Hi. Chris from Sydney here.
Joined the website earlier on but this is my first post. Have a 2010 model purchased in March last year. Got back into riding in 2005 after the usual 27 year lay off with kids, mortgage etc after riding most of the 70's on 3 Hondas , a 350, a 450 and a 500 Four. Started back into riding on a Diversion 900cc, then an FJR. The FJR was a great bike but my wife could never get comfortable on it despite an Airhawk, seat reshaped, lowered pegs etc. It looked like I would have to get rid of her (the wife) until we did a 3 week trip on an ST1300 in the USA back in 2009 and she had no problems at all. I held out for a while but there were more complaints and then when we did another ST1300 trip in the USA in 2010 and could ride all day without problems, the writing was on the wall. Took a while to sell the FJR and since we've had the ST, we haven't looked back. We did USA trip number 3 last year, again on an ST and were on the road for 30 days and over 9000 km. The ST1300 seems to have the perfect ergonomics for my wife as a pillion and I am now an ST1300 convert myself. They are a great bike. I got some Oxford grip warmers put on when I bought the bike and that is the only thing lacking on the Honda compared to similar sports-tourers. We try to do weekend overnighters away, plus the odd long weekend plus early morning Sunday rides down south to clear the cobwebs out of the exhausts.
If anyone is interested in riding in the USA, go for it. There are lots of ST1300's on the road although
heaps more Harleys and Goldwings. You can hire ST1300's pretty easily over there. If anyone is interested, the stories of our 2009 and 2010 trips can be viewed on the following link
http://www.californiamotorcycleadventures.com/motorcycle-touring/Glacier-Yellowstone-Bryce-Tetons-ST1300-K1300GT.html
