Mystery Mission II

Today started at 35 degrees and mostly cloudy as we threw a leg over our perspective rides. Breakfast was served not to far from our secreet mountain hideaway, and by the time we straddled the motorcycles it had warmed up to the mid 40's. I had all my cold weather gear on, and at our first gas stop I removed gloves and a sweatshirt, leaving only jacket liners and middleweight gloves.
But you don't want to hear weather reports and gear reviews.
You want to hear about the two supersecret motorcycles I rode today. All I can say right here is that one of them had an automatic transmission. Yes you read that correctly automatic, fully shift free motorcycle. It even had a parking brake. GOing into this I assumed I would not like this bike at all. The word 'Gimmick' Springs to mind easily. Guess what? If I was to buy one of these mazchines it would definitely be with the automatic. Now get this, it is not perfect, in the twisty stuff I found myself going back to the manual mode (You can switch between fully auto or manual on the fly) In corners you want to be manually shifting this motorcycle, but on the highway or in anything that is not technical, the 'S' mode is perfect. There is another mode called 'D' for drive, that to me is useless, it shifts far too early, but the 'S' mode was spot on. Was this a fun bike to ride? Very muich so. I think sometimes we lose the fun factor in our motorcycles, what with looking for hard luggage, more power, and longer range. I know riding this reminded me of my YZF600R as far as fun factor goes. It handled great, the ergoes were pretty good, though I think the knee bend was a little tight by a hair. The frame is super stiff, which is a major plus. It is very hard to make a mistake on this bike, at least in the few hours I rode it. To be honest I wasn't caring how much the fuel guage went down or what was going on around me.All I wanted to do was keep riding. This was a fun motorcycle to ride, and highly technologically advcancxed. Could I own this motorcycle? Definitely, if not for one thing...The price. at the moment the retail price of this motorcycle is just too steep. But that being said this bike is put together very nicely and is great to ride.