Sport Tourers; Where Art Thou?

7 days, 10 southeastern states, 2900 miles, traveling through the Tail of the Dragon. Solo... Epic. :)



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The obligatory Killboy pic.



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thanks for the warm welcome, DOGSROOT.....heard a lot of great things about K bikes.

lol, what does FYYFF mean?

Ok, we will probably head out to the dealership and sit on one...thanks

I owned two Gold wings previously and the last was a 2005 model.Rode the 05 from Kentucky to Alaska in 7 days. But they were simply to slow for my tastes and they lacked a 6th gear. So a couple of months purchased a Kawasaki Concours and added a Givi top case and am 90% happy. Only thing lacking is an electronic cruise control.

Why don't they sell well? All kids think about are sport bikes, it takes them a few years to realize it is not all about speed but comfort as well. Plus the bags mean they can leave the back packs at home. I dunno why we don't see more, most every other biker I run into gives me a thumbs up on the Concours. But I have noticed a steady increase in the number of "Adventure" bikes on the road and they make even more sense than a ST. That is why I plan on buying one next spring, but the Concours is staying as well.

Ghostie:

FYYFF

The "Y"s are for YOU

The "F"s are for various iterations of the "F" word.

It's meant kindly.

You can even get reflective stickers in the form of a country ID from GADGET BOY, I believe...

These pictures are from Bear Mountain and Rt 218 in NY

This is my Connie somewhere near Estes Park Colorado.

This post got me thinking about the type of bikes that are out thereand why someone chooses one type over another. I currently have a 99 Concours but have had many different types of bikes from a 04 R1 to a 06 HD RoadGlide to a 08 Buell Ulysses. I decided that I would do my own count so on a recent trip up to Northern Idaho from Portland I decided to keep a count. I expected that cruiser style bikes HD or their foreign counterparts would be the majority but I had no idea how much so.

Over 1200 miles I saw...

10 Sport Touring type bikes
10 Adventure Style, Mostly 1200GS
7 Goldwings
8 Sportbikes( R1's GSXR's, Ect)
and

150 Harley Davidson Type Cruiser/Touring bikes :huh

I was surprised that it was basically a 15-1 ratio. I think that a part of the reason behind this is the image that HD projects. Regardless of what you think of their motorcycles its hard to deny the image they have created in the mind of inexperienced riders of being the bike of choice. I have several friends who bought HD's because of the name alone. I think that unfortunately the sport-touring segment in America has been under marketed to. I believe that it takes a movement to build a following. For example look at look impact that MotoGP and World Superbike racing has on sportbike sales or the huge inflex of Adventure bikes that have been sold since Long Way Round hit the scene. But what does sport-touring have?? They have a very loyal following made up of a very small segment of the motorcycling public. To me the person that chooses a sport-touring type of bike is someone who has a desire for the performance that a sportbike offers but is also looking to have a bit more comfort and be able to put on some decent miles.

Anyway any thread that gets me to think is a winner in my book and this one has certainly done that.

That's what I'm here for.

i rode my bandit 1250 from fla to upstate NY last aug. one leg was 15.5 hours straight. i got off the bike once to pee. it was probably the best sport tourrer out there with all the mods..corbin, full holeshot exhaust, $2500 suspension, fairings, bags....it had it all. they introduced the gsxfa to copy my bike, minus the suspension and performance mods. i could go any speed i wanted and still get over 40mpg. but after that ny ride, i decided i like the long rides but i also wanted my wife to be able to come too. there was just physically not enough room for my wife and camping gear too. so with a couple weeks i traded the bandit on a 2012 goldwing. i bought a trailer and the wife and i did new england this past july for 19 days. the wife liked it but won't do it again. so within a week i've sold it and bought a 2012 vstrom 650 adv. this will be my sport tourer, my all around bike. i'm thinking of a busa modified for comfort and camping...maybe pulling a one wheel trailer ....the goldwing SUCKED in every way except cruise control...and that's all i'll say about it in this thread.

got my first sport tourer,. like mentioned before, had the goldwing. too much like a bus..done with the dirt. not ready to give up fun..yamaha fjr1300 fit the bill perfectly...[/IMG]

Very nice.


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I dunno Dan, I see quite a few Sport Touring bikes in my neck of the woods. Even the tiny local Kawasaki/Suzuki/ATV/Snowmobile dealer has sold a few C-14's each year they have been out, even through the bust years of late. Hell, they even keep C-14 specific tires in stock in two brands.

We have a wide variety of roads out West and maybe that contributes to seeing more Sport Tourers?

Anyway, hope you're doing well these days.

Yeah, I think that does have a lot to do with it, Rory.

I love my 94 st1100
I did trade my 98 in on my 950 and I love my 950 and I can tour on either just depends on the trip.
I ride the st for errands and such then a run thru mountains for some good fun!
I ride the 950 for hooligan type rides and those days I do know if I am gonna be on the road or the dirt.
I love them both but again it is the right tool for the job.
I will not part with either.
The st is my 2 up choice with my kids or wife.

I just picked this up this afternoon. 2004 with 20,000 miles.

on the way home I hit 106 on the GPS and it was still pulling like a freight train.

I just rode back from Vegas to Fort Collins, CO yesterday, I ran across another guy on an ST going from CO to CA in Green River.

Stu, where's the pic??

It may not be a big sport tourer, but it still does the job, my 2011 Ninja 400R on the top of Mt. Washington last June. Did a 3 day ride down from Saint John, New Brunswick. Later this week I'm doing a 2 day trip to the Cabot Trail.

Great little bike, but it's soon time for something bigger and more comfortable. Test rode an ST1300 last week and fell in love, beautiful bike, easy to ride, and for such a big bike, easy to flick around. Unfortunately it's not in the financial cards right now.

updated.

My mind wasn't working too well last night. Left the house around 8am on a '76 airhead and rode 200 miles to a dealer with the wife and a buddy. After trying this k1200rs, our buddy tried a F800st and a k100rs. He ended up buying the k100rs, so we took a long, scenic 200 miles back to Memphis last night.