oldbear said:
Guess I'm just getting old, but I've never been bored while riding and I've ridden a LOT of motorcycles with less than 60 horsepower. I find the S10 a GREAT machine, certainly capable of doing anything anyone has any business trying on a public road on two wheels.
A mate of mine who had a "shite" bike we all mocked once said "it is a different kind of fun" and that stuck, and over the years has become more relevant.
Almost all bikes are fun, and there are few that I would not happily ride, on a good road a bike would need to be extremely crap for me not to have fun, and by the same token on a bad road a great bike can be utterly boring.
A review should identify a bikes strong and weak points, and help potential owners work out which ones may be more their kind of bike, what has been really missed by the press is the type of riders buying these bikes, the air cooled GS models had a huge following and very few owners moaned about a lack of power, and I would say the majority of them probably did not really use what they had available - I would guess the amount of GS owners who rev close the to redline more often than not is well under 1%.
I can see how the Ducati and KTM's are now opening up the appeal to people who want 150+ mph motorcycles, but the old "slow" GS was the best selling big bike in Europe for many years, Yamaha aimed at that type of rider, as do Moto Guzzi with the Stelvio and even KTM with a new 1050 that has a mere 100BHP.
On the plus side I think magazines have less impact on buying decisions than ever with most people looking online, for me a test ride is essential, and a bit of googling to find a forum with real owners is the only other pre-purchase activity I engage on - You cannot beat a test ride to see if you like a bike, and forums are great for discovering about problems - again the press aren't going to give you an honest picture here either.
