Honda XL1000 Veradero experience?.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Well it looks like I might have to change the bike in the new year, I had thought about a Honda Blackbird but then a Veradero caught my attention.

Has anyone here any experience of owning one?.. What was your running costs like, fuel consumption, tire and chain life etc?.

Comfort over longer rides would be a deciding factor too.

Oh, I'm broke so I'd be spending a max of €3000-€3500 so it'll be an older bike.

Opinions?.

serious3

remember the ulaan2015 thread where your man went to mongolia? he went on a 50k mile 2001 vara, all we did was change the oil and filter and plugs before he went, he gets around 8-10k miles from tyres (anakee 3's and tck70's) chaim life is very good with a scotoiler too. over 40mpg if your riding reasonable heavier if your stretching the cable!! check the reg rec for charging issues but a modern mosfet one sorts that, change the camchain tensioners to manual and they are good for galactic mileage, in fact if i didnt have my africa twin i'd have one in a heartbeat

thecivvie

I bought my Vara 1000 back in April 2014 and have since done a little over 31,000 miles. She is mainly stock, I added a couple of power sockets and a volt meter.

BAD POINTS
Electrics, mainly the Reg/Rec burn out regular enough. Fit a bigger heatsink or just have a spare ready
Electrics, the alternator is not big enough to fit loads of extra lights, power points etc.
Fuel Pump, Supposedly the SD01 (Carbed) go after 20,000 miles, still waiting on mine to go

Good Points
Lights. The front lights are some of the best I have seen. Even a standard bulb outbeams most other bikes
Seat. After 17,000 miles in under 3 months, I can only say it is one of the best seats I have sat on
Tyres, I got 8216 and 8453 miles from two set of Michelin Anakaee 3. Conti TKC 70, well I think I have bored enough people on how great these tyres are, almost 12k miles on my last set
C&S. These should be ok if you look after them. Mine went in Turkey simply because of the sandy dusty roads and I hadn't noticed my Scottoiler giving up the ghost.

Fuel stats for Morticia are in the fuelly link in my signature. I am anal (yes serious3) about filling them in every fill.

You can get away with 8k mile service intervals though I tend to do them a little less. Best to check that the cam chain tensioners are ok, mine as far as I know have never been done so with over 73k miles I think I will buy her a xmas present and get them done.

Fuel economy on the SD01, Carbed version, is a little worse than the SD02 EFI version. But you get what you twist . Would I change mine, no, unless I was offered a free bike and then I would still keep her. I bought Morticia in the North and the seller had every MOT cert and every service bill. I paid £2,500 at the time and well pleased.

thecivvie

serious3 wrote: »

remember the ulaan2015 thread where your man went to mongolia? he went on a 50k mile 2001 vara, all we did was change the oil and filter and plugs before he went, he gets around 8-10k miles from tyres (anakee 3's and tck70's) chaim life is very good with a scotoiler too. over 40mpg if your riding reasonable heavier if your stretching the cable!! check the reg rec for charging issues but a modern mosfet one sorts that, change the camchain tensioners to manual and they are good for galactic mileage, in fact if i didnt have my africa twin i'd have one in a heartbeat

We never changed the plugs before I went, so they have around 40k miles on them Forget Scottoiler get a Tutoro Oiler

serious3

thecivvie wrote: »

We never changed the plugs before I went, so they have around 40k miles on them Forget Scottoiler get a Tutoro Oiler

i'll book you in for them so!!

arybvtcw0eolkf

thecivvie wrote: »

I bought my Vara 1000 back in April 2014 and have since done a little over 31,000 miles. She is mainly stock, I added a couple of power sockets and a volt meter.

BAD POINTS
Electrics, mainly the Reg/Rec burn out regular enough. Fit a bigger heatsink or just have a spare ready
Electrics, the alternator is not big enough to fit loads of extra lights, power points etc.
Fuel Pump, Supposedly the SD01 (Carbed) go after 20,000 miles, still waiting on mine to go

Good Points
Lights. The front lights are some of the best I have seen. Even a standard bulb outbeams most other bikes
Seat. After 17,000 miles in under 3 months, I can only say it is one of the best seats I have sat on
Tyres, I got 8216 and 8453 miles from two set of Michelin Anakaee 3. Conti TKC 70, well I think I have bored enough people on how great these tyres are, almost 12k miles on my last set
C&S. These should be ok if you look after them. Mine went in Turkey simply because of the sandy dusty roads and I hadn't noticed my Scottoiler giving up the ghost.

Fuel stats for Morticia are in the fuelly link in my signature. I am anal (yes serious3) about filling them in every fill.

You can get away with 8k mile service intervals though I tend to do them a little less. Best to check that the cam chain tensioners are ok, mine as far as I know have never been done so with over 73k miles I think I will buy her a xmas present and get them done.

Fuel economy on the SD01, Carbed version, is a little worse than the SD02 EFI version. But you get what you twist . Would I change mine, no, unless I was offered a free bike and then I would still keep her. I bought Morticia in the North and the seller had every MOT cert and every service bill. I paid £2,500 at the time and well pleased.

You've just sold me on a Varadero

serious3

you can upgrade the reg/rec very easily, R6 yamaha ones or triumph ones are used, cut out the multi plug and solder the connections in place.

thecivvie

serious3 wrote: »

i'll book you in for them so!!

Will wait till I do the cam tensioners. Sure whats a few more miles :eek:

thecivvie

I just checked my app, I log everything and apart from the rear shock, most of my expenses have been service stuff. 2 Reg/recs and a fuel pump that I purchased before I went away and still haven't used. I don't include the extras I bought, top box etc in my expenses, they are optionals

With 4 sets of tyres, I include a set of Metzler Karoo's which I got around 2k miles in (off road used on road and still leaned), Rear Shock (€322), Screen (€173) and tyres (€900+) total expenses come in at €1967 so I reckon around €600 and that is big mileage and she sits outside 24/7, I don't have a shed

D3V!L

Excuse the brevity, one handed typing. Rented one on holidays and loved it as did the missus.

AgileMyth

I'll sell ya an 1150GS for that money!

KT10

Rode the carbed one years ago, great bike, but really needed a 6th gear for the motorway, did they change that in the FI version?

gctest50

Reign Round Spokeswoman wrote: »

........
Oh, I'm broke so I'd be spending a max of €3000-€3500 so it'll be an older bike.

Opinions?.

hmm whatcha need is something economical to run around on for the winter - you'd nearly have the bits in the shed to put it together

.

arybvtcw0eolkf

AgileMyth wrote: »

I'll sell ya an 1150GS for that money!

Feck off and don't be tempting me

Tbh although I've had a few problems over the last few years (four) with the BMW all could have been less stressful had I not had to deal with Joe Duffys Motorrad.. I hate them, I detest every single time I've had to deal with them.

And tbh I'm looking forward to going back to the relative ease of working on a Jap bike again.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Just a quickie on this one..

A wild card entry here.

A Honda Transalp

I'm 6'1'' and 120kgs.

Only thing turning me off it is I haven't rode anything as small as a 600cc in almost ten years, but then I'm not looking for speed, instead I'm going for comfort and economy with an ability to tour with luggage.

AgileMyth

Reign Round Spokeswoman wrote: »

Feck off and don't be tempting me

Tbh although I've had a few problems over the last few years (four) with the BMW all could have been less stressful had I not had to deal with Joe Duffys Motorrad.. I hate them, I detest every single time I've had to deal with them.

And tbh I'm looking forward to going back to the relative ease of working on a Jap bike again.

Never dealt with them. I lived quite close to an amazing independent BMW mechanic though.

Wonda-Boy

TBH Id have a CB1000F over them both. But the Veradero is a great bike even the 125cc is alot of bike.

serious3

Reign Round Spokeswoman wrote: »

Just a quickie on this one..

A wild card entry here.

A Honda Transalp

I'm 6'1'' and 120kgs.

Only thing turning me off it is I haven't rode anything as small as a 600cc in almost ten years, but then I'm not looking for speed, instead I'm going for comfort and economy with an ability to tour with luggage.

with your budget your into the newer 700cc ones, quite happy at 140kmh on the motorway, lighter than the vara by a good bit as well.

arybvtcw0eolkf

serious3 wrote: »

with your budget your into the newer 700cc ones, quite happy at 140kmh on the motorway, lighter than the vara by a good bit as well.

I had a Dominator about ten years ago, one of the most comfortable and versatile bikes I've ever owned. I'm guessing the Transalp would be similar.

CJhaughey

Reign Round Spokeswoman wrote: »

I had a Dominator about ten years ago, one of the most comfortable and versatile bikes I've ever owned. I'm guessing the Transalp would be similar.

I still have mine, it'll qualify as a vintage bike in 2 more years.
Transalps are heavier, a bit faster/more comfortable on road due to the v-twin instead of a single.
Bulletproof v-twin,same as the Deauville, 650 was carbed, 700 got injection.
No real issues with these except to watch the stupid reg rec and replace it with a decent Mosfet one as soon as possible.
Also watch the chain tension, same as the Africa Twins, riders used to road bikes often have them too tight and the countershaft output bearing behind the sprocket can get knackered.