BMW F450GS Easy Ride Clutch (ERC) thoughts

BMW's top end F450GS 'Trophy' version comes as standard with a Recluse-type centrifugal 'easy ride clutch' (ERC) which was commended by riders at the press launch for its ease of use in off-pavement riding. I carried out the tests in this video at a time when I had ridden the bike less than two miles, so my riding was tentative in places!! And I will happily concur that other test riders might have totally different opinions to mine, so please bear with me. CAN'T STALL: There is unquestionably one advantage that cannot be challenged—it is impossible to stall the bike. ROLLING BACKWARDS IN GEAR: There is unquestionably one disadvantage that cannot be challenged—even if left in gear, the bike rolls backwards (or forwards) when stopped on a slope with the engine off or at low revs. When parked up, the side stand will hold the bike on a slight slope, and if there's a kerb, you could always park the bike with the back wheel into the kerb to stop it rolling. But if stopped off-road half way up a very steep climb, the front brake will skid on the slope so dismounting means balancing the bike by running the engine at 3000+ rpm. STARTING THE BIKE: When the bike is started from cold, it initially runs at about 2200 rpm, then after a minute drops back to it's normal idle speed of 1600 rpm. You can put it in gear, let out the clutch, and nothing happens. MOVING OFF IN TRAFFIC: To set off you need to increase revs to more than 3000 as the clutch doesn't start to bite until then. If in commuter mode at the traffic lights this undoubtedly works well, as you just open the throttle to 4000 rpm and the bike takes off. MOVING OFF AT LOW SPEED: But if you are manoeuvring slowly in a circle as I was at the start of this video, you are having to control forward movement on the throttle and as you can see I found this strange. Maybe this will become easier as you become used to it, but in the meantime I would recommend using the clutch as the control. Even then, it's still strange as you have to hold the revs at more than 3000 rpm otherwise you lose momentum and the bike topples over. ENGINE BRAKING: My next experiment was to see how long the ERC held onto the engine for braking. This was difficult to assess but was somewhere between 2200 and the idle speed of 1600, so reasonably OK. However, on an enduro bike, when descending steep sections under control, I often use brakes in conjunction with keeping the engine in gear. Off road ABS prevents the front wheel from locking, but the rear can still lock up. On a fuel-injected bike the fuel supply is cut when there's no throttle, the braking causes the engine to slows to below idle speed, but the fact it's still turning prevents the rear wheel from locking up. You wouldn't be able to do this with the ERC. SAME REVS, ANY GEAR: The quick shifter works well, there's no need to use the clutch, no need to close the throttle when upshifting, no need to blip the throttle when downshifting (though you might see me doing all three of these in the video). What I found unsettling was that if I was at 3500 in 3rd gear, I could shift into 4th, 5th, and 6th, and the revs would stay the same. Normally I watch the rev counter to assess gear changes, but found it was the gear indicator I needed to keep an eye on. CONCLUSION: I'm normally an enthusiastic adopted of new technology. But I found the problems in slow speed manoeuvring most disconcerting, though I am sure that in time I would get used to this, similarly the other points I make. The problem with the bike rolling downhill could be resolved with a length of velcro tape fixed to the right handlebar. But ultimately I have to ask whether I appreciate any of the good points of the ERC enough to want it, and at the moment I can't say that I do. I don't want to be accused of confirmation bias, but I (currently) don't regret my decision to switch my order from a Trophy to an Exclusive.