Good to know.
My 2nd choice was a used Ducati Monster S2R or Hypermotard 796, not willing to pay for the Ducati 1100 either. And, if I could of afforded it, I probably would have ended up with the new Honda CB1000R; which fit me like a glove for some reason. In the end, the overall package and best value for me seemed to be the FZ8. Sort of liked the idea of having to zing an FZ8 up a bit vs a rocket liter bike with more power than I really need for local riding.
I like Italian styling and even ride Beta Italian bikes in dirt, but for some reason could not get myself to pull the trigger on the Ducati with various issues reported on Ducati forum sites; i.e. tank expansion, injection valve complaints/posts on forums, cam belt replacement often - every 4 years, etc. Spoke with three different sales managers at different Yamaha dealerships who all "use to" work at Ducati dealerships. All of them said the same thing, if you want consistent reliability and performance, buy one of the big-4 japanese bikes. So, I did. FZ8 it is. Formerly rode a lot of Yamahas and Hondas on dirt since the mid 1970s and only had one sport bike back in 1986, Ninja 650 to compare to. In this search, prior to landing on the FZ8, I was hung up on just about anything v-twin in a naked bike format, for example SV650 N, and even seriously considered taking a 2005 Honda Superhawk V-twin and converting it into a naked bike. Just didnt' want to fuss with it this time around on a bike build, so FZ8 is my next try. Should have it tomorrow, new from the Yamaha dealer. I'm hoping I don't miss the v-twin aspect and the FZ8 will do other things better in ways I don't yet know. Thanks.