Thinking of buying a Raider. What are the pros and cons?

[LeftyBiker]

"The 1800 when moded (lighten her up) and tuned properly can be a real monster..."

How does one lighten her up?

[luvmy68]

"On the down side, your VTX can't hold a candle to the attitude of the Raider.  Also, you might have good torque and HP, but you can't keep up with the Raider - sorry, that's just the truth.  The Raider outruns all other cruisers."

Ha!  I supposed it's a good thing that I'm 53 and don't care about attitude anymore, and I had the VTX up to 100 within seconds on the interstate.  That's fast enough for me. 

"Nobody here spends hardly a dime on their Raiders after they purchase them."

Now why don't I believe that.

If any of you are ever in central Ohio, shoot me an email and we'll ride the twisties.

Ha!  I'm 53 as well and I didn't buy the Raider for the attitude - I sat on it and fell in love with the feel of it.  The attitude was a fringe benefit.  It wasn't why I bought her but it does feel great to pull into the Rock Store and turn the heads of the Hardley guys.   

I also agree with you on the fast enough part.  For me, it's not about how fast it will go, but rather how fast it will get to as fast as I want to go. 

Nothing I said was meant to belittle the VTX in any way, shape or form.  It's a great bike and I'm glad you're happy.

As for spending money on Ruby, yep, we're all guilty of dumping cash into our Raiders like there's nothing else that needs attention.   

[Capt_Zoom]

"The 1800 when moded (lighten her up) and tuned properly can be a real monster..."

How does one lighten her up?

Just like any bike...find anything you don't need and either get lighter or fab something that is lighter.  take the battery for instance...you can shave 6-8lbs there by getting one of the new lipo one's.  If you look around the bike there is usually a lot of stuff they add on that can be ditched.  If you're looking to change fenders anyway go with fiberglass or aluminium rather than steel.  Replace heavy large signals for small LED one's.  Ditch heavy stock mirror for minimalist lighter ones.

On the raider I dropped around 30lbs just by dumping the stock exhaust and going with an aftermarket lighter one.

Then the biggest way to lighter her up....lighten ourselves up.  Rider weight makes an incredible difference to your power to weight ratio.  My wife on her 380# xs650 (heavily chopped) has the same power to weight ratio as my Raider with me on it.  Even though her bike has only about 50hp at the rear wheel and my Raider 97 at the rear wheel.  Her bike is almost as fast in the quarter mile.

I've seen some stripped down and tuned vtx's that are utter monsters in the quarter mile.

[LeftyBiker]

Thanks!

[Motodad393]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

[highwayman]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

[AZ~Raider]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

[TRaider_John]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

Does whe buy into the idea that loud pipes save lives? 

[Clayton]

So when I finally get me a raider she us going to move pretty quick with my 145lb ass on her.

"The 1800 when moded (lighten her up) and tuned properly can be a real monster..."

How does one lighten her up?

[Deyv]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

Easy enough.. Loud Pipes make the cagers more aware of bike riders.. "Loud Pipes Save lives"...

You're Welcome...

[Ares X]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

Easy enough.. Loud Pipes make the cagers more aware of bike riders.. "Loud Pipes Save lives"...

You're Welcome...

Just don't gut the factory exhaust beforehand.  If she hears how loud it is you'll have no argument.

[biker42lue]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

Easy enough.. Loud Pipes make the cagers more aware of bike riders.. "Loud Pipes Save lives"...

You're Welcome...

Just don't gut the factory exhaust beforehand.  If she hears how loud it is you'll have no argument.

So true! The last time I was changing my rear brake pads I had the pipes off, and after I finished installing the brakes I needed to run it and make sure the pads were catching and working properly. So, instead of reinstalling the pipes-just in case I still needed access-I just started it up to take it down the street and back. My wife comes out and comments on the noise, so I explain what I was doing and why it was so loud. She tells me, "As long as you're not leaving it like that. You better never have pipes that loud." Glad we got that discussion out of the way. 

[Ares X]

biker42lue- You have to uninstall the exhaust to do back brakes?  I never had to do that.

[biker42lue]

biker42lue- You have to uninstall the exhaust to do back brakes?  I never had to do that.

Not fully. It's just easier to get to the rear brakes if the rear part of the pipes are removed to allow easier access to the rear wheel. It's probably not an issue with aftermarket pipes, but those stock pipes get in the way.

[Capt_Zoom]

The Raider has a bunch of advantages: great looking, eats HD and others, dependable, fast and get you there quickly, lots of toys to add and affordable.

The only disadvantage of  owning a Raider is, well...........you do not want to go home when you start riding.  Its a struggle.

"Affordable"....wish I could convince my wife of that....when I tell her of my next purchase and cost.... I get the  look.

And then all the Mods, but as I tell my wife, "the seat is for you!".... " The LEDs are for safety!"..... "The bags are so we can travel longer!"....... The new mirrors are also for safety!".......  Found if the word safety comes up, I AM GOOD TO GO.........  The new exhaust if for,,,,,, safety?  working on that one. 

Does whe buy into the idea that loud pipes save lives?

My wife's the same.  except she can't argue about pipes since her xs650 is louder than the raider.  And my raider is fricken loud.  Her xs650 sounds like a demon coming at you.