Alexanderr:
Well, the Water Buffalo King, a buddy of mine for 35+ years, owned a '99 B12S and now owns a 1000 'Strom. According to him, the only flaws the Bandit had was
a)"it needed a 6 speed" and
b)"seating position was killing his back after 2 or 3 hours". I've found out that for me at least:
a) the tranny is a non-issue. That engine was meant to run best in the 6K-8K RPM range....and it does. The 4500-5500RPM "buzz zone" can avoided quite easily, if you want to. So, no probs....
b) the WBK has had back problems for years, as have I. All a guy needs to do is some stretching exercises every time you gas up. So, no probs.....
The big "plus", supposedly, of the 'Strom is the torque.....
but that's a non-issue for me since I'm not afraid to row on the gearbox lever a little from time to time. Heck, I told the WBK that he's getting lazy in his old age and if he wanted a cruiser, he should have bought the M109 Boulevard.
So, all in all, the B12 does it for me....and besides, we all know that REAL bikes have air cooled inline 4 cylinder across the frame engines with carburators.......right??
IMO, go for the Bandit....but bin the ABS....it's heavier, costs more and has more stuff to go wrong. I've always been leery of computers making braking decisions for me.
Such "decisions" are based on some computer programmer's algorithm burned into a chip and that algorithm can not possibly cover the infinite variations that the average rider encounters while braking.
If I have an accident due to poor braking technique, I can be sure it's my fault alone and not the fault of a computer.....
and don't get me started about glitches the computer may have as it ages......
End of rant