Good Sport Touring bikes!

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I commute and tour on BMWs. Yes, they are good bikes as are Japanese bikes and Harleys. The BMWs sold me because the parts are available regardless of age.

I bought an 85 K100RT for $1500 with 29K miles. Drove it to the dealer and told them to make it like new (tuned, new rubber, new battery, etc). $2300 later I had a $3800 touring bike that runs like new complete with hard bags, trunk bag, and a Corbin saddle. The bike gets 48 mpg. It is comfy and delivers a genuine 90 HP. Old K bikes will go 150K miles no problem. I carry liability insurance only. If it gets trashed in any way, I'll buy another one for $2000 - $3000.

You may want to look at newer models but you can get a nice, late model ride for under $8,000 easy. Check out BMW MOA forums. Food for thought.
 
would not bother me to go used, My zxp i got with just under 3K on it, bout to go over 20K on it with no issues. the one dude who just went over 400K on his beemer is a testament to the bmw's longevity. Granted you have to keep up on the maintenance, but any bike could potentially do that if cared for
 
Originally Posted By: Lorenzo
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
There's some excellent books out there on sport riding technique that can benefit any rider.
I've read tons of them and recommend Nick Ienatch's "Sport Riding Techniques" to everyone. He goes into excellent detail on line selection, body position, braking, shifting and street strategy. Best of all, it's the best written, best edited book on the subject.


Great book. I read it at least twice every winter!
 
Originally Posted By: Zoridog


I bought an 85 K100RT for $1500 with 29K miles. Drove The bike gets 48 mpg. It is comfy and delivers a genuine 90 HP. Old K bikes will go 150K miles no problem. I carry liability insurance only. If it gets trashed in any way, I'll buy another one for $2000 - $3000.

You may want to look at newer models but you can get a nice, late model ride for under $8,000 easy. Check out BMW MOA forums. Food for thought.


My bike is comfy while still handling really well. It gets 4.8L/100km's or 49MPG (indicated on trip computer and verified by the gas station), and delivers 167HP at the crank. K bikes have come a long way. A K1300S is on the way as well!
 
I met someone last weekend who has an 07 K-GT with almost 20K miles. He sold me on the new bikes.

167 HP!

I don't use all my 90 hp and still need to check my shorts occasionally.
 
Lots of attention being given to the BMW final drive failures. An in depth article published a couple of months ago in Motorcycle Consumer news. Enough for me to nix my plans for a third BMW motorcycle purchase. I bought a Kawasaki Concours instead. Do a Google search or you can start here:

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28395
 
I am a little concerned about these final drive failures. I will be changing my final drive fluid every 10k km instead of something like every 50k as recommended. Nice not to have to mess with and carry chain lube though.
 
I've read a couple of articles on the Concours. It would be hard to find a better value in a sport touring rig. Under $14K with luggage, tire pressure monitoring, ABS and a 36 month warranty is a smokin' deal. The K1200GT is like $18,600 without luggage.

I just wish bike manufacturers would get off this 1400 cc/600+ lb bike mentality. Hopefully high gas prices will bring back lighter 1000cc bikes.
 
Originally Posted By: Zoridog


I just wish bike manufacturers would get off this 1400 cc/600+ lb bike mentality. Hopefully high gas prices will bring back lighter 1000cc bikes.



They're out there. If you are looking for a light sport-tourer, you should look at the Triumph Sprint ST (1050cc) and the Honda VFR 800 (rumored to be developing an 1100). Both excellent bikes, right on the line between being pure sport bikes and capable tourers.
 
V-stroms are very good sport tourers. I'd like to own one. A "sporty" cruiser---check out the 3rd gen Magna. 525 lbs dry and V4 engine.
 
Take a look at the earlier Concours. I've had my 2000 for about 5 years and it is now my only bike. At the time of purchase, I was also riding a Harley and a bored out J-series KZ1000.

The only real problem with the bike is that it came with horrible fork springs. A new set from Progressive Suspension fixes it nicely for about $70. And depending on your size, a set of spacers under the handle bars might help.

So far it has been very reliable (over 30k miles), is fast enough, and handles well. It isn't a ZX9R, but you said you're keeping that bike for shorter rides.

Comfort is a big factor to me. After a back surgery, it is hard to find a bike that I can sit on for hours. The Connie is one if the few. It is also very cheap to insure and has a 7.5 gallon fuel tank.

I did look at the new Concours-14. It is nice, but wasn't quite as comfortable. The real deal killer was the new Kipass system. To me that was just an expensive piece of technology to replace something that works just fine: the key. Should the Kipass sensor fail, the bike would be immobile until the local Kawi dealer has had a chance to vacuum out your wallet.

Probably the best bet is to ride or sit on as many different bikes as you can and see what fits you best.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Took another day trip to NY on the zx9r Saturday with the same guys. Only reconfirmed my reasoning to get a sport tourer. Another 10 hour day and I was more than happy to get off the thing when i got back.

While we were on 95 going crossing the bridge near Groton, CT an FJR pulled in front of us and I was riding next to him and behind him and was liking what I saw. He seemed like he would be more comfortable on 10 hour days then me.
 
question... what kind of fuel economy would a bike like the BMW r1200r return? Is it sizeable enough improvement over a car to justify its use as a commuter vehicle?

Id need a bike with the saddlebags and a top trunk... it seems that something like the r1200r would be good.

That said, less power usually means better economy. would something like the f650gs do better? What kind of economy would I be looking at?

$18k for a bike kind of defeats the economical aspect. $10k is justifiable since a bike would be fun to commute on. That said, safety is first... would something like the 1200r be superior because ts bigger/heavier?

Thanks for any insight!

JMH
 
The real killer in using motorcycles in commuting duty is tire cost. A set of decent sport-touring tires runs $225-250 a set discount, plus mounting (if you don't do it yourself) and will probably last about 8000 miles or so. Even if you're getting 50mpg, compared to a good mpg beep-beep car like a Civic, the bike will be more expensive to run on a per-mile basis. A car can easily get 50000mi out a set of tires.

On the other hand, a bike, especially a smaller 600 can save tons of time on a longer commute by allowing lane-sharing/forward progress in stop n'go traffic, and the ability to split to the front of stoplight queues and be on your way at the green. For commuting duty, I would look at something like a UJM in 600cc-1000cc range, used, in good condition and around $3500-5000.

Drew
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
question... what kind of fuel economy would a bike like the BMW r1200r return? Is it sizeable enough improvement over a car to justify its use as a commuter vehicle?

Id need a bike with the saddlebags and a top trunk... it seems that something like the r1200r would be good.

That said, less power usually means better economy. would something like the f650gs do better? What kind of economy would I be looking at?

$18k for a bike kind of defeats the economical aspect. $10k is justifiable since a bike would be fun to commute on. That said, safety is first... would something like the 1200r be superior because ts bigger/heavier?

Thanks for any insight!

JMH


I commute 100 miles per day on a Honda ST1100 and save LOTS of money compared to driving my car.
This bike averages 50 mpg and needs very little maintenance. Using bias ply tires I average about 16,000 miles on a rear tire and 25-30,000 on the front. I recently put radial tires on it and they look very good with 9,000 miles on them. Spark plugs now have 80,000 miles on them, change the oil at 8,000 miles, etc, etc.
I have tracked my maint costs very closely for the last 100,000 miles and it costing about 2 cents per mile to maintain. The bike currently has 114,000 miles on it.

Between fuel costs, free use of the toll roads and a company paid reimbursement for alternate transportation I am saving almost $400.00 a month compared to driving my car (mini-truck).

Rick
 
I commute every day on my XR650L and get slightly less mileage than that given by my Toyota Echo Hatchback... but I enjoy riding the motorcycle more, so what the hey.
 
i liked the times when I could ride my bike to work. Was on 32 miles each way but I would take the back roads whenever possible to stretch it out some so I can relate to what paul just said.

When I get the Sport tourer, I will definitely be taking some weekend trips etc...
 
Originally Posted By: 02zx9r


Any suggestions on a sport tourer? At first glance I like the Yamaha FJR1300 (probably top of my list) and the Honda ST1300. Any comments or suggestions welcomed!

Thanks for your time


What PIGS those bikes are! You are going from full sport all the way to the other end of the spectrum of full touring.

I suggest you look at several of the other more "sport" oriented type of bikes.

Right now I'm riding a 2006 Buell Ulysses, it's one of the best handling bikes I've ever ridden. I've done 500+ mile days with no aches or pains.

Some other bikes to look at.

Suzuki Bandit 1200--
Suzuki Vstrom 1100
Triumph Tiger
Triumph Sprint ST
Yamaha FZ1
Ducati Multistrada
or event he BMW 1200R (not the big touring pig)

All of these bike will handle great and have enough ergo's to ride long distance without much trouble. It's on the more "sporty" side of touring.

I have owned
BWM 1100R with bags.
Triumph Sprint ST with bags,
and now the Buell Ulysses
 
How about some "sport" scenes.

These links are me on Deals Gap (The Dragon) earlier this year.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=04RK00RD040631&po=631

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=04RK00RD040645&po=645

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=04RK00RD040633&po=633

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=04RK00RD040634&po=634

I also have full touring bags on this bike. I have enough room for a 2 week vacation anywhere in the USA.

Hope this helps with your choice.
 
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