Manxkiwi

Ah, I didn't realise that. I haven't ridden one, but believe they are very good. Oh well, you'll have to make do with a 900 then! I see you found a non GT bike. If that doesn't work out for any reason, I would highly recommend trying to seek out a GT. There are a good number of differences, all of them good to have IMO. Can anyone confirm that the non GT has unadjustable forks? Or am i mistaken?

Oh and if you pull the trigger on the 19 900, the MRA vario-tour screen is highly recommended by me. Good luck whichever way you choose..

I haven't read every single word in this thread, but has no one suggested a Tracer 700?

Aren't all the gears in constant mesh? If you smashed through the gears, you would damage the dogs, not the teeth. Am I right in my understanding of bike gearboxes? It's certainly a huge failure whatever the reason/cause.

Yes, they have the roller clickers for span adjustment and billet machined. I just got them from Ebay, about $70nz, a while ago now, so don't have a link to the seller. But I imagine there are plenty to chose from?

I found MT10 levers are a direct fit for the GT. I got the cheap ones (MT10) and they are a perfect fit (incl. CC). Easier to find too I found.

Yes good point. It's not a real world demonstration. But the rear doesn't go down.

Keith Code proves rear suspension lifts under 'normal' acceleration, i.e. on the flat, with a pointer fitted to a bike. They then go for a spin and film what's happening. If the rear of the bike went down, very powerful bikes would be spinning up left, right and center. You'd be lessening the desired push into the track for the drive forward. The desired geometry pushes the tyre into the ground. Because the front lifts significantly under acceleration, many people see this as the rear squatting. It is in fact lifting, just less than the front. Treat yourself to watching a few dyno runs online. Watch the rear of the bike when they go for it through the gears. All will be clear..

When I did my 5000k south island tour, the GT was fully loaded (top box and panniers). With missus on the back, I worked out we were a few kgs over the bike load limit. The bike handled just fine. I do have a Nitron shock though. The stock shock would never have handled it!

Maybe move the hour element 12hrs forward?

I have always tightened the axle nut with the bike on its wheels (any bike). There is a small amount of play within the axle, swingarm and adjusters. All the play is taken up in the natural direction if you do it this way. I also hold the bike somewhere and push my knee onto the the rear tyre as I tighten the nut, to make sure the adjuster blocks are 'home' and any play (fore'n'aft) is also taken up. You could argue that it makes very little difference, but as an engineer, I have always done it that way.. YMMV.

Would you post to NZ? I'm interested if that's possible. Cheers.

Looks ugly but you'll probably get away with it I reckon. Some people will say no compromise with brakes, which is true to a point. But the shoulders of the bolts take all the load in a 'shear' direction, at 18Nm the bolts are basically just stopping the discs from falling off. There is still most of the location face there. It's up to you in the end though. Go for a wee ride and see how it is. I doubt there will be a catastrophic failure. Good luck.

Fair enough. I've got 5 turns of preload on the 750lb for solo riding. 10ish for two up. Ultimately only you can make your call for yourself. Good luck anyway. If you found your spring choice to be not ideal, you can always change it again, it's not that big a deal. Cheers.

I would imagine you'll regret a 115Nm spring and will be upping it later. Here in NZ many roads are pretty bumpy, I was continually grounding out the bike on bumps in corners with the stock unit on full preload, riding solo! There was no way I would be touring two up with that. I guess it depends how bumpy your roads are and how you ride, but I would never go lower than my 750 knowing what I know now. YMMV.. Photos for reference: Not lovely vs Nitron loveliness.