The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

Had company last week and just my luck my Sisters brother in law Bill is a rider (1200 GS Beemer) so he wanted to go for a ride. He rented from hiAVD in south kona. owner (Jason) does his own maintenance and despite 20k of road miles Bill rented a 09 650 Vstrom. Bill said it ran like it was brand new. We picked the bike up a 1:00 pm so hit the road south to southpoint the most southern point in the US. Bill had his doubts about me showing up in a step through and I enjoyed showing him its abilities.

Im no stranger to motorcycles and have owned several most recent is my tiger 800 xc but on this island nothing IMHO for me beats my Forza as the perfect island ride. Its the funnest thing on two wheels Ive got.

Compression turns with only enough time to roll into the next opposing turn is my favorite and this island has plenty. Watched Bill in the rear view till he got accustom to the bike and opened up a little and the fun started. The Forza will lay over with ease with only the slightest push on the bars and powers nicely through the turns and has enough engine compression when backing off the throttle to line up and power through the next one with little need for braking. Although the braking system on the ABS Forza is outstanding I find I dont use it much. Smiled a little as I looked back watching Bill shift from 6th to third and back up while the little twist and go was doing the job.

We made a short run to southpoint passing only a few cars.
Weather was holding so it was off to the volcano for a late lunch.
Headed down Chain of Craters Rd to take in the sights
Getting late so we headed back up the mountain 4500 vertical to take the road to Hilo and get the bypass to Hwy 200 the old saddle rd. Broke out of the clouds to see the sun set on Mauna Kea and rode the backside into Mauna Lani resort around 7:00 pm. Day two broke with running down Hwy 180 a constant set of 20-25 MPH turns to Napoopoo rd to Kealakekua Bay and south to Milolii
Turned the V back in at 1:00 and met up with the rest of the gang back in kailua. Bill rode with me two up and pleaded with me not to ride normally with him on the back. I went easy on the boy only cranked it through the turn once just for fun. Bill got off that ride with all smiles and was amazed at what the Forza could do speed, handling, agility, comfort and storage dont know if I turned his opinon or not but he had to admit we had a challenging and exciting time. Had dinner with the gang at a little Thai place and watched the sunset on the sea wall. The end to a perfect day.

It doesn't get better than that. I hope you don't mind if I saved a few of those photos for my folder of backgrounds. I have been to Hawaii three times but never to the big island. With the mix of folks I ride with from small Grom's to huge Harley's I also find the Forza near perfect for our scenic touring in the hills. I never realized what an advantage the CVT would be over the manual shifter's in this kind of terrain.

Very cool! Love the photos. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to ride a Forza or other 300cc+ scooter long distances, but if I ended up getting a PCX 150, a VStrom 650 would be my rental bike of choice if I went on a road trip that required a bit more power with our challenging mountain highways.

SECoda, help yourself to the pics no problem. Love the Forza's capabilities it was the right choice for me and when it comes down to how it handles in the twistys it gave the V a run for its money. That was truely a lot of fun!

Thanks. I also wait for the heavy bikes on many of our 180 degree hair-pin turns up and down the steep hills. It's funny how fast they want to ride on the interstate and then how slow they are forced to ride on the scenic roads and I am a cautious slow driver waiting on them. A close call near some of our ravines on a 900 lb Harley scares them straight every time.

They found a retired couple and Harley in trees down in a ravine a few years ago.

The Forza is a comfortable ride and I have no problem doing long distance with this bike. I might opt for a top box in the future. Still getting 74 mpg with 3k logged on the clocks. Love the tall windscreen. Thinking I may throw some decals on to break up things. Rear shocks work much better after some adjustment. Still looking for some shock extension s called nippers from Demo design but haven't found them yet. Will probably put on some YSS in future. Starting to see some tire wear off the rear tread but nothing abnormal. Not sure what kind of mileage we should be getting from OEM tires, anyone have info on what to expect?

Very nice photos and riding adventure!