Faults:

The clutch started slipping at around 45000 miles, due to my dad doing burn outs all the time. Not the bike's fault at all; with 45000 miles he should have known better.

Coolant leak after being dropped, not a hard fix at all.

General Comments:

This was my 1st Honda road bike. I have had a few dirt bikes before this one, but this was my 1st one on the road. I paid a little more than I wanted to for this bike with the miles it had on it, but I just had to have this bike.

I bought it with 37000 miles for $1700, and I put another 13000 miles on this bike in 11 months with NO break downs at all. I'd have to say I got my money out of it. The bike ran like a champ every day I rode it, and it was ridden for the most part every day.

My only issue out of it was if the temp. was lower than freezing (32 F), it was hard to start, but once it got warmed up, you couldn't stop it. This bike was one that was ridden hard, and put up wet almost every time it was ridden, left out in the rain, dropped, and even one time wrecked, yet some how every time I hit that starter button, it fired right up.

I loved this bike, and it is still to this day my favorite bike I have ever ridden. I didn't treat this bike good at all, and I didn't maintain the bike nowhere near as much as I should have, actually not really at all. I might have changed the oil twice maybe the whole time I owned it.

For example, I took the pipes off of it, and ran it wide open until it wouldn't rev any higher, then shifted gears through every gear just to hear it. This turned out to be bad when I caught my leather saddle bags on fire on the right side. Me and my father did smokey burn outs, rode it in the rain, down dirt roads wide open, and nothing ever broke or came off, not even the saddle bags I caught on fire.

This bike was tough and never let me down, and still got around 60 MPG every tank.

I have since moved on from this bike. I traded it in on a newer Shadow 1100, but I would give it back just to have my old VLX back.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Best bike I never owned.

Faults:

So far nothing major has gone wrong.

Battery died during extended (2 years) storage, but that's to be expected.

I know the person who had it before me laid it down, so the pipes and mirrors were replaced. I also laid it down at low speeds and had no issues that needed professional attention.

General Comments:

The bike definitely has some pickup on it. If you get a good stretch of highway in front of you, you can definitely accelerate enough to push you down into the seat. That being said, the top speed leaves something to be desired. At 55-60 MPH, I feel like I'm already pushing the bike a bit. I'm constantly finding myself trying to shift up again when I'm already in 4th gear. A 5th gear for highway speeds would have been ideal.

I'm a pretty short guy at 5'8", and this bike is very comfortable. After a few hours I get get some butt numbness, but nothing too bad. The low seat feels nice and looks great. I have scraped the pegs a few times when I didn't expect to.

Bike handles great. Corners good and has pretty smooth acceleration. It was a great first bike for those that don't want to be seen.