my needs are

a daily commute on national roads not motorway
something fun on backroads with the option of going up soem forest trails and beaches
abilty to tour europe and sustain 70-80 mph journeys for 1-2 hours at a time on the motorways

and it must be an a2 approved bike which rules out quite a few

so far i have narrowed it to two options

kle 500 or an xt660r

i am guessing the kle would feel a little heavier and less fun on backroads and possible dirt tracks than the xt but have an edge on it on the motorway?

i am currently leaning towards an xt660r. also i am currently recovering from a broken arm so i have a lot of time to mull over my next bike choice.
my gut says xt660r, my heart says xt660r but my head says kle500. my biggest worry with the xt660r is how does it cope regards vibration at speeds of 70 and 80 mph?

i have read a lot on here but different people seem to give wildly different views on how much vibration there is on the big single?

are there any other bikes in the a2 class that i am missing ?

for reference , my last bike was a gs500 twin and i found that to be quite vibey at anything over 80

If you find a twin vibey .. then a single will be like a jack hammer. Yes some are better than others, but in general they vibrate .. more than a twin. The smoothest engine is the triple, fours vibrate more than a triple .. but less than a twin.

One of the main factors for dirt work is weight. If your carrying a lot of luggage then the difference in the actual bike weight does not matter so much as you'll have your luggage weight on top of that .. say 40~50kg.

If you have the time then the secondary roads are better for sightseeing as you'll be going slower.

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Assumptions
UK based?
Not a lot of experience?

Some other considerations ..
Do the bikes have 'good' luggage mounting possibilities/availabilities?
Insurance costs for each? (that will also give you an idea of repair costs and theft rate)
Service intervals? You don't want them too frequent.


Oh - yes and to the hubb..

thanks for the welcome

ireland based but uk was a good guess...i have already discovered that backroads are my favoured domain so far, i prefer the slower lazier sightseeing pace of things but to get to the nicer places in europe certain distances have to be covered to get there
not a lot of experience and especially offroad but i m not looking to do rough offroad.....insurance costs will be similar and servicing will be roughly similar too,
the xt is a little better on fuel but not much by all reports

and the twin i only found vibey at certain rpms, at others it was as smooth as silk..i guess this is just a particular bikes character...

my luggage consists of an aussie made swag topbox and waterproof side bags ...i dont think the luggage aspect is an issue between these two bikes

i have ridden a 250 single and to be honest didnt mind any vibrations on that, it never even entered my head ...vibrations only ever became an issue on that gs500 twin

i ll be buying second hand so test riding both isnt really an option...i think i ll just bite the bullet and go for the single when my arm is fully healed

i think i have 80 percent made up my mind on the xt just one slight concern of how bad the vibes might be at 80mph , though i d be looking to keep that kind of riding to a minimum anyway

Where do you live in the world, what bikes are avalable there?

Whats your price range?

I own a XT660Z which has the same engine as the Xt660R and a lot of other common parts. As a big single cylindred bike some vibration is almost unavoidable. However the vibrations on the XT660Z doesnt bother me much and it atually gets less vibration at higher speeds (higer rpms). Well not talking about high speeds (for this bike type) above 130-140 km/h. But how bothered one are from vibrations are very indvidual and subjective. You just have to try different bikes on test rides.

Actually the vibrations in the handlebars on my bike got a little worse as I changed from the orignal Yamaha handguards to Barkbusters as the weights on the end are lighter on the Barkbusters than the original. Its still no major drawback to me.

Have no experience with the KLE whatsoever but a friend of mine who tried out one described it as "completely dull".

A tripple is definetively the best as our friend above writes.....

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

ireland, that means no drs , no klrs, everything else is probably available however i dont want something thats monstrously heavy or feels like it is too much big for me at this stage...and the 650 twins and up i think are just too much power for my current level of rider abilty and experience.

and a tenere i just imagine to be slightly tall and would probably be at the top end of my budget and i m not sure all the breakable pretty front end would survive me intact...it is very pretty though..its a bike to get when one has more experience i think!

regarding the kle, thats the feeling i get towards it too...i think it would be reliable and get the job done but dull seems to be the way i feel about it...dull but on the plus side reliable and solid...

gah decisions decisions...worst case scenario i buy the xt , hate it and have to trade it in for something else