Hey Leary, I know you mentioned before to stay away from RX DI's. The 2002 I have listed above is a GTX DI I believe. Do I stay away from all DI's or just RX DI's
myself.. I stay away from ALL di's.. but
honestly its because they are over my head (and over the head of quite a few of us) I think earlier in the thread there was a poster named ski-d00 that feels differently, and again, its not over his head, and he's not that far from you. if you know how to fix them, or know the RIGHT person that can, then there is no real reason to be terrified of them, but cautious might be a better word, like I said, when they run right.... they actually run better than a carb'd engine, and get better fuel economy. Also, IMO, DI parts are becoming easier to find as good used parts since there more part out's than repairs on those models. And keep in mind, I don't always practice what I preach, I recently bought a GP1300R that's over my head, the only truly qualified guy is 2 hours drive from me, and i'm making the 240 mile round trip drive tomorrow to drop it off to the RIGHT GUY.
a suggestion might be to have a PM conversation and or phone call with ski-d00 about the subject of Di's you might get enlightened, or at least go into a purchase knowing with some level of confidence that somebody has your back if you run into troubles.
my write up on model selection was based my personal bias against Di's AND on the criteria you put into your responses, and your lack of technical background on ski's, which was in your first post. I always suggest that you should use the KISS method if your jumping into ski's for the first time, which basically means that more people locally, (and online of course) will be qualified to help you, guide you, and or just fix it for you for a fee.
so don't be afraid, just cautious,, honestly, I can't fix much stuff on my Dodge 5.9 either, but I bought it anyway, however, I'm also comfortable that there are about 150 mechanics within a short drive or tow... that CAN fix it...
with a DI, you won't be that lucky, you might just have 1 or 2 at best.
with that said, if your serious about a DI ski, then it would be in your best interests to know
ahead of time who your going to call and go visit when things turn south, how far away they are, and how much the shop rate is, if you find the answer's to those question's acceptable, then dig in, you'll love it.
We really need to get you down to Florida with an empty double trailer, the deals are so much better down here ! lol
oh, one thing I forgot to add... generally you'll find us as a group are a cheap azz bunch that prefer to buy ski's needing some mechanical or aesthetic love, ie: we like to buy under market value. So you'll be hard pressed to present a listing on a ski that we all agree is a good ski and a good price. (we're DIY forum members, we like to fix stuff, and we like to buy them cheap) so keep our opinions on price and stuff in mind when we respond, everything looks expensive to us if its more than 70% of retail!