So after over 2 months of reading countless forums, spending hours at dealerships, taking test rides, test sits on more bikes than I remember, I finally came home with a new one yesterday
*whew*
Maybe now I can relax
I came || this close to buying a Ducati Multistrada, but finally decided that I didn't want to have to be constantly fretting about the bike - any nick, scratch, etc. would have me freaking out and that wouldn't be condusive to a stress-free daily rider. Not to mention that it costs a fair bit, though being an air/oil-cooled 2-valver the maintanance wouldn't have been that bad for a Duc. There were also enough reports of the dashboard dying in the rain to make me leery.
But man, that engine
The new ZX-14 was strongly considered, that is THE most comfortable sportbike I have
ever sat on, I liked how it felt better than any of the BMW sport-tourers even. I think I would be perfectly happy with it, but I really wanted to stay away from anything with a full-fairing and I really fell in love with V-twins thanks to the Duc test rides.
In a fit of lunacy, I almost ended up with a Suzuki DRZ-400SM
would've been an absolute blast in the city but crappy on the highway and even more crappy for Mrs. Chikken...
Luckily sanity prevailed, and I picked up a leftover '05 Suzuki VStrom 1000
996cc's of 90 degree V-twin goodness
sounds
almost like the Duc, somewhat more useful on dirt roads/snow, cheap accessories, easy maintanance, but liquid-cooled unfortunately. Guess I'll just have to get used to that