Been to Griff's today

[Falken]

What a top bloke, and his staff.
Could not have been nicer if i'd paid them, ( oh I did ).

Anyway, he set the throttle bodies, rear sag and fitted a clutch jet.
The bike now runs a lot smoother, turns in faster and I can select neutral when stood.

He's that nice he even took 2 stones off when guessing my weight for the static sag.
Either that or he's rubbish at guessing weights.

If anyone wants anything doing, Griff is the guy.
His knowledge is beyond question, and his prices are fair.

Top marks to the team at Aprilia Performance.

[D-Rider]

Oh yes .... Mr Wooley is the man

[Renevator]

Absolutely. Strangely enough I was thinking today how having the personal services of the likes of Griff & his team and the expert helpful knowledge & enthusiasm of folk like D-Rider and all here make owning the Aprilia something more than just having another bike - or, as in mine and others cases I assume, our only bike. (Sorry, that English was appalling).
Having said that, I'm somewhat disappointed with myself that I've just not gelled with the Falco as easily as I thought I would. I guess it highlights my average riding capabilities, which is a bit hard to admit to. Still, there's always tomorrows ride, and the next day and then next...............shame I have to commute on such an exotic machine.......
Back on topic, yes I'd highly recommend Griff & his team, even though I've only used his services once. Proper personal expert service by a guy who really cares about the bikes he works on. Enjoy the turn ins Falken.

[MartDude]

Stick with it, Renevator.
The Aprilia camaraderie is almost a better experience than owning the bike. More down to earth than the groupings around some other brands/models. E.g. BMW, esp. GS; Ducati.
I've had Futs since April '08 (yes, plural - first one written off after 6 weeks); I'm still discovering new facets of it, and only now feel sufficiently familiar with it to decide which direction to go in with tweaking.

[Aladinsaneuk]

ahhh

our work is done - another futura owner has been assimilated into the FalcoModding Borg.....

(And yes - stick with the falco - it can take time.... just enjoy it - don't ask yourself questions, just enjoy the trip)

[HowardQ]

Sorry you're not gelling too quick with the Falco Rene, (You could always try hair spray!), sorry!
I reckon it took me hundreds of miles before I fully tuned in, (after years of Honda 4s) so as Mart says, stick at it.
Then again, whenever I have used the Falco on my 12mile or so commute, I am never really happy. I normally have to take the car and whenever I have used the bike, I tended to use my old CBR1000F more in the past as it handled it better, more recently I have used the ZX-9R rather than the Falco, although to be honest none of them are good on my commute.
If I had a long run on good roads it would be better I suppose, but they are all a bit "duck out of water" for me. Something like an old CB500 would probably be much better!
These days when I go out at the weekends it seems like at least 75% or maybe more car drivers are aware of bikes pretty quickly and you can see they are.
Commuting tin boxes scare me silly cos everyone is in their own world and they never think bike. Large percentages of them in town centre traffic are on hand held phones, staring constantly at sat navs, or tucked into a full Big Mac breakfast, even seen a few using a laptop on the passenger seat.
They all scare the Sh*t out of more even more when I'm on the bike.
Stick with it and it should get better, but save the real enjoyment for the weekends.

[MartDude]

Pete, you should see what some of the AF1 Fut guys get up to. E.g. some fantatstic home-made single-seat/tail hump jobs; bizarre mods to the standard exhaust ( less flexibility here because it's under-seat); freaky home-made racks ('cos no off-the-shelf ones fit with after-market cans). Then there's the usual stuff: air-box; suspension; RSV forks; gearing; flywheel-lightening; attempts to fit different V990 engines; charging mods; spotlights; etc. etc. We're just as into modding as the Falconisti, but our mods tend to be more subtle.

My own mods (so far) are fairly basic: gearing; cans; VTR pegs (rubber - comfier); hugger; air filter; screen (laminar lip experiment); charging; brighter headlight bulbs.

Next on the list are shock and rack; when depends on availability of funding. Also been thinking, in concept terms, about airboxes, after your comments at the Club Aprilia bash. Griff's doing some developed, I think, from the Renegade ones; he said he'd like to see if they'll fit a Fut.

[herbacious]

I've been commuting on the falco a bit, just trying to get some miles in before I go away and highlight any issue (like wobbly mirrors)

Its definitely not a great commuting bike...

I will go back to commuting on my faithful Trident Sprint after the trip because its ridiculously comfy and spongy and is perfect for doing 30-40 mph on (and has a massive tank so only fill up twice a month)..

Then every weekend and the occasional week night I will get the falco out again and use it for what I bought it for - doing big distances on awesome roads!!

[D-Rider]

I guess types of commute vary - I commute on mine and it is fine for what I do.
It's quite a short commute - about 3 and a half miles each way - 30 and 40 mph roads - often long queues up to the hospital that have to be filtered round (sometimes more than a mile long).
Most of it pootling between 2K and 3.5K rpm ... except when you need to get on it a bit - away from the lights etc.

[mangocrazy]

My own mods (so far) are fairly basic: gearing; cans; VTR pegs (rubber - comfier); hugger; air filter; screen (laminar lip experiment); charging; brighter headlight bulbs.

That's interesting, my wife has complained about the Falco aluminium pillion footrests, and how her feet tend to slip off them. Do VTR ones fit straight on, or do they need a bit of modding?