Got lucky a few days ago with the weather. Back where my parents live, went on a motorcycle ride with my buddy again since he had the day off and the weather was relatively warm (10-12° max), this time on his BMW S1000R. Took a leisurely ride for 2h on some of the backroads, crossed 3 county lines. Not very technical or hilly (actually, very flat) but the coarse loose pavement was its own bag of marbles.
https://youtu.be/zZvvbQPHPr0Thoughts:
1. Heated grips are nice
2. BMWs are easy to ride, if not totally soul-stirring.
3. I don't desire a litre bike. That "leave it in any gear" torque is cool, but it's impossible to really "use all the power". I'm the kind of guy who likes to wring the last bit out of a car/bike.......
4. The electronic gizmos (adjustable damping, ride modes, cruise control......) are interesting and I tried them all. Only care for the quickshifter, which isn't quite 100% there in this implementation.
5. Unsurprisingly, I see the appeal of naked bikes.........but I still prefer a real windscreen and the forward riding position. I found myself head down, body forward 80% of the time just out of habit.
Would be interesting to see how my impressions would change if I rode one of these in my "home" territory in the mountains.