Opinions of Suzuki XF650

[Deolali]

My wife and I are thinking of touring Europe and the Balkans - again. We'll either ship our Suzuki DL650 or buy a bike in England. I have bought a bike in England before, so I am familiar with how to navigate through the insurance and other paperwork issues.

My question is - does anyone have experience of the Suzuki XF650 as a long distance, two-up with luggage, touring bike? I would be looking at buying a second hand machine. I have seen two ten year old low mileage (10,000 miles) bikes on the MCN website. I understand Givi topbox and pannier racks are available for them. I have Givi boxes that I could take with me.

I am 6'4'' tall - with long legs for my height - will I fit? How comfortable is the pillion seat? My wife can do up to 800km days on the back of a DL650 or a Triumph Trophy 900, but what about the XF650?

Advantages of such a bike are low price and it's small enough for a friend in the UK to store it for me in his shed for another trip 12 months later.

Unfortunately I cannot try out the XF650 here in Australia as it is virtually unknown outside the UK. It seems to be a lowered and "gentrified" DR650.

Cheers

John