At the end of August I found my sporty, my first bike, a 2009 833 Low with some miles. It resides with my gal out of state, so I only can ride, weather permitting, for what's left of the season and when I visit. I want a bike to keep my skills up and ride when I'm here at home. I have found a really nice deal on a 1993 Yamaha Virago 750 with a little over 12,000 miles. It appears to be in pretty good shape. Took it for a test ride today and, well, the front suspension on the sporty I find to be really incredible, I knew that. But the only complaint that I had on the Yamaha was the excursion on the front fork. Smooth overall ride, but took a bit of bouncing on the front end. Other than that, and the fact that the foot controls are a bit forward, it seems like a good match for a companion to the sporty that I can afford. Anyone have any experience or input on this? Is the excursion on the Virago normal in comparison to our beloved Sporsters? Thanks in advance.

 

Just bring your sportster home and forget about the Yamaha.

 

^^^^ yeah that seems like the simple and $$ effective solution.

 

I'm a shoe lace change away from the Whirlpool Bridge, which leads wonderfully down to the Falls, and that's a God moment, trails in Ontario can be had afterwords. That's why there's a sporty there. A 5 hour ride one way through one of the more dangerous weather/wind corridors in the nation is plain insane on a Sportster. A two way ride would be certifiable. Nope, the Sporster stays. I'd have to unload a s--tload of guitar gear to be able to justify getting another and right now couldn't get peanuts for the quality of gear I own. I can justify spending $1500 on something and that ain't gonna get squat in Harleyville.

 

be careful i heard viragos get their name from the zodiac signs and everyone knows thats gay. and by gay, i mean settles-onto-****.

if you ride a metric cruiser and own a sportster its the double-whamy of chokesondick. your buddies will either stop hanging out with you, or will call you in the middle of the night to let you know they were thinking of you.

if you want to go for the trifecta or triple-crown or holy trinity of sperm-burping, you should buy safe riding gear cause everyone knows body-armor **** just want to be able to say "body armor" all the time. filthy bastards.

no man all bullshit aside what you are doing is good. if you drop that virago you wont feel nearly as bad as if you drop the harley. and exposure to other brands is important if you want to be taken seriously as a motorcyle enthusiast. i know plenty of people who never rode anything but harleys... they still don't know what they're missing. get the virago. have fun.

 

this guy is a badass. rode his 750 virago 25,000 miles all over North America. ride it and don't let what other people say spoil your riding!

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465713

 

Appreciate the replies. Actually never been concerned what other people think, was just wondering about the nuance between the two bikes skill-wise and if anyone knew about the fork excursion in a Virago of that age in relation to the Harley and if anyone around here had experience in that regard.

 

HUH? Wow, you guys must have a whole seperate language in Canada, I don't have a clue what that means!!

Also, I did the thing, and got no replies to "fork excursion". So I therefore determine it is not a problem for either one of your bikes.

 

I am an American. Fork excursion, to me, would be the amount of travel occurring within the oil filled suspension system that exists on the front of the motorcycles mentioned. It goes up to absorb an impact from the road/surface area, and goes back down in a fluid manner. I was referring to the amount of movement the so called suspension allows during riding and traveling over bumps and such on a road.

 

I have to admit I was confused too. Your writing style is unique. I think you mean fork/suspension travel? ...or maybe you are talking about damping??