My previous bike was a Victory Vegas that I owned for 3 years. Great bike, but too many trade-offs with a cruiser. After doing the homework, I settled on either an FJR 1300 or this. After testing both, I bought the ST1300. What an awesome bike! The engine is smooth and strongly powerful. When...
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My previous bike was a Victory Vegas that I owned for 3 years. Great bike, but too many trade-offs with a cruiser. After doing the homework, I settled on either an FJR 1300 or this. After testing both, I bought the ST1300. What an awesome bike! The engine is smooth and strongly powerful. When you hit the sweet spot of the RPMs at say 6000, it just pulls like crazy and the engine makes this throaty growl. The weight is extremely well-placed, low and center. As such the bike handles very easily - very easy to balance at lights, move around the parking lot, and it corners like it's on rails. The adjustable windshield is one of those things that once you use it, you wonder how you ever lived without it. It does a great job at blocking 95% of the wind. Very nice feature. I've had mine just under 2 weeks and I'm almost at 1000 miles. I just can't wait to ride it. I liked my vegas but it was exhausting to ride, especially on the highway. I've made several 1 1/2 hour rides, covering about 80 miles, and I was completely fresh afterwards, and disappointed to be done riding. Possible minor cons - there is some heat from the engine by the knee/lower leg. Kenosha is not known for its warm weather, so I can't say how it would be on a 95' day, but for me, where most of my riding is in colder weather, I find it a plus. The legs are faired over, keeping rocks/bugs/water off, but also keeping cooler air off as well. If you think it might be an issue, take a test drive first. Also, the seat could be a bit harder - although it's NOTHING like the agony of a stock 2003 Vegas seat (butt would fall asleep in half an hour or less every time - horrible seat). The Vegas, with no bodywork, was very stable and unaffected by trucks or crosswinds. The St1300 does shake a little in a strong wind or truck wake. It's not bad, but for me it's different. These are all I can think of, and I bring them up only to be objective. The St 1300 is an amazing bike. The engine is is just awesome - no dead spots, and it pulls like a aircraft carrier catapult. 4000 RPM at 80 (redline 8500), crack the throttle just a hair and you're doing 95 the next instant. The motor is so smooth and quiet, and the fairing so good that speed really creeps up on you. The riding position is very comfortable. I was a little nervous about this because the Vegas had an extremely comfortable foot-forward design I liked a lot. But in several 1 1/2 hr rides, no leg problems at all. At 6 feet even, I get my feet flat on the ground at a stop. Any shorter, though, and you may want to test one because I think anyone 5' 10" would have to stand on their toes. I really, really like my new ST1300. It goes, turns, and stops like a dream. It's easy to maneuver in a parking lot. It carries a lot of stuff in the hard bags. I get compliments and questions every time I pull up somewhere - they are relatively uncommon, at least here in Harley country. I was looking for a fast, comfortable, versatile bike, and this is it. Extremely happy with it, and I would unequivocably say it's best bike I've ridden. If you're reading this, you are probably looking for the same things, and I would tell you, do your homework and compare, but at the end you'll find this is the best sport-touring bike.
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