I'm from Texas, where do you put your rifle on this thing?

[btlegend]

i kinda went over board in a way,....first i got saddle bags same day i bought mine,...three helmets, one beanie, one police style with flames, and a full face HJC. two pair of leather gloves, fingerless and full fingerd. now im working on another leather jacket, the first one is slightly too big, i was at the honda dealer today just brouzin at the new spirit 750's and saw a icon riding jacket, it was about 140 bucks.

[Texfire]

I just ran my tank to reserve for the first time. 55mpg isn't shabby at all. If the rain ever ends this'll be my commuter for work.

Tex

[Texfire]

Quick update, the rain let up and I've been riding for about a month now, and added approximately 600 miles to the odometer. I'm still enjoying it, but wondering if I got the right bike. It is not underpowered at 600cc, but it is undergeared for highway driving with four gears that max out at 40mph. That leaves everything above 40mph on the last gear, which means that it runs at pretty high revolutions when at highway speed. Since running on day trips around Austin is a major part of what I want to do, I'm a little bummed with the limitations of my quick impulse purchase. If I had done some more research the lack of gearing would have steered me another direction. In the twisties and around town it's a sweet riding and forgiving bike, out on the highway it strains to keep up with the rest of the traffic and that makes me nervous. It will hang at 75 mph, but I have to run it full open and without a screen or fairing the wind pushes me around, more mentally than physically but still not fun.

Add another problem on top of that, unlike my pre-purchase bike fantasies, I'm starting to think that a cruiser is the right kind of bike for me or even a good bike to be starting with. The forward controls are not very comfortable for riding over obstacles and bumps, it's hard to pull myself off the saddle when crossing them without yanking on the handlebars. Also riding for longer than two hours puts my butt to sleep and legs to cramping due to their position. There was really no way for me to know that before riding on one some, but I think I want a foot control position that is more directly under my seat. I found myself looking covetously at sport bikes, and then sport tourers when I realized that secure on-bike storage and highway manners were high on my list for desired features.

I went and looked at some used BMWs today, a K75RT which is a tourer with a 750cc motor, and more importantly an upright riding position, windshield, hard bags and fairing. It's a much higher mileage bike, 71K miles and has evidence of being dropped once. It has minor damage to the fairing on the right side and mirror housing. In the plus column, it was purchased from the dealership that's selling it and has records for all the scheduled maintenance, it also has an aftermarket Corbin seat. The dealership has given me a good feel every time I've been there, and are highly rated by their users. They're asking $3,500 or "Make an offer" for the K75RT.

The other used bike they have in my price range is a R100RT with 52k miles and equivalent accessories. They're asking $6,500 for the R100RT.

Most of the people who ride these "K" and "R" bikes are huge fans of them, and report getting 150-300k from the motors if they don't wreck before then. I wish I had seen either of these first, especially the K75, but the Honda has been educational even in the short amount of time I've had it. I don't really want to have two bikes at this point since I'm parking it outside my apartment, so it's an either-or proposition. The main drawback to getting either of these would be I'd have to see if I can get a partial refund from the place I purchased the Honda, I imagine at some unspecified kind of loss, or get a loan for the new bike and sell the other one myself.

Anyone willing to shoot holes in my logic on this? Am I making yet another impulse purchase, albeit a rationalized one, or am I finally making belated sense?

Tex

[ofblong]

man if I woulda saw this earlier I woulda told you not to get the vlx cause you woulda regretted it. Yeah its a nice bike and a nice one to learn on but you now realize the reason for not getting it. Only 4 gears that max at 45-50 (not sure why your saying 40 cause im doing 3rd at 40) but either way it is a nice learner just wish i were able to afford something bigger. I have been riding this bike for over a year now and just want to upgrade but all well. will be riding this one for another 5-6 years before I can upgrade.

[Texfire]

man if I woulda saw this earlier I woulda told you not to get the vlx cause you woulda regretted it. Yeah its a nice bike and a nice one to learn on but you now realize the reason for not getting it. Only 4 gears that max at 45-50 (not sure why your saying 40 cause im doing 3rd at 40) but either way it is a nice learner just wish i were able to afford something bigger. I have been riding this bike for over a year now and just want to upgrade but all well. will be riding this one for another 5-6 years before I can upgrade.

I appreciate the commiseration. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20 but not that helpful except for learning what not to do next time.

I tend to switch from 3rd to 4th right at 40mph. If I'm cruising at 40 or below I'll stay in 3rd, otherwise I'm going to upshift. Now if it just had a 5th gear...

Tex

[ofblong]

man if I woulda saw this earlier I woulda told you not to get the vlx cause you woulda regretted it. Yeah its a nice bike and a nice one to learn on but you now realize the reason for not getting it. Only 4 gears that max at 45-50 (not sure why your saying 40 cause im doing 3rd at 40) but either way it is a nice learner just wish i were able to afford something bigger. I have been riding this bike for over a year now and just want to upgrade but all well. will be riding this one for another 5-6 years before I can upgrade.

I appreciate the commiseration. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20 but not that helpful except for learning what not to do next time.

I tend to switch from 3rd to 4th right at 40mph. If I'm cruising at 40 or below I'll stay in 3rd, otherwise I'm going to upshift. Now if it just had a 5th gear...

Tex

lol yeah if only there was a 5th gear to make highway riding so much more pleasant. I know I can do 85mph with my wife on the back (she weights 240 and I weigh 180) but thats about all it can do but with me ive reached 95 but afraid to go any faster lol.

[Diecast61]

I'd have to see if I can get a partial refund from the place I purchased the Honda, I imagine at some unspecified kind of loss, or get a loan for the new bike and sell the other one myself.

Anyone willing to shoot holes in my logic on this? Am I making yet another impulse purchase, albeit a rationalized one, or am I finally making belated sense?

Tex

Sell the VLX on your own. You'll get more for it. Try Craigslist. From what I've read ..... you won't do well at all on a trade-in and the dealer you bought it from .... I'm guessing here .... won't do much for you in terms of a "refund" -- partial or otherwise. Now .... if you were going to trade with the same dealer .... you might have a shot at getting a fairly decent trade-in allowance ... but based on what you've written it sounds like 2 different dealers.

Instead of buying from a dealer .... you may also want to look private party. Again ... try Craigslist.

Just my 2 cents .... not adjusted for inflation.

[Texfire]

I agree that a dealer isn't likely to give me much back on the bike. It won't hurt to ask though, if they offer me anything close to what I spent on it I'll probably go for it and consider the difference my rental price for a month. I'm really bad at negotiations, so selling private party is going to be my last choice unless I'm going to take a bath otherwise.

As far as buying a used BMW private party, I don't feel confident enough in my abilities in evaluating a used bike's condition. With the dealer I know that when they say it has just had a 12,000 mile maintenance cycle and they stand behind it's condition I have a good chance that there isn't anything waiting to crop up. It's the only way I'll feel comfortable buying a high mileage bike like that.

Tex

[Texfire]

I went back to the BMW dealer and test rode the K75. I was blown away by how smooth it was, well except on shifting that dry clutch. After some wheeling and dealing I managed to get it for $250 out of pocket and trade-in on the Honda. I'm pretty satisfied with that all in all, I'm not taking too much of a bath on the deal and with the trade in my tax on the Beemer was almost non-existent.

I pick up the K75 tomorrow, they manager of the dealership had filled it with gas before the test ride, and wanted the shop to look at the vent hose before selling it. They're running the wires for my Zumo without charge, and my main hesitation was that I didn't think the hard bags locked, but they have a small hidden lock in the latch and can be upgraded with the bags off a R100RT. They aren't the best bags, but are a good start. The Corbin seat that's on it is lightyears ahead of the stock seat on the VLX.

Tex

[Diecast61]

Glad to hear it all worked out .....

Enjoy the new ride.

Me .... I just passed the MSF and can't wait to get the certificate in the mail so I can get my endorsement and begin to really develop my skills 00 Ineed lots of practice ...but I am really looking forward to significantly improving my skills on my my VLX.