Where do they get this info from?

[MGvalerio]

I bet you do really Steve .... big pink lips like that from an Italian ... why else would you have gone to ALL that trouble of translating it for our friend ?
Well done MG ... sometimes you are a little crazy but I have grown to like that !

agree with your thinking, I'm a little crazy, but not in pink, in thanking The Wolf blatantly ridiculous because I slipped my spontaneity, I understand that you now march over there, I'm sorry The Wolf.



MGvalerio.

[Bryn]

I still don't understand all this talk of what is wrong with the handling of the GTR.

I had my 09 GTR for over 18 months , which for me is a bloody long time to keep a bike....And for continent crushing it was brilliant....lots of wind and rain protection and plenty of power.....
Now the thing that I could never get my head around with the GTR is the fact that I never seemed to be the complete master of it.... hard to explain but I found it hard work to get it to go where I wanted, and due to this I didn't find it relaxing or stress free.

Even down to the approach and exits to traffic islands..... I had to work to put it where I wanted to go. The bike was fitted with PR3's that looked fine to me , but saying that the new owner has put new boots on it and has reported on here that it's transformed the ride.

It's not that I've had little experience on other stuff.... I retired 2 years ago having spent 17 years on police bikes, and for the last 10 years of that service I ran Leicesteshire's bike safe scheme.

I picked the bike up when I bought it from Norwich, which is about 120 miles away... rode there on the back of a mate's FJR  ( the bikes Leics Police currently use)  and on the way back thought I'd made a big mistake...swapped with him for a while and instantly felt at home and relaxed..... It took me a few weeks to get a little more used to the way the GTR behaved   ( dumped the crap screen and seat in the process)

Anyway... that's my take on it....as has been said... ride whatever suits you...there's no such thing as a crap bike these days, just bikes that don't suit you as well as others   

[Rusty]

+1 for both Shaggs and Brynn's slightly differing views.
For what it's worth I don't think anyone,or perhaps very few people out there, and I am not one of them, who could truthfully master a modern day bike in the sense of ultimate control but I found the Gtr to be well planted and solid on the road wherever and whenever I took it out .... Not ridden the FJR which I understand is right up there. Everyone is different in many ways but I think we are all agreed that Mr K needs to start catching up with the others, and that's not just his Bavarian rivals.

[Winston Smith]

Agree Rusty, however I think all the Jap manufacturers are in the same boat.

Yen has been weak for ages and the bike market is only small. 

The Europeans, particularly BMW and Triumph, have read the market and done their home work in the right places, whatever they may be, and have invested wisely in the areas people want. 

Honda have lost their way totally with their old customer base, and marketing strategies have been flawed.  Their styling is questionable.

K haven't got the money to dramatically change their range - bit part specials like the Versys and Z series are keeping them afloat by re-inventing old stuff.  It can't last forever.  The big tourer market in which the GTR sits is a small pool now - dominated by BMW/Triumph, and the adventure market seems to be at a plateau now, again with European domination.

Suzuki are in a similar position to K, but didn't have the range to build on, most of their stuff being parts bin specials like the 'Bandit' or constant evolution (read minor yearly changes) to the Gixxer range.

Yamaha have been uber expensive and have tried with the Tenere for the adventure market and a revamped, but still more sports oriented FJR big tourer (actually a 'little' tourer!)  They have concentrated more on ultra sports bike (R6/R1).

The monies seem not to be in the big tourer market at the present time.

FJR presents very Sport Touring

GTR gives Sporty Touring

ST1300 is old Touring

Trophy is imitation Rolex to the BMW RT

New RT is Sporty and Touring

K16/GT are (and this is not meant to be controversial) a different league of Touring

Over this you have the Gold WIng and K16/GTL which aren't in the GTR pool.

The GTR needs a major overhaul, as do other manufacturers ranges/bikes, but is it worth doing?  Are there enough customers out there to sell to?  Is it worth the cost of R&D?

In my opinion, not until the market changes and their economy gets an upturn and maintains it.

[Charlie747]

  

Nicely put Chris.........................

I know we are a small market .................was it only 1000 GTR on uk roads......................Having been a dealer returning to riding what really blew me away was my first ride out to the local bike shop meeting place car park tea / coffee stop..................... At 50+ yrs. of age I was most defiantly one of the younger boys on site.

When we look at The Wolfs age chart you can see its all us 16er special and GT / RD / CB / KH 250 kids come of dare I say it Middle age supporting a whole bike industry................................

How are we going to bring young blood into our well loved passion of riding thus growing the market to allow manufactures to develop and support our desires and cravings for product ?



PS Your fake Rolex comment is Ace 

[Boomer]

Kawasaki currently have the ZZR1400 as a class leader, the ZX10R is right up there with the top sportsbikes and the Versys seem popular. For the smallest of the Japanese 4 they are doing Ok but don't expect big changes to the 1400GTR for some time as they have a history of doing small changes to their big tourers and keeping it mostly unchanged. Personally, other than the GTR only the FJR has the right stuff for me. Could be tempted by the K1600 if I won the lottery but the BMW boxers are dull, the Trophy likewise, and the adventure bikes don't have the weather protection. In the GTR I have mostly the bike I want. Only change needed now is a better saddle and that is in the works.

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk

[Charlie747]

 






Do you think my bum looks big in this ?

Italian Fashion House designer string vest spied during secret road testing on Skegness sea front 

Veet de-foliage cream launch clothing range allowing the benefits of the product to be viewed by all 

Despite his best mate Wolf lampooning his purchasing of a £10 Pink open face helmet, Rusty knew that later that night when he wore it at that blind date in his local his big exposed shiny pink helmet would only be matched by the size and capacity of her pink handbag.....................How else he asked himself would they be able to recognise each other 




My apologises to all named   

[Lonewolf]

And finally....a private joke between Charlie and I but I need a full size, 'normal' person size  snake skin suit for this years GTR meet. If anyone has one, (maybe they wouldn't admit it eh) or has access to one can I borrow it please?

[zedmeister]

As most of you know i am on my 4th GTR, but i will NOT be purchasing a 5th unless some major changes are forthcoming,Unfortunately like most of you i cant see anything on the horizon for a few years. I will be changing this year, i will still be loyal to Mr K but it will NOT be a GTR. To be honest i am a little surprised  the GTR is 20th, but not surprised it was well down the field. It had a re-vamp after 3 years, now its been nearly 4 years since the last one.

[Rusty]

What have you in mind Zedman ?

[Charlie747]

And finally....a private joke between Charlie and I but I need a full size, 'normal' person size  snake skin suit for this years GTR meet. If anyone has one, (maybe they wouldn't admit it eh) or has access to one can I borrow it please?

Now this should be good 

[zedmeister]

Rusty - a Z1000SX touring, we do not do as much fully loaded touring as we used to, and the weight is becoming an issue lately.

[Charlie747]

Rusty - a Z1000SX touring, we do not do as much fully loaded touring as we used to, and the weight is becoming an issue lately.

This weight thing appears to be a common denominator in moving away from the full Monty touring bike.....................I hope manufactures read the sites like this one and pick up what we say in order to develop future product ?

[No73]

Well I read through the comments and well what a lovely bottom, how easily I am distracted, lmao 

To be serious though, different bikes suit different people, and as most BM riders are retired (tongue in cheek) they have more time to fill out surveys!

Yes its big and heavy, but so am I - so no problem

As for the list of faults - well only one I have had is a bolt came undone and fell out on screen mount. - but its early days, anyway 2000 miles in next two weeks and we will see - down to Moto GP in Spain.

I do find the handling a little vague on occasion but am hoping new tyres will improve it it - but its not a big problem just a bike that requires a little more input from the rider. ( and that's really only on twisty B roads)

All in all I rate it 9 out of 10 

[Rusty]

73 ... you say she has a "lovely bottom" .... WRONG .. it's phenomenal.