First, I'm getting my Caponord this Saturday (in two nights time) 
I started 10 years ago with a Honda Magna. Great bike, but in a few years I realized I'm not a cruiser (even a muscle one) guy, despite the amazingly balanced V4 engine. Than I got myself a sport touring bike, a Suzuki Bandit 1250 ABS, and I LOVED (still do) the low end torque, while hating the parking lot handling and the overall weight of the bike (back problems challenged). I customized it, I toured almost 60K on it, and I still love passing on with the Bandit (no other bike I test rode, had the big bore feeling of the Bandit exploding at 3000 rpm).
But there was something missing, the weight and lack of low speed handling, combined with my back problems was allways a challenge. So I was looking for another bike, steering towards an adventure "like" touring bike, for the last 3 years. Making things worse, last year, a Smoky Mountains trip, ended up on a gravel road, due to some bad Google maps and GPS route planning, where the Bandit with its track tuned suspension, could barely turn ... And that made up my mind, I wanted to tour, I wanted to enjoy twisties like on the track, and be able to at least survive a bit of gravel... Some kind of `adventure` flavoured bike will have to replace the Bandit
I looked at the BMW 1200GS, way to expensive, nothing can justify that (although I can justify driving a bi-turbo BMW). I wanted to give the Multistrada another shot as I rode one for a one week trip in the Alps in 2010, when I did not enjoyed it, found it lacking low end torque big time (being spoiled by the Bandit). I tried the 2013 recently, had no fun, too tall, too rough in the sport mode, engine still sounds like a broken coffee grinder (no offense), I couldn't wait to return the bike from the test ride as I knew after the first 5 minutes it was not the bike for me.
I definitely wanted to try the new VStrom 1000, and while reading the ADV and Stromtrooper forums to get as much info as I could on my (potential) new bike, I found a bit of info about the Caponord. Now, there is one Aprilia dealer in Ontario, which `unfortunatelly` is located allmost walking distance from me, that I never bothered to visit in the past, because who wants a "pretentious" Italian bike
But one day, two weeks ago, after returning from the Suzuki dealer (who offered a decent deal for the VStrom), I decided to waste 10 minutes on the Aprilia, let's just see how the Caponord looks. It looked great unfortunately, both in person and on paper (I still somehow wish they wouldn`t have had one on the show floor)... 2 days later I managed to do a test ride (the afternoon after testing the Multi). After barely making it in time in the Toronto rush hour traffic, the dealer just handed me the key and told me "go and and have a ride" ... I had a ride, and I also had a grin on my face for 2 days.
I eventually test rode the VStrom the next Saturday (Suzuki test ride day in Bramton, Ontario). Unfortunately I enjoyed the bike more than I wanted. Nonetheless, on my ride back home on my Bandit, I realized that despite the fact that the VStrom was great, I will be missing something: the possibility of being a bit of a hooligan now and then
So I stopped on my way back home at the Aprilia dealership, tried to negotiate (zero bargaining power when you only have one dealership in the entire province), and decided to get the Caponord. I still absolutely HATE the fact that I could not negotiate, I`m used to be in a position of power when I buy stuff (I have the money, I can buy from you or the next guy, so what can you do for me ...), but I have really high hopes on how much fun I will have with the Caponord.
I do have some concerns with respect to its reliability compared with the Bandit (nothing but oil and tires for 56K) but Im really looking forward to have a tremendous amount of fun with the Caponord.
So, very nice meeting you guys
I started 10 years ago with a Honda Magna. Great bike, but in a few years I realized I'm not a cruiser (even a muscle one) guy, despite the amazingly balanced V4 engine. Than I got myself a sport touring bike, a Suzuki Bandit 1250 ABS, and I LOVED (still do) the low end torque, while hating the parking lot handling and the overall weight of the bike (back problems challenged). I customized it, I toured almost 60K on it, and I still love passing on with the Bandit (no other bike I test rode, had the big bore feeling of the Bandit exploding at 3000 rpm).
But there was something missing, the weight and lack of low speed handling, combined with my back problems was allways a challenge. So I was looking for another bike, steering towards an adventure "like" touring bike, for the last 3 years. Making things worse, last year, a Smoky Mountains trip, ended up on a gravel road, due to some bad Google maps and GPS route planning, where the Bandit with its track tuned suspension, could barely turn ... And that made up my mind, I wanted to tour, I wanted to enjoy twisties like on the track, and be able to at least survive a bit of gravel... Some kind of `adventure` flavoured bike will have to replace the Bandit
I looked at the BMW 1200GS, way to expensive, nothing can justify that (although I can justify driving a bi-turbo BMW
). I wanted to give the Multistrada another shot as I rode one for a one week trip in the Alps in 2010, when I did not enjoyed it, found it lacking low end torque big time (being spoiled by the Bandit). I tried the 2013 recently, had no fun, too tall, too rough in the sport mode, engine still sounds like a broken coffee grinder (no offense), I couldn't wait to return the bike from the test ride as I knew after the first 5 minutes it was not the bike for me.I definitely wanted to try the new VStrom 1000, and while reading the ADV and Stromtrooper forums to get as much info as I could on my (potential) new bike, I found a bit of info about the Caponord. Now, there is one Aprilia dealer in Ontario, which `unfortunatelly` is located allmost walking distance from me, that I never bothered to visit in the past, because who wants a "pretentious" Italian bike
But one day, two weeks ago, after returning from the Suzuki dealer (who offered a decent deal for the VStrom), I decided to waste 10 minutes on the Aprilia, let's just see how the Caponord looks. It looked great unfortunately, both in person and on paper (I still somehow wish they wouldn`t have had one on the show floor)... 2 days later I managed to do a test ride (the afternoon after testing the Multi). After barely making it in time in the Toronto rush hour traffic, the dealer just handed me the key and told me "go and and have a ride" ... I had a ride, and I also had a grin on my face for 2 days.
I eventually test rode the VStrom the next Saturday (Suzuki test ride day in Bramton, Ontario). Unfortunately I enjoyed the bike more than I wanted. Nonetheless, on my ride back home on my Bandit, I realized that despite the fact that the VStrom was great, I will be missing something: the possibility of being a bit of a hooligan now and then
So I stopped on my way back home at the Aprilia dealership, tried to negotiate (zero bargaining power when you only have one dealership in the entire province
), and decided to get the Caponord. I still absolutely HATE the fact that I could not negotiate, I`m used to be in a position of power when I buy stuff (I have the money, I can buy from you or the next guy, so what can you do for me ...), but I have really high hopes on how much fun I will have with the Caponord. I do have some concerns with respect to its reliability compared with the Bandit (nothing but oil and tires for 56K) but Im really looking forward to have a tremendous amount of fun with the Caponord.
So, very nice meeting you guys
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