you
stop.  Well, let me just say that your body fights not squeezing the
front brake when it decides you must stop, and when you do lock the
rear up it's easy to try to release it (can you say "highside"?).

The only other exercise I had problems with was a cone weave followed
by a wide sweeping turn, after which I got chastised for "drag racing".
That's what you get for following a big Harley with floorboards who
can't turn very sharply.  It's kind of like "small objects appear to
be going faster than large objects".

We paid $30 for the ERC.  It's easily worth that, though the range
session is INFINITELY more helpful than the classroom session.  I
wouldn't go as far as other Denizens and say it'll save my life,
but it was very helpful and I don't have any misgivings about
spending my Sunday that way.

BUT HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD REALLY GO TO THE ERC:

During the breaks in the range session (about every 45 minutes for
10 minutes at a time), I kept pummeling Earl with questions about
his FXRS.  Eventually, at one point, he said, "You ever ridden a
Low Rider before?" Well, nope.  "Well, take it out for a spin
during the next break."  Sweet! So I offered him my bike in return -
it was the least I could do (some might argue the *very* least :-) )
and he shook it off, saying "when I sold my Kawasaki and Suzuki
and bought this, I swore I'd never go back".  So I got on his bike
and rode a quick ten minutes around the area.  I didn't get much
time above 45 or so since we were in a residential area, but I
can say it was a very, very nice machine.

Short review:

This bike is equivalent to today's FXRS-Sp (or closer to -Con, since
it had fairing and bags), with respect to seat height and ground
clearance.  It was a very well-balanced machine, more so than even
the Duc 907, both in the straights and in corners at a good lean
angle.  It *did* vibrate noticeably (no surprise there), but it
wasn't annoying at all.  It was probably a bit quicker than my 750,
not radically so.  This particular bike was almost bone stock except
for straight pipes, bags, windscreen, and passenger floorboards.
I didn't have any problems with lean angles, but didn't push it
all that much.  About the only handling problem I experienced was
radical front fork dive under any kind of braking. Doubtless a fork
oil change would fix that.  Also, I had problems remembering to
splay my feet out wide enough at stops that I didn't bang them
into the pegs.


Good points for the fxrs vs. the 907:
- comfort, both for rider and most especially for passenger
- parts availability and prices
- maintenance intervals 5K vs 3K (both can be safely stretched
  a good amount), and 5K is a very minor maintenance check whereas
  the Ducs is valve ck.
- easier to work on
- holds resale value better (not a big issue, as this next bike
  will be around my garage forever unless it's a lemon, whether HD
  or Duc)
- my guess is it'll do much better over long distances for comfort
- much bigger carrying capacity
- dealer network everywhere
- encourages you to ride at relatively legal speeds

Good points for the 907 vs the HD
- better matches my riding style when solo (currently this is most
  of the time)
- more unique, stirs my soul a tad more (of course, we're talking 9.5/10
  vs. 9/10)
- significantly lower price whether new or used


Right now, I'm leaning toward looking for a clean used FXRS-Sp next
spring.  A large majority of that decision is based on the fact that
as I was explaining the above list to Shannon, I thought I might
still go for the 907 (lust factor higher) because we don't do much
2-up riding.  She was pretty disappointed, mainly because she caught
the bug BIGTIME during the GPNDG to do more group rides, gathers,
and high-mile days.  I didn't realize how much.

Either way, I'll get one of each - I'm looking at a combo of either a
907 and a shovel sporty project, or an FXRS and a Duc 750 or 860 project.
And then a Norton, and a Triumph, and ... oops, off topic.  So I wouldn't
lose; it's now down to a matter of how much I win by.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
            Pat Loughery [patlo@microsoft.com] Seattle, WA
               '91 Nighthawk CB750 - DoD #393, AMA, VME
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I had no shoes and I pitied myself. Then I met a man who had no feet,
                so I took his shoes."   -- Dave Barry
----------------------------------------------------------------------