But the real reason I came over here was not to talk about oilers. I've been asked to say more about the NC700X, now that I have had it for a couple of months.
First let me say this. The elizilla that covered big miles is gone. Vanished into a world of MRIs and medications and physical therapy and trying not to get exhausted because it takes days to recover. Motorcycling is dangerous enough even if you are strong enough to keep holding the bike up after 15 minutes of stop and go traffic, so I have become a fair weather and nice roads rider, avoiding things that are hard. The last couple motorcycle events I went to, I trailered. Around town I find I prefer to take the Ural, because the parking lots wear me out more than the road does. So even though I have had the NC700X since last winter, I only have a bit over 600 miles on it.
That being said, I love the NC700X. It is comfortable, easy to manage, and the DCT is extremely well sorted. I like the sport mode the best; it shifts a little later, lets the revs get a little higher. This isn't a bike that needs the snot revved out of it but the sport mode is still better. The automatic is even fine at parking lot speeds, though it has taken me a little while to trust it. The only thing I could complain of is that there's an occasional slight lurch when downshifting at around 15mph, which is not normally a problem unless you're not actually slowing to a stop. The one clunky downshift is only noticeable when you are slowing to 15pm for a hairpin and not slowing any further, and even then it's more disconcerting than scary. It's the sort of thing where I might just learn how to stop it happening, over time, and not even notice it anymore.
The NC700X forum is full of whining about the seat, so I thought I'd order the favored upgraded seat from Shad. But it turns out they are a terrible vendor that charges and then waits forever to ship, and after two months of waiting I canceled the order. I'm just as glad because frankly now that I have had two days with as much seat time as my health will likely ever let me get, and I had no issues whatsoever with the stock seat. Never even gave it a thought. And why spend several hundred bucks on a seat when it isn't needed?
At the end of the day when I am tired, it becomes very difficult to lift my left foot high enough to get it onto the footpeg. I might order lowered footpegs for it. I already know from my NT, that Knight Designs makes nice lower footpegs and they do have an offering for the NC700X, so that is probably what I will get.
The small windshield, well, the bike is very quiet and I don't feel any buffeting with the stock shield. But air blows up from underneath my helmet and dries out my eyeballs. I had this trouble with my VFR as well - it seems that bikes that are quiet and don't buffet, despite having small shields, are prone to this dry eyeball thing. I ordered a CalSci shield, and based on their directions for measuring height I got the medium. This turned out to be a huge shield. It worked well for fixing my eyeball problem, but it is too much windshield for the mounts to hold up; the mounts are just four well nuts. After a couple days the bottom two wellnuts started pulling out, and the top of the shield was angling back towards my nose, and the whole thing wiggled around. I took it off before it tore loose. I don't know what I will try next. There are different mounting mechanisms available, or maybe I'll just go back to stock and wear a helmet skirt of some sort.
The bike's handling is spectacular. I had great fun bombing around southeast Ohio on it a couple weeks ago. It reminds me of my old TDM in how it handles the twisties. I will enjoy this bike.
Oh, and I have been getting around 70mpg. It has great range despite the small tank.
