LOL, well done Greg for stirring a great question. I went through this one 20+ years ago. Had '89 KLR for couple years, got girlfriend, tried a few 350+ mile days 2-up, got an earfull (for days on end), made a mistake...well, sort of.
I will say this straight up, DO NOT take your better half for a test ride (or even let her park her tush on one in a showroom) on a true touring machine. The KLR will soon be in a corner of the garage collecting dust (or sold) and everything will revolve around the "comfy" machine (in my case a goldwing).
When you used the term "sport touring" I immediately thought of the FJ from Yamaha, ST from Honda, Concourse from Kawasaki, class of bike. None of these are anywhere near as comfy as the true touring class machines for days of any signicant length, and neither is the VStorm.
One of our fellow list'ers commented that the 1000 VStrom would be better suited for 2-up w/ gear, etc. I could not agree more with the more cc's suggestion. When you're loaded and bucking a headwind 2-up, there's just no substitute for cc's.
For me the girlfriend exited, the goldwing was sold, and I got another KLR last year to quiet the off-road adventurer in me. Yet I find the 650 lacking a little on road trips - and a bit cumbersome for singletrack. I recently acquired a DR-Z for the singletrack, and while I'll keep the KLR, I think spring of '13 will bring something bigger for the adventure tours that's, well, "more comfy". At the moment the machine that holds the most promise for the money is the XT1200Z.
My apologies for the long missive, yet my suggestion is: Take your significant other for a few test rides on several of the "adventure touring" machines (and don't let her get close to the true touring bikes). I'd be willing to bet the 2 of you will find one that's perfect (be it 990 adventure, 1200 Adventure, XTZ, etc). When that happens she will suddenly be on board like its all her idea. She'll be working the numbers, cutting the budgets and throwing money in the pot to make sure she (and you) gets this new "comfy" machine.
For what it's worth,
Randy
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 6:28 PM
To:
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DSN_KLR650] NKLR V-Strom
Looking for opinions, I was considering looking for a sport touring bike to keep the KLR company, significant other has done several 400 to 500km days with me on KLR and would like something more comfortable.
If It turns out that we actually do a lot of longer rides I would like something like the Sprint ST 1050 but right now I have the chance to buy an 08 650 V-Strom, perfect shape, full factory bags and a good price.
Any thoughts out there on how they work 2 up on mostly long weekend trips on mostly secondary highways. I took it out for an hour test ride, she really liked it. Anyway any opinions are good...Have a great evening...Greg
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post |
[The entire original message is not included]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]