If you haven’t read this yet someplace else, I’m an enthusiast. My opinions are no more or less biased than anyone else’’s.
With that said, I”m often asked by friends to provide advice on buying a motorcycle. One of my favorite categories of bikes is the “sport touring” category. In the spirit of full disclosure, I own and love my 2006 Yamaha FJR 1300. I have 14,000 miles on it and plan on riding it for lots, lots more. It’s a big bike, but I’m a big guy. I also have a naked bike and a sport bike and I wouldn’t’ ride my sport bike longer than 200 miles at a time.
The Contenders
Here is the list of bikes you can currently buy in the United States. They all fit my definition of a sport touring bike. No baggers. No cruisers. No dual sports. If you don’t like the list, add your own.
- Honda VFR 800
- Honda ST 1300
- Yamaha FJR 1300
- Kawasaki Concours 1400
- BMW 1200RT
- BMW K1200GT
- BMW F800ST
- Triumph Sprint ST
- Triumph Tiger
- Ducati Multistrada
There is also the Goldwing, the big BMW LT, the full dress Harley’s, and the new Victory, but I don’t think you’re thinking about those bikes. There are also the adventure touring rigs like the BMW GS, Suzuki VStrom, and the KTM Adventure. Also, not sure that’s what you want.
What makes these bikes is . . .
- Comfortable “sit up and beg” riding position.
- Plenty of power for hauling people and gear long distances
- Great weather protection
- Long wheelbase (longer than true sport bikes) and associated weight and mass to make the bike track like a freight train
- Near-sport bike handling (subject to the previous point)
What differentiates the bikes are . . .
- Purchase price
- Maintenance costs
- Resale
- Availability of dealers (really important if you want to travel really big distances)
- Bias towards sport
- Bias towards touring
- Suspension adjustments
- Passenger comfort (if you want to haul a pillion)
- Brand loyal
Here are some useful sites for researching sport touring and sport touring bikes. This isn”t close to being a complete list.
Home of triple digit sightseeing. Good general purpose site for people interested in this type of riding.
Caters to a much broader class of riders than the sport touring set. But great ride reports, pictures, and ranting about nearly everything.
California-centric, but a fabulous place to lurk and learn
A bunch of good reads, including comparos
BMW K1200GT vs Triumph Sprint ST vs Yamaha FJR1300AE. True FJR believers cry foul as the “automatic” version under-performs the cluthchy version.
BMW R1200RT vs Buell Ulysses vs Honda ST 1300 vs Honda Interceptor ABS vs Yamaha FJR1300. Gen 1 FJR comes in last, two places behind the Uly. How is this possible? One of many, many wins for the big boxer.
Here is a more detailed summary of these bikes
- The gold standard in every way. Very pricey: Bring lots and lots of money.
- Heritage, pedigree, snob appeal, rabid fan base. It’s more like a cult.
- Expensive to maintain and operate. True believers think earlier versions are better for specific and detailed reasons that probably don’t matter to you. If they do matter, you’re probably a true believer, a past owner, or both.
- Great resale; probably the best in the bunch. Conversely, you’ll pay dearly for a used bike.
- Not everyone likes the front suspension (or the turn signals). Optional ESA means you can adjust the suspension on the fly by pushing a button.
- Decent but not great dealer network.
- Lots of factory options available: pretty much everything you can think of, and because it’s OEM, it all fits and works.
- Great luggage
- If you’ve already owned a BMW, why are you considering anything else?
- A difficult bike for the true believers . . . who have never been able to get excited about anything other than a boxer.
- The people old enough to buy/afford one remember paying less for their first house. But then, they don’t care about that now. If you have to ask how much, you can’t afford it.
- Huge power and performance in every respect. More than you need by twice, but like the money part, you don’t care. Nothing like excess!
- Not everyone likes the front suspension (or the turn signals). Optional ESA means you can adjust the suspension on the fly by pushing a button.
- Decent but not great dealer network.
- Lots of factory options available: pretty much everything you can think of, and because it’s OEM, it all fits and works.
- Great luggage
- Like the VFR only better; A great middleweight with a modern parallel twin engine
- Probably the smartest real world choice here, but that doesn’t make it the right bike for you
- Great fuel economy (though the tank is small in comparison to other bikes)
- Attractive price point for a BMW.
- Belt drive gives you shaft-drive like durability and confidence (at least it should).
- Front suspension: conventional forks with preload only. Rear has damping control as well.
- Lots of factory options available: pretty much everything you can think of, and because it’s OEM, it all fits and works.
- Great luggage
- Like the Tiger, it probably doesn’t belong on this list, but then it’s my list
- Great engine (a true classic), transmission, and suspension, particularly the S version
- If you know what you’re doing, you can keep up with poorly ridden sport bikes on this bike.
- Full Ohlins front and rear means you can adjust to your heart’s content
- OEM luggage is very pricey; everything from their catalog is pricey.
- Love it or leave it looks
- The seat is wickedly uncomfortable (IMHO) and changing it out is abusively hard. Passengers will hate you.
- Gas gauge is vague at best. Don’t rely on it if you’re stretching your miles
- Not a lot of room for your favorite mods
- Older models have mysterious recalls that the factory doesn’t always own up to
- Needs lots of regular and expensive maintenance (though the new bikes are supposedly “50% better”)
- Good luck finding dealers once you get away from the big cities.
- The original sport touring bike (or one of them). Honda mysteriously categorizes the Interceptor as a sport bike, which it no longer is.
- The other middleweight in this group (along with the F800).
- It probably no longer has the chops to run with this group, but a fine, real world, reliable sport touring bike. Great blend of everything.
- Limited front end suspension adjustments (preload); rebound, compression, and preload adjustments in the back.
- Underseat exhaust means toasted buns, particularly on hot days.
- Chain drive.
- VTECH Engine is a little funky and not to everyone’s tastes
- Jewel-like build quality with long service intervals.
- Broad dealer network.
- You can get used low milers easily. At the other end of the scale from the RT in terms of how long owners keep them.
- Built like a tank. The universal police bike.
- Makes sense in the Honda line up, but badly in need of an update. Hasn’t won many shootouts lately.
- Great motor with huge low end torque. At the lower end of the horsepower scale.
- Jewel-like build quality with long service intervals.
- Great carrying capacity and comfortable pillion accommodations.
- The least sporty of the lot. Emphasis on touring.
- Broad dealer network.
- A strong performer in the Iron Butt rallies. A durable, reliable, comfortable mileage eater.
- The new class leader (at least based on the initial reviews). Yamaha and Honda are watching. Winning all the shootouts.
- Monster power, high specs parts, sharp handling. Wonderful engine.
- Leans hard towards the sport end of the equation.
- Robo-cop love it or leave it styling. You won’t notice or care while you’re sitting on it. All the people trying to keep up with you will enjoy the view of the unfortunately gigantic exhaust can.
- Fully adjustable front and rear suspension; radial brakes.
- Techno-geek KI-PASS keyless system and low pressure sensors.
- Depending on when you’re reading this, you’ll get to decide if you want to buy a first year bike. It’s about the only criticism that other brand-believers can make stick (other than the styling).
- Broad dealer network.
- Very sporty. You see a fair share of them at your local track days.
- The triple is one of the great motorcycle engines.
- Many riders love the riding position: fits a lot of riders well.
- Underseat exhaust means toasted buns, particularly on hot days.
- Chain drive if you care about that
- Front Suspension: 43mm cartridge forks with dual rate springs and adjustable preload; Rear Suspension: Monoshock with adjustable preload and rebound and compression damping
- Not a great dealer network
- A quality piece though not in the same league as the Japanese bikes
- Exhaust under seat and radiator configuration make it toasty on hot days
- Like the Multistrada, it probably doesn’t belong on this list, but then it’s my list.
- Gets fabulous reviews in the British bike mags. The best bike for UK roads?
- Started life as a GS 1150 competitor but has been reconfigured as a Multistrada killer
- Great all-arounder, but don’t mistake it for an off-road bike.
- Softish, long travel suspension makes it more touring than sporting (though it’s got more adjustability than the Sprint).
- Front Suspension: 43mm upside down forks with adjustable preload, rebound and compression damping; Rear Suspension: Mono-shock with adjustable preload and rebound damping
- Love it or leave it looks
- The hardest bike to buy in the lot; Yamaha controls the supply through its PSP program (you have to order one to get one; though you can find them on dealer floors later in the season).
- Wonderful motor. Sporty, powerful, does everything well.
- Big tank and runs reliably and well on regular gas.
- Fully adjustable front suspension; two position preload and rebound adjustment in the back.
- You’ll have to decide for yourself how you feel about the automatic shifting option.
- One color choice a year. For 2008, it’s a stunning black (a very fast color). No comment on the 2007 red/cherry/burgundy color choice.
- Not an easy bike to work with if you want to add a lot of electrical goodies, particularly HID lights (not a lot of room for capacitors).
- Broad dealer network, though that doesn’t mean they’ve ever seen and FJR.
Blogged with Flock
Tags: HondaVFR, Honda ST 1300, Yamaha FJR 1300, Kawasaki Concours 1400. BMW 1200RT, BMW K1200GT, BMW F800ST, Triumph Sprint ST, Triumph Tiger, Ducati Multistrada
