Anybody with a Sport-Touring Motorcycle that Tours?

[Triple]

Just curious to know how many of you have sport-touring (lean more towards sport) or touring-sport (lean more towards touring) motorcycles that actually tour?

I've seen too many posts of people buying sport-touring motorcycles and then complaining of too much weight and not enough speed, etc.

From my perspective, sport-tourers were designed for touring with a sporting edge... with the weight contributing to a more planted, stable ride while on the highway.

Chime in with your opinion.

[lil red bird]

I have a CBR 1100 blackbird I use it for sport touring I have done as much as 3 to 4 days on it at a time. yes it's heavier than the standard sport bike in the corners and not as comfortable as a gold wing on long runs, it does a beautiful job for what I want which is a sport touring bike serious balls.

[RichinOville]

I had a baby sport tourer, a Kawasaki ZR7s. It came with mounting brackets for givi cases. It was an old school, carborated, air cooled inline four. It wasn't heavy at all. Very flickable through the twisties. Reasonably fast for just a 750. I had mine modded up for touring. Corbin seat, bar risers, throttle lock, heated grips, etc, etc.
I went on lots of extra long weekend, high km rides with that bike.

[gwelfmike]

I have a 2003 Yamaha FJR 1300 since the spring of 04, so far I have done the east coast three times , East coast of the US to Key West Floirda, James Bay Road, Tail of The Dragon,

I have the factory saddle bags and rear tail trunk, I usually put on about 30-40,0000 k's a year.

My old sport tourer was an 86 Yamaha f1200, it had 260,000 on it before I retired it, but my brother still uses it.

[chinto]

01 Hayabusa.

These shots were taken during a 10 day trip.

[HDRod]

I just bought a VFR to compliment my vrod ... and I'm TOTALLY excited to use it as my touring bike!!! The Vrod was just so damned uncomfortable, even on one day rides ... mostly because i've set it up to look pretty, and not be a functional high-mileage bike. Looking forward to the long weekends this year and a hopefully some less painful riding!

d

[TwistedKestrel]

I've done two separate week long trips with my ZX-11D. It's still a little heavy, but that doesn't bother me too much, just makes walking it around difficult. Other than that it seems like my perfect motorcycle, definitely not wanting for power, comfort, fuel capacity, or handling. Did I mention it's not wanting for power?

[Barneycanoe]

I have a 1999 Triumph Trophy 1200. Last year my wife and I went to Thunder Bay. Love the bike, hauls a ton of gear and handled great with its new Avon Storm tires!

[mihnea]

I've used a Kawi Versys and like it. Handles well, consumes next to nothing and can carry a fair bit the the givi hard side cases.

[rick123]

Used to have 05 Kawasaki Z750S with soft bags. Now on 03 VFR with hard side bags. For me Kawi was more comfortable (more upright position). VFR all together much better bike. Similar power and torque. Looking forward to 08 V-Strom DL 1000 that I gone pick up this coming weekend. Any of them worked well for me as a tourer.

[Kawi]

I just got an 09 Bandit last summer. I'm very happy with it. It is a lot cheaper than Yamaha FJR1300 or Honda ST1300. Lots of power and torque. The only complain I have about it is that they could put a better seat on it. After couple of hours it gets uncomfortable. Took it to Sudbury last summer with my wife and all three GIVI bags with no problem. Planning on going to Blue Ridge this spring.
I love this bike.

[ZimZima]

I ride a 97 Yamaha YZF1000 (Thunderace). It's a bit on the porky side but is amazingly stable on highways and twisties. Extended twisties at higher speed could be a bit of a workout, but it is great at sane speeds.

It carried me, a pillion and quite a bit of luggage and my camping equipment all the way to Newfoundland and back over 20 days. I've taken it down to the Dragon and been all over Pennsylvania with it.

Here she is, all loaded up on the way to the East coast:

[RetroGrouch]

I used to do week long tours on my Blackbird. It was the perfect bike for that type of riding. Big, stable, smooth, torquey and good wind protection. Best stock seat I've ever used, I never felt any need for a Corbin. Handled great since I liked to travel light with only a tank and tail bag. Longest day was 1400 kms. Downsides were fuel mileage and tire wear due to acceleration and weight.

[bear22099]

I used to have a 99 VFR that worked well for touring, now have a 02 FZ1 that works easily just as well if not better for me.

[gcrouse]

My 2000 vfr has been to the gap, PA ,manitoulin , the soo , um basically all over the place. It's a great all round bike and drop dead realiable!!!!!

[djez]

I have a the 1/2 bandit and its enough for now to do some decent sport touring, Been to Newfoundland, couple of times to Cabot Trail, multiple weekend trips to NYC.

Trip to Newfoundland is with a passenger and full set of GIVI cases(camping gears)

It can do some light gravel roads too.

[Baggsy]

From the looks of it a better question would does anybody know which bikes are classified sport-touring. You can tour on a mini-bike, but that wasn't the question. I've a Connie that I used to use for commuting and two-up day trips, but not an extended tour. My friend got injured before we could go. Since then I've bought a WeeStrom which will be going on a tour, but it like most of the others is not a sport touring bike.

[Triple]

These are some great responses, perhaps there's enough interest in a regular sport-touring/touring-sport riders "group" with an emphasis on touring?

Sport-touring is pretty loosely defined, but I think the idea is to tour in relative comfort (varies with the individual) and not look too old doing it (varies with the individual)

Some would argue that the newest Goldwings are pretty "sporty" and we all know they can tour -- so maybe the definition of a sport-tourer is based as much on the preference of the rider as it is on the specs of the machine.

From what I've read here, just about any highway capable motorcycle that is comfortable enough for the rider can be toured on.

[shanekingsley]

I used a VFR 750 and a Ninja 1000 as previous sport tourers.

Nowadays, I think the DL650 VStrom can be classified as a sport-tourer, depending on how you set it up. I ride it likes it's leaned more towards sport and the bike can do endless twisties. It feels very stable, planted and comfortable for long days on the bike, yet flicks into corners just fine. It's great on gas and handles riding 2up for long distances just great. For me, that's sport-touring.
Love it.

[suprPHREAK]

You don't get mileage like I do by staying still...been up to 16 days in a row on the 14, and its been a blast! A little heavy in the corners, but that only adds to the fun!!