“I hear you. I had been toying with getting a Concours 14, and then the BMW S1000RR came out....”
My wrists and neck wouldn’t appreciate the S1000RR for very long, although it’s sure pretty sweet. I’m currently riding a Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom and have been thinking about getting a new bike and the Connie 14 was in the running, but I’ve been thinking that any bike like that would put my license in serious jeopardy. It’d be great if I wanted to cruise the highway at 120 mph, but unfortunately I don’t live in Germany. They passed a law here last year that 50 km/h (30 mph) over the limit is now considered street racing, for which your vehicle can be impounded and your license suspended for 7 (or was it 10) days on the side of the road by the police, before you even get as far as traffic court. That has definitely tempered my riding habits, which I guess was the intention, although of course I only ever opened it up in places where it was safe (at least for other people) for me to do so.
Happy hunting for a new ride. I guess I'm waiting to be inspired like when the ZX-11 came out; it was so much more bike than anything else out there, I snapped one up in April that year, and had put over 10,000 miles on it that summer.