Talk me out of it

[Huzo]

Pity the bike's in Denmark when the picture was taken 

This was taken in Norway

So was this..

[SIR REAL ED]

Erik,

Just buy it.  Life is short!

Might as well buy a DR650 also.

You can thank me later.

[faffi]

This screams BMW R1200RT. Excellent weather/wind protection and the big boxer is happy chunking it into 3rd or 4th gear and rolling on/off the throttle with the bonus of very good handling.

When I had my DL650 riding the mountains was continuous shifting to keep it in the power. Go into a turn and it was downshift 5, 4, 3, and sometime 2 then coming out of the turn it was upshift 2, 3, 4, 5. When I got my 1st R1200GS on the same roads it was 3rd gear and roll on/off the throttle and leave the shifter alone. The big twin has gobs of torque to power out of turns.

FWIW, the DL650 won the inaugural Alpenmaster in 2005, and followed it up by taking the title again the following year. In 2005, the Suzuki narrowly beat the R1200RT and CB1300, with testers especially praising the engine of the V-Strom. The BMW was said to vibrate a bit too much, and the gearbox slipped out of 2nd gear every now and then. Plus the weight was considered a handicap of the RT as well as the Honda when moving them around or riding very slowly.

However, there is no doubt that the R1200RT is closer to what I am looking for than the DL650. But it is a complex bike, and there are many tales of costly repairs floating around. Come to think of it, my brother is on his second R1200RT now. it may be a good idea to ask for a test ride - if he has not sold it already (he changes bikes constantly).

[huub]

at some point a ran a K100 for commuting , but usually ended up taking the le mans 2 instead.
in comparison the K100 is boring, completely emotionless.
so got rid of it , and used te le mans for commuting instead.

still i would be tempted by a BMW K1, still boring to ride, but at least interesting to look at. 

[faffi]

I agree that the K100 is not an exciting motorcycle, but for my intended purpose that is a benefit. I will keep one of my "emotional" bikes to accompanying it.

[faffi]

I just read the long term test of the K75, dating back to 1986. After 42k km (26k mi) of pretty hard riding (like flat out on das Autobahn for hours on end), the bike was completely dismantled. Inside, most of the engine was like new, apart from one mysterious fault; the fourth main bearing on the crank was absolutely shot. No other damage was found, the oil filter was clean, and the crank itself could be reused after lightly polishing the crank journal. A freak occurrence that nobody could explain. The only other issues was a clutch out of line with the output shaft by 0.22 mm, causing the splines to strip after about half the total test distance, a fork that sprung a leak at the seals, and a shock that wore out and lost most of its damping.

I also have a 100k km / 62k mi long term test of the K100RT that I plan to read someday.