That's pretty much all I did. Copy/pasted from my FB post:
In order of rides taken:
Gold Wing (first time) - massive thing. Parking lot - I had to get my mind off of how and heavy it is by focusing on what's in coming up. Freeway no problem - the weight smothers the any bumps. Twisties - it would take some time to get comfortable.
Indian Chief (first time on a cruiser) - The engine is a lot of fun. Great grunt, great sound. It turns over so slow - at 70mph it's doing about 2500rpm - very mellow. The windscreen worked okay. I couldn't figure out how to sit on it - slung back, hurt my back ... sitting upright took work. It was fun, but I don't think I could ride it for more than an hour.
Part 2
Zero SR - the silence is impressive. The thrust is impressive. The handling, braking, comfort ... all very good. I really like it and if it weren't for range considerations ($$ too) it would be mine.
Triumph Scrambler 1200 - that bike makes me chuckle every time I see a photo, it looks like so much fun. Riding was also way fun. I loved the engine - so torquey and good vibes too. Great a low speed, quickly getting to high speed - fun on the twisties. Too much wind on the freeway, though. (I look for bikes that are at least decent at all uses.) The fonts in the instruments are too small and 'fine.' The bike is as fun as it looks - I'll still dream about owning one, though it doesn't fulfill all my needs.
Part 3
Triumph Tiger 1200 - it's a big ol' boy, but a lot of that's plastic (the faux gas tank stuff). It's very comfortable in all ways - parking lot, freeway, twisties. If you've consumed some reviews you know that they changed the firing order to get better traction. This does give it some rough qualities that I'm not totally sold on. (BTW, I ride a Sprint 955i - so a triple but smooth.) All-in-all I liked the bike, but adventure bikes just don't light my fire.
Triumph Speed Triple - Oh man! Now we're talking! (I'm biased towards sporty bikes, admittedly.) This bike is small, fast and surprisingly comfortable (I'm 6'2"). On the freeway it's 'clean air,' more clean than on the Scrambler for some reason. The acceleration is awesome. The suspension wasn't too harsh, I didn't think (it's been criticized for this) The quick shifter (don't laugh but I totally forgot about this feature until I rode this bike) was fun ... takes some practice to upshift smoothly. Neutral was a little hard to find on both this and the Tiger ... something to do with the quick shifter? Getting back on my 20 year old Sprint I was reminded just how fast the S3 is. (You know the Zero SR is also impressively fast, but my spin on it was in a group ride so exploring it was limited.)
BMW R1200RS - Great riding position, for me anyway. It was my first time on a boxer in decades ... only banged my shin once!
I loved the feel of the engine, at all speeds. Slow parking lot maneuvering was a little strange, somehow the front wheel felt heavy, like waiving a large object in front of you. Is it something to do with the rake? Once out of the parking lot all was good - the bike handles well at high speed and on the twisties, with good wind protection and comfortable position. The 'shift assist' system was a little awkward for me - I had a hard time upshifting without jerky response - practice I suppose. With practicality in mind this would probably be the bike I'd go for, though I didn't like the low speed steering.
KTM 890 Adventure - This bike and outing was the most disappointing. Frankly I wanted to ride the Super Duke but only the 890 was available - it was not my bike of choice. I don't come from a dirt bike background and I have feeling I don't really appreciate a bike like this. The engine is rough and while it had very good low-end power/torque, it seems to top out at about 5k. The bike was poorly prepped, with controls very much out of place (levers up, shifter way up ... weird). The KTM crew was the most conservative in that the group leaders really kept the ride slow - it was condescending.