kmac said:
ESA is a gadget. Not that it has no use or is never needed, just not usually necessary. My riding buddy has the new Multi with that and he never uses it. A lot of bmw guys have it and many have had it break down and it is CRAZY expensive to fix....probably better off just getting stock stuff sorted and use that.
It breaks down because it's BMW. They put stuff on bikes that's not tested enough and then make changes as warranty claims start coming in. It must be cheaper for them to do it that way than to spend years testing and making sure their stuff works and is reliable in the long term like Yamaha did. This is why after over a dozen BMW's, I'm on a '12 SuperTen and '13 FJR.
I'm getting a 2014 SuperTen. If I have a choice, I would opt out of getting it with ESA because it's not something I feel I need. It's all going to depend on the price point in Canada and that's if we even get a choice. Very often we get only the fully loaded model only whereas in the US, you have multiple models of the same vehicle to chose from, be it cars or bikes, as Canada is a much smaller market, so manufacturers want to maximize their profits and minimize their inventory.
I have to have factory integrated heated grips, and if those are only offered on the ESA equipped model, and cannot be retrofitted and controlled by the bike's computer, like they are on the '13 FJR, where all operations are handled from the Menu button, then I'm going to take a leap of faith because it's a Yamaha and get the ESA model, assuming that the base model will also have cruise control which for me is a must. If it does and the heated grips can be added and controlled by the left hand switch cluster, then I may go that way.
If the price difference is a $1000 for the ESA model and for that you get ESA, heated grips, and center stand, then that's the way I'll go. I don't care for the top case rack (which I will remove right away) or the passenger grab handles.
