Rank 'em! (Warning: no hot women involved, unfortunately.)

[Atomic Punk]

I bought the BMW. No longer bikeless. Yay.

I would have said to get the BMW (best choice), but because you are pompous... I let you talk about yourself and your one-dimensional life as a motorcycle salesman fishing for love continue. The only thing you know about, is motorcycles and then asking this board for help in choosing one when you've already known what you'll buy is self-serving.

Props to you.

[Van]

Wrong as always, AP. I was all set to buy the Guzzi until I encountered the neck-pinching issue. I had a deal 99% done on the Kawi before I decided I just didn't want something that looked like that. An hour before I signed the papers for the BMW I was talking with the guy at the parts counter about a better seat for the Bonneville. Yesterday morning I even scoured cycletrader and ebaymotors for FJR1300s, and on my way to the BMW/Triumph dealer I stopped off at a Yamaha shop to check out the FZ8.

I literally could have landed on any of a half-dozen bikes as of 10:00 a.m., but by 11:00 a.m. I'd made my choice. Even now that I've made my decision and bought the BMW a part of me is still thinking I should have grabbed the Triumph instead.

Point being, this was never a fait accompli. The BMW was a very late entrant. It wasn't even on my radar until three days ago. It popped into the picture purely by happenstance, when I was at the Triumph shop to check out the Bonnie and Tiger 800 one last time. As I was kneeling by the Bonneville, here comes their internet guy wheeling out this newly acquired R1200R. He parked it in the sun to take pictures and I thought, "Hmmm. What the hell color is that?" I moseyed on over to it, noticing that it actually had quite a bit of orange metal flake in what they call 'Candy Apple Red,' then the guy started chatting me up about it.

While I was standing there, my insurance company called with a quote on the Tiger 800. "Hey, can you tell me what it would be for a BMW1200R?" I asked. Once she hit me with the number, that really started the ball rolling. A four-bike clusterfuck became five. Then smackaholic mentioned the FJR1300, and I allowed that one to join the fray.

So, nope, I absolutely did not know which one I wanted much less which one I was going to buy, not until late yesterday morning.

[Goober McTuber]

What about the "pompous" thing?

[Mikey]

It's OK to be pompous if AP "lets you."

[Van]

Sam, had I found that bike yesterday, yep, I probably would have grabbed it.

[Van]

IIRC, the 2004 model had the fairing revisions to alleviate the heat issue. It was either 2004 or 2005. Check the FJR1300 forums or call your local dealer and confirm it with the service department.

[smackaholic]

Sam, had I found that bike yesterday, yep, I probably would have grabbed it.

I'm hesitant to buy a used bike, but this one appears to have been taken care of perfectly.

And, after sitting on it the other day, I agree with you that it may be much better for my back. I was afraid it would lean me too far forward, but it felt perfect.

I think it's a 2004. Back then they were roasting rider's legs, weren't they?

Not sure what happened to my reply on this, but, here it goes again.

I don't understand old farts with bad backs saying they don't want to ride a cruiser, but, their back won't allow them to ride anything else. For me, and others I have talked to, the absolute worst thing for the back is the full upright, legs forward cruiser position. Your spine gets whacked by every bump because you can't stand on the pegs to let your knees take it instead. I think a ST riding position is perfect. You have a little bit of forward lean which at speed, feels like you are floating on air, which, you pretty much are. Full blown RR is a little tough on the arms, but, still preferable to the cruiser position.