Originally Posted by Wordbiker

I think it's just pure preference according to how the individual rides and where.

All my adult life I've lived in mountainous areas and have preferred manual transmissions in my vehicles. The manual gives much more control when climbing mountain passes, passing other cars or driving on rough roads. Once into the city and sitting in traffic, I often wish for an automatic tranny to avoid the need for a clutch.

I have bikes with both types of transmissions, as well as single gear bikes...and I like the internal for certain types of riding. It has these advantages:

*Clean look to the bike
*Allows shifting at a stop
*Allows a chainguard or chaincase
*Allows the use of a wider, stronger chain
*Simplifies shifting to a very intuitive interface
*Mechanically simple (until it's rebuild time)
*Nostalgic appearance

Different strokes for different folks.