Gone

[wessie]

Been there, done that, Wessie.   A sad day, but it comes to all eventually.

May I ask why you didn't return to the Tracer, especially now that the new GT is available over there?   I can understand the pull of the extra power of the BM, but found it very 'buzzy' and full of unwanted vibes when taking one for a long test ride some time ago, so I returned then to my Boxer roots.   The ease of shoving the Tracer around in the garage has been a great benefit in my creaky-jointed case... 

Local dealers could not give an indication when stock of the Tracer GT would arrive or if a demo bike would be available. I can't believe they have made the suspension that much better for the price difference so would never buy before trying. I've been spoilt by the semi-active set-ups on the Explorer and R1200RS (XR has same set-up as the RS with longer travel). 
 
Part-ex on the Explorer was another factor. The dealer I bought from is a used bike only dealer. Their prices and trade-in are much better as they do not have to have glitzy premises and put on a 2 year warranty. I already lost a wodge of cash on the Explorer with the usual 1st year depreciation. The XR is a 2016 bike so someone else has taken that hit. 
 
I really wanted to take a look at the Moto Guzzi V85 but they are taking a very long time to go from the prototype to production so maybe that will be the next bike, if they can make it close to 200kg. 
 
My XR is a little buzzy but not so much that it affects riding - I think a lot of people go to them from the GS boxer and keep the revs too low. It is counter-intuitive to keep the revs at 8000rpm if you are used to big twins. Keep the revs up and change gear at 10,000rpm and the engine is really smooth. If you want to cruise in top gear at legal speeds then you use cruise control as the engine will be in that horrible band where they test for noise and emissions.