[Seawolf]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around the forums (both VTXCafe and VTXOA) for a month or two now and thought it was about time to jump in and say hi. My wife and I bought a used 750 Vulcan about 4 years ago.This was the first bike that we bought together and my first ride after about a 25 year absence from motorcycles. So this size of a bike was a great way to get back into things but we really feel the need for a serious upgrade. We were originally going to go for an 1100 Sabre but after reading the postings here and seeing all of the pics of your rides we quickly decided that a VTX1300 was the way to go. We test rode a used '04 a couple of weeks ago (since the dealers here won't allow you to test new models) and fell in love with it. I've since been doing alot of looking around on the internet for dealers trying to find the best prices on new units. This brings me to a couple of questions. Does anyone have any experience with Bartlesville Cycle Sports in Oklahoma? I live in Kansas and their prices seem to beat most dealers in my part of the woods. I've read so many posts about peoples experiences with "stealers" that I don't care to make a 3 hour drive to find one for myself. I did talk to a guy there on the phone and he seemed ok but it would be nice to know if anyone has dealt with them. Also,while on the phone with him he mentioned upgrading the warranty to 5 years for $479.00. Is this worth the money or is the VTX so bullet-proof that I would be better off putting that money into mods and add-ons? (Or can that extended warranty even be added later on?)
I'm sure I'll think of more questions later but for now that's enough. We live in the Wichita area so maybe we'll run into someone from these forums one day. We also try to get out to most Cassaday monthly rides.
(I'll be posting this in both the VTXCafe and VTXOA forums so if you belong to both please forgive the duplication,just hoping to find someone with knowledge of Bartlesville.)
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[strummin4christ]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around the forums (both VTXCafe and VTXOA) for a month or two now and thought it was about time to jump in and say hi. My wife and I bought a used 750 Vulcan about 4 years ago.This was the first bike that we bought together and my first ride after about a 25 year absence from motorcycles. So this size of a bike was a great way to get back into things but we really feel the need for a serious upgrade. We were originally going to go for an 1100 Sabre but after reading the postings here and seeing all of the pics of your rides we quickly decided that a VTX1300 was the way to go. We test rode a used '04 a couple of weeks ago (since the dealers here won't allow you to test new models) and fell in love with it. I've since been doing alot of looking around on the internet for dealers trying to find the best prices on new units. This brings me to a couple of questions. Does anyone have any experience with Bartlesville Cycle Sports in Oklahoma? I live in Kansas and their prices seem to beat most dealers in my part of the woods. I've read so many posts about peoples experiences with "stealers" that I don't care to make a 3 hour drive to find one for myself. I did talk to a guy there on the phone and he seemed ok but it would be nice to know if anyone has dealt with them. Also,while on the phone with him he mentioned upgrading the warranty to 5 years for $479.00. Is this worth the money or is the VTX so bullet-proof that I would be better off putting that money into mods and add-ons? (Or can that extended warranty even be added later on?)
I'm sure I'll think of more questions later but for now that's enough. We live in the Wichita area so maybe we'll run into someone from these forums one day. We also try to get out to most Cassaday monthly rides.
(I'll be posting this in both the VTXCafe and VTXOA forums so if you belong to both please forgive the duplication,just hoping to find someone with knowledge of Bartlesville.)
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I added the extended warranty on my bike and I definitely think it is worth the money. If you will be doing lots of wrenching on your bike, it *may* not be worth the extra money, since some stealers can be sticklers about who does the mechanic work (i.e. anybody but themselves). Hopefully others will chime in and give you more thorough advice. The salesman I worked with told me that the warranty could be added at any time, although I just opted to add it when I bought the bike.

 

[Seawolf]

I added the extended warranty on my bike and I definitely think it is worth the money. If you will be doing lots of wrenching on your bike, it *may* not be worth the extra money, since some stealers can be sticklers about who does the mechanic work (i.e. anybody but themselves). Hopefully others will chime in and give you more thorough advice. The salesman I worked with told me that the warranty could be added at any time, although I just opted to add it when I bought the bike.

Good to know. I like to do as much of my own work as I can. Especially simple things like oil & tire changes not to mention addons. Maybe it's just me but I don't like other people (dealers) fingering my ride.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[OldBlue62]

I got a second year of warranty free of charge, a special that Honda was running in February when I purchased my new '06. Personally, I enjoy wrenching on my bikes myself, so I wouldn't have paid for it, but it's nice to know that if something major goes wrong, I'm covered for 2 years.

 

[MNDVTX]

Hey Seawolf,

My wife and I made exactly the same move...after not riding for years we had a Vulcan 750 for about 3 years then got the 1300S. The VTX feels big only at first and is much more comfortable 2 up. I was a little surprised that the 750 Vulcan had a lot of things the VTX 1300 does not, like fuel gauge, dual front disk brakes, hazard lights, tach, etc. but overall we are very pleased with the bike.

Good luck and ride safe...

 

[Seawolf]

I got a second year of warranty free of charge, a special that Honda was running in February when I purchased my new '06. Personally, I enjoy wrenching on my bikes myself, so I wouldn't have paid for it, but it's nice to know that if something major goes wrong, I'm covered for 2 years.

I remember seeing that deal back in Feb. We were just casually looking and thinking about the VTX at that time.The timing wasn't quite right so we passed at that time.

Hey Seawolf,

My wife and I made exactly the same move...after not riding for years we had a Vulcan 750 for about 3 years then got the 1300S. The VTX feels big only at first and is much more comfortable 2 up. I was a little surprised that the 750 Vulcan had a lot of things the VTX 1300 does not, like fuel gauge, dual front disk brakes, hazard lights, tach, etc. but overall we are very pleased with the bike.

Good luck and ride safe...

The VN750 has an amazing amount of standard accessories. I wasn't too surprised to find out that the VTX doesn't have hardly any of them. It's a small price to pay for such a nice machine though (VTX). During our test ride I was a bit apprehensive to let the clutch out do to it's size but as soon as I did and hit the street it felt like an old friend. I really had a hard time taking it back to the dealer. It felt fantastic 2^ compared to the 750 though.
Thanks for your replies guys.

 

[Nitro Goose]

Seawolf, welcome to the forum. I live in Kansas as well. When looking to buy my VTX, I did quite a little internet searching since the dealers close to home wanted MSRP for a new one. One evening, I happened upon Honda of Chanute, KS (hondaofchanute.com). Their prices are really competitive and they had a nice selection to choose from. They'll often have new overstock from previous years at a nice discount. Nice guys to deal with. Bent over backward for my business. Should be only about 2 1/2 hours from Wichita...might be worth checking out. Certainly worth the drive to save a couple grand.

When I bought mine, dealer told me the extended warranty could be added anytime before the standard 1 yr. warranty ran out.

BTW - my last bike was also a Vulcan 750. Nice power for that sized engine, and a lot of extra features. By contrast, when two-up riding my VTX doesn't break a sweat, nor does it suffer from the rear-end "squat" that the Vulcan would.

 

[ibified]

Warranty stuff

Here's how you should look at extended warranties:

The dealer (or 3rd party company) is selling you a 5 year warranty for $479. Essentially, they're gambling on, over the next 5 years, that warranty repair will total less than $479. If not, they lose money. They have lots of tables, etc, that tell them how often things break on a bike, and how much they cost to repair. With all those tables and statistics they have at their disposal, do you think they're stacking the deck in YOUR favor?

Really, thats how you have to view it. Is it possible that you'll have more than $479 in warranty repairs over the time period they cover you for? sure it is. Do the laws of averages side with it happening? no.

Businesses don't sell things they know they'll lose money on. Save your money and put it into chrome. Or, if you're concerned that you WILL have problems, put the money in the bank and let it earn money and use it if you do have ptoblems.

 

[Ghost 26]

I lucked out and bought my bike while the dealer, or Honda, was offering the 5 year warranty for $200. Yeah, I know the first two came free, but the other three for $200? Couldn't beat it, especially after finding out that labor goes for $75/hour. Just good peace of mind there...

G26

 

[MerwinT]

One of the things that confuse people who are considering purchasing a bike is the creature comforts or bling that comes with the bike at a given price.
Two 1300cc motorcycles that look similar, one would assume that they are basically the same, so logic would say the one with the most bling would be the better buy. However, it cost good money to design the internal workings of a bike. :hmm2: Things you don't see are the quality of the gears in the transmission. Honda uses square cut gears this is what makes the shifting from first into second or vise versa "clunck". This is what also makes this transmission almost bullet proof. Sufficient liquid cooled systems rather than lighter air-cooled engines result in longer engine life with less maintaince. Constant running temperatures provide reliable, predictable service.
It raises the question, would you rather have steel fenders and questionable running gear or Plastic fenders and a dependable bike? People knock the plastic components but I can tell you it is hard to tell them from steel, but if you need to replace one you will be glad it isn’t.

Bling can be added to any bike and can truly make it yours. Reliability/Dependability can only be built into the integral design of the bike at conception.
:cheers:

 

[free1954]

i agree MERWINT, it's not just for looking at. it's for riding

 

[ibified]

+1 Merwin