A biased opinion and most definitely Not fact..

I've had my 1150 for fourteen years, and 70,000 miles, been over most of Europe, but with very little 'off road' (other than unmade roads in Southern Spain).

I've ridden most of the alternatives, and none were so good that I felt tempted to change.

Perhaps your riding needs to improve...:mchappy:

keepcalm
It's Fact "for me", but of course, just an opinion based on actual experience.
If you've never ridden your GS off road ... how can you comment here?
Have you ridden your 1150 back to back with a R1200GS?
That's kinda my point.

Lots of what I said involves how these bikes work OFF ROAD and how deficient the 1150 is vs. 1200GS. (truth be told, neither are stellar off road)

My Tractor comment was OBVIOUS hyperbole ... but read my post. The point is ...ride the R1200GS back to back with YOUR 1150GS, see for yourself.
And DO go off road ... if you dare! :scooter:

But the OP has put (apparently) all BMW's out of the running and is headed towards the Vstrom. A stellar bike for about HALF the cost of the BMW.

Longevity? Check this out:
The 400,000 mile K3 DL1000 V-Strom | Adventure Rider

Re the V-Strom, anyone read the UK to Japan on one articles that appeared in Bike magazine last year? It did seem to have a few more rattles and knocks than Suzuki intended by the time they got there - but then again it was ridden by a bunch of journalists :rofl:
http://www.bikemagazine.co.uk/vstrom-to-japan/

Hey ... I resemble that remark! :smartass:
I read all the installments in BIKE. Good stuff! I don't recall any major issues with the Vstrom at all ... do you recall what they were?

Vstroms have been tested far harder than the BIKE journos did. They are pretty tough for a bike that looks like a Cream Puff. Really surprised me during my 80K miles on my old nail (now sold).

The thing I liked was that I could do just about everything on the bike myself: valve adjustments (rarely required), I changed the clutch basket (an issue on early Vstroms) in two hours, really no other issues with the bike beyond basic services, fluids, chain sprockets ... and a LOT of tires!

I'd almost call the Vstrom "maintenance free". We had one guy on the old Vstrom forum who never even changed the oil. Went something like 40K miles until a change. doh Bike still ran perfect!
Most of the damage I ever heard about was usually crash damage.

Well it ended in me doing something stupid, I took a test ride on a versys 650...and I fell in love with it! So I have a tall streetbike :mchappy:

A 2007 candy burnt orange versys.
6800 miles
Racks but no bags
And a gpr exhaust and PC3

...and dirty
http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/...psnz97fl8d.jpg

Good choice
 

[QUOTE=Iqvistus;537208]Well it ended in me doing something stupid, I took a test ride on a versys 650...and I fell in love with it! So I have a tall streetbike :mchappy:

A 2007 candy burnt orange versys.
6800 miles
Racks but no bags
And a gpr exhaust and PC3

...and dirty
[QUOTE]
Here you go, you can add to this thread, all in due course:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...s-thread-65709

Just as a follow up from my post #2 above. The guy next door sold his Tiger. It was too big, too heavy. He now has a Tdm 900. It's a bike not mentioned very often but not a bad choice, hes much happier. I will be much happier helping him pick that one up :)



Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

My primary riding buddy have a 850(and is contemplating a move to a 900), And they are good machines.
The ergonomics of them are... strange...for me at least, they are comfortable, but not quite comfortable at the same time, and the 850 at least have a heel rest that I find is never at an angle that I want it to be(it should be said that I use racing boots with stiff achilles tendon/hyperextension protection with a forward lean built in to them so I need a bit of an angle in the foot/leg area for it to be really comfortable)
That said, it's surprisingly agile and fun in the corners. And with an open can they sound very cool, borderline Italian ;)

A kind of "best kept secret" among those who own them.
In the UK they are holding their value pretty well on the second hand market, since production stopped just a few years ago - that is my impression anyway.

Owners can rack up big miles but a few can be found with low mileage; possibly they are not talked about much because they just keep on going and don't cause major issues to the owners - something like my XJ900 of years ago but without the shaft drive. :thumbup1:

As a TDM900 owner I can only agree with the above.

Check out the forum carpe-TDM.net

there is a scandinavian thread on it

DaveR