Well come on. You have to call it somewhere, don't you? Don't want to pay for someone's time to paint it just the way you want (a custom job will be at least as good as a generic factory job if the painter has any skills. And yes, you pay for those skills) and then you worry that some new thing..power..colors..whatever..will come out later. Well OF COURSE they will. That's the way it works. At some point, you just have to make the call and live/love with it, right? Want to be sure you have the last, latest and greatest...then have someone buy it for you and then park it outside the hospital window so you can look at it just before you kick the bucket.
Screw something new, I'd say that you should be looking for a used bike that fits your needs. That way you at least find something that someone optioned more exactly to your liking and you'll have a more averaged view of how it fits into the spectrum of possibilities. Buying new always brings with it a greater danger of 'shoulda-woulda-coulda waited until next year' for whatever may come. God knows there are probably a lot of 2016 Rushmore buyers crying their beers (completely unneeded so, IMHO, as they are great even if the M8 is new and shiny).

 

Kinda like waiting to buy a new computer, full well knowing that in a year, you'll be able to get twice the power, for half the cost!

(I shoulda stuck with my Commodore64 and dial-up!)

Anyone remember "CompuServe?"

 

I can remember when the 64 was the rage. I started out with a Texas Instruments TI99-4A with no drive. I would program games into it using machine language that would take all day of typing in nothing but numbers. Once you shut off the computer it would be gone and you would have to key it all in again. I was so happy when I got my C64 and a floppy drive.

 

Oh yeah. Then my dad brought home the Atari 800 with dual floppies

 

If I have to, I would just bite the bullet and the LR S in the black color. I have never paid for a custom paint job on anything.

By the way, I recall way back in the early 80s the Texas Instruments computer my friend had that you used cassette tapes to load the programs. Loved playing Tunnels of Doom.

 

When putting your bike away for the winter, who does an oil change and who waits to do the oil change in the spring?

 

I always do one in the fall so there is fresh oil in the engine for storage and less chance of sludge buildup. Also from damage from acid that builds up in the oil with usage causing any damage. Never start and run the engine when it is in storage as it will not get up to proper operating temperature causing moisture to build up in the engine.

 

The weather has been such in the last number of years that there are really nice 50 degree days in Jan and Feb where I actually can get out and ride 50-60 miles at a time. My bike is usually ridden into December and then not ridden for a few weeks at a time in Jan, Feb and March.

Any thoughts on whether it is better for the bike to store it hooked up to a battery tender until full riding season returns and not ride it all during the winter?

 

I'm in your boat. I always use a tender year 'round. But I will ride anytime I can as long as there isn't snow and salt on the ground and it's upper 20's or higher. Even in the summer thought I use a tender.

 

Getting out for a couple of rides won't hurt it any. It is the ones that start it up and let it idle for awhile and shut it off again. All that does is build up moisture in the engine. If you are taking it out for the odd ride you are getting it up to operating temperature which will evaporate any moisture. Or at least that is what I was taught years ago. (I'm not saying how many )