german engineering is always great. look at german autos porsche audi bmw all great examples of well built cars. they engineer these autos to run flatout on the autobahn. i lived in germany from 1995 to 1998 and got passed,like i was standing still, while cruising at 130mph many times so think about what those engineers know versus japanese or american engineers. i would buy one but not the first production year remember the canondale quads?