I have been looking at the Connie for a couple of years, and I came real close this spring to buying, just timing was bad with my other "bad habit" ( I race Off-Road R/C Cars, and had several races to attend across the country) and just had to wait till the stars and the moon to align.
In the last couple of weeks I ramped up my hunt. I was seriously considering 2 other bikes vs the Connie (The Connie was always #1, but I had no brand loyalty, I wanted to consider as much as I could). Choice #2 was the ST1300 and a GS1200.
After looking at the GS in person, it's highs are that it is a technical marvel, high quality, and the best in it's class. Trying to talk my fiance' that we would BOTH do an all-day ride on it would never pass her BS test lol.
Now, the ST1300 was a serious contender, but Honda just charges so much for it, and vs. the Connie it seriously lacks in features. You can't really knock Honda reliability and quality, but the suspension seriously lacks when compared. The best part is that when I went to our local Honda dealer here (One of these big "Mega" dealers - Tousley Motorsports in White Bear Lake, MN), they did in fact have a left over 2010 ST. I told the sales guy that I was looking at the ST vs. the Connie, I told him I could get the 09 Leftover for 10,200, but I would seriously consider the ST. He came back and said "Honda has a $200 on the left over ST, AND it has a one year unlimited mileage Warrenty on it - I could sell it for $15,100".
I informed him that I couldn't swing the price difference, and that is when he wanted to bash the Connie "Boy, that's a heavy bike with allot of weight up high. I've been riding for 20 years and I could hardly ride the bike (Connie) it was so heavy". I just find it comical that when a salesman knows they are probably not going to get the deal, they will jump into bashing the other guy that will LOL.
