Sport Tourers; Where Art Thou?

[sleazy rider]

Two almost totally different types of bikes, teach.

Sport-tourers are basically a sportbike style with hard or soft bags set up for longer distance touring and still able to romp the twisty paved bits. See FJR, ST1300, Concours, BMW RT, Ninja 1000, etc.

Adventure bikes are the bigger dirt road and two track capable bikes like the Tenere, 1200GS, KLR, XR650 among others with luggage capability. Lots of ground clearance, highway capable tires, upright seating and the ability to eat miles.

Some of us blur the lines to ride dirt roads and two track with sport-tourers and some adventure bikes do cross country real well.

[Contevita]

Don't let us stop you, Teach. Get to riding that 250 Rebel long distance because you're a rebel and a teacher. As for me, I did some light touring on my Blackbird today in the damned MS heat, at least the humidity was down.

On my way home at a gas station on Hwy 59 (hint, we need more pics of the stort-tour bikes out there):

[Skowinski]

Here's my old man's sport touring machine.

[625SXC]

[noshoes]

Found this on CL in Fairbanks this spring. Great bike for riding around Alaska.

[Cakeeater]

Originally Posted by Rider

I've come to the rather inescapable conclusion that sport touring motorcycles are among the rarest forms of transportation on Earth.
No matter where I go - unless it's to a bike rally - they are invisible. Nowhere to be found. On a motorcycle trip recently on my FRJ1300 covering about 1,400 miles I spotted ...

• Probably 3 BMW R1200RTs
• 1 BMW K1200S
• 1 BMW R1100RT
• 1 BMW R1150RT
• 1 Triumph Sprint
• 2 Honda ST1300s
• 1 Honda ST1100
• 1 Kawasaki Concours14
• A couple of "I can't quite make that one out"s

In all those miles. In great motorcycle country.
The rest were old beat standards, dirt bikes, Gold Wings and, of course, Harleys.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of Harleys.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But it really brought home to me once again, after riding for so many years, that the sport tourer is an odd bird that defies convention and appears not to appeal to very many people, which I find puzzling. To me, they're bikes that do so many things well (as long as it's on pavement).
What's your theory as to why sport tourers don't sell very well?

My brother has an st1300. He loves it. He rides all over. While he likes it, that bike has never spoken to me because:
A: it's hot as hell on the legs at speed on hot days
b: it's pretty top heavy for any dirt-riding, with street tires....and it's tall in the saddle, which makes waddling around gravel campgrounds tough.
c: It only shines when you're pushing 90 mph or beyond. And then it's a game of watching for the po-po.
d: there's not THAT much space in it, compared to a full-boat touring bike. So when it comes to carrying camping gear, some food, etc, a big-assed touring bike does much better.
e: there's a limited number of ladies who like to ride on the back. Yeah, some women like it, I get it....but from my limited polling most passengers would rather be on a true touring bike...not a sport-touring.
f: I find it boring.
g: tire wear is an issue in these here united states where we often ride 4000 miles on a trip.
h: the riding position just isn't as good for loonnnng days in teh sadle lfor many riders.

Thus....they are rare on the roads. And why the local Honda dealer has a several year old st1300, new, sitting on the sales floor. I'm not tempted to buy one.

Cakeeater.

[Grainbelt]

I took back to back demo rides on a Ninja 650R and Concours 14 last weekend. The 14 was geared so tall I could have done the whole ride in two gears. Heavy. Hot. Not really engaging to ride - point and shoot. The 650R was a ton of fun. Can really get into the power, it is light and engaging without being frantic.

I'll keep riding middleweights for the giggle factor.

[sleazy rider]

Three weeks ago on the Needles Hwy with my old man ST.



I leave for Cape Breton in a short two weeks. Gawd, I love retirement.

[rider33]

2011 Iron Butt Ralley Finishers:

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2011/15.pdf

notice a pattern there? Remember, about 6% of the market. The truth is, Sport Touring bikes are significant overkill for most applications. If, on the other hand, you really are going to be doing some serious long distance travel and do not want your cappuccino-maker hard wired to the dash, they can be a rather handy alternative. YMMV.

[Grainbelt]

Originally Posted by rider33

notice a pattern there?

They are effective for multi-day road races, provided you don't crash in the process?

[Garp]

Originally Posted by rider33

notice a pattern there?

Most dog races are won by Greyhounds, but not many people have greyhounds as pets. What's your point?

The fact that sport touring motorcycles win events that require extremely long distances at relatively high speed isn't really surprising, it's what they were designed for. Maybe your point was that very few people ride like that, so very few people buy sport-tourers?

[Little Bike]

Thats Miz Teach to you two!

Not to hijack the thread for a moment, but in regards to riding in the heat I'm taking off Monday to ride through the Mojave Desert to get to southern Utah - yuck, get up at 3 am, ride til the sun comes up, hide in a motel, repeat. My family thinks I'm nuts, they don't get it......whatever......:loll

Anyhoo, I was checking out KLR650s on Craig's list - I think that's my machine to park with the Rebel - when we get our furlough days back

[antwon412]

Originally Posted by Grainbelt

I took back to back demo rides on a Ninja 650R and Concours 14 last weekend. The 14 was geared so tall I could have done the whole ride in two gears. Heavy. Hot. Not really engaging to ride - point and shoot. The 650R was a ton of fun. Can really get into the power, it is light and engaging without being frantic.

I'll keep riding middleweights for the giggle factor.

I just picked one up. Was also looking at a ninja 1000 but realized it was just overkill. Bigger then I wanted as well. The 650 is perfect o me. Just waiting on Givi to release brackets to run v35's.

[sleazy rider]

Originally Posted by Little Bike

Thats Miz Teach to you two!

Anyhoo, I was checking out KLR650s on Craig's list - I think that's my machine to park with the Rebel - when we get our furlough days back

: You got it, Miz! KLRs can be lowered if you're uncomfortable with the seat height. Once you get familiar with it, it can be restored and ridden appropriately.

[Cakeeater]

Originally Posted by Garp

Most dog races are won by Greyhounds, but not many people have greyhounds as pets. What's your point?

The fact that sport touring motorcycles win events that require extremely long distances at relatively high speed isn't really surprising, it's what they were designed for. Maybe your point was that very few people ride like that, so very few people buy sport-tourers?

Bingo!! We have a winner!

The most popular dog in the US is a labrador retreiver. They're big, sturdy, kinda slow at running (fast swimmers tho!!) and are amazingly easy going and mellow...after they're two years old. They are NOT sport-tourers.

When I ride my brother's ST, it seems a waste to run it below speeds that put me in peril of losing my license, and it's just not much fun to ride it at mostly legal speeds. Seems to me most ST bikes are a bridge too far...too big, too heavy, too hot to be sporty...top small, too cramped and too nervous to be long-distance two-up tourers. The F-111 of motorcycles.

Cakeeater