Dan's Blog

Buying a new bike is fun.  It takes a lot of research, soul searching and effort to try to find the right one.

I love my KLR650 and I hoped it would take me into the new to me realm of off road riding and it did, sort of.  I really ended up using it more as my instate road bike, a task it wasn’t fully suited for.  I do miss it, or at least the idea of it.  Maybe someday, I’ll get back to a dual purpose bike again.

My reality is that I ride long distance most of the time.  I rarely go on gravel roads – pavement takes me where I go most of the time.  I’m finding the VStrom650 underpowered and while capable enough, a tiring bike to ride some of the time, especially in strong winds.  I really need a bigger, heavier, more powerful motorcycle.

Looking through the catalogue, there are many bikes that fit the bill.  Honda Goldwing, ST1300 and Africa Twin,  Touring Harleys, Several BMW models, Yamaha FJR1300 and Tenere, Other brands VTwins, Triumph Trophy and Tiger, Ducati and KTM offerings, and a smattering of other bikes that could be made into touring machines.

I decided I wanted something proven, with a good dealership network that I wouldn’t have to work on too much, since I was going to one motorcycle, a bike in the shop would mean no riding until parts come in.

I narrowed it down to four bikes:  BMW GS/Adventurer, BMW R1200RT, Honda ST1300 and Yamaha FJR1300.  These four bikes plus the Honda Goldwing are often the bikes of choice for long distance riders, the exact type of riding I do most.

The Goldwing got dropped first.  I’m just not quite ready for a 900 pound bike yet. Because it starts out expensive, used bike prices are still somewhat expensive or the miles a just too high for me right now.

I rode the Yamaha FJR1300.  It’s one of the most reliable long distance machines out there.  It’s also one of the most reasonably priced new, a ton of them were sold and a lot are on the market for very reasonable prices.  It’s got gobs of power, but I just really didn’t connect with it.

The BMWs are really nice bikes and I will probably own one someday.  Entry price is higher on the used market, though there are deals out there.  Maintenance costs are higher than the Yamaha or ST1300.  I wanted maintenance to be minimal.  I dropped the GS early as they were priced out of my budget.  The RT stuck on to the end.

I ended up buying a local Honda ST1300.  They made them from 2002 to 2016.  2003 first year in the US.  It is a heavy bike, weighing in at 700 pounds.  It has great ergonomics, a full aftermarket for parts, easy to work on, minimal maintenance, a great following, lots of them sold and lots for sale at reasonable prices with low mileage.

I picked up a 2007 ST1300 with 28,888 miles for $6500.00.  I paid a bit more than I wanted, but it was local so I didn’t have to buy sight unseen, nor did I have to pay for a plane ticket.  The only farkle is an aftermarket top box.  I am going to need to put heli-bars on it to bring the bars up and back for comfort and I will need a Russell seat.

I’m at least the third owner.  My PO owned the bike for 4 years and put 1200 miles on it riding it to work occasionally.  It came with 4 year old “new” tires.  What I did find out was that he did absolutely NO maintenance.  He didn’t even put air in the tires.  I found 4psi in the front and 12 psi in the rear, even though he rode it to meet me for the sale.

Buying a motorcycle that has sat for awhile is risky.  I thought I was in the clear.  I rode it 50 miles home, did an oil change and rear end gear oil change, put air in the tires and complete a SS1000 the next weekend.  In 4 days, I had more miles on the bike than he did in 4 years.  In the next 5 weeks, I put 9000 miles on the bike from the day I bought it.

Preparing for a Missouri Ride To Eat, I washed the bike, rode it into town to warm it up, changed the oil and put two new Michelin PR4GT tires on it.  Starting the bike, the FI (Check Engine) light came on and it started to run rough.  Going through online information, which there is a lot of for this bike, I found out that there is a 5 way T in the V of the engine that gets gunked up.  Cleaned it out and the FI light went out, but the bike was still running rich and missing occasionally.  I replaced the MAP sensor which is at the end of the 5 way T and found and changed a bad spark plug boot and all four plugs.

300 miles into the repairs and the bike is back to normal!  While I missed my RTE and a Platinum finish on the Big Money Rally this year, I did learn a lot about this bike.

More riding tomorrow.

I like this bike!