Just curious if anyone is riding or has rode a VT1100.
Been thinking of adding or moveing up to a larger more highway and 2up friendly bike.
The spirit is one thats caught my eye.

Want to stay small enough to be errand/town/twisties friendly.
But big enough for comfortable 2up(day and weekend trips) and highway riding?
Thought about an S50 or Kawa 900 but i think an 1100 would suit me better. Thoughts?

I had a 96 model Ace 1100. Good motorcycle, I had a windshield and bags on it and it did great on long trips and was my daily driver back and forth to work. No mechanical problems ever.

I was looking at the Honda VT's last year and came close to buying one.  I did not take one for a test ride but they did sit very well for my body size and felt like it would be good for "time in the saddle"

I am fairly happy with mine. I am used to older machines that had more hp. I figured an 1100 would be 60 or 70 hp. The vt 1100 's made after 96 have just slightly over 50 hp. The bike is over geared. 5th gear is happy at over 70 mph only. It will cruise all day at 80 to 85 mph. Keeping up with the truckers in the mountain of Oklahoma and Arkansas, often at speeds of 90 mph, is beyond the capability of this bike. It starts to get squirrelly at 90. The stock tires are really bad. I upgraded to Metzler 880's which made a new bike out of it, an extraordinary change in handling. I reallly disliked the bike until the Metzlers were on it.
This bike has a very comfortable saddle, I go to Iowa from Dallas tx several times a year, 15 hours trips and am very happy with the stock seat.
The location of the speedometer prevents the memphis fats 19" from tilting back enough. I think the CWI windshield or the demon windshield would stop buffeting, which comes from below, I put my sisters demon on it, much better but her windshield was way to short. I had the Memphis, so that is what I used. The lowers helped some, If you look close, I made some deflectors in front of my footpegs, that solved all buffeting. Oh, by the way, the buffeting was extremely severe with just the stock memphis shade, so bad the bike was unrideable at speed with any headwind. It would literally pull my helmets, half, 3/4 or fullface to the back of my head, choking me.
The location of the pegs is a little to far forward for long distance travel , also, the highways are buckling in OK, some bumps are pretty bad and it is hard to raise up on these pegs.  
I am also dissapointed with the mileage, about 40 mpg at 70 to 80 mph low winds, 35 mpg when windy.
So, I am not really happy with the low power, My old 82 shovelhead stock with a factory listed 55 hp gets 50 mpg in the same scenarios, is more comfortable and handles better,,fxr
Now, I just sold a Ducati 748, and I have an 82 virago with 70 hp,, so the vt1100c shadow spirit does not compare with the virago or my harley favorably,,
But, the maintenance is zero, 8000 mile factory reccomended oil change interval, air filters are lasting about 7000 miles, runs on ethanol 87 octane just fine, or straight gas, no valve adjustments ever, starts right up even after sitting a month or so......
chuck

I am on the left, 6'1" and 220 lbs, I can see over the 19" memphis fats, but I stronly recommend against this windshield for the shadow spirit.

I don't mean to keep pitching the c50 but I do want to add that my gf has too much room. She complained the first week she felt like she was going to fall off because she was sliding around so much. I got her some Cobra running boards and she's happier with those.

She wants me to get a back rest so she has something to hold on to.

I know what you mean about the fenders though. If you look at it the right (or wrong) way it looks like an 8" wide fender on a bicycle tire.


--Steve

Hubby has the Honda Shadow Aero 750.. It is a 2007 and he has had
no mechanical or other problems with it.
Averages 50 mph and seems to be comfortable for him.
I can't say for myself as not allowed to ride it..
That is ok as if I really wanted to ride one, I would own one.. kim

Something to consider on the C50 is putting the C90 rear end gearing on it. The guys that have done it say it helps a lot on the hiway. It reduces the revs so it has more top rnd and doesn't rev as high when cruising. There's a Good c50 forum. Voulsiariders.com that will give you a good idea if it's the one for you.

Skid Mark wrote on 08/27/12 at 12:58:44:

I picked up a C50 several years ago too, and like it pretty well. I am however considering the gear swap, because past 75 or so it does sound like it's revving a lot, not to mention the mileage drops fast at the high speeds.
As far as power, for its weight as opposed to engine size, I'd say it does pretty good. I've ridden Yamaha's and Harleys with bigger engines, that while they had more torque, they didn't feel as quick off the line.  I've used it for 2-up with a passenger of around 150 lbs, and I'm topping 200, and it doesn't seem to struggle any. Won't win any drag races, but gets me around just fine.