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Ad for my gently used Falco now appearing in the Classified section...

So what ended the romance then ?
I feel your heart ache.....

No end to the romance Have bought a new bike to cope with the silly miles I'm doing and can't afford to run two bikes at the moment.

Did consider keeping the Falco but with double the cost on things like tyres, servicing etc I'd need to be wealthy enough not to need a bike to do silly miles on...

Really struggled to get a quote for multi-bike insurance too. Eventually got one from Bennetts but that's not the pricey bit

I understand your position. In the late 80s I suddenly needed to start doing 90 miles a day to get to work (and back home again) and it rapidly became apparent that my 9 year old RD350LC wasn't going to be up to it. Enter stage left a new VFR750 on which I covered 80,000 miles in 6 years. It's asking a hell of a lot of a 15 year old bike to do stuff like that, and unless you can afford to semi-retire the Falco then it has to go, sadly.

Having said that I've had multi-bike insurance policies for as long as I can remember and the premium for the second bike (especially if it's an oldie) has been fairly insignificant. If you still have a place for the Falco in your heart (and garage) then I'd see if you can make it work. And while the second bike is sitting in the garage it's not wearing out tyres, chains etc.

And whatever happens, this isn't just a Falco forum. Tell us all about your new bolide and don't be a stranger.

Addiitional cost is not usually much my insurance is £50 for each extra bike. I keep at least two on the road and service each every year rather than one twice a year. same for tyres works out new rear every year on each instead of two rears on the one.
And if you need one off the road for a bit then the other is ready to go. Space is more the issue.
A few years back I was doing 160 mile round trip to work and in the summer months the Falco coped really well. The tank range was probably its weakest point.

Any way obviously your decision but what ever you decide keep posting.

What have you bought?
Any pics?

I guess I'm lucky in that my Falc is in semi retirement, only getting thrashed when weather permits, my car is my bad weather ride, I'm also lucky in that my commute is less than 15 miles
That said, the Highways Dept. have decided to put double yellow lines everywhere on the estate I work at so almost no car parking from Monday, the bike will have to see some early morning starts

Ok, thoughts/rationalisations etc.

I'm buying a 2015 VFR800 (pics to follow of course) to keep up with the high mileages so that will take the bulk of the abuse

Insurance for the Falco will cost £60 on top of the VFR (which is more than that!). The multi-bike policy was difficult because of the high mileages due (no point not mentioning it. If I had an accident nearer work than home, it wouldn't take them long to work out that 'about 3000 miles a year' wasn't quite right!)

I would use the VFR for work, long trips and holidays so not sure how often I'd get the Falco out once I'd transferred luggage etc?

If I'm not using it every day, the tyre replacement and brake discs can wait but the oil leak will need sorting (for peace of mind) so that's £200 gone.

So, if I keep it, I'll be insuring a bike sat doing nothing apart from draining the battery quietly in the background (no power to the garage for optimate) and wheeling it out occasionally?

On the other hand, if I sell it, I won't have a Falco any more and then I'll miss it!


To sum up, aaargh!

You could keep it for a while then decide when you find out whether you ever ride it or not?

Hmm. The voice of reason (so not me then!) suggested that I keep the Falco so that, when I get bored because one bike doesn't do everything I want a bike to do (fickle, me?), I use the Falco for a while rather than selling the VFR and trying to find the perfect bike again...

Or I could chase myself around for a while longer then make some kind of daft, impulsive decision?

Hmm, liking the sound of the last option

Ok, decision made, the bike's going! Realised that, much as I love it, it simply won't get used enough to justify the cost of keeping it.

So, bye bye Falco

Hope the VFR works out for you.
The rest of us should work out that we are lucky enough not to face the same decision making process.
Although some ride year round, there are more than a few cherished Falco's owned on here....
PS This site is like Royston Vasey,...'You'll never leave

Sounds like you have a conundrum in your life; or not, if that really is your final decision (tried going 50:50 or phoning a friend?).

But I would say that the later VFRs, while being exceptionally capable machines and doubtless better suited to the miles you'll be doing, can also feel rather sanitised and soulless. I suspect that before long you'll be missing the visceral response you get from a galumphing big twin.

I've got 2 bikes that I take turns in using - the Falco and a 29 year old VFR750. The VFR is so far from standard it's not funny (RC30 forks, 320mm discs, Brembo calipers, Ohlins shock and delightfully antisocial exhaust system) and even with all those goodies it feels a bit pedestrian when compared to Monsieur Le Falc.

I really would hang on to the Falco for a while, at least until the honeymoon period with the VFR is over, so you don't regret an impulsive sale. And if you have a garage, is there no way you could rig up a solar-powered battery charger to keep the Falco's battery topped up? I use a setup like that in France to keep the car battery topped up, and the solar panel just sits underneath a skylight, which seems to generate enough juice to keep the battery active.

Have you looked at the prices for looking after the VFR? IMO they are not inconsiderable.

But probably slightly less than trying to keep a 17 year old bike doing 2800 miles a month...

Talking of which, the new kid on the block

http://s995.photobucket.com/user/bigfatbear/library/VFR