Interesting discussion. And that last question interests me too> I am actually (depending on whether I am at my winter or summer location ) either 2 or 8 hours away from my nearrest dealer, and I doubt (in Northern Ontario) that that is going to change anytime soon, so for me as well , the only practical way to use a warranty ( especially if the problem immobilizes the bike) would be to do my own diagnostics and send parts by courier. Obviously that level of flexibility would have to be worked out with the individual dealer, but the question is, with a manual in hand and some time , can the average rider , guided by a dealer accomplish this. ?
Where I have come to is I really love these bikes and have no concerns about the mechanicals at all, or , for that matter , about the practical performance limitations.It is all down to electrics now. because with my distances, I can't see running back and forth to fiddle with electrical fixes no matter how good the warranty is . ( and I completely believe Kevin's statement that RE stands behind their product) . I am actually hoping that the glitches whatever they are, get sorted out at the factory end to reduce the occurrence of problems. And, maybe the problems are really very few and ex agerated on a forum like this---lots of guys could be riding completely problem free and just never chime in.
Unrelated to that I have a couple of other questions from this post:
1) Chris G 5: What seat is that that you have on your bike in the little thumbnail picture ? Looks great.
2)jjoe256 What did you do behind your lisette seat to deal with the "dreaded G 5 frame' over the rear fender ?
Thanks Nigel