Stryke 1...

Sorry about the subject - I'm sure it's been done before. I've been searching for a bigger bike to replace my '98 Kawasaki Vulcan 750. After considering a bunch of different bikes in 2010, I stopped looking because I didn't see anything I really liked. Arter having a 750 for about 12 years (and a 550 for 10 years before that) I didn't really want to go too big. I was looking for something like a Sporster that wasn't a Sportster.

Earlier this year I started thinking about a new bike again and came across the Stryker. After lurking on here for a while, I went to my local dealership here in Marlyland to see one in real life. They had a rust one, and it looked awesome. My wife loved it, and she's not really into bikes (although she does ride on the back sometimes). I asked him if I could do a test ride soon (it was pouring rain that day) and they said to come back during the week.

I took that ride today, and was really impressed. I was concerned about the bike being so LONG, but it was easy to handle, had tons of power, handled beautifully at slow speeds, and it looks amazing. So we started to talk about buying one. It was a very short conversation for a couple of reasons...

1. The base price was $10,600 and they were pretty unwilling to budge at all. The price out the door after destination, tax, and all the other stuff was going to be $12,400. After seeing people on this site say that they paid between $9500 and $10,500 OUT THE DOOR, I didn't want to be the guy who got ripped off. When people say they paid $10,500 out the door, does that include all the other stuff like tax, freight, destination, tags, etc? Am I misunderstanding what "out the door" means?

2. Even if I was willing to pay the 12K, I wanted the blue, not the rust. They told me that they didntnhave the blue in stock and they wanted to sell their stock. They said that if they had to order one, it would cost a lot more.

3. They said that this week (or next week?) is the Yamaha Dealer's Conference and they were presenting the 2012 models. Is that true? Anyone know anything about the 2012? Any major changes?

I know - a long winded post. Sorry. Just wanted to relate my experience. Any help in setting my expectations would be GREATLY appreciated!