Hey Lemmy!
I bought a new 2015 street 750 and I have ridden it all these years. Recently I have been thinking that I want to switch it up and get something else. I mostly use my street 750 to commute to university, but now work; with an occasional day trip to visit family on the other side of Texas. I am thinking of getting a Yamaha MT-03. I know it is an entry level bike but it seems to have good reviews. It has a passenger seat for dates and a sixth gear for the occasional road trip. Since I am mostly commuting I don’t see why 300cc will be too small, so I should save some money with it. I mostly want to ask if there is a reason I should consider the 600cc version or something I also really like the XSR700 but feel it might be hard to find around me.
Any other advice?
That us a good paragraph to consider. How bad do you think the 300 will be on a 8 hour trip on the highway? On the HD I average 45-55mph once i factor in the breaks I take for my legs and getting sunscreen on, despite being 70+mph (and the 750 is very comfortable doing that). I don’t go on trips often enough for it to be critical, and most highway trips will be 2hrs tops.
Maybe OK, really depends on the footpeg placement and handlebars.
If your knees are really bent, or the bars pull you forward, it gets uncomfortable fast. Which is why I added risers to my clip-ons to get a more comfortable position (less weight on my arms), which also reduces tingling/numbness due to vibration and pressure on the nerve in your wrist.
Edit: 300 on the highway will be tiring. I had a bike that size once, and it’s just small, engine has to Rev for power, so you get higher frequency vibration through the bars that you just don’t get with a lower-rpm Harley V-twin.