Thoughts on a Sports Tourer?

[Bob_Defly]

Congrats, great choice!

[TuonoPants]

Picked up my S1000XR TE with the M-sport pack on Friday and I'm totally in love with it, done nearly 400 miles already. Can't wait for the run-in service to be done in a couple of weeks.

[KTMsm]

For the sake of a test ride, I would highly recommend trying a multi strada

It's the obvious choice for your requirements

[black-k1]

KTMsm said:

For the sake of a test ride, I would highly recommend trying a multi strada

It's the obvious choice for your requirements

The decision to go for an S1000XR has already been made! See the previous page of the thread.

As for "the obvious choice", it's certainly an option, but no more so than any and all of the other bikes mentioned on this thread.

[Martylaa]

KTMsm said:

For the sake of a test ride, I would highly recommend trying a multi strada

It's the obvious choice for your requirements

Had a Multistrada and once I paid the almost £1000 for the belts to be changed it put me off Ducati solely for that reason.

[KTMsm]

black-k1 said:

The decision to go for an S1000XR has already been made! See the previous page of the thread.

As for "the obvious choice", it's certainly an option, but no more so than any and all of the other bikes mentioned on this thread.

I saw that hence the suggestion

The top three in class would generally be considered the S1000XR, KTM 1290/1390 SAS and the Multistrada

I can understand why he doesn't want to try the KTM at the minute, but for the sake of an hour it would seem foolish not to try the other main competitor

I like to make informed choices and encourage others to do the same - why would you discourage it ?

[black-k1]

KTMsm said:

black-k1 said:

The decision to go for an S1000XR has already been made! See the previous page of the thread.

As for "the obvious choice", it's certainly an option, but no more so than any and all of the other bikes mentioned on this thread.

I saw that hence the suggestion

The top three in class would generally be considered the S1000XR, KTM 1290/1390 SAS and the Multistrada

I can understand why he doesn't want to try the KTM at the minute, but for the sake of an hour it would seem foolish not to try the other main competitor

I like to make informed choices and encourage others to do the same - why would you discourage it ?

I'm absolutely not discouraging choice. The points I was making were:

1, The decision has already been made!
2. There are many options but there is no "obvious choice".

As for "generally considered top three", that's very much open to debate. The top seller is the GS (which, as I'm sure you now, I think is completely underwhelming) and anecdotal observation would suggest that the the Ninja 1000/1100SX and Tracer 9GT are both very popular, more so than any of the bikes you mention.

[CHLEMCBC]

Martylaa said:

Well, just back from a test ride on a 2024 BMW S1000XR, wow what a machine, never stopped smiling, shame it wasn't fully broken in so could not give it top licks but the seating position, the handling, the comfort, has fantastic gearbox, engine and brakes, the screen wasn't to bad at all and the sound of the akropovic exhaust was gorgeous.

I'm not even going to bother looking at anything else, its blown the V100 Mandello S and Tiger 800 Sport out of the water...

Right, now to sell some bikes...

Is the V100 Stelvio too "adventure" for you?

[P675]

Got a gen2 S1000R and do like a long camping trip. Don't think I want an adventure bike yet, XR is appealing and looks decent I think compared to similar bikes. Bigger sports tourers I'm not sure if they will feel big and cumbersome for everyday fun riding, no chain oiling is appealing on something like a 1250RS.

[Andybow]

Congrats on the new XR, I bought a new one end of 23, great bike, done 10k on mine now, brilliant on a tour, great for a blast with mates, and v comfy, did a 900 mile day back from the Alps last year and apart from being tired I didn’t have any discomfort. The only thing that’s happened is it ate my IPhone on a quad lock mount going down through France so now I’ve put on a chigee unit which is brilliant, phone goes in a small tank bag on charge so it doesn’t get killed from the bar vibes.

[Andybow]

[gareth_r]

Martylaa said:

Had a Multistrada and once I paid the almost £1000 for the belts to be changed it put me off Ducati solely for that reason.

Harley Pan America. Don't even have to shim the valve clearances.

[Martylaa]

gareth_r said:

Harley Pan America. Don't even have to shim the valve clearances.

I could tell you a story about a Pan American’s engine being trashed on my mates bike on the first day of the NC500 in Fort Augustus, but I won’t as my mate was devasted and we had to leave him behind awaiting the pick up truck, plus I’m only looking at sports tourers with a 17” front tbh…

[gareth_r]

Martylaa said:

gareth_r said:

Harley Pan America. Don't even have to shim the valve clearances.

I could tell you a story about a Pan American’s engine being trashed on my mates bike on the first day of the NC500 in Fort Augustus, but I won’t as my mate was devastated and we had to leave him behind awaiting the pick up truck, plus I’m only looking at sports tourers with a 17” front tbh…

Just a mention of the Harley's hydraulic cam followers, rather than a recommendation, although I know (via the internet) a few people who are very happy with their Pan Americas. I understand there have been a lot of changes since the Revolution Max engine was introduced, so any prospective purchasers need to look out for "new but pre-reg" 2024 bikes that were actually manufactured in earlier years.

H-D introduced a version with a 17-inch front wheel this year. Weirdly, on the website, it's described as as having "432 mm wheels". Who uses metric measurements for wheel diameters (1980s German cars and Michelin excepted)? Harley being a bit over-enthusiastic in fully embracing metrication, I suppose.