VX800 - what were they thinking?

[chasio]

Hi rogson ... I really would like to get in touch with you.
I am a new owner of an old VX800 -92.
It is an European version and it is restricted.
Would you possible know how it is restricted?

I am searching all over to find out in what way?
I have had people telling me it is only the air filters, it is the silencers and some telling me it is a restricting plug in the carb intake...

Before I put the whole bike in pieces I was thinking I better ask someone that know for sure

Please send me a message or answer to this thread.

The method is quoted in post #55. Just scroll up 3 posts up from yours!

[smmudd83_1999]

I just bought one. Don't know why really - one odd-ball deserves another perhaps?

Not many in NZ - less than 10 sold new plus a few used imports.

It sure is different - hard to categorize.

Having a ball with it though.

Not many people here seem to have any intimate knowledge of the VX. So pull up a chair, my friend.

I owned one from 2002 until 2010 and put some 35,000 miles on it and sold it with 48,000 miles.
It was my first big bike, stepping up from a CG125 (I am currently on a Guzzi which is bike number 9). I'll be honest with you - the engine is a peach. Grunty low down yet nicely revvy. And it sounded the mutts nuts. Gearbox was decent. Build quality was really good (clean your calipers now and again, though). Especially when you consider this was a cheap machine in the day. I think I replaced the UJ in the final drive once, which given the mileage of the bike was OK (77k kms). And the engine is really well proven - it's been in the intruder, marauder, boulevard 800s. And remember the Sachs B805? Yup, Suzook VX800 engine. Great machine - I'm beginning to miss it just writing this... until I remember the CONS...
1) rubbish brakes. I made my own dural adaptor plate and fitted a caliper from an R6 with braided lines. This improved performance...but ultimately its a heavy bike that needs a twin brake front end. In the end, I junked the front end entirely and fitted a 400 Bandit front end (forks, wheel, discs, calipers). Sounds crazy but worked really well. Also solved problem 2)
2) rubbish forks. I put in aftermarket progressive springs. Better. Then heavier fork oil. Slightly better again. But it's quite a long fork and softly sprung. And quite a large rake angle - almost cruiser geometry in a street/road bike package without the low centre of gravity benefit. It handles like crap. The above mod from 1) solved it. Mostly.
3) the shocks leaked quite early. Replaced with Hagons which improved things.
4) despite the above mods there's no easy way to lower the centre of gravity, sharpen the rake angle or shorten the swingarm. You could maybe drop the forks an inch in the yokes or something, but that's about it. It is not a great chassis design.
5) It's sort of an allrounder - bit of a cruiser engine, in a naked/roadster looking chassis (don't let that fool you), with a shaftie that hints at distance riding capability. But it isn't THAT comfy so not great for touring, it isn't a cruiser, it isn't as capable as, say, a Bandit as an all round bike. Some bikes are a jack of all trades and a master of none - the VX is a jack of no trades and way off the mark in all of them.

The PROS
having said that...
I loved it. Only made about 60-ish bhp. I stuck a set of custom stainless Norton Fastback style exhausts with k&N filter (with carb adjustments - K&N had to make the filter to suit, they don't do an off the shelf item which was $$$s) and annoyed the neighbours every morning before work for 8 years. Yes, that silly willy was me. I crashed it through a hedge once - bad handling, coupled with a single lane North Yorkshire road spread with muck from the fields at harvest time. Just picked it up and rode on. Rode it every winter (proper winters) which involved some slides on ice. Oh well. And it took it all in its stride. Rare, exact numbers are hard to find - maybe 400-odd produced from 1990-1997 (ish). So don't know how many are left. I think they still look good. I turned mine into a NorVin tribute, cafe racers were the rage 10 years ago.
But the winner, for me is the torquey yet strangely rev hungry engine. And the sound. Don't get me wrong, it's still a shit bike but in the same time-frame I had a VLX600 Shadow, a Guzzi California and a VFR750 come and go. I only sold it to emigrate out here. So it must have resonated with me on some level.

Some bikes will do that though. Shit or otherwise. Another review I could have written would extol that VFR750 - but then again that wasn't a bike you fell in love with. So,...is it any good? No. It's shit don't buy it. I love 'em, though.