I've fallen in love with a 24 yr old

[LAB3]

My outlook the last several years has been to not get too interested in women who aren't as least as old as my bike. Having grown tired of dating angry old hags I decided a change was in order

The 1980 Yamaha XS1100 I've been running around on was getting long in the tooth, add to that the fact that second gear went out on the transmission last May. Both studs on cylinder #2 had been broken off flush with the head for over a year, a jumble of clamps and various metal bits where used to secure it on. Then there's the oil leaks, several of them. I've been looking for a replacement since this last summer and I found it last weekend.

It's a 2001 Kawasaki Voyager XII with 52k miles, owned by an 83 year old man. It has a relatively new set of Michelin Commanders on it and feels nice and solid. For what I paid I feel as if I stole it from the old boy but I gave him his full asking price without a single quibble.

The XS had reached full-on rat bike status having never been washed in several years, the aforementioned oil leaks and about 50 punk and other related underground stickers on it. The Voyager is like riding in a car compared to the XS and to tell you truth is pretty boring, it's going to take awhile to get this bike into a similar state of decor.

[Buffalo Bill]

Looks good to me.

[marvinsc]

Looks to be a great upgrade!

[storm 64]

I think the motorcycle will be happy getting back on the road again. Give it a little what it wants and it will be fine.

[Redman]

Hey!
THat should be good for you. Lots of luggage. Hold lots of stuff inside, for your regular relocations.
Oh, and lots of stickers on outside.

[Sandy]

Wow, and redhead as well. Good score.

[LAB3]

Hey!
THat should be good for you. Lots of luggage. Hold lots of stuff inside, for your regular relocations.
Oh, and lots of stickers on outside.

It has about the same amount of room in the bags as the Vetter branded bags on the XS, also the same looking lids that my Goldwing had. The trunk is a bit bigger.

IMG_20251230_153535950_HDR.jpg

[GS1150Pilot]

The fat lady sings. About 800 pounds worth, eh?

Those were cool bikes in their class back in the day. Pretty quick among the full boat tourers, as I recall. 16" front tire still readily available?

[LAB3]

Pretty quick among the full boat tourers, as I recall. 16" front tire still readily available?

I'm assuming so since the Michelin Commander III's on it have date codes less than two years old. Haven't gotten too deep into that aspect of it yet BUT the tires on there now are the "cruiser" as opposed to the "touring" version of that tire. They're rather "pointy" and keeping a straight line down a straight road isn't super easy although leaning into turns is practically magical. I'm quite sure I'm going to love them up in The Smokies when the weather warms up! The roads down here near the Everglades headwaters are just plain too straight.

Personally I'd prefer something a bit more "square" on the interstate, I'm pretty sure you can get the Shinko 230 in the right sizes for this bike but with the expected tread life of these tires it'll be awhile.

[gustovh]

Those bikes are great until they fall over, and your on a 50lb restriction.

V

[Grimly]

Those bikes are great until they fall over, and your on a 50lb restriction.

V

Could get one of those strap jacks, designed for exactly that.

[LAB3]

What I'd been looking for was something along the lines of a sport tourer not wanting to go to the sloth like nature of my former Goldwing. It's bigger than what I had been considering but after reading up it's still considerably lighter than a Goldwing and believe it or not only 50 lbs heavier than the XS when it's decked out with the touring gear on it. The seat height and center of gravity is much lower than the XS and as mentioned, I'm looking forward to getting it up into The Smokies.