Hi everybody, my name is Steve. Slick is a nickname that was given to me by some friends years ago. I am a 16 year old kid trapped inside a 55 year old man's body. I live in a small town 35 miles south of St.louis. I love riding the back roads here. They are paved, relatively smooth, hilly, curvy, scienic, have very little traffic and seem to go on forever. I avoid these roads after dark, because of wildlife, and then prefer to ride in town.
Bikes I've owned: Honda-CB160, CB175, 450,1100 Shadow, 1800 VTX. Suzuki-800 and 1500 Intruders. Yamaha-650 Maxim,1000 Varago, 1300 Royal Star, 1600 Road Star, 1900 Raider S (I own now). Harley-1000 Sportster, 1550 Screamin Eagle Deuce, 1550 Wide Glide. Choppers-650 Triumph, 100 cu.in.BMC (Big Mikes Choppers) Having been fortunate enough to own all these bikes I've been able to come to some sobering conclusions. 1 I may be kind of fickled. 2 Price has little or no determination on how much I will like a bike. Who would think an old school 650 Triumph chopper, built in some guy's garage,($550.00 used) would be a better bike than a new factory built $25,000.00 custom chopper. Or a $14,000.00 Yamaha Raider would out perform in every aspect a $32,000.00 hand assembled Harley CVO bike. Go figure. I now have an 08 Raider which I thought I would be riding for many years to come. This bike does everything well and the SMOOTH power and torque are remarkable. So why would I think about buying a Fury? The Fury has some of the cleanest lines I have ever seen on a production motorcycle. At this point I have invested about $2,000.00 in customizing my Raider. The list of other mods I want would run about another $4,000.00. I was about to start ordering some of these items when I came accross pics of the Fury. WAIT A MINUTE! MAYBY I NEED TO RETHINK THIS! Did I mention I may be somewhat fickled? While the Raider is an awesome bike, it does have broke up styling. It also has a lot of clutter(hoses,tubes and wires exposed) The Raider actually has more rake than the Fury(almost 40`rake on the Raider) but because of trail,frame geometry and triple tree design it dosent look nearly as chopperesqe as the Fury. I have allready seen some Fury bashing on other websights. I will never understand this. Some say the motor is to small, I have never ridden a 1300 VTX, but I believe it should be fine in this type of bike. Some don't like the radiator, I think Honda did an exellent job incorperating it between the down tubes and hiding the upper hose. The bike will not over heat in traffic on a hot day and the engine should outlast an air cooled engine. Some people don't like shaft drive, I fall into this catagory. While I prefer belt drive I have had shaft driven motorcycles and was able to drive them with very little back-lashing. Also I have to admit the shaft drive on the Fury looks better than belt guards on my Raider. My only major concern with the Fury is the 3.4 gal. gas tank. Unless this bike gets 40 to 50 mpg refueling will be frequent. I have'nt been able to see a Fury in the flesh yet, but if it's what I think it is I very well may trade my Raider(hands down the best bike I've ever owned) for one. I would probably extend the forward controlls 2 or 3 in.,taller drag bars(I like my arms parallel to the ground),exhaust, side mount lience plate, mini bullet turn signals, braided cables, maybe flames over factory paint. I recently stoped at a local dealership to ask when the Furys would arrive and see about a possible trade in for my Raider and found out they wanted $14,125.00 for a blue Fury that lists for $12,999.00. Honda has tried to keep the price some-what reasonable and the dealership tries to screw you. So now I will never buy anything from that dealership. TOO GREEDY. If I like the Furys 'in person'
and can get one for list, I will probably buy one. I've always had a thing for big breasted women and choppers. Other-wise I'll just have to keep riding my Raider(the best bike I've ever owned)