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Not had a particularly good day, need something to look forward to!

So i would like some descriptions of how riding a falco makes you feel. When you get onto those twisties mid summer and open up the throttle, hearing the scream of the engine and the whizzing of the cams.

is there anything specific to the falco which makes it unique. the way it delivers its power; how it revs. Is there a powerband which you love to hit and then soar through? how does this make you feel?

i basically want a test ride, without even putting on my gear!

Dale

Well briefly....

for me it is all about exiting tight corners. I love that low down grunt as I feed in more power and feel the rear end dig in as the tyre grips and I start to straighten the bike up again.

Ideally there will be another corner within a few hundred feet as I am not into over revving this bike. I very seldom see the red line flashing - there's little point as by then I'm past the maximum torque band and losing interest.

There's some on here who will tell you about screaming towards the vanishing point on full throttle in every gear but it's not the way I ride it. In fact I doubt I've ever had the throttle against the stop.

As I say it's all about feeding in the power as soon as possible in the turn and feeling the back end's response. Ooh Yeah!!

Dalemac wrote:hearing the scream of the engine and the whizzing of the cams.

Not a scream (Inline 4s do that), but more of a meaty roar.

Dalemac wrote:is there anything specific to the falco which makes it unique. the way it delivers its power; how it revs. Is there a powerband which you love to hit and then soar through?

It's the grunt and torque from low down; the 'hand of God' in the small of your back pushing you forward. On a V-twin you don't go chasing the red line, you ride the torque curve. It may sound strange now, but all will be made clear when you experience it for the first time...

There are much more experienced drivers here than me, so currently im not into too much twisting roads yet... Im for sure not a speedfreak and i have only had the red light on i 2nd gear. For me its all about acceleration when the road/traffic permits and the fantastic sound. After my unexpected wheelie last year i have a decent amount of respect of too much throttle. im still in the learning phase.

also still learning

it is about the power/torque delivery - i think most of us gear for better power delivery than out right top speed

I know that I feel as one with the bike - it is just right

the steering even standard was very good, now it is very good - still not the best handling bike i have ever ridden - but then not many things do handle as well as the old Ducati Sport 750 :)
(It will handle better than many other modern bikes though!)

the individuality of the falco - there are not many about - and those that are about are normally even more individualised....

it does everything I want to - I can take it on tour, or on the track - at both it will excel

one final thing - the grin factor - even after three years I am still grinning like a grinning thing on nitrous oxide....

Seems like they were made for riding, probably why Aprilia didn't bother giving em a sidestand that works.

ooooh yeah..forgot about the grin...and sidestand.

thanks! i appreciate the insight and your opinions!

keep em coming!

I'm just a newbe in every sense, so nothing to compare the Falco to, but had my first couple of ride outs in last weekends sunshine and the smile still hasn't gone from my mush.....even after two days of shitty work. For my it has to be the throb of that V-twin, it just feels great between your legs....oooh err!

kind of like riding a pnumatic drill on wheels with a rocket motor strapped to the back.

Cornering is pretty good on any modern bike, and things like the new R6 are ultimately faster on a track, but the Falco does everything I want through the corners!
It's all about the character of the bike for me, over (too) many years I've had seventeen bikes, (starting with Brit 650 twins and 500 singles back in the 60s, Jap 2stroke twins and triples, Jap IL4s and v4s), but this is the best by a long way. Every time I ride it, (even after more than 4 1/2 years), I get a bloody great grin, good job it's hidden inside the Arai, or I'd probably get arrested. It throbs between your legs, it growls at you through the airbox, threatens to deafen people with the race cans, and pulls like a train from just above 3K until nearly 11k.
I've ridden new sports 600s which are faster if you really want to cane it to 14k or so, but I am much happier with the Falco's instant clout.
My mate with a 2002 R6 can't understand why I regularly just overtake cars in the gear I'm in, when he has to go down at least two gears and scream it. He also gets pissed off cos he has a full Aka system on the R6, but he can't hear it when he's riding behind me!
Another mate up the road decided to start biking again and got a really nice original model Fazer Thou last year, (a bike I've always liked), when I commented that it sounded reallty good with the can, his answer was "yeh, but it don't sound like a real bike like yours does, I had to buy this bloody thing cos it drove me mad listening to your Falco riding off up the road".
It'll wheelie in 1st and 2nd without too much help when you get used to it, (take it steady at first!). It can also wheelie off a slight rise in the higher gears. I remember one glorious night in 2007 on the way back from Willingham Woods bike meet, was out with two R6s and a ZX9R. One of the R6s was one of the first new style red and white ones and he'd been going on all bloody night about how it was the absolute dogs whatsits.
Was leading coming back on a road I know well, it's a long straight but never quite noticed this rise before at more sensible speeds. About 9pm totally empty road, came into the straight through a series of bends and floored it in 4th to see how well the R6 could pick up after the bends, never been down this road quite this quick before. Must have hit this slight rise in the road at approaching 130 in 4th, front end didn't go up too far, but seemed to stay up for a week (prob a few seconds), but got me screaming yaaa heeee in the helmet. Finally got sensible again and backed off to sensible speed. Mates behind never saw it as I was way in front and over the brow. R6 the dog's bollocks, just delete the bollocks!

To come down to earth again! I just feel perfectly at one with the bike and I find it comfortable even for an old fart like me.
I'll shut up now, sorry I do tend to go on a bit when somebody asks what I like about the Falco.

Well we all are different and we all ride differently. Some days I ride the torque and keep the revs low and sometimes.......................Oh who am I kidding?.....most of the time I'm riding it pretty hard. Most of my riding friends are on Gixers 1000's, 1098's etc.....and we do crack along at a good pace most of the time.

My T handles superbly, the Falco was good but the T is better, feedback especially from the front is superb and I find I can brake deeper into bends than I could on the Falco. However the grin factor is about the same, I just love these bikes, every ride has me grinning like a cheshire cat and some days..........well we all have some days when it all comes together so perfectly that nothing else comes close

Fast or slow, revving hard or not, these bikes do have the "feel good" factor, and that's all that counts really innit?

F9

HowardQ wrote: I remember one glorious night in 2007 on the way back from Willingham Woods bike meet...

Ahh willingham woods! when you startgoing again let me know, im not too far away in lincoln and go quite a few times!

awesome accounts. i cant wait to get a falco of my own!

Generic I4

• The sound: Baby yelling (Waaaaaaaaaaaa)
  Exiting Corners (dry): whack throttle and it’ll build it’s way up to a scream
  Exiting Corners (wet): wind throttle with a little bit more care – no worries
  Traffic Lights: Revs, noise, clutch …. away
  Real Twisties: R6 for example – sublime changes of direction – everything on the front wheel …. Lovely.
  All day in the saddle: Next day in traction

Falco:

• The sound: Lion roaring
  Exiting Corners (dry): Wind throttle ….. launch out of corner, kick up the arse… oh yes ….
  Exiting Corners (wet): woah … gently does it … please don’t come in too quick …..
  Traffic Lights: Click into gear and instantly off at desired warp-speed with no hurry or fuss (except for the task of keeping the front down)
  Real Twisties: Good but nowhere near the league of an R6 for flickability. Even a well sorted Falco is very good but doesn’t have the same potential.
  All day in the saddle: Bring it on!

D-Rider wrote:Generic I4

• The sound: Baby yelling (Waaaaaaaaaaaa)
  Exiting Corners (dry): whack throttle and it’ll build it’s way up to a scream
  Exiting Corners (wet): wind throttle with a little bit more care – no worries
  Traffic Lights: Revs, noise, clutch …. away
  Real Twisties: R6 for example – sublime changes of direction – everything on the front wheel …. Lovely.
  All day in the saddle: Next day in traction

Falco:

• The sound: Lion roaring
  Exiting Corners (dry): Wind throttle ….. launch out of corner, kick up the arse… oh yes ….
  Exiting Corners (wet): woah … gently does it … please don’t come in too quick …..
  Traffic Lights: Click into gear and instantly off at desired warp-speed with no hurry or fuss (except for the task of keeping the front down)
  Real Twisties: Good but nowhere near the league of an R6 for flickability. Even a well sorted Falco is very good but doesn’t have the same potential.
  All day in the saddle: Bring it on!

With you on all that

but the Mille does the flicky bits fantastically!

Ok, I'll get back in my box now...