What would you do?

[EVskiy]

you've been riding with PY on his 1150, your besties just bought one, buy a nice 1150. (keep KTM) modern bikes just dont cut it

We had a blast of a trip.

 

[Aggers]

I currently have a 23 plate GSA and a 23 plate V4Rally in my garage. They are both fantastic machines with different areas of excellence. I have no experience of the big KTM’s but I’m told the giggle factor is similar to the V4. The ergonomics of the V4 are similar to the GSA with the Rally being slightly taller but can drop on the pre-load if you choose too in towns. After 4 GSA’s over the years I had the same itch to scratch. All my concerns have been answered, very little vibes, fuels not really an issue on the V4R due to tank and rear cylinder shut off, engine heats tolerable, electronic are working as they should, and build quality appears to be very good. So far ownership hasn’t been an issue and - can’t believe I’m thinking this - but I am actually considering moving the GSA on and keeping the V4R as it’s so much fun over 6500rpm.

 

[Morety]

Having now ridden a lot f modern bikes, they're a really mixed bag. Some are big improvements over older models and on the whole are better to ride. There are some that lack a good deal of rider engagement, they're overly sterile or don't come alive unless revved hard. Good at what they do, festooned by modern electronic aids, but leave me cold (no names, don't want to insult anyone else's ride). Some, like my RT1250, I think are just hugely better in just about every way to ride without any loss of character or enjoyment. You just have to ride them and make your own mind up. It's the complexity of modern bikes that I dislike. A mate was left stranded in Portugal by a failure of a cheap electronic component with no way of being able to start the bike.