See, now the VFR would be a blast to ride. For half a hour. Then my legs would be sore from the position. They even get sore on the ST, but I have highway pegs up front that fold out from the tip-over blisters, so I can kick back and ride it like a cruiser, and then switch back to the more upright sport touring position. The windscreen goes up and down with a push button on the ST. Not such a big deal on nice days, but on rainy or windy days, it's the difference between feeling like you're riding in the jetstream @ 30,000 feet or riding in a calm pocket of relatively quiet air (can't tell you how dry that keeps you in the rain too). In other words, comfort is the more important thing on a bike for me and many riders (whether they will admit that or not). On the other hand the Goldwing is over the top, not nearly sporting enough. My bike feels like a giant sport bike with some comfort. Really fun in the twisties, really carves up the curves, but you can ride it from here to Portland and back and stay sane.

I guess every rider weighs those factors and chooses what they like, but for me it will always be the sport touring segment. That segment is small partly because it's not so well known and partly because the bikes are all relatively pricey. You can buy most of the cruisers/sport bikes in the Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki/Yamaha lines for $8K-$11K. All the good sport touring bikes are $14K-$18K. Well worth the money to me for the flexibility, comfort and performance they deliver.

I can't tell you how many guys age 30-60 wind up on an ST after riding cruisers or sport bikes for 10+ years, and when they discover the ST and what it offers, it's like 'where the F has this bike been all my life?' and they're fans of the ST and/or the sport touring segment. I had a guy at at stop light yesterday asking me if I was selling my bike, he said he was dying to find a used one in the $7-$8K range with ABS (that's about what mine would sell for used, possibly even a bit more). Not such bad resale, I paid $14K for the bike and put another $2K into it in this and that (seat, rear trunk, etc.). And I've enjoyed it daily now for six years.

But I'm not selling it anytime soon.