Bikes you didn't like nearly as much as you thought you would.

[dixonk]

2011 Kawasaki Concours 14. I wanted to like that bike so bad. I put about 2500 miles on the bike and traded it in on a BMW K1600. The bike handled horrible. Very heavy steering effort. Very uncomfortable. Seat was good for about 100 miles and that was it.

If Japanese dealers would offer test rides they wouldn't sell half the bikes they do....maybe thats why they don't offer demo rides

2012 BMW K1600 - Fine motorcycle and very good at what it does...riding all day long. Very fast and handles good. There is just something missing for me though. Lack of lean angle, slightly cramped riding position, and 750 lbs kills it for me though. Put my deposit down for a new GS which should make me a lot happier.

[Tango59]

My 08 Bandit. I'd keep it if I could afford two bikes and use it on trips. Most of my riding is commuting and it's just kind of bland. Good all-around bike tho.

[9990]

Originally Posted by dirtdreamer50

9990
I had the exact same problems with a Bonneville T100. I lowered the pegs, but that didn't help the leg poking problem. The seat was like a 2x10 wooden board, but the Scrambler solo seat fixed that. Grip puppies helped the bar vibration, and a new set of bars fixed the dumb hand angle ache. The nonexistent exhaust note was fixed with a great set of mufflers from Feked.com, in the UK.

The one thing I couldn't fix was,"it didn't like to turn". Toss it into a corner or curve, and it still wanted to go straight, to the point where it was scary at highway speeds. I too took a bath on the trade to a bigger mistake, a Sprint 1050, but that's another sad tale, that led me to a Tiger 1050, which was an even bigger disappointment. I love Triumphs, but haven't found the right one for me, yet. dd50
.

Try a 955 triple. Sprint ST, Sprint RS, or even a 955 Tiger. No, it doesn't have the 124 hp of the 1050, but it has 108 or 118, depending on year, and 72 to 75 ft-lbs of torque, and the bikes are lighter too. It'll get ya down the road. Ergos are different too -- 955 RS fits me much better than the 1050 ST. Might just do it for you too.

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one with Bonnie problems. And your cautionary tale about ergonomic mods is well-appreciated. I started down that path -- ordered three different aftermarket handlebars, but before I got too far a still small voice in the back of my head told me it was time to try a different bike.

[greer]

Thanks for the input. The looks of the thing has made my heart go pitter-patter, too.

Sarah

Originally Posted by TexRivers

Too small in both engine and cramped riding position. I'm 5-10 & 31" Inseam. It was ok for 800 mile 3 day weekend trips to the Texas hill country, but I like to do longer rides and often need to do 500+ mile days to get to from Houston to Colorado and further west.

I got seduced by its looks, but it is a small bike.

Don't buy one with a plastic tank, the paint cracks. The new ones have steel tanks.

My full sized Cali gets just as many compliments, many more than my buddies' Harley's, and I can ride it all day and night.

[zozie]

Well Well well.

I did enjoy my 250 virago when I was getting my license and for 2 years after, but it sat after for 3 years cause it was gutless and I didn't feel like getting on it. That's not the bike's fault tho.....

Anyway I thought I would love a shadow 750 that I borrowed from a friend, thinking I'd buy one but NOOOOO. What a gutless POS. Makes nice noises but no power what so ever. At 80mph it sounds like it's ready to blow.

F800R my current bike, I loved until I rode it back to Toronto from Raleigh, NC in one sitting. My neck was numb for 2 days .
It's a nice bike but after 4 months and 7500 miles, I'm ready to get something else. It's not a good touring machine, not fast or exciting enough to be a sport bike, but I love the way it looks.

For some reason I keep turning back to the Hayabusa or the K1300S. Especially now that the Hayabusa will get ABS and Brembo brakes, the competition is even closer. It will have to be one of them but not sure which. Maybe I just need to keep the F800R and get a G650GS to go offroad as well, except I don't think the wife could let me get away with 2 bikes

[Pokeyjoe]

Originally Posted by 9990

I wanted to like my Bonneville. I really did.

The pegs
And that nice looking handlebar was just about exactly wrong for me.
All I can say is that angle, whatever it was, was damned uncomfortable!
And the grip angle! My wrists ached after 10 minutes every time I rode it
And then we get to the vibration!

Like I said, I wanted to like it, but I ended up trading it in with less than 200 miles on it. My bank account said ouch.

But yeah, the Bonneville. I so wanted it to be my favorite bike. I guess it's also a realization that the older one gets, the more ergonomics and comfort matter.

This is kind of sad, really. Aftermarket bars with a bar snake to reduce vibration would have solved most of your problems. I'm not defending the Bonneville, but you need to make the bike fit you, not find one that fits (if you can).

[Domromer]

Bandit 1200, I wanted this bike ever since I first started looking at bikes. I was working at a bike shop at got an insane deal on an 01 that had been sitting in the warehouse for 2 years. I rode it in the test loop, it felt strange but I figured I'd just get used to it. I never did, there was never a bike made that was so wrong for me and the kind of riding in like. The Silver lining to the story is I sold it on eBay a month after I bought it and made 800$ profit after ebay and paypal had thier taste.

[scootrboi]

Vespa GS160

It is supposed to be about the best scooter ever. I had abandoned my Honda 305 Dream in Valentine Texas Dec. 1974. In the Spring of 75 I picked up the Vespa for $100. It was peppy, shot up to 55mph as fast as I could shift, but I felt like I was riding on a balloon. I preferred my brother's old Heinkel, which accelerated like a Beetle, felt like a small locomotive,and handled beautifully. The Vespa seized within a month on a long downhill coast, and I didn't fix it. I bought the Heinkel for $50 in 1981 and am still riding it.

[Travrsx]

My 08 XL1200N Nightster. This was the first bike I had ever bought new. At the time, my 2002 R1 (great bike) was used almost exclusively for track duty, and I wanted a dedicated street bike.

I bought the Nightster based on looks alone. Man, I loved that blacked out look with the rubber fork boots like the old dirtbikes I grew up on. Plus, it sounded awesome at idle.

Riding it home from the dealership, I thought to myself... "Hmmm...."

It was different, which I thought was good, at first. But then I realized it wasn't any more comfortable than the R1. In fac, for highway riding, I would have preferred the R1! The HD was slow and clunky feeling, even after I put a full exhaust, intake, and power commander on it. The real killer though, was the handling. It seemed like if I even thought about turning, it would be scraping something. Ground clearance was non existent. I went so far as to buy longer shocks from another sporty, but it killed the look of the bike and didn't do much for the handling. I found that if I wanted to keep it, I would have had to spend even more money on suspension and forward controls (the mids folded my legs up too much, and I'm only 5'9").

I sold it for a loss after a year with less than 1500 miles. I think I would have kept the bike if I had bought it used for $3500 or something, not the $11k I paid for it.

I'm not an HD hater though, I've ridden others I liked. They're just too expensive!

[Kikemon]

Wonderful engine - liked to rev and sounded great. Ran like a CBR with a frog in its throat. Nice angry gravelly rasp to it. Handled great. Not the fastest bike around, but plenty fast enough for me. Now I've had bikes that required a "committed" position to ride, but nothing like this. I had to lean way forward to the extent that I couldn't turn my head from side to side with both hands on the grips because the chin bar would hit my arms. I already had my head cranked all the way back just to look forward so I really couldn't lift my chin up any higher for the chin bar to clear an arm. For the looks, sound and ride of this bike I probably would have put up with this, but the mirrors were absolute crap and all I could see were my elbows. Not being able to see behind me in traffic got to be very unnerving and took a lot of the fun out of the bike to the point I had to let it go. If I had the room I would have kept it for weekend rides (as it was intended) but I do't have the room for that and needed to get more use out of it to justify having it. Obviously didn't think the purchase through, but when it was good, it was very good with that bike.

[mwolff]

Originally Posted by wayne_l

honda gold wing ..with so much going on with the thing and so smooth it felt like i was in my truck .it lulled me to sleep.

Likewise, even the 1800, too big, too heavy, too much plastic, crappy suspension, I did not like the stock seat much.

[Eric1951]

Honda NT700V, I would ditto everything previously spoken about this bike. I thought, what could be better, shaft drive, Honda reliability, luggage, adj windscreen, only to surround a gutless powerplant. I should have known when I was the third owner in less than 8 months, it now resides with owner #4, only took a small bath.

Triumph Scrambler, ditto also to the others who expressed disappointment in the engine versus the Bonneville. So between the engine lacking performance, no handling and gearing like a farm tractor it also found a new home. But I will say, I liked the looks!

[southwade]

Originally Posted by TiPirate

My buddy's (5'8" and 155Lb) Kawi Z1000 is hard not to like when you're standing around shooting the shit, but the ergos are silly. And the wall of noise always cresting behind your head from the scorpion pipes is pretty annoying after a few miles. Buffeting, non-existent gearbox and stratospheric powerband.

For the record, I'm 6' and 220Lb and ride an R1100R. It's not awesome at anything.

The ergos on my Zed are decent, but I think with a more open bar they'd be perfect. (I have wide shoulders)

Your buddies choice in exhaust is not the fault of the bike.

Buffeting? Unless he changed from the stock windscreen, I don't know what your referring too. Mine had none.

Non-existent gearbox

Stratospheric powerband... I agree, it's awesome.

I'm 6'2" 220lb. I own(ed) a Z1000

[ken robert]

A new R1100RS '93 red hot beauty. Paid $10k and it had $5k in warrenty claims the first 10k miles. An instant love after two block test ride was a 919. So solid, so quick and was a do it all basic bike. Nephew has it now, never a problem.

[chukzelda]

V-Strom 1000

I found one for a killer price, setup just like I thought I wanted it and low miles. Took it on a 6 mile test ride. I didn't find a single thing about the bike that I disliked.

However, I did not find a single thing about the bike that I loved. Motorcycling for me needs to inspire me at an emotional level. It needs to blow my hair back (in a metaphorical sense). The V-Strom didn't touch me at this level, just left me wanting something else.

Lesson here is analyzing bikes from online information can never replace your gut reaction from taking a long test ride.

peace,
Chuk