Dampening may well be the colloquial term.

 

OK, now I get it.

Maybe try some heavier oil in the front tubes of the Virago. I put the heavy duty fork oil in my bike, and the front end is a bit stiffer now, and takes considerably more force to bottom it out.

 

Ford Excursions are junk






and yer sporty suspension is a lot stiffer than the yammerhammers...just my experience from riding one

 

Excursion?

Travel is the distance in inches (or centimeters) that fork will slide (ie, how much the wheel will move).

If you are talking about the damping/rebound of the suspension, then you are talking about how stiff the ride feels, or how much force is required to compress the fork and how quickly the fork would return, or rebound back to a fully extended extended state.

No experience with the Virago, but I would prob consider one if I was in a situation like yours. And as Kahaone said, try some heavier oil in the fork if you want to stiffen the ride, prob the easiest way to beef up the front end.

 

Don't listen to anyone one else. Its what you like. If you do some research I believe the 750 Virago was the biggest metric cruisers in its day. I rode an 85 Virago a couple of times and was pretty impressed. The Virago is close to the same size as a sporty. Some people can be to proud. And hey man I bet most of the guys making fun of you are either walking down the street or driving a mini van probably so ****'em. I love my sporty but i tell you I've got a soft spot for Hondas and a 550 Honda Interceptor is fast as hell. The one guy here is right though the more you know about bikes the more repsect you'll get. If you're on two wheels... you're alraight in my book partner. Just be safe, Later

 

If anyone's still around these parts, I found a good deal and bought a 1994 Virago 1100 with around 13,000 miles. There's a pic in my profile. There's no shipping date yet, but it's color is Teal and its look reminds me of a combination of a sporty and a heritage custom. It will be way cool to have two different bikes. It, by definition won't have the same mojo as the sporty, but it will be cool in it's own little retro way. My sporty is an 883 so the 1066cc's should be a different kind of grunt. Thanks for the advice on the fork oil. That will probably be one of the first things to deal with, if needed. I'm currently doing some hunting on pipes, because there aint no way in hell this thing will sound close to any Harley, and if there's one thing that safely defines a Harley, it's the sound.

 

I do love alot of bikes all differant makes and models but that being said the older viragos had notorius starter/starter drive problems hopefully yami got that straitened out for your sake best of luck keep the knees in the breeze and the shiny side up