I'm glad you guys "get it", have to say when it comes to bike forums, I've enjoyed this the most by far. Each of these bikes has an interesting story.
The Honda CB1100 has all of Honda's CB heritage rolled up and takes me back to my previous bikes over the years (CB400F, "Suzuki" GS750EC, CB750C & 750 Nighthawk) She's the corvette I'll never own and each time I take her out I think of Honda's official video
. The only thing that might have come close to taking her spot would have been if Suzuki had decided to bring out a replica of the Wes Cooley GS1000S.
The VStar 950T started out being an attempt at having a bike that my wife would be comfortable as a passenger on. For a midsize cruiser I think Star/Yamaha nailed the design. It's a Road King without the muscle. If you want to leisurely ride somewhere and not try to carve twisty roads or you want to attend a bike week rally and putter around with the crowd this works. At the moment this is the bike we would take trips on.
The Versys can be best described as the bike that won't go away. I've never been a fan of Kawasaki, in the 70s their bikes were the hooligans of speed but notorious for handling. I thought I would never own one but in '08 I saw the Versys at the motorcycle show and was just blown away by it. Something about the headlight design, the neutral riding position, having a good size gas tank, triple disc brakes and all in a 400 lb package and of course the red color was the finishing touch.
I was at first cynical about a parallel twin design and having to deal with issues of a water cooled engine but I had to do it so we bought one new back in '08.
After having it for a short time it was a love/hate relationship. I loved riding it, although it sounded like a sewing machine, the power for the bike worked well and it's extremely flick-able for a nice ride. The hate part is the 33.1 seat height. Having a 30" inseam and being 5'8" makes the bike just tall enough to make stopping a thought process and the pillion's height annoys my wife. Getting a low gel seat did help to a degree but over a 7 year period we have bought 6 models of the '08. Not once has any of bikes been down or had mechanical problems, it was just the inner struggle of trying to deal with its quirks. Also the first year of the bike the insurance classified it as a sport bike so the insurance was double comparable cruiser so we'd keep one for about 6-10 months then flip it and I'd miss it after about 6 months and start window shopping and another would wind up back in the garage and all 6 have been the '08 red model. It took about a year for the insurance companies to get the classification sorted out to a more reasonable cost.
They redesigned it in '10 changing the headlight look that I was first drawn to and while the new model has some very nice changes I'm not a fan of the Ninja front end look or the green / white colors. Brand loyalty is great but you need to judge each new model on its merits and not who makes it, you may find that your favorite bike is not what you expect at all but a quirky bike that has done surprising well in all parts of the world. Yes I would have to say the Versys has been my surprisingly favorite over the years and it only works better the more "farkles" you add.
