update: I purchased this bike!
Needs
(and what the V-Strom offers):
- comfort: upright riding position, feet flat on the ground at stop, no major fatigue from just cruising
(fairly hard to judge from intarweb reviews and a brief sit on it at the dealership)
- great mpg: would love 60+
(concensus seems to be ~52)
- safety: high speed travel [...]
