Recent knee surgery (buff and clean, not replacement) left me uncomfortable putting my feet down and maybe slipping on some sand or gravel. A little knee torque with 850-lb of Goldwing could be real mess. So, after thinking I'd be riding that 2003 GL1800 until the End of Days... gasp - I sold it.
After three weeks without a bike I wasn't feeling right. A few test rides later I moved over (or up, or down, depending) to a 2007 R1200R BMW with a few trimmings. At nearly half the weight of the Honda I ended up with better MPG, lower miles on the odometer, ABS (wow - really), heated handgrips (another wow), heated jacket and gloves (double wow), hard bags and a rear carry-all, three windshields (sport, 20" and 24"), forward-mounted MotoLights and a Sargent saddle. It's fast, it's quiet, it handles great and, above 5000rpm it rips. Never had a BMW bike and what can I say? Hey - I'm a fan.
