[tdrcomm]

What I REALLY, REALLY LIKE about ZX14 and Kawasaki is their forward-thinking about the whole hyper sports/tourer class. The ZX14 isn't a new bike, it's a new PLATFORM. It's built to be a better tourer than the Busa. Yes, it's fugly as hell in it's "kill Hayabusa" form but it's touring mode IT ALL WORKS! The bags, the fairings, the shaft-drive, the two-up seating... I see the new king of the Iron Butt Championships.

I agree with TDR's comments that Suzuki failed to capitalize/leverage the Busa into a true sports-tourer over the last 7 years, when it would have been an obvious thing to do. Instead, they are pitching their cruiser line-up as their touring solution (egads!)........

It's almost as if no one at Suzuki (or Suzuki USA) realizes that there is a large niche market of riders who do eat miles like they are going out of style (esp. in the USA/Australia/Europe, where -- unlike Japan -- there are thousands of miles to go from "here" to "there" and being able to dispatch them quickly, competently is highly-prized)...

Bang! Right on the money boys!!

I have no issue with those that buy a bike as a toy... but I am not one of them. I put at least four times as many miles on my bike each year as I do on my car. I commute daily and I love (live?) to tour. Unfortunately the toy/racer bike demographic has now become the driving force in the marketplace, which has resulted in a selective pressure away from the sports tourer class and has limited it's progress.

Guys like me really couldn't be faulted for feeling a little bit left out of the action sometimes when the industry slogan has become "Go Hard or Go Home". WTF happened to comfort and practicality? Must I chose between a two wheeler tank & a supersonic scooter?

There are some great sport-tourers in the field, but they're just not moving ahead the way that the super/hyper-sport market is. At my local dealerships I'm flat out even finding the sport-tourers amongst all the ballistic missiles. I mean, why the hell does everybody want to sell me a friggin' GSXR?

I'm giving the thumbs up to Kawasaki for seeing that the market is still there I hope that they do well and that it lights the way for other manufacturers... because if they don't then others will be reluctant to try it.

/End crazy wild-eyed rant/

Not a crazy, wild-eyed rant

I average 5000 a year on my car. 22000 on the bike. It's my daily transportation. In LA traffic I would lose my mind if I had to go everywhere by car. I feel for the folks with the "riding season blues", but I totally understand the riders that have major obligations that prevent commuting on the bike (kids, carpool, hauling stuff, etc.)

It seems as if the manufacturers believe comfort and commuting means scooter/cruiser/Goldwing. Anything else has to be an "R" bike. There is no middle ground. 500 miles on a CBR is suicide. Not much better on a Gixxer. But when Suzuki finally comes out with the ultimate sport/tourer of all time it's as if they just stopped just short of really pushing the envelope with a touring Busa. Wouldn't have taken much: Side bags that flowed with the lines of the bike, OEM risers, add a one-seat option (Hell, I wouldn't care if the bags were more form than function. Hate to say it but I'm a hotel-to-hotel kind of tourer as long as they're a 1000 miles apart )

I really like these bikes:

SV650 (FUN commuter and FUN twisty bike. Not fast, FUN!)
Triumph 675 (A real-world sportbike)
BMW GS (Well mannered and more than enough off-road than I'll ever need)
GSXR-750 (not too much but not to little)
Bandit (cheap and serviceable)
919 (really comfortable)
Sprint ST (what a sport/tourer should be. A better Kat?)
Concours-14 (yeah, I like it)
Hayabusa (The best, most comfortable, bike I have ever owned. I still consider it the benchmark.)

I agree with you. Here in LA, unless you go to a BMW or Triumph dealership you're not going to find a wide choice of sport/tourers. My local Suzuki dealership (Southland) are really pissed that the Katana went away. Outside of the SV and V-Strom (which is an acquired taste) they have no inexpensive, do everything bikes. Aaron (sales-dude) says gone are the days of pointing some average-joe rider at a Katana and saying "it'll run forever and do just about anything you want to do... for less than $7000".