fasttuna

If in CMH, try BadBoys Leather Shop and see if they can work with the materials to resize?! I've had them do some leather coat zipper repairs before... good work!

I agree.... stupid fun bike to own. Other than needing a small windscreen and a tank pack for some storage, its great for hitting some twistys. Bigger fuel tank wouldn't hurt either and there's a solution available to fix that if you want the added range. The motor is awesome... it makes as much torque as my ZX10R but its from 3,500-7,500 so its almost instintanious. Service intervals aren't as good as a Japanese bike and it will probably cost you a few more $$ but I think its totally worth it. PLUG: If you pull the trigger... hookup with DesmOhio and we can get you pointed to several independent service guys or recommend the better dealers to work with. Enjoy!

NICE! 02's were the first year for the redesign with the VTEC motor... when that kicks in at 7,000 RPM it was pretty abrupt. That's why I never tried to track mine. I rode a friends 05 model once and the VTEC was a ton smoother on his... I think Honda got the VTEC smoothed out in the 05+ models! I had a PC3 on my 02 to clean up the fuel injection but kept the stock pipes. Made 101 RWHP with a nice flat torque curve that peaked around 57-58 lbft. Several occasions it indicated 145 and I still had throttle to go! Loved that bike... I called it my poor man's Desmosedici! Sold it to a friend at work... he mostly sport tours with it now... does 500-700 miles a weekend.

Just thought of one other option you might consider... last spring I sold my '02 Honda VFR800! That is one hell of a bike... and you can easily set it up with higher bar risers to get more upright. That with a 2 inch taller doublebubble screen and upgraded seat, you could pull 3-4 hours stints without even thinking twice. That bike can do almost anything (short of advanced trackdays) and has one sweet motor!

Gary, that is a sweet bike! Always wanted to get one. Anyway, I know what you're dealing with... I'm 37 and separated my left shoulder a couple years back. I can barely stand to be on my ZX10R for more than an hour at a time. I will tell you... you don't have to go the cruiser path to find some confort. I also have a Ducati Hypermotard... its just stupid fun and you sit upright so no shoulder or grip issues. Lots of other naked options to pick from... Tuono's, SV's, etc... Good luck on finding a new ride!

Confusing for sure... but I'll help you out! If your bike's rated at 145HP crank and dyno's measure at the rear wheel, so subtract 10% drivetrain loss from 145... that 14.5... call it 15 to make the math easy and you should pull around 130HP on a dyno. If you are seeing 130RWHP or better on a dyno... you've got a "hot motor" and should be happy! (and fyi - not all dyno's are calibrated the same so shop to shop will post different results, if using a dyno in the future to tune your bike, use the same one for consistant results!)

Rode the Hypermotard 1100 out as I was curious about numbers... It put down 78HP and 68lbft.... ok numbers from an all stock, air cooled, 2-valve, twin! Factory spec says 90HP (at crank I assume) so minus 10-12% for drivetrain loss and that number sounds right to me. Mikes Monster 900 (carburated Ducati 904cc air cooled, 2-valve twin) put down a very good 71-72HP I believe. I also watched 2 ZX10R's run... the higher mileage bike making 137HP (pipe only) and I believe a stock (black/pink/purple) one made 145-147HP. As I'm a nice guy I'm not going to callout the owner of the "weaker" 10R but it did lose to a girl's bike!