Well, My VTX has been trusty to the extreme - I've put almost 100,000KM on it in the 5 years I've owned it and aside from 1 battery (when I bought it), a new front master cylinder, and a few sets of tires, it's been a rock through thick and thin, hell, and high water.
But for the type or riding I enjoy more and seem to be doing more and more (endurance / long touring) it's less than ideal due to lack of storage. The saddlebags are small (my rain gear alone fills one entire bag, and my first aid kit and a few other things 3/4 fills my second one) so when I travel *everything* is piled on via external luggage. That's crappy when you hit rain for obvious reasons (I'm tired of sitting on the side of the road trying to pull on rain covers and garbage bags over luggage and camping gear), but also less than ideal when you're parking somewhere insecure for an hour or so and you can't lock anything up.
So, I'm looking at more of a proper touring bike/full decker with larger hard saddlebags and (most importantly) a top box. Difficulty: $10,000 price range, and a cruiser - not interested in a sport touring or anything else. There's a few reasons behind that goal, one being frugal (I'm not paying $20-$30K for something that sits in my garage 4-6 months of the year) and secondly, in another 3-4 years again I'll likely move onto something different again...long term goal, that's another story.
I've been hunting around online and have found a few prospects (Yep, even a few HD's, but that's another story, below) but I'm left feeling like there's some more makes/models that I'm just not seeing.
But for the type or riding I enjoy more and seem to be doing more and more (endurance / long touring) it's less than ideal due to lack of storage. The saddlebags are small (my rain gear alone fills one entire bag, and my first aid kit and a few other things 3/4 fills my second one) so when I travel *everything* is piled on via external luggage. That's crappy when you hit rain for obvious reasons (I'm tired of sitting on the side of the road trying to pull on rain covers and garbage bags over luggage and camping gear), but also less than ideal when you're parking somewhere insecure for an hour or so and you can't lock anything up.
So, I'm looking at more of a proper touring bike/full decker with larger hard saddlebags and (most importantly) a top box. Difficulty: $10,000 price range, and a cruiser - not interested in a sport touring or anything else. There's a few reasons behind that goal, one being frugal (I'm not paying $20-$30K for something that sits in my garage 4-6 months of the year) and secondly, in another 3-4 years again I'll likely move onto something different again...long term goal, that's another story.
I've been hunting around online and have found a few prospects (Yep, even a few HD's, but that's another story, below) but I'm left feeling like there's some more makes/models that I'm just not seeing.
- I like the Victory touring models and the fact they're discontinued don't really bother me, but I'm amazed at how much they're holding their value. In short, outside my price goal territory.
- I'm not ready for a Goldwing. I've rode a few now but although they have all the comforts, bells and whistles, and fit all the bills so far as storage and such, I just feel like they lack character. I guess this is why I'm still leaning towards a cruiser.
- The Kawasaki Voyager is a prospect and certainly hits all the goals, but I've just never really been totally in love with the look of the front end.
- Ditto the Yamaha Venture Star. Nails all the requirements but I like the front end even less than the Voyager.
- Looked at a few HD Ultras. But the price goal puts me into the evo engine generation (and high-ish mileage on top of that all) which is the notorious cam chain tensioner ticking time bomb era. Instantly ruling out any that haven't at *least* had the upgrade to the hydraulic tensioner already done, and leaned more towards ones with the full gear upgrades, but it seems like *all* the prospects have been molested with tuners, and of those many are owned by man-children (based on the Facebook profiles) who have likely thrashed them. Given the Evo's were hardly the most reliable engines to begin with I can NOT risk buying something that's going to strand me on the side of the road somewhere in the middle of a 5000KM ride, and the recommendation even for the hydraulic tensioners is to do a visual inspection every 10,000KM, and you're supposed to carefully warm them up before riding as well. I don't have the time or interest in doing that kind of crap...I just want to ride.
- Buddy owns a FJR and loves it. Got the top box add-on and hard side bags. Lots of storage and certainly a ton of performance. But just not a cruiser so just doesn't fully turn my crank, and I really don't like the legs directly under me seating style either.
- Seeing lots of bikes like my VTX with mishmashed aftermarket hardbag/top box combinations that really just don't look right, so anything that's not factory is out of the question.
