So this weekend my wife and I were buying a new camp trailer. During a lull in the paperwork at the dealership I made a comment about trying to find the best deal on a new (to me) motorcycle; balancing age with features with price.... At that point, my wife says, "We're about to spend $XX,000 because I don't like to pee in the woods. I'm not going to nitpick your motorcycle."
I love that woman!
So... I think I've made up my mind in that I want a Honda CMX1100 (Rebel). The hard part was do I want to buy a baseline 1100 and build up the luggage or do I want to just buy the 1100T. Sadly, there don't seem to be many manual 1100Ts on the market in this neck of the woods so that decision was sort of made for me.
Looking around I noticed that there's a dealership 200ish miles from here that has two 1100s for sale. Both are 2021s. One is the manual and has 3000 miles. The other has the DCT and 2000 miles. What's odd is that the dealer is asking more for the manual. Mind you, I do not want a DCT, but the dealer doesn't know that. I'm thinking of offering the dealer $7k for the manual under the logic of "The DCT is worth more, you're only asking $8k for it, and the manual should be about $1k cheaper." At that point, I could drop a fair chunk of change into the 1100 and essentially end up with a slightly used but very low mileage 1100T for less than the cost of a new 1100T before one even starts to add dealer prep, taxes, etc. to the price.
But with the revelation that my wife is Just That Amazing there are other possibilities....
I could wait a few months and see if I can pick up a brand new 2025 1100T when the 2027s come out. It won't save much too much money but I figure the dealers will finally be motivated to move the 2025s and it will be a lot less PITA than having to build up an 1100.
Or heck, I could just pick up a 2027 1100T (assuming that Honda actually has a new model year.....if not then a 2026).
Is the logic sound? General thoughts?
Oh, and because I'm a rule follower, I'll hit the bullets in the posting guideline whether they apply to this conversation or not....
Budget: $15k fully equipped for light touring, but just because I can go that high doesn't mean I'm not looking for deals where I can get them.
Experience: 35 years of riding and looking for something with a very low CG (bad back means I need something EASY to pick up if I ever drop it in the middle of nowhere).
Type of use: Day trips, light touring, and the occasional commute (although my CB500X will get the lion's share of commuting duties)