Welcome mate, I love that blue colour too, I've had a gen3 for over 2 years now, absolutely superb bike and a step up from the gen2 I owned before with the main benefits being roomier riding position, DDC, faster throttle response, autoblipper (worth changing for that alone) and cruise control.
Welcome along - Cannock eh.. you have the A38 not far from there - thats about as curvaceous as I tend to be comfortable with The HP4 is indeed a classy bit of kit from what I've seen/read but the 2015 is close enough for most people, unless you like the exclusivity and don't mind paying for it. I bet you could get a 2015 for about 10k but a HP4 would cost you (maybe) 50% more.
Its a bit of a tough one to be fair, prefer the look of my gen2 but with the gen 3 tech it is tempting.
Yeh by speaking to the guys at motorrad seems the 2015 really is pretty close to the hp4 and theres not much in it..dont plan on changing again if i do..100% for keeps so wont mind spending that little bit extra
Sorry you can't do pics till your username changes to green (colour).
We have manual steps to verify new accounts and only one person has the key currently. When Soofsayer says hello you will be allowed to post pics. Sorry but it's a great way to stop spammers dead.
Welcome to the forum and lovely bike!
I think that blue is the best colour BMW has done thus far.
As for HP4 vs 15, I have a 15 and it's fantastic!
The 15 > model bikes have a full ride by wire throttle, the auto blipper and a configurable "user mode" which is great, so I'd personally go for a 15> in future.
Hope you have loads of great times with your SThou and enjoy the forum!