Any recommendations for a fly screen on a V7 (850) Stone Special Edition: Puig, Dart, other? I realize it's mainly cosmetic and keeping bugs off the instruments. I don't need it for cold weather riding, just to clean things up a little in front.
Pic below for reference.
UPDATE - I ordered a Dart Pirahna, so we'll give that a shot.
Looking for a 30-40L clothing duffle to sit on the passenger seat area of my Super Tenere. The rear top case will be used for bike gear, tools, rain gear, etc. Water proof would be good. Use will be mostly 5-10 day on-road trips with some light dirt roads, staying in hotels, glamping cabins, or friends houses. No moto camping or BDR.
There seems to a wide range from the Amazon/AliExpress level up to the Giant Loop/Mosko Moto level. Given my use I'd like to find something in the mid range.
Any consensus suggestions?
My recently acquired Super Tenere came with this top case, but no side cases or racks.
I'm wanting more luggage space, so can anyone ID this top case so that I can look for matching side cases? I couldn't find any logo or branding. Quality seems respectable.
Alternately, what is the consensus on hard versus soft luggage for primarily road based adventures?
I recently posted about various touring option and have now narrowed the field to the following shaft-driven Adv/Touring bikes, preferably 600 lbs and under, with mostly upright position and enough wind protection for my 6'3" long torso body. Use will be >99% on-road touring.
I prefer used bikes, so the price ranges seem to be $7k - $12k depending on year, mileage, and condition.
The current four leading candidates are:
Yamaha Super Tenere 1200
Triumph Tiger 1200 (several variants)
BMW R1200RT or GS, 2012 or later
Honda VFR1200X
The BMW K1600GT is also nice, but heavy. there are several 900cc options, but almost all are chain driven. The Guzzi V85TT is shaft, but I already own one, which will likely be replaced by the tourers in this post.
Any insight on those four leading candidates? Am I missing any?
While looking for touring bike options, a '17 Tiger Explorer 1200 XRT entered my radar. It seems to tick a lot of my boxes: size (I'm 6'3"), triple, reasonably light, good features, etc., but I don't know much about the various generations and more recent iterations.
What is the consensus on the '17 XRT: overall good bike, faded into obscurity, replace by better newer gens/models, or something else?
There seem to be many more Tiger 850/900 on FB marketplace. Has it effectively replaced the 1200?
Anything to look for when evaluating the bike? It has 18k miles, but an unknown service history.
P.S. - How do you adjust the windscreen? It certainly wasn't obvious.
I'm thinking about a long distance touring bike, something slightly smaller than Goldwings or K1600s. I don't need all the bells & whistles, prefer to buy used bikes, and need something to fit a 6'3" rider with somewhat long torso. Yes, I have them all loaded on cycle-ergo for comparision. I already have a Guzzi V85 ADV bike with luggage, but am considering something more road oriented for longer trips.
Some options are:
Honda CTX1300 or it's cousin the Honda ST1300. Yes, I realize both are discontinued and that the CTX was a one-year model, which doesn't bode well for it.
Honda Valkyrie 2nd gen, which I know is just a stripped down Goldwing. Maybe a 1st gen Valk Touring model if I could find the right one.
BMW R12##RT or possibly ST with luggage
Yamaha FJR1300 or Kawasaki Concours, but both have a sportier forward leaning position than the other bikes.
Any thoughts on those? Any others I should consider?
After riding, my '19 Scrambler XC with 11k miles has a small oil leak, about 1cm in diameter, and accumulated oil residue on lower LH components (side stand, shift lever, engine guard bars, etc.) from oil misting.
Ground zero for the misting seems to be the three bolts in the pic below behind the clutch cable: two facing down and one facing outward. It's relatively clean now since I've already wiped off the excess. The bike is due for an oil change (and fluids in general), so I'll have a chance to investigate.
Does anyone have input on the function of those bolts and if they are indeed possible sources of oil leak? I don't want to undo them if there's no chance they are the cause.
I had been jonesing for both a Taylor and mahogany top, so this used 324ce Builder's Edition fit the bill nicely. Thank you to the previous owners for taking care of it.
Taylor joins the acoustic stable of an '80s Alvarez Yairi DY85a dreadnought and Guild J30 jumbo from the Westerly era.
I recently funded an inherited IRA. Based on current guidelines, I need to liquidate the account within ten calendar years of the passing, i.e. by 31 Dec 2035. My assumption was that each RMD would be roughly 10% of the initial value, but RMD calculators from both Fidelity and Vanguard show a 2026 RMD of roughly 5%.
Is there any benefit to taking a larger RMD, which would likely decrease our future tax burden? The benefit of a small RMD is I can keep more funds invested, which may increase tax burden but result in better financial position.
It's hard to estimate our future tax bracket since our income will be switching from salaries plus investments, to just investments but with a larger base and correspondingly larger dividends and interest.
Adding a Givi rack to my recently purchased v7 and snapped one of the cheapo shock retention bolts. It really sucks when such bolts are so weak. Maybe I should have heated it first, but that heat would have to conduct through the rubber shock mount.
The left side came out ok because I was much more delicate and worked some penetrant in there first. And yes, I verified the CCW direction on the socket before and after.
=> Any genius ideas beyond the traditional extraction bits? It's only an m6 bolt, so not much material to work with. It snapped flush with the shock mount, so vice grips won't help.
I assume I shouldn't ride it like this, even though the shock would likely stay in place.
UPDATE - Now fixed using the dremel slot method, lots of heat, and more patience than my wife gave me credit for. Still plenty of material left on the shock mount and very little thread damage.
