Well....my second choice was between the Vstrom 1000 and Tiger 800....but then I realized for all the types of riding I do...there isn't really 1 bike that I'd be happy with that can do it all.
So my first choice ended up being to get the FZ8 for city/street/commuting/going-way-too-fast riding, and then getting a small dirt bike for the rest. Haven't decided which, but my first choice was to get 2 bikes then I guess? lol
About three solid years of weekends riding mountain single track dirt and dual sport runs, on a rainy weekend we ran buy a Yamaha dealer instead of going riding in dirt. I sat on the FZ8 and told my buddy, this is the next bike for me. I knew it the first time I saw it and sat on one. There was a Yamaha Super T sitting next to it, but was too big and it took us back to the possibility of getting "adventure bikes" since we typically do a lot more dirt than street. Or that was the thought at that time. Looking for value and less cost, we both targeted the VStrom too. We came very close to buying a pair of VStroms until I read many posts from people who loved the bikes for doing a lot well, but not really great at anything. Found many posts (in their words) indicating "how BORING" it is to ride them for fun only. I started really thinking about how much I would actually ride the VStrom on dirt roads, maybe what..5% of the time on some back fire roads, maybe. After two rides I'd probably be upgrading suspension, and too much to make something it was not really intended for. So, hmmm figuring maybe 5% dirt and the stated "boring" factor on the VStrom would probably make for just an okay upright street bike. Six months later started all over on the research again, looking at something cool and mellow like maybe a Triumph Thruxton, had fun looking at Moto Guzzi V7s and Grisos, which then led me to Ducati again thinking about Hypermotards and the S2R Monsters. After about 30 days solid of reading forums and complaints and feedback, decided this time I was not going to buy something I had to wrench on a lot or worry about much mechanically. Been there done that, not this time. Already have that with other cars and bikes. This time it was going to be the best value with the most fun factor and it had to be dead reliable. Went off on a tangent trying to find and buy a nice older SV650 naked. Stopped there once I realized the price of a new Z8 as compared to older used bikes. Again, "best value", so back to the FZ8 and within a week my buddy and I bought a pair of them.
Black Widow's photo on the previous page of this thread caught my attention. It shows the FZ8 can do about what I would have used the VStrom for anyhow. Glad I saw this photo. It inspired me and reconfirmed the FZ8 will do what I need for short runs and maybe a longer one once in a while.
This is a great forum. You guys are interactive. Very cool. Its a great place to bounce thoughts and ideas off of. I'm probably making posts because I don't have the bike yet, with last minute thoughts. My FZ8 came out of a box last night. Its getting built today, and I'll have it by 5pm. My posts will fade for while now. Here comes the 600 mile break-in period.
