Neutral is useful for lubing the chain and for rolling the bike any distance. IIRC, somebody mentioned that it might even satisfy a legal requirement. My main use, almost on a daily basis, is to let interested onlookers listen to the motor rev in neutral.
The security feature to prevent idiots from making false starts is real: shortly after purchasing the Empulse, an idiot that I know intimately had started up the bike and went to back it out of a diagonal street parking place. The crown of the street was steeper than I had assessed when I rushed into the spot, late for an appointment (or I would have backed IN to the slot), and I had a bit of trouble backing the bike up. Because there was no engine noise, I totally went oblivious to the fact that the throttle was hot. Because I had my head turned to see oncoming traffic behind me, I couldn't see the blinky green lights. As you can guess: I grabbed the grips to give a big haul backward, which activated the throttle and the Empulse lurched forward like the champ-off-the-line that it is, hit the curb at a 60 degree angle which was enough to throw me off balance, just as the front wheel hopped the curb.
Man, talk about waking you out of your reverie!
One thing I learned (aside from not starting the bike until I back it up!), is that the Empulse is not an easy bike to lift by oneself when the front wheel is on the sidewalk and the back wheel is in the gutter. Who knows... if the bike had been in Neutral, it might have rolled back easier too.
Frame savers worked, BTW. Sorry for highjacking the thread...
