Suggestions for a budget middleweight tourer

[V-Rider]

I'll add another vote in the Versys 650 camp.

Perfect long distance, practical tourer that handles well and with the road biased tyres it handles extremely well (even for my knee-down antics!) Comes with a range of accessories to make it an even better bike and I did 30,000 miles or so in three years on mine!

Extremely reliable too, only main issues are warping front discs, though that's more down to caliper servicing / rebuilds (which I recommend once before winter every year regardless and it never happens).

The coils have metal sleeves (no idea why they're there!) which rust and expand, seizing them into the heads. Best to remove them, dremel the metal sleeves off and save the hassle from ever happening.

Exhaust can snap at the weld which is mainly due to vibration. Not difficult to replace for another can and plenty of used ones about or you can re-weld it.

Otherwise, very reliable bike and mine suffered a hard life, kept coming back for more!