[sykospain]

Altho' many many people spend their hard-earned money on a new BMW these days, judging by the yearly BMW Motorrad sales figures, personally I'd never ever buy one of the new models. Too many out-sourced Chinese-made parts for my liking : - wet clutch, starter, alternator, lamps, loom, display, etc., etc. And yet still marketed at absolutely ridiculously-elevated prices.

No, an entirely Berlin-made BMW bike is my preferred choice after 45 years of biking. Built in the days before the suits from the Munich Car Division of BMW AG got their hands on the Spandau plant in Berlin and started cutting corners to make more profit. No - never a new bike.

EXCEPT for the new bike I bought 19 months ago - a phenomenal bog-standard naked bike that's described as a'commuter' but is an absolute revelation. The auto-transmission 6-speed Honda NC750S-DCT with twin clutches, no clutch lever and no gear pedal. All Japan made, nothing in it from Korea or Thailand or anywhere else that Honda makes bikes. It's just ousted the R1200 from the most-sold top-spot listing here in Spain. And the easiest-riding, nippiest, flickiest, most confidence-inspiring ride I've ever been on in over 40 years. With faster automatic gearchanges than I could ever make with a manual tranny. With the options of two different auto modes, Drive and Sport, or on-the-fly override of the auto by using the left-bar paddles: one for up changes and the other for downshifts. Together with the option of using the bike entirely in manual. And the fuel frugality has to be experienced to be believed. I regularly get 85 mph from a parallel twin-cylinder 270 degree 750cc steed.
Makes me wonder why it's taken so long for motorcycles to follow cars into the auto-transmission world of travel. About 45 years. Try an NC bike - you'll be completely gob-smacked.
I must mention that I have no connection whatever with the Honda Motor Company.
AL in s.e. Spain