So here are some options to go along with the poll.
Said
1997 Valkyrie
A couple of FJ09's
A 2017 with
low low km but it's been dropped.
Or a
2016 with more km but clean.
One or two of the aforementioned VTX's...
2008 VTX 1300 - these are still carb'd - and shaft drive so maintenance is easy for a mechanical wizard like me...
Or a
bigger badder 2002 1800...albeit a lot more km on it. At least it's EFI so it's probably better on fuel than the smaller one. Maybe.
Shi# pics but what ya gonna do. Sucker's got enough speakers to blast your ears out at top speed. Too. I thought the whole point of riding was to get away from "the noise"...
Aforementioned Kawasaki Vulcans...under budget at an asking of $7250 for this 2005 1500 monster.
A 1500 example. 
Or a
smaller 900 CC variant that's 9 years newer and less money. Inevitably better on fuel too.
A friend has a VTX1300, and another has a Vulcan 900...and he's just as "fast" as the 1300. No mountains here so...extra torque doesn't show itself so much. I guess.
This
1700 is just over budget, but I think it could be had for or under. Maybe.
Looks good and clean too.
Wife vetoed anything red...which is too bad,
this one looks pretty good and well under budget...
On to the Yamaha...not many samples - huh...
This one looks alright, but might be a little high on the $ for the km.
2007 V-Star 1300 With
Without
And who knows what the good bads and pros and cons are...
Valkyrie is a 6 carb'd Goldwing without the wings...sounds cool...might actually have some staying power on its price point later down the road. Likely worse on gas than my Fusion.
FJ's - great reviews all around it seems. Cheap to insure, ish, mo-powah!, more upright riding position might be better for my knees and back, looks like more fun than a Harley wanna be bagger...it's not a Harley wannabe. Cons: won't hold it's value...asking prices seem high considering they were only $11,299 new when they were new. $350 or so to add the side panniers and what, another $2-300 for the top box? Unless you got the soft cases. I would think those would be even less. Why no cruise control Yamaha?? Then again none of the others have it either.
Friend of a friend says the Yami 1300's like to eat starter motors. Big job...but if you start them right...whatever that means.
The Vulcans...they gotta be ok right? If I could convince my wife a Ninja 1000 would be good...it's a Sport Tourer...
Or there's a
VFR800 available right now too. Always wanted one of those, even if it's not the fastest thing out there. Neither are any of these. Just like the looks of that bike.
For some reason, Suzuki just isn't on my radar...feels like it's the Lada of the bike world...or a step above, but below the other 3 so not worth looking at. So...no options there.
Poll
