I have posted this thread on V-Strom.co.uk but thought I might get more opinions from this forum...
After 9 years with a BMW 1200RT (couple second bikes in this time span as well), I got bored and need a change, plus the Beemer is getting heavy for me. I do not go on multi day trips any more, just a day or half day joy rides, and I am 71 as well..
I had the opportunity to test ride Africa Twin, great handling, great suspension, great engine. Not so great wind protection and overall ride comfort. I will be test riding the new DL1000 next week. I plan to ride 95% paved roads with occasional hard packed forestry road in between. However, here in New Brunswick the secondary and tertiary country roads are in terrible shape, lots of badly filled potholes and bumps of various nature. I wonder how the new Vstrom 1000 with fully adjustable front and rear would handle that. Its 16/16 cm front/rear travel is pretty short of 23/22 cm travel on Africa Twin, but still...? Smooth comfortable ride is more important to me than performance or high speed handling.
It seems to me that the Africa Twin with its off-road character might be an overkill for my needs and VStrom might give me more ride comfort. Any thoughts/comments on that?
After 9 years with a BMW 1200RT (couple second bikes in this time span as well), I got bored and need a change, plus the Beemer is getting heavy for me. I do not go on multi day trips any more, just a day or half day joy rides, and I am 71 as well..
I had the opportunity to test ride Africa Twin, great handling, great suspension, great engine. Not so great wind protection and overall ride comfort. I will be test riding the new DL1000 next week. I plan to ride 95% paved roads with occasional hard packed forestry road in between. However, here in New Brunswick the secondary and tertiary country roads are in terrible shape, lots of badly filled potholes and bumps of various nature. I wonder how the new Vstrom 1000 with fully adjustable front and rear would handle that. Its 16/16 cm front/rear travel is pretty short of 23/22 cm travel on Africa Twin, but still...? Smooth comfortable ride is more important to me than performance or high speed handling.
It seems to me that the Africa Twin with its off-road character might be an overkill for my needs and VStrom might give me more ride comfort. Any thoughts/comments on that?