Waiting in excitement (stanleychung)

[stanleychung]

:wavey:

Hi everyone my name is stanley. I joined not so long ago and I thought it would be a bit rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm an absolute noob (I'm still waiting for my first ride).

My dad decided to spoil himself and get a Boulevard c50 and i thought this was an excellent time to join him on the upgrade to two wheels. I accidentally stumbled on this fantastic forum and was hooked from the first day.

I must thank all of you who contribute to this forum as you have all helped me decide on ordering my own Intruder VL250 as my first bike. I'm now waiting on the delivery of it in 3-4 weeks (late november) co-Sportzone (oh the sleepless nights :woohoo: )

I hope in the future I'm able to make useful contributions to this great forum and get to know you all a little better. Thanks for everything so far KB.

[Gummie]

enjoy the madness

[gijoe1313]

Good on you for taking that step to two wheels of freedom, since you are on KB and reading through the threads, I guess its a good start to some info on this wacky way of living!

[stanleychung]

hehe, i wouldnt call it wacky, i would say its the only way to keep us sane in this crazy world.:rolleyes:

[fire eyes]

welcome stanleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stanleychung]

Thank you feels good to be part of KB:niceone:

[NOMIS]

your going to regret this.. lmao jj

[stanleychung]

Hehe you might be right, I might start developing an uncontrollable attraction to my motorcycle? ;)

[stanleychung]

My suzuki finally arrived. Actually arrived early than what Sportzone initially estimated the arrival date so i'm really appreciate the work they had put in to get the bike to me early. Full credit to the service I have received at christchurch Sportzone Suzuki.:niceone:

It has been a while since I been on a bike of some sort and it was quite exciting indeed when i was practicing around my home. I could not believe how much wind you get at even 60km/h.:eek5::cold:

My pet project will be to always to remember cancelling my indicator after turning. I always forget! Might be an asian thing (hehehe):Oops:

Anyway thought I'd share with you my initial impressions of the suzuki. I thinks it looks great for a 250cc bike. Its really easy to ride and very comfortable. The storage box under the seat is huge! Another thing I didnt expect is the exhaust note. It sounds really nice, really has that v-twin pulse and i didnt expect i would hear it in 250cc bike.

I've never owned anything brand new yet so having the odo in 2 figures takes some getting used to. 39kms so far. I'm sure i will get it in 3 figures by the weekend if the weather is nice.

I will keep everyone updated on my progress. Lets get out there.

[Blossom]

Congrats on the new bike. They are awesome. I have had mine now for 9mths or so.
If your interested you can get a screen to cut down on the wind resistance.
Also theres a bloke on trademe who sells saddle bags if you need more storage options.
Have a great ride while this weather holds up.

[stanleychung]

Thanks for that blossom. I will probably need a screen if i plan to do some "out of town-ing" travelling.

On a separate note I must thank you especially because before i set my heart on my VL250 I was reading about all your adventures/experiences you've had on your VL250 on KB and after I saw how much fun you were having I had to get one over the Keeway cruiser option. So thanks for all your postings, they contributed to me buying the Intruder and its the best decision I've ever made so far....

(Opps, sorry wife I mean marrying you is the best decision I've made :sweatdrop)

:Punk:

[Blossom]

awww shucks.. you made me blush. :o

I must admit I never intended on getting the vl.. I had my heart set on a magna or a virago but I guess you just know once your've gone for a ride which bike is the one for you eh? Many kudos to the sales guy at colemans for convincing me to try it out.

[laserracer]

HI STANLEY nice bike, i havent got a road bike yet ,i get dirty in the weekends (so to speak) yamaha yz426 mx bike ,.How does the intruder go on the open road ? has it got plenty of power for overtaking?like the look of them i may look at buying one
cheers Dave

[stanleychung]

Hehe, I havent taken mine open road yet. So I will let you know when I do. I think the person to ask is Blossom. She has taken hers many places and she seems to have no worries with it. It seems to have far more get up and go than I originally expected but then again I havent been on a bike for a while.

But i highly recommend it as a option for someone who hasnt ridden for a while or have not ridden at all. Its so easy to ride. Its low centre of gravity is great when you do low speed riding and you rarely get the wobbles.

I will keep updating this thread so see how im going. You are more than welcome to keep checking for updates. Best of luck on your road bike shopping.:2thumbsup

[Blossom]

HI STANLEY nice bike, i havent got a road bike yet ,i get dirty in the weekends (so to speak) yamaha yz426 mx bike ,.How does the intruder go on the open road ? has it got plenty of power for overtaking?like the look of them i may look at buying one
cheers Dave

The bike goes well on the open road. Can cruise at 120k without too much trouble. Uphill a little slower obviously. The speedo seems a little off compared to my other halves rf900, I am told is normal for new bikes to read 5k or so faster than you are actually going. Corners great. Handles pillions without effort, loads of room for them too.
Not had any problem with overtaking but its not a sport bike, dont expect to be able to peel past everyone at 130 or anything.
Hope that helps.

[stanleychung]

For those that are keeping tabs on progress on my ownership on my VL, I've just passed the 1000kms point and done my first 1000kms service at the dealership. I haven't ridden many other bikes but in general this VL has been an absolute joy to own so far.

Over the last 1000kms I couldnt fault it in anyway. The fit and finish of the bike itself is excellent. Its very easy to clean, I use Meguires Waterless system. All the "plastic chrome" didnt chip off during my various rides (I must have looped Christchurch and all its surrounding areas several times by now). I really like the huge under seat storage which will swallow up most things.

The only thing that I didnt particularly like was when I looked at the factory spark plugs the VL came with. The "Denso" brand seemed really "cheap and nasty" if you know what i mean. Easily fixed by just getting the equivalent NGK plugs to replace them with. I just kept the "Denso" plugs as spare if need be next time. I did notice that normal auto places didnt keep a ready stock of the model of plug that the VL needs and it did cost more than the equivalent auto plug ($15 per plug as opposed to $5)

One thing to note for other people considering the VL as an option is dealer servicing cost. My first 1000km service came to a grand total of $260 of which $187 was labour. Although I was assured that the first service involved a very "time consuming" valve clearance check, its still pretty steep for an unsuspecting owner, so budget this into your purchase price. I dont think that even included clean/lubricate the chain for me. I will have to get my hands dirty to do basic servicing but major stuff will still need a specialist i think. Trying to save a bit of cash.

For a little 250 V twin it has all the get up and go a learner or intermediate rider will ever need. It does do 100km/h (havent gone faster) but it seems much less mechanically stressed at 80km/h - 90km/h not to mention the wind resistance is hard to bear without a windscreen at 100km/h. I love the exhaust note it makes (I always wished it was a little bit louder). I also use this VL every day to commute to work as well. At 145kg the VL is lightweight enough to be very chuckable in the twisties and its not too low to scrape stuff when the going gets a little bit tough. I did note the Yamaha XVS250 are very low. Fuel economy is as expected very good the last memorable fill i had was 9.3 litres and the trip meter said 230kms.

I hope the past experiences are a good indicator of what the VL would be like to own in the future. Which will mean it will be reliable and a joy to ride every day its in my ownership. Love the VL :first:

[vifferman]

My first 1000km service came to a grand total of $260 of which $187 was labour. Although I was assured that the first service involved a very "time consuming" valve clearance check, its still pretty steep for an unsuspecting owner, so budget this into your purchase price.
That sounds very reasonable to me. A multicylinder, fuel-injected bike could easily cost three or four times that much.