First chance I got to look at what bikes were on offer was a Tuesday afternoon. I took the kids with me so I wouldn't be tempted to ride anything on that occasion, I just wanted to test the water. Where I live all the bikes shops are in one area. I went into the "biggest one" first, the Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, Harley-Davidson dealer. I wandered around for a while, "just looking" when asked and focussed on the second hand bikes. I saw a beaten up ST1100 and an assortment of Japanese bikes that all looked the same. I paid attention to bikes with panniers and totally ignored "cruiser" style bikes. They weren't my thing. Nothing there.
Next door was the BMW dealership, there was some stuff here that suited me more and the salesman, Kevin, actually wanted to talk and find out what I was after. He showed me a low k 2003 BMW R1150 GS that was smack on the budget, it had panniers BUT, it was yellow. mmmmmm.
A quick walk through the Kawasaki dealership, the guy scared the kids, over the road to the bits and pieces shop and nothing else that really took my eye. Feeling a little underwhelmed I pulled the pin and went home to do some more research.
Last comment: The only place I felt vaguely comfortable was the BMW dealership.
