I have to confess I have been harbouring impure thoughts of changing my bike this year as I am topping 15K miles and, well, I've had it over a year!.
I've had a go on a Mutistrada, GS1150... planning to go on a Tiger, GS1200 and the Buell Ullysses (for a laugh and I live near a dealer).
HOWEVER.
In the past week I have
1. spent the day with my RoSPA observer "making progress" around Hampshire ~150miles
2. my normal weekly commute ~150 miles
3. loaded up with gear for a weekend of walking and zipped up to the Peak District ~180 miles
4. Scratched across the Peaks to Manchester, around to Chorley ~60 miles
5. Zipped back down from Chorley to Home ~200miles
No fuss, no bother, no oil used, bit more of a flat on the rear tyre, started on the button once I'd scraped the snow off it on Sunday... Which makes me think what a brilliant bike it is. Sure, the lights are crap for actually seeing where you're going in the dark, I get bum ache after 2 hours in the saddle and it gets a bit out of shape when pressing on. I know it's not a fair comparison, but my mate with the Ducati didn't even get it out of the garage to come up to the peaks because it wouldn't like being left outside. I didn't even consider that the TDM wouldn't behave itself.
This all leads to me thinking I should be upgrading the suspension rather than getting rid... any ideas how much I'd need to spend and on what?
I've had a go on a Mutistrada, GS1150... planning to go on a Tiger, GS1200 and the Buell Ullysses (for a laugh and I live near a dealer).
HOWEVER.
In the past week I have
1. spent the day with my RoSPA observer "making progress" around Hampshire ~150miles
2. my normal weekly commute ~150 miles
3. loaded up with gear for a weekend of walking and zipped up to the Peak District ~180 miles
4. Scratched across the Peaks to Manchester, around to Chorley ~60 miles
5. Zipped back down from Chorley to Home ~200miles
No fuss, no bother, no oil used, bit more of a flat on the rear tyre, started on the button once I'd scraped the snow off it on Sunday... Which makes me think what a brilliant bike it is. Sure, the lights are crap for actually seeing where you're going in the dark, I get bum ache after 2 hours in the saddle and it gets a bit out of shape when pressing on. I know it's not a fair comparison, but my mate with the Ducati didn't even get it out of the garage to come up to the peaks because it wouldn't like being left outside. I didn't even consider that the TDM wouldn't behave itself.
This all leads to me thinking I should be upgrading the suspension rather than getting rid... any ideas how much I'd need to spend and on what?