Got mine at Stillwater Kawasaki in Stillwater, OK. Did the deal through ebay. I bought in January so the timing was right to get a great deal. Drove all the way down with my Dad and a trailer one day. Got there for supper. We were at the door for opening at 9am, put it on the trailer and were gone in less than an hour. We raced an ice storm most of the way home to Appleton WI.
Pretty great trip, and an awesome excuse to spend time with my Dad.
LandShark, Nov 11 2006, 10:07 AM Got mine at Stillwater Kawasaki in Stillwater, OK. Did the deal through ebay. I bought in January so the timing was right to get a great deal. Drove all the way down with my Dad and a trailer one day. Got there for supper. We were at the door for opening at 9am, put it on the trailer and were gone in less than an hour. We raced an ice storm most of the way home to Appleton WI.
Pretty great trip, and an awesome excuse to spend time with my Dad.
Nice poll Riv!
Hey I lived in Stillwater for 5 years and was familiar with the guys up there at Stillwater Kawasaki. I always would go there to order parts for my old Yamaha (yes at the Kawasaki shop) just because I could get the parts I needed and I liked their service. I assume you talked to Bobby (he's the owner). But I remember that they had a yellow VFR for a while which I couldn't afford at the time. It's the only one that I ever saw in Stillwater for sale. I was wondering who bought that bike. Now I know.
I went to Colorado to get mine. Found the ad through VFRWorld, talked to the guy over the phone, sent him a deposit, then my brother and I made a 17 hour trip to Denver to get it. It was showroom condition. I test drove it and was a little disappointed in it's power, but when I got back here to Kansas at a lower elevation, wow what a difference! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wheel.gif) I feel sorry for you high elevation guys. The power you get out of the bike up there just isn't enough for me. But you have a lot better roads to cruise on. I think you can get all the way through Kansas without even turning the wheel. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/goofy.gif)
Found mine on the internet and drove from North Carolina to Michigan for it. I had been looking for about two months and finally found the deal I was looking for. Since then I have seen some great deals here but some guy in Florida or Michigan ends up buying it. Funny how you can never find what you are looking for in your state.
Mine had a dysfunctional childhood. New in 1999 it was ridden only 2000 miles before it was stolen, and completely stripped like a common street trollop. On it's side, and naked it sat in the Irving,TX impound... Like a diamond in the rough. Finally being bought by a mechanic my dad knows familiar with the insurance business. He had a garage full of bikes, mostly Honda, and mostly non-running bikes that needed work. He didn't have the time or money to mess with it, so My dad bought it off of him. We bought all the parts, and paid him to put it together for us and get it running good. After all that time, it needed it's fuel injection cleaned, among other things. (IMG:http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a300/Broach1/Bikes/vfr-before.jpg) The week after we got it from him, I rode it to Colorado! This is my first bike btw.
Sniped my 99 vfr in the useless local paper. i was surprised when i saw it. When i took it out for a test ride (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wheel.gif) well, i needed it
I got mine on Ebay from a dealer. The bike was only 6 months old, but had 7500 miles on it. The dealer had purchased it from a bike rental outfit in Arizona.
Bought my used '04 this summer from a local guy who listed it in CycleTrader. Mint condition and only 4200 miles. Better than new, IMHO, since it was already broken in, a couple grand cheaper than buying a brand new one and cheaper insurance, too, since it was already 2 years old.
okiengr, Dec 6 2006, 08:00 AM Hey I lived in Stillwater for 5 years and was familiar with the guys up there at Stillwater Kawasaki. I always would go there to order parts for my old Yamaha (yes at the Kawasaki shop) just because I could get the parts I needed and I liked their service. I assume you talked to Bobby (he's the owner). But I remember that they had a yellow VFR for a while which I couldn't afford at the time. It's the only one that I ever saw in Stillwater for sale. I was wondering who bought that bike. Now I know. I went to Colorado to get mine. Found the ad through VFRWorld, talked to the guy over the phone, sent him a deposit, then my brother and I made a 17 hour trip to Denver to get it. It was showroom condition. I test drove it and was a little disappointed in it's power, but when I got back here to Kansas at a lower elevation, wow what a difference! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wheel.gif) I feel sorry for you high elevation guys. The power you get out of the bike up there just isn't enough for me. But you have a lot better roads to cruise on. I think you can get all the way through Kansas without even turning the wheel. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/goofy.gif)
Ha! That's funny that this came up again. Guess the database rebuild by HS caused a few quirks because Rivcyko started this poll. Anyway, yeah, I talked with Bobby. Nice guy. I believe the bike belonged to an acquaintance of his. His guys at the shop were very helpful getting the bike loaded up. My Dad and I didn't have to do much except pay for it. Nice experience and I'm still very happy.
Kinda cool to hear how people searched out the bike they were looking for and the lengths they went to to bring her home.
I tried voting... it will start to accept it than it goes to a screen that says it can't find the server....
Anywho, I got mine from a dealer. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/warranty.gif) I spent a day (& nearly 200 miles) driving to different dealers checking out the Bandit, FZ1, and Katana. I was still very interested in the VFR, but none of the dealers in my locale had one. So, I spent an evening checking out the VFR at a shop about an hour from my house. It was still a toss-up between the Bandit and the VFR. The Bandit seemed top heavy and was a bit of an ugly love-child. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/huh.gif) So... like any other girl, I followed my heart... awwwwww... and it's been happily ever after since. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif)
okiengr, Dec 6 2006, 08:00 AM Hey I lived in Stillwater for 5 years and was familiar with the guys up there at Stillwater Kawasaki. I always would go there to order parts for my old Yamaha (yes at the Kawasaki shop) just because I could get the parts I needed and I liked their service. I assume you talked to Bobby (he's the owner). But I remember that they had a yellow VFR for a while which I couldn't afford at the time. It's the only one that I ever saw in Stillwater for sale. I was wondering who bought that bike. Now I know. I went to Colorado to get mine. Found the ad through VFRWorld, talked to the guy over the phone, sent him a deposit, then my brother and I made a 17 hour trip to Denver to get it. It was showroom condition. I test drove it and was a little disappointed in it's power, but when I got back here to Kansas at a lower elevation, wow what a difference! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wheel.gif) I feel sorry for you high elevation guys. The power you get out of the bike up there just isn't enough for me. But you have a lot better roads to cruise on. I think you can get all the way through Kansas without even turning the wheel. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/goofy.gif)
Yeah, a baseball and a golf ball will travel on average 9% further at 5280ft. so I wonder how much power we lose? Maybe 9%? In which case I guess we lose about 9hp at this elevation and significantly more as we head over the passes in the mountains. I don't mind, I still think the bike has plenty of power for me. And as you mention the roads out here are some of the best in the country. I bought my bike at a local dealer after taking him a quote from a dealer in Ohio on cycle trader. The local dealer gave me the bike for the same price plus what it would have cost me to ship from Ohio. Sounds fair. It's been motorcycling bliss ever since. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/beer.gif)
I got mine off of Craigslist. I was actually looking for a Ducati, but when my bike popped up. The VFR had been on my list of dream bikes since the late 80's and this one was in great condition so I had to buy it. The big Honda dealer in town had 2 for sale at the time but they wanted way too much.
But I "inherited" a bike once - the XBR500RS 'Mutant'. My bro-in-law retrieved it from the side of the road (dumped by a disgruntled owner he picked up), and gave it to me in exchange for painting his roof and fixing his gutterings.
Actually, I'm lying. About the VFR, that is. My wife made me buy it from a Honda dealer. I traded my VTR1000 in on it, and my arse still hurts from the reaming I got over the 'deal'. As a result of this unpleasant experience, I've never given that particular dealer another cent of my money. Luckily there are other Honda dealers here. Past bikes (in order from most recent backwards); private, dealer, dealer, inherited, private, private.
Did dealer through ebay thing also, Honda of Chanute. Left over 04 at beginning of 06. Drove the 10 hours to Kansas to pick it up Friday, crashed in my truck at midnight in front of the Honda shop, shop opened at 9am, work up, loaded up bike, drove 10 hours back to KY.
Saw mine on ebay. It was listed at 2300 and it closed with no bids. It has a salvage title so I think people were scared by that. I called the guy later and went and looked at it. Paid him cash a he delivered it too me the next morning. It turned out being the best deal I've ever got! Needed some tlc, but not much. Still can't figure out what was the deal on the salvage title (plastic is cracked a bit on one side), but it was easy to register and cheap to insure, as well as being a great runner. I put 7,000 on it this season, and she just purrs right along! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wheel.gif)
Classifieds right here on VFRD. I'd been snooping around this site for almost a year and couldn't believe when a bike (the exact year, with the exact mods I was looking for) showed up in the classifieds right here in my neck of the woods. The owner wasn't even a member if I recall correctly -- he had a friend list it for him. Love this site. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif)
Bonus from work - a software company. Pretty strange huh? Have to say I was excited (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif) as it was THE bike I would have picked regardless of price! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/beer.gif)
BonusVFR, Dec 6 2006, 07:08 PM Bonus from work - a software company. Pretty strange huh? Have to say I was excited (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif) as it was THE bike I would have picked regardless of price! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/beer.gif)
hence the screen name? are they hiring, and have offices outside cali?
Got mine on a trade through Craigslist. Swapped for an old 4x4 S10 Blazer I had. Wasn't necessarily looking for any bike in particular, just something to tinker on. Couple close calls on other bikes and then finally landed the VFR. Very happy with it so far!
cycletrader online......there were two 97's about 10 miles apart. Both had 4000 miles on them. Pulled up to a pristine garage( almost like Traces) and it was covered up with a nice white sheet. He pulled the sheet off, and there was a PERFECT 4th gen bike. (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/wub.gif) I didn't go look at the other bike.
SEBSPEED, Dec 6 2006, 10:20 PM And what a great story that was! (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/beer.gif)
Hey! What happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico. LOL.
Ya, I started this one. My first poll. Screwed it up twice before, and deleted. Still missing some options. As does a, "Travi". (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/beer.gif)
End of thread · 30 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 20 Feb 2007
