Most lack both the self insightfulness, honesty and cincerity about the personal needs - that you have shown here. I think there is a lot to be learned from by reading articles such as yours. I also liked the fact that you were honest about you having a natural tendency to use all of the power you have at hand (in my early days I found I had to sell off my crotch rocket or end up dead - as I simply could not help myself against trying to get it up to top speed in all the wrong places all of the time).

Being honest about what one intends to use the bike for - for the duration one intends to own it- is paramount to finding the best tradeoff. In this, also being honest about one's own capabilities (riding, turning a wrench, etc), as well as being honest sbout the peesonal relative importance of various "nice to have" features.

If I was to go on an RTW any time soon, I may very well find that I would buy and tailor a CRF 300 Rally to my needs (I think it would be the best tradeoff for me for such a trip). But as I currently rack up more miles on shorter and very civilized adventures closer to home - with only the occasional dip into far away lands - it makes more sense for me to invest my time and money tailoring my T7 to the conditions I ride the most - and simply just having to endure all the negatives of such a big and expensive bike when venturing into the realns where the likes of the CRF 300 Rally rule. I sometimes think I ought to get the CRF in addition to the T7, but as a recovering bikeaholic the little sense I have left won't allow me to spread my time and money on more than one bike (I'm currently at two and still trying to cut back from 9). Now, with my T7 having been tailored to the point of it being like my second skin - I would be a hard choice to trade it in for a CRF to go RTW - take the financial loss off all the adaptations and upgrades and start all over with a bare bone CRF, only to miss the hell out of my T7 upon my return.

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