A story:
Rode Mufasa to Texas RAA in 2019. Had fun, got home to find scratches and a generally ruined paint job from luggage choice.
Pulled the bike apart, painted it, powder coated the wheels, and never put it back together completely (rear wheel needs bearings and mounting, that's it): a conscious decision to force me to stay off it as I neared military retirement to avoid getting a benefit ending felonious speeding ticket. That 1 year off met COVID, and my retirement got pushed 18 months, which ended up extending my riding hiatus to about 2.5 years, well, that is, until June 25th 2022....
Having retired from the military and going on RAA West 2022, I was faced with the prospect of putting Mufasa back together (only about 2 hours of work lol) and riding that wild animal on another long trip with my rusty skills and with every likelihood of fscking up my paint work, driving my Mini, or buying a new bike, buying a new bike won the day.
The bikes in consideration were a short list... Superduke 1290 GT, H2 SX, ZX-14R, or the new revised Busa. Then, I found a youngling I wasn't aware existed.... The Z H2. 170hp/87ft-lb, at the wheel stock, all the rider aids in existence, and far more comfortable than all others up for consideration...SOLD. Should I want to raise power it's trivial....30 minute ride to Nels shop and ride away with 210whp/100ft-lb 30 minutes later for a measly $299....lmao.
Walked in at 930 AM, found it, a 0 mile 2021 left over marked down $1500, rode out on my new bike by 1130 AM with a 4 year end to end warranty and lifetime engine warranty.
I don't much give a crap about what's faster straight line anymore...I'll still play, but I feel like I flew VERY close to the sun on Mufasa, multiple times, and I'm done tempting fate with 180+mph shots in the mountains.
In all honesty, the Z H2 is a better fit for me. Corners better, stops better, it's faster than anything less than a 230whp rocket, no heat issues whatsoever, has a lockup/slipper clutch, up/down blipping QS, corner TC, corner ABS, LAUNCH CONTROL..., antiwheelie (yay full throttle 2nd gear riiiiips), and in a full tuck it's more stable at high speed than Mufasa.
I still love R3s (04-16s). I don't regret anything I did to Mufasa, I learned a TON modifying it then riding the piss out of it. It 100% made me a better rider to tame the beast without rider aids. Tracking the D955i taught me when I'm practiced and apply myself, I'm a faster rider than the D955i or Mufasa are bikes, and that calmed my riding a lot. Catching and passing a "faster" rider on a brand new Panigale on the track and keeping him behind me helped, but also showed me I'm probably riding at 9.9/10ths of what the D955i can do when I started dragging pegs mid corner while hanging off....insane looking back on it considering I was on BT016 tires haha.
That said, for those who can tolerate the seat height and riding position of a Z H2, that want a bike that works with you instead of against you, will smoke any stock engine rocket (and most of the built ones) of any year at drags, rolls, or cornering, yet has better manners at all speeds, and has the same torque-all-the-time top gear roll on ability and tries to pull your arms off feel....test ride a Z H2. It is, in my opinion the better bike from top to bottom (expected from 20 years of innovation and a more expensive bike).
Triumph lost me when the R3R/GT didn't include launch control. Didn't reduce weight lower than Mufasa. Didn't change geometry beyond Mufasa. Didn't deliver 200hp at the crank. They took every excuse I could make to justify buying one and pissed it away. I am not their target audience, I embrace that now instead of being upset by it.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and why I left the forums...I don't like the changes that occured around early 2019 so rather than continually getting banned for previously acceptable behavior I left. Meh.