I gotta say, this thread produced a *lot* more info than I expected. We went to see the bike yesterday, but it was hard to tell much from the test ride. In the end, I decided to just buy this beautiful machine and sort it all out later. What else was I gonna do? Buy a Harley and pretend to be a lawyer?
Anyway, I'm glad to report that after five or six hours of riding today, I'm none the worse for it. (Well, maybe a little worse - I plowed through thick swarms of bugs for an hour on the way home this evening.)
My occasional back problems appear to be muscular in nature, as evidenced by a few clean x-rays over the last ten years. More daily exercise and one or more of the add-ons you guys are using will probably take care of this for me.
Many thanks for the terrific info!
Jack
