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Hi. Dan in Chicago/IL/USA here. I purchased a 2000 red TL-S about 6 weeks ago. Completely stock as far as I can tell. Hardly a scratch on it at 3309 miles on the odometer at purchase.
It is my second bike as I've been riding since late 2007. My first bike was (is) a 1985 Honda VF700S. I've only ridden a couple thousand miles in the past three years or so...as I'm too busy with work, ride only for fun, and refuse to ride in really cold weather...which is 4 or 5 months/year in Chicago. At age 47 I wanted to get a sportbike before it was too late. I was looking for an L-twin and the TL-S seemed to make sense. After researching and looking around for awhile I finally made the jump.
So far I'm VERY happy with the bike. At first I was leery of it as it is obviously a step down in weight and a step up in power. No worries...despite the more forward-leaning riding position & greater power I am infinitely more comfortable on the TL-S than I was on the Honda, especially on the highway. Even my wrists aren't really too sore, despite all that I had read. The bike fits me well (6'1" 225lb) too.
I've got a bunch of upgrade plans for the bike during the coming winter, starting with the Bitubo rear shock. I've avoided asking a bunch of newby-type questions so far by reading through older threads and searching the archives here and at TLZone. Nonetheless I will be posing a number of questions here in the near future...if I don't find answers in the archives.
So here is my first question: I just bought a new CF rear hugger on eBay...apparently a close-out item made by a company called Eurobikes. It has arrived and looks good. Having no experience with CF I'd like to know for sure that it's genuine CF...as opposed to the CF-like appearance of the TL-S instrument cluster surround, air-intake, etc.
How can one tell real CF from fake?
Are there variable levels of quality of CF?
I'm also signed up for the CF rear hugger from IP Performance and I'll go through with that purchase and then compare the two. I'll also be picking up most of the other CF pieces from IP Perf as they become available.
Thanks. Dan
It is my second bike as I've been riding since late 2007. My first bike was (is) a 1985 Honda VF700S. I've only ridden a couple thousand miles in the past three years or so...as I'm too busy with work, ride only for fun, and refuse to ride in really cold weather...which is 4 or 5 months/year in Chicago. At age 47 I wanted to get a sportbike before it was too late. I was looking for an L-twin and the TL-S seemed to make sense. After researching and looking around for awhile I finally made the jump.
So far I'm VERY happy with the bike. At first I was leery of it as it is obviously a step down in weight and a step up in power. No worries...despite the more forward-leaning riding position & greater power I am infinitely more comfortable on the TL-S than I was on the Honda, especially on the highway. Even my wrists aren't really too sore, despite all that I had read. The bike fits me well (6'1" 225lb) too.
I've got a bunch of upgrade plans for the bike during the coming winter, starting with the Bitubo rear shock. I've avoided asking a bunch of newby-type questions so far by reading through older threads and searching the archives here and at TLZone. Nonetheless I will be posing a number of questions here in the near future...if I don't find answers in the archives.
So here is my first question: I just bought a new CF rear hugger on eBay...apparently a close-out item made by a company called Eurobikes. It has arrived and looks good. Having no experience with CF I'd like to know for sure that it's genuine CF...as opposed to the CF-like appearance of the TL-S instrument cluster surround, air-intake, etc.
How can one tell real CF from fake?
Are there variable levels of quality of CF?
I'm also signed up for the CF rear hugger from IP Performance and I'll go through with that purchase and then compare the two. I'll also be picking up most of the other CF pieces from IP Perf as they become available.
Thanks. Dan
if its not broken MOD it 
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