Hello!
I've been reading/watching this forum for about a month now. I'd like to start by saying thank you to everyone. Your posts & reviews helped me make my decision. I picked up my Arctic White 899 this weekend.
Here's how I got to where I am today (Skip if you don't want the long winded answer).
I've been riding for the past 21 years. I started on a Honda 250 Rebel, progressed to a CBR F2 & then 2 Gixxer's during HS & College. For the past decade I've been riding a Harley. Last summer I stopped by a local dealer to see the 675 Daytona & ended up riding the S1000RR. I was in love. I started saving & planning to get one ASAP. I was such an advocate (without owning one lol) that my stepdad ended up buying a 2014 S1000RR this past Dec.
About a month ago I went & visited my family & rode his S1000RR around for the weekend. I've never been a reckless/crazy rider, but also don't consider myself super conservative. Needless to say I didn't enjoy riding around in 2nd gear on the streets (45MPH was 4K RPMs in 2nd gear on the S1000RR). I kept wanting to shift into third & coast. I still thought the bike was great but it just seemed to fast to ride on the streets. It took some of the wind out of my sails.
I went back to the drawing board & opened up my search again. My primary requirements were: ABS, TC & ride modes. I added the Daytona 675R back even though it lacked TC/Ride modes and found the 899 while surfing the web/Youtube. Originally I had considered the 1199 but I kept thinking about the saying (after riding the S1KRR): It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. (I'm not insinuating that the 899 is slow, it's just a little more in line with what I want on the street). Plus my price cap needed to be $18K or so. 3 weeks ago I went into a dealer & looked at the 899 in person.
I'm a sucker for white vehicles & immediately gravitated to the Arctic White. For the following week I watched as many videos as I could find, read as many reviews/forums as I could and set up a demo ride. I'm not an impulsive guy. I rode the bike but was very honest with the sales guy that I would need to think about it. It took me a day to decide. I weighted all of the pros & cons I had read. (It's a big purchase for me so I wanted to be sure).
When I was in HS the 716 was my dream bike, but felt so out of my grasp. I'm happy I've come full circle (It just took 20 yrs lol). I spent last week negotiating on the price & went in this past Saturday and rode home on my new Duc.
Saturday was sunny & in the low 60s. I left the dealer at 3pm & put 50 miles on the bike with a stop at my dads (He wanted to try it so we went out for a ride together w/ the Duc & his Vrod).
I'm really happy (No big ticket buyer's remorse) and can't wait for the weather to warm up (& dry up - It rained all day yesterday and is suppose to rain this week & weekend). I realize that you guys on the East Coast & Europe have worse weather so I'm grateful for the dry days in the 50s around here.
Ok I'm done. Thank you again for all of your help & I'm happy to be part of the 899 club.
I've been reading/watching this forum for about a month now. I'd like to start by saying thank you to everyone. Your posts & reviews helped me make my decision. I picked up my Arctic White 899 this weekend.
Here's how I got to where I am today (Skip if you don't want the long winded answer).
I've been riding for the past 21 years. I started on a Honda 250 Rebel, progressed to a CBR F2 & then 2 Gixxer's during HS & College. For the past decade I've been riding a Harley. Last summer I stopped by a local dealer to see the 675 Daytona & ended up riding the S1000RR. I was in love. I started saving & planning to get one ASAP. I was such an advocate (without owning one lol) that my stepdad ended up buying a 2014 S1000RR this past Dec.
About a month ago I went & visited my family & rode his S1000RR around for the weekend. I've never been a reckless/crazy rider, but also don't consider myself super conservative. Needless to say I didn't enjoy riding around in 2nd gear on the streets (45MPH was 4K RPMs in 2nd gear on the S1000RR). I kept wanting to shift into third & coast. I still thought the bike was great but it just seemed to fast to ride on the streets. It took some of the wind out of my sails.
I went back to the drawing board & opened up my search again. My primary requirements were: ABS, TC & ride modes. I added the Daytona 675R back even though it lacked TC/Ride modes and found the 899 while surfing the web/Youtube. Originally I had considered the 1199 but I kept thinking about the saying (after riding the S1KRR): It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. (I'm not insinuating that the 899 is slow, it's just a little more in line with what I want on the street). Plus my price cap needed to be $18K or so. 3 weeks ago I went into a dealer & looked at the 899 in person.
I'm a sucker for white vehicles & immediately gravitated to the Arctic White. For the following week I watched as many videos as I could find, read as many reviews/forums as I could and set up a demo ride. I'm not an impulsive guy. I rode the bike but was very honest with the sales guy that I would need to think about it. It took me a day to decide. I weighted all of the pros & cons I had read. (It's a big purchase for me so I wanted to be sure).
When I was in HS the 716 was my dream bike, but felt so out of my grasp. I'm happy I've come full circle (It just took 20 yrs lol). I spent last week negotiating on the price & went in this past Saturday and rode home on my new Duc.
Saturday was sunny & in the low 60s. I left the dealer at 3pm & put 50 miles on the bike with a stop at my dads (He wanted to try it so we went out for a ride together w/ the Duc & his Vrod).
I'm really happy (No big ticket buyer's remorse) and can't wait for the weather to warm up (& dry up - It rained all day yesterday and is suppose to rain this week & weekend). I realize that you guys on the East Coast & Europe have worse weather so I'm grateful for the dry days in the 50s around here.
Ok I'm done. Thank you again for all of your help & I'm happy to be part of the 899 club.
