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Hi guys,

First post here, so firstly Hi to all!

I'm going to look at a Falco again tomorrow, I went last weekend but unfortunately it had been off charge and he couldn't start it. He was also paranoid about turning it over much if it wouldn't start as he had nackered the clutch on an RS-V he had and had to change the Sprag a couple of weeks ago!

He then put it on charge with me intending on going Tuesday while working from home, the charge didn't work so New Battery Time!!

So, provided when I speak to him tomorrow its in good order and will start and run then I'm going over for a test ride with the V5 for my bike in hand.

A bit of info about the bike in question;

Black (so naturally faster),
2001,
19000 miles,
RSV swing arm (don't think they know its not standard)
Part Serv History (up to about 15k),
HPI Clear,
Standard Exhausts,
Different levers,
Pirelli corsa tyres - good condition,
Datatool alarm,
not sure if the side stand has been done, can anyone tell from the pic?

all for a shade under £1,800... a lot of bike, and its very clean (here's a link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aprilia-falco ... 1089402552)

Is there anything I should be watching out for? I've had a scan of the useful tips, which were...useful (surprise surprise!) And having already scanned over it once last week (with it not starting) it looks in very good order so there is just the noisy thing that makes it go to check over.

Financials are already agreed in principal (bit more excited now)

I've not had a V-Twin before (I'm excited at the prospect though) so am a bit unsure what kinda noises are out of place and how to identify if say the clutch is nackered (I couldn't spot that in the useful tips bit or by using the AMAZING search facility) or the valves need balancing / servicing.

Also, is it unlikely that it will still be restricted or was this just a problem in warmer foreign climes?

ALSO (I'll stop in a minute!) am I going to need it on charge if I'm running it every day throughout the week?

Feel free to rib and poke fun at any obvious quetions but answers would also be greatly appreciated!

Welcome. ..

Buy it. It'll be the best bike you'll ever own.

Hi and welcome to Ridersite

As for that slow black one
19,000 miles - nothing for one of these.
Sidestand hasn't been changed
Extremely unlikely it's still restricted. They all left the factory that way but most were de-restricted at the service at the end of the running in period or even at pdi. Most of those that weren't done then will have been done by their owners - can be very very few that have escaped.
If you are using it regularly you won't need to keep it on an optimate - well it might need to go on one occasionally in cold weather if the journeys are short.

As for things to look out for - well nothing much that you wouldn't expect on any bike.

If it's your first V-twin it might feel a bit different and you may need to adapt your style a bit to get the most from it but they are a lot of fun - enjoy!

zoidberg wrote:Welcome. ..

Buy it. It'll be the best bike you'll ever own.

Hi and thanks for the quick responses. the fzs 600 I currently own was a good first bike, but its getting a bit long in the tooth to keep much longer, and it needs more money spending than its worth investing, the falco however looks cool sounds cool and has some cool shiny bits already so a good bike to keep for a fair few years.

Can you do many mods?!!

Did I mention im excited a bit?!

I'll post back with news later today.

D-Rider wrote:Hi and welcome to Ridersite

As for that slow black one
19,000 miles - nothing for one of these.
Sidestand hasn't been changed
Extremely unlikely it's still restricted. They all left the factory that way but most were de-restricted at the service at the end of the running in period or even at pdi. Most of those that weren't done then will have been done by their owners - can be very very few that have escaped.
If you are using it regularly you won't need to keep it on an optimate - well it might need to go on one occasionally in cold weather if the journeys are short.

As for things to look out for - well nothing much that you wouldn't expect on any bike.

If it's your first V-twin it might feel a bit different and you may need to adapt your style a bit to get the most from it but they are a lot of fun - enjoy!

Thanks for the welcome D-rider. My mind is made up, as long as it starts rides and stops like it should I'm having it.

I commute 70 miles a day but only use the bike when its not raining so the battery should be fine most of the time, a winters worth of commutes was enough for me, ive now got a camper van for when its raining!

I'll keep you posted.

Phil

zoidberg wrote:Welcome. ..

Buy it. It'll be the best bike you'll ever own.

I second this.

The Falco is an amazing bike, keep the revs up and it pulls like a train, it blows me away every time I ride it, or of course ride it sedately using the engines torque.

Handling is top notch too, and loved taking it up the A5 to North Wales for work(250 miles in 4 hours with a half hour stop for fuel and a coffee ).

Buy it you'll never regret it.

zoidberg wrote:Welcome. ..

Buy it. It'll be the best bike you'll ever own.

Not everyone is the same,it wasn't the best bike Ive ever owned but it certainly wasn't the worst.....

I kept mine for a year and just couldn't gel with it (that's obviously my opinion)don't get me wrong,i had some great times and great grin factors came into play,,,,,it just wasn't for me

philshaq wrote:
Can you do many mods?!!

Haha - oh yes!

start reading your way around the forum and you'll find lots and lots of possibilities.
Just remember they don't all have to be done on day1 and only do those that suit you.

Had mine for 8 years and things are still being changed ..... some things that were changed once have been changed again ...... new bike each time.

Where are you in the country? I've got a black one for sale same year sllightly more mileage but more importantly I've had the sprag replaced which sounds like you'll need to do with this one in the near future. Not looking for any where near £1800 either. Its in the Classified section with a wee vid below if you want a look.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ9TrZLj ... e=youtu.be

p.s. It deserves to go to another Phil

Cheers for the comments guys.

Thanks Phil, I've had a look at your advert and watched the video. I'm in West Yorks. Its a tidy looking bike you've got there.

The advantage with this bike is lower miles and I can trade my bike in against it so its slightly easier to sort out.

Latest update on the bike, they fired it up and the Sprag has gone, the sales guy wasn't sure if that was him trying to turn it over or the previous owner who traded it in. Anyway, they have had a Sprag on order since Wednesday and it hadn't arrived last night when he tried to ring me and tell me not to bother going through.

So the advantage is that he's holding it for me until I can get out and see if I like it, plus it will have had its clutch sorted and a new battery, its just starting to drag on a bit, i wana get out on it and play!! Should I be a bit wary?

Thanks for the balanced view slickliner, I was told the fzs 600 i was buying was going to be the best bike I'd ever buy but I'm not convinced so need to change to something else while Im still young

Its looking like im going to have to take half a day off work mid week or its going to be next sat before i get to try it.

Cheers for the pointer dRider, i'd kinda noticed people tinkering while browsing the forum this week, looks like there is a lot of potential.

I had a Tuono at the lights next to me while I was in teh family wagon during the week, all I could think was 'that engine sounds amazing!'

One thing I have just noticed after watching Phil's video is that the rev counter doesn't spin all the way to top revs then back to 0 when flicking the ignition on, or at least it didn't when i flicked the ignition on when it still had the duff battery in it.

It swept to about 6k and then dropped back to 0.

Is that symptomatic of a bigger problem?

Don't worry about the rev counter thing Phil it resets to redlining at 6000 revs when battery goes flat. Its the maximum for the bike when running in. It's easy to reset using the buttons on the dash which you'll find using the search function. Good luck with the bike if they get it sorted the sprag is just one less thing to worry about. If you do buy it first thing to do is get an optimate or similar and keep it plugged in when its not in use.

It's just a shift indicator - doesn't affect max revs at all

Cheers guys, speedy responses, I mustn't be the only one hiding from the heat inside the house!!

I did find by pressing the buttons in a random way while the ignition was on it did something with the position of the needle did look to change but I didn't want to tinker too much!

I did manage to change the clocks back from kph to mph though, not sure why someone would want them on kph all the way up in Yorkshire!

philshaq wrote:Cheers guys, speedy responses, I mustn't be the only one hiding from the heat inside the house!!

I did find by pressing the buttons in a random way while the ignition was on it did something with the position of the needle did look to change but I didn't want to tinker too much!

I did manage to change the clocks back from kph to mph though, not sure why someone would want them on kph all the way up in Yorkshire!

While the ignition is off, keep pressing the "C" button, it moves the shift alarm up in 100 rev intervals, or hold "C" and it moves up in 1000 rev intervals