Thanks Mike! I'm really liking this bike! Of course I've really liked whichever one I was on at that time! I got rid of my GS at 138k miles. Great bike, didn't owe me anything. Lost the drive shaft at 96k miles and that took out the swingarm. Lost the final drive at 116k. It just started to cost too much. But I loved it when I was on it! Here it is on The Tail Of The Dragon with my brother and his ZX14R...
I put 30k on a Moto Guzzi Stelvio in 15 months. I owned it 2 years, but it wasn't at the dealer and being worked on for 15 of those 24 months. That bike was awesome in its own way, when it worked. I had that bike in Death Valley, Big Bend and Moab. It never missed a beat when on a trip. Every failure was at home. Probably should have just stayed on the road with it! Here it is in The Valley Of The Gods...
Then the S10. I put almost 10k miles on it during out short 8 months together, but I was really gelling with that bike. That is the first bike I ever spent money on the suspension. Terry at NorWest rebuilt / re-valved the forks and rebuilt / re-sprung the rear shock. It was a totally different bike off road! It was outstanding! Terry is the man! And then a pick up truck killed it. Crying shame man!!! Here it is in Paige, AZ...
Enter the Tiger...I did a ton of research during my recovery and decided I wanted a third gen, '18-'21, XCA. And a white one. Took a while to find one with low miles and white. There was quite a few of the marine (matte green) ones, but hardly any Crystal White ones. Then one shows up in the very state I live in! Of course in the opposite corner of the same state AND a different time zone, but the same state non the less! A couple conversations with the owner and the deal was done, Drove 500 miles each way and it was in my driveway 15 hours later.
I have to say, this bike seems to handle better than the other three. That's not to take anything away from the other three, just saying this one seems better, On the road anyway. I haven't done anything other than gravel roads. I haven't been out wandering around the forest on it yet either. My left leg and hip is still a bit weak after 7 months of Zero Weight Bearing. Geez, muscle goes away fast and comes back slow! But hopefully I can do my annual 'THAW' trip to the northern Arizona desert in February. But I'm still learning this bike, it's got a TON of electronics!
