OK, I know at least part of this was aimed at me, so I'll chip in briefly.

For me, the XTX was a fantastic bike - I loved it, and it taught me a fair bit about riding quickly. The issue I had with the XT was that I wanted it to be more than it was. It wasn't quick enough to ensure that I was going keep it for the long term, and the cheap build was a bit of a let down too. I'm not trying to slate the XT, far from it.
I chopped the XT for the WRF so that I could have the pleasure of building a pukka SM machine. I knew it would be compromised on the road, and I had no intention of keeping it for a long time. If fact, I sold it with 788 miles on the clock after 2 months. Some would call me mad or say 'I told you so', but the way I look at it is that I had great fun building it and riding it (it was purely a toy), and I got the 'hardcore SM' bug out of my system.
I'm now back to my summer norm of riding a sportsbike (CBR600) with the BMW as my daily hack. I love sportsbikes, and will probably change for a new R6 in a month or so. The bike after that will be a KTM 690SM for the winter. I love bikes, and change them often during the warm months so that I can experience more of them. I get different kinds of enjoyment out of the different types of bikes I have owned.

I guess the real point I am making is that whilst the XT is a great bike, it is not all things to all people, and you have to understand that no-one will keep theirs forever.

I see XT660.com having moved into it's 'second generation' of members, where most of the original members have either sold their XTs or have another bike too. I think that's great for the site as it means that the membership didn't die out when the first wave of members sold up.

I think trying to convince existing owners not to sell is a fruitless excercise, as everyone will view their XT slightly differently. If someone thinks about selling their bike, it'll be for a good, valid reason to them, even if that reason is simply 'I fancy a change'.

This is the time of year where a lot of people will change their bikes, so you can expect to see many more people leaving the XT fold, but at the same time, many more will join. My XTX was sold within 2 weeks of me trading it in, and I suspect it will pop up on the forum again in due course.

I know that you hate people talking about other bikes within this forum, but I hope you can understand why people do - the XT is not perfect and will not be the perfect long term ownership proposition for many people. Most importantly, we are bikers! Bikers are fickle creatures and many change bikes yearly as the cost of doing so is affordable for many people.

I have said this before - I have made many real world friends on this forum, but have not felt very welcome since I decided to sell my XT. This is also why many other old members don't post anymore.

I would like to urge a little more tolerence to the inevitabliity of people selling their bikes sooner or later.

Storm

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