Gru, welcome to our Forum! I think you need to ship me one of your current bikes just because you've got too many!
I've had two 2010 ABS NT's. I put 139K miles on #1, and have only put about 5K miles on #2. I bought "Horse," my #2 in 2020. It had been owned by a friend and he maintains his bikes about like he expected the USAF to maintain the KC-135s he drove for them. They were equipped almost identically. Both had been lowered, both had cruise controls, both had driving lights, the factory undercowl, big pannier lids. Beginning with Covid, I basically quit riding for about 3 years, partly because my wife was diagnosed with Altzheimer's disease. She died last September, and I've been back on the bike once, but plan on riding more in '24.
I had ridden an '83 Honda GL-650i Silverwing for about 20K miles before I bought my 1st new bike, a '99 Kawasaki Concours. I had two of those that I rode for 165K miles. I had seen a grand total of one NT before I bought my first one. It had been a 2008 in Mannheim, Germany, when I spent 20 days riding in western Europe. I had been fascinated by the NT650 before the NT700 came out. By 2010, I had had five knee replacements and the Concours was getting too heavy for me. I bought my NT in March of '10 and over the weekend of April 30-May 1, I rode the first ever Iron Butt certificate ride
ever in the whole Western Hemisphere on an NT.
Since then I've ridden another SS1K and a BBG. In '13, I retired and that summer took my "Epic Post-Retirement Ride to Alaska, the Four Corners of the US, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador." That was an 80 day, 21K mile jaunt.
I have ridden in temps from 13F-113F and I've never worried about temperature for the engine or coolant. I've also never burnt any oil on either of my bikes. I averaged about 46mpg on #1 and am averaging about 48mpg on Horse. The suspension has been fine for me and the bike corners well. I'm not a speed demon since I got old (81 in February), but I do ride in the mountains quite often. I live about 50 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park.
I've got external latches if the originals ever go out. The biggest maintenance issues I've had have been with final drives. I had two of them completely rebuilt after Honda mechanics neglected to grease the splines after having the rear wheels off for tire replacements. My rear shock went out about 100K on #1. I was up close to 300 pounds then and I'm down to 205 now which will probably extend shock life. I had some fork seals go in the first 50-60K miles, but then put fork gaitors from a mid-80's Triumph Bonneville on and haven't had any trouble like that since.
This is a picture of Horse:
BTW, where in East Texas are you. I graduated from high school in Longview in '61, and lived in the state until '79.
