[alanmcorcoran]

Appreciate the feedback. Keep in mind I am currently touring solo on a (loaded) bike I can't pick up even when it's unloaded. So my current plan has been - never, ever, put the bike down, which is obviously a bad plan. Patrick, much of my info on the KTM vs BMW comes from advrider forum, (4 pages of thread on the 990 FI mapping from 2006-2008, f'rinstance). A also saw a home made video on Youtube with two guys from Scotland riding a R1200GS and a KTM 990 in the winter. It appeared they dumped both bikes at least once. The video was only 5 minutes long and kinda general - no clear winner - probably got the bikes from the manufacturers and didn't want to piss either one off. There's an Irv Seaver BMW dealer in Orange and a KTM dealer in Orange - both of which are about 30 mins from my house. Most of the places I'm touring have very long stretches with no dealers on any stripe - and not much of anything else either (like gas and water and toilets and stuff.) Not sure about the likelihood I'll get to test ride one of these bikes unless I go to some manufacturer event with a million other people - which I won't do - but I haven't actually checked this out yet. When I was shopping for the Geezer and the Strat you could sit on one, but that's it. There was a lightweight BMW I could rent at the rental place here in chicago, but it looked like a Geezer with an off-road suspension. I could probably rent a 1200cc Beemer in CA, but it'd cost upwards of $200 a day and for a 4 or 5 day ride, it'd be expensive research. But it might still be worth it. I agree with dh, you can read all you want, but it's not the same as actually riding.