New to Forum from Spring, TX

[KenP]

Greetings all,

I am new to this forum, and currently am riding a 1984 Yamaha Venture Royale XVZ12DL. (see attached) I have been on the venturerider.org forum for a while. I do all the maintenance on the bike myself, but am starting to eye either a Kawi Connie or Yammi FJR as my stable replacement, as this one is getting long in the tooth. Just turned 53, so mid-life crisis is in full swing!!

Any FJR or Connie riders here that care to chime in??

Ken

[Keith]

Welcome aboard! No Connie in my stable (yet), but I do have a few Kawasaki bikes in the garage...

[M38A1]

Welcome!

[ceddec]

Welcome to the site. My vote goes to the FJR but Connie is nice too. Hard to go wrong with either. I say try them on and see what works for you.

[Ed dirt]

Welcome neighbor.

[Hemibee]

Welcome to TWT.

[chaissos]

I'm on an ST, and very partial to it, so I don't know if a biased opinion would help.

, anyway! Enjoy.

[Chuck500]

Welcome to the forum. Hope you ride that beautiful Voyager to Edom for PIE.

[tshelfer]

Welcome.

[shootergal]

from Montgomery, birthplace of the Texas flag.

Come join us on Thursday nights for Bike Night in Montgomery. We'd love to meet you! (sometimes we do bike night in Conroe, Willis, & Huntsville too)

[KenP]

Originally Posted by chaissos

I'm on an ST, and very partial to it, so I don't know if a biased opinion would help.

, anyway! Enjoy.

Actually, I am re-considering the ST and would be interested in your opinion.

Thanks!! Ken

[chaissos]

PM'd you. Feel free to repost all that crap I typed in this thread. Had I copied it before sending, I'd do it myself, but I didn't, and it's not in the "Sent" folder.

[KenP]

Appreciate the welcome and hopefully I'll run across some of the members here on a ride or two !!

[donec]

Welcome Ken, from Pflugerville, TX.

[petah50]

Welcome! I am in Spring as well

[TallGears]

Sport Touring...

Best way to do that is on top of a Super Tenere... That way you can enjoy all the great dual sporting in your area too

Another plus is you wouldn't have to switch from Yamaha.....

Welcome to TWT

[chaissos]

A copy of my opinion, from the PM I sent to Ken...This is just my opinion, though.

This bike is pretty fun, for a 700+ lb bike. couple things to consider is that it IS a large bike, and if you're short, and you can't straddle it and put both feet flat on the ground, don't get it. There's another forum just for ST owners where I also post.

Normally, people tend to modify the bike right away. There are handlebar risers and seats available. I've put a remote garage door opener on it, and am looking for a new seat now. The stock seat is OK, but for long distance, won't make your butt very happy.

Cruise control isn't an option on the bike. I'm also looking to figure out how to install an Audiovox system. There's a system available specifically for bikes, with a kit just for the ST (from Australia), but it's kind of expensive (about $1100, I think). In addition to the cruise, I also have a "crampbuster", and plan on installing a throttle lock. I'm also looking at some riding "blades". Those are just highway pegs, but for some reason, they called them blades.

All told, I've only ridden with one other ST, but it's most definitely the most fluid, sexy bike I've ever seen on the road. They just flow, and I love watching them. And riding mine.

Go ahead over to the ST1300 forums and lurk a while. There's always a bike for sale, and most have been modified. You could save a significant amount of $$$ buying used. Owners of ST's tend to baby their bikes, and they're easily ready to go 100,000 miles without missing a beat. It's one of the few that owners will put those kind of miles on, and just keep going.

Mine's a baby yet, since I bought it new, and have just over 2600 miles on it, but I love it. I've done those miles in the last month, and I'll head out and put 200 or more on it on a Saturday, just to ride it. And that's in Texas, with the temps at or above 100.

It does have a heat problem, in that the seat and tank get kinda hot. There are some fixes for that. Seal the space between the riders seat and the tank helps, and I'm going to try getting some heat shield fabric, and installing that between the tank/seat and engine bay.

There's a lot of info there, so go ahead, spend some time on Google and the ST sites, gather what information you need and decide. I've not heard any complaints from FJR riders, but I don't follow that bike. I think for many, the choice was between and FJR and an ST...some went one way, some the other. Both are good bikes.