Features you'd keep

Heated grips! Definitely. I've got them for the first time ever and I don't know how I've coped for so long. (actually I do. I was younger!).

Sir Sid, you've made excellent points. I fully agree with your first two points. My current main machine is a Beemer R1200R and it has a gear indicator at least as large as the old Suzy ones. But here's an irony. Don't know about the rest of you, but (we're talking road riding) I mainly only need to know when I've hit top gear. Especially relevant on a four cylinder as you're constantly trying to engage a non existent 7th gear. But when you engage 6th gear on the Beemer, the lever goes "slack". So you can tell you're in top gear.

Not a fan of linked brakes. But then I'm old school so I usually apply a touch of rear brake as well as front anyway. There are plenty of occasions, especially given the state of the country roads around here, where I want to apply just rear brake. If I unexpectedly encounter gravel, mud, diesel etc but have committed to lean but want to scrub a few last second mph. If one of the wheels is going to break away, i'd rather it be the rear please! Even if the surface is fine but I feel I've perhaps gone in just a tad fast, a bit of trail braking saves the day without any deviation from projected line. Ive noticed tht the Beemer can be prone to rear wheel chatter and hop if the braking is heavy over rough surfaces. I've put this down to high unsparing weight and directness of shaft drive.

So, for me, linked brakes are not a feature.

I always thought anything more than a clock was gimmicky. But, I do miss my RT's ESA. And trip computer. And electric screen. Don't miss the servo brakes. Sold that bike in 2008 after I'd done Enduro Himalaya on a 500 Bullet, and decided any more than a frame, 15hp, knackered suspension, and a horn, were just over indulgent. Acted a bit hastily as it turns out, coz have since bought a Guzzi V7 (got a clock and sort of fuel gauge), F800GS (computer and heated grips), and Intruder 1800 (big shudders and a clock and guess fuel gauge). Also have a F650 which has nowt but a clock, and old fashioned reserve tap. All do they same job, just different levels of convenience at the end of the day.
But, if I was going to chose one of this batch...the RT has it.
Or maybe...the Guzzi...oh, bugger it...I dunno.

decent bungee hooks, a centre stand, fuel gauge or a reserve tap, quick and easy battery access (which the ST2 definitely does not have) - these things are all incredibly useful to me. The rest is nice to have, in varying degrees. In saying that since having the Diavel, with traction control, ABS and riding modes I do find that I am a little more cautious on bikes that don't have them. That however is just me being a bit bonkers.

Things that have made my life easier:
- Miles to Empty Indicator
- Gear Indicator
- Luggage Hooks
- Large Rear Racks
- Remote Preload Adjusters
- Shaft Drive (hassle free)
- Computer (bar selectable)
- Brembo Mono-Bloc Radial Brakes
- Retractable Grab Handles (Diavel)
- Traction Control (bacon saver)
- Quality Suspension
- Vibe-Free Good-View Mirrors
- LED Lighting

Things that weren't all that:
- Switchable Power Modes
- Electronic Suspension
- Anti Dive Forks
- Fuel Gauges (miles remaining better)
- Hard Luggage (security aside)
- Pillions :-D
- Ferrero Rocher

RIC - good call with "electric start" - how quickly we forget!!!

My BMW has really spoiled me with "features". Yes, I could live without most of them, if I had to, but they are nice-to-have.

One that I didn't think much of was the "tire pressure" monitoring system, which I now find extremely useful.

Whatever happened to comfortable seats? The best I've known was on a 1980's CX500, all day comfort as a dispatch rider, never had one quite as good since and the vast majority a lot worse. How difficult can it be??? It's not like they've changed much, still just a spongy thing to sit on. Like you say Cap'n, one of the key features of a bike and much underestimated!

Sidestands! Good point Sir Sidney. The bane of my life! Every bike I've had has fallen off one at some point. Except the Guzzi Cali's which have a fantastic long stand with a big foot that doesn't sink and locks in so it couldn't fold up anyway. I'd make them compulsory on all bikes I own if I could. Even the sidestand breakdown switch is easy to bypass!

It wasn't just different, it was ugly. Fantastic bike for what it was built for though, & it wasn't underestimated by the dispatch pilots!

Captain. I have pursued the seat issue with bike manufacturers and their lame response is always the same, regardless of respondent....Honda, Triumph, BMW or Royal Enfield.

The showroom headline price is paramount. Seats can be made to look good but to a low specification thus a low cost.

Pathetic or what? Well if you are in a Board Meeting and something has to give to achieve cost/price targets what would you give......a good looking seat that kills your backside but only after the average test ride of 2 hours. You bet!

That's why Corbin and Sargent have Ski Lodges in Aspen............love the bike market.....

"If, say Suzuki, got a reputation for always fitting very comfortable seats I'd always look favourably at buying one of their bikes, and look at them first."
... exactly. That precisely emphasises my whole point nicely, thank you!

Ooh, good call, tubeless; life is easier nowadays.

Some may read your 'a few bucks worth of padding instead of a lame excuse for it' comment as underplaying the cost, but I don't personally, and totally agree with your sentiment. For instance, in my personal experience Triumph gel seats are far better than the stock items whilst being very cheap to buy compared with aftermarket seat suppliers. Some, who have dismantled them claim all they've done was insert a thin gel pad to basically a stock seat. If that's true, then just how expensive would it have been to insert the pad into the stock seat to begin? I'd wager only about £15/$25? That'd make a big difference to comfort without affecting seat height or turning it into an inflatable cushion.

I get the business angle. HD actually make more money from clothing and accessories than they do on new machines. However, customizing and personalizing is one thing, but paying after purchase to basically make it work in a perfunctory kind of way is just a bit cheeky in my book. There's not too much wrong with a stock HD seat compared with most mainstream manufacturers. People can change them, but they rarely do so out of genuine necessity. The reverse is often true of typical European and Japanese machines by contrast.

A decent helmet lock is good-thinking. I use a pin-locking caribiner: http://www.bestrestproducts.com/c-159-helmetlok.aspx . But what I'd really like is a bike-secured retractable cable, so that I could lock either two helmets or a jacket to the bike. I think a maxi-scooter once had this feature? Probably not all-that on the scooter because it presumably had under-seat storage large enough for a lid. But for everyday motorcycles it would be downright convenient.

Nobody buys a bike because of it's convenience and price point efficiency vs a used car say, but I do think manufacturers are forgetting that function is important and it can be done with good form. An example is the elegant retractable grab handle of the Diavel, or fold-away out of site pillion pegs for instance. Both pretty, both useful. A pretty useful seat and helmet lock would make me look favorably at a bike/manufacturer.

I think the problem with the screen memory is the same as that of manually selectable electronic suspension. I.e. Once you get it to suit your everyday needs you don't generally feel the need to fettle with it further and so adding expense to the change mechanism is hard to justify to most buyers? I.e. You're paying for the ease of convenience at such times when you infrequently need to adjust it. I would sooner the cost go on a higher quality touring screen with sturdy manual multi-ways adjuster or in the electronic suspension sense on quality internals rather than motors to move those internals for me. This said, if there was a setting that you preferred say around town and another when on the autobahn presets with electronic adjustment might be a good thing, but I would personally think that only on large touring machines? Although I might be wrong!?!?!?

A decent helmet lock is a good call Navy Boy. Most are tucked down somewhere near the footrest (invariably on the wrong side when it's leaning over on the sidestand), are fiddly to use and allow the helmet to fill up with rain water. Putting a cold soggy helmet on in cold weather does not make for a happy rider!
I use a cheap small bicycle lock attatched to the rear grab handle, the helmet sits on the seat so keeps dry and is easy to get to.

Couldn't agree more Cap'n about elegant and functional design. An easy to use helmet lock that was built into the bike in an intelligent way would make a very favourable impression. It's the sort of detail that just needs some clever lad with a bit of imagination to design into a bike and it would cost peanuts. In a world where quite a few manufacturers are offering excellent but similar bikes it's the details that can tip the balance and leave you with a favourable impression of the bike - and build brand loyalty.

Oddly the best thought out (for it's intended use) bike I've ever had was an old Ural combi. For instance all the wheels were interchangable allowing for a spare to be carried, the air filter was an oilbath type (efficient and dead easy to clean with no parts needed). Excellent ball type chair fittings, wide & deep valenced mudguards which actually kept all the cr*p off, knee guards to take the worst of the spray and cold off the riders legs, a 'butty box' set in the top of the fuel tank for those bits and pieces. Everything was simple and well laid out, it reminded me of Victorian design - which is meant as high praise. I think very fondly of that bike, bought several more over the years and will almost certainly buy another despite the obvious shortfalls.

The vast majority of modern bikes are superb pieces of engineering, credit where it's due, but so often it's the practical details that manufacturers seem to fall on. Fuel tank range, comfortable seats, collapsable sidestands, inadequate bungie hooks, difficult to adjust headlights & rear shocks, inaccesable helmet locks, can you add more? The whole lot could be so easily and cheaply sorted.

I know of someone who relieved himself into another mates welly left just outside the tent after enjoying the beer at a winter rally. It was snowing so he didn't want to leave the tent.

Think it was the dragon rally, circa ' 78