Thirty minutes later I was re-following my own instructions to downgrade to v4.30 as of course the issue wasn’t fixed.

Yesterday, some 4 days after I thought I opened a support ticket but wasn’t sure due to not receiving any acknowledgement at all, a Garmin support rep took it on themselves to respond to me. Four days? Come on Garmin – that’s rubbish service in this day and age no matter how you look at it.

My initial enquiry, which was before I had all the facts or had experimented to find the isolated circumstances of the issue, looked something like this…

Escalation from KANA On Demand Self Service  Subject: Fails to remember active route

Message: Worked fine until update from 4.30 to 4.40. Since then, when in the BMW motorcycle mount on a K1600GT the unit will forget it is on a route when it’s switched off. Have tried a hard reset, made no difference. Lots of people on forums reporting the same problem. Renders the unit almost useless.

Product Group:

BMW

Product:

BMW Motorrad IV

Serial Number:

1MV026819

Software Version:

4.40

To which I received this helpful support response…

Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe.

I am sorry to hear of your troubles and am happy to help.

We are now running Software Version 4.50 for the zumo 660. Please can you update it using the WebUpdater and then test the device.

If there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know.

Alternatively you can search for a solution here:

http://www.garmin.co.uk/support

Kind regards,

So naturally, with the experience of already trying v4.50 I responded as follows…

Since sending this support request I have been able to do further investigation and here’s the result.

This problem is entirely to do with how the unit is powered off. With a route active if the unit is powered off from it’s switch then the next time it is powered on it will have remembered it is on a route. However, if it is powered off by cutting the power such as when it’s in a cradle and the ignition is switched off, whether I wait 30 seconds or press switch off now, the next time it is powered on it will NOT have remembered it is on a route.

This bug was introduced with v4.40 and it is still a bug in v4.50 which I tested yesterday.

Currently I have downgraded the unit to v4.30 as it is not a bug in this version.

Switching the unit off by it’s power switch is not an option on the BMW K1600GT as it is built into the dash board.

Please let me know when this issue will be fixed.

Many thanks,

To which I received the following some hours later…

Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe.

We have tried to replicate the issue with software version 4.30, 4.40 & 4.50 and cannot seem to reproduce it at all. It does take around 20 seconds before the route is found after turning the device back on but it does find the route.

If there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know.

Alternatively you can search for a solution here:

http://www.garmin.co.uk/support

Kind regards,

Very polite, and it seems as though they’re trying to be very helpful but then I thought, I wonder what set up they actually tried this in and how much notice they’ve actually taken of the circumstances required to create the issue? So, I responded as follows…

Thanks for the info but I can assure you I am not the only one reporting this problem. There are many others in the same boat if you look at many of the forums.

Are you trying this on a standard Zumo 660 or a BMW Navigator IV?

Perhaps that makes a difference. Also, perhaps it’s affected by the BMW Navigator mount which has I believe different functions to the standard Zumo mount. Also, just to be sure you’ve understood, it’s only a problem when the device is in a mount and is switched off by way of cutting the power to the mount, not by switching it off from its own power button.

Finally, you have to leave the device off for at least 15 minutes. Starting it up in 5 to 10 minutes, yes it will still know it’s on a route, but leave it off for more than 10 minutes and it forgets… every time… without fail…on v 4.40 or v4.50. I have loaded both these versions a few times now and performed master resets and it makes no difference. Only v4.30 works as one would expect.

Yes, I am aware it can take time to find the route, I’ve known it take up to 1 minute before.

Many thanks,

To which I received this wonderful response…

Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe.

You are the first person who has reported it to us as this is the first time we have heard of this.

I have reported it for you so the best thing to do would be to keep checking for Software Updates for potential fixes.

If there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know.

Alternatively you can search for a solution here: http://www.garmin.co.uk/support

Kind regards,

I know for a fact I’m not the first one to report it, but hey ho… wait for the next update we will then :)

Other than all this, we woke up this morning to find snow on the ground and there’s more meant to be coming this evening, so that’s the bike shut away for the weekend then. Hopefully this will all blow over fairly quickly and I’ll be able to get back to riding.

The first thing I tried was a hard reset on the unit. This is achieved by holding your finger in the bottom left of the screen while the unit is switched on (not in a cradle) and keeping your finger there until a message appears ‘Erase All User Data?’. Answering yes to this will perform what’s called a master reset on the unit and reboot it. Once it’s rebooted after seeing the Garmin loader bar you then have to go back through it and reset all your preferences including any Bluetooth pairings etc. Anyway, while this might have been good for it, it didn’t solve the problem.

At first, I thought it did but I started to realise the unit was behaving differently depending on how it’s switched off. Switch it off from it’s own power button, even if mounted to the bike, and it would remember when it’s on a route. However, switch it off by cutting the power to the cradle, such as turning off the ignition and it was guaranteed to forget. So, something it seems changed in the 4.40 firmware that’s affected by the way the unit is powered down.

I scanned through the engineering settings (Hold a finger over the battery symbol until they appear) to see if there were any obvious shutdown settings but I couldn’t find any. I opened a ticket with Garmin support, well, I think I did in that I submitted their support form on their web site, but as I’m still waiting for a response, any response, I’m not sure it worked. I posted on the Zumo forums to see if anyone could help, but it seemed pretty slow there and I didn’t get any advice from anyone, although someone did comment their standard Zumo 660 had a similar problem with forgetting music depending on how it’s switched off. Another problem that started with 4.40.

I searched around the web for how to downgrade it to version 4.30 or even 4.20 as it was delivered. Everything I could find though kept saying that the Zumo 660 and Navigator IV update files are always different because the BMW unit requires special firmware to make the cradle buttons (iDrive on the K1600) work. I got to thinking about this and the more I did the more I convinced myself they must be one in the same file. A couple of things led me to this conclusion…

Firstly, I’d seen version information on the Navigator that hinted the BMW software is separate. Of course this doesn’t guarantee it would be separate files, but that would make the most sense. Secondly though, and probably the biggest factor is that the 4.40 update for the Navigator was released at the exact same time as that for the standard Zumo. Now what are the chances of that? Having had dealings with Garmin for m0re than a few years and having lived through many bugs and issues, I’m certain they couldn’t co-ordinate the release of two files within a month of each other, let along the exact same time. Everything tells me it must be the same file.

So despite one web site which informed me that I could end up with a dead unit, I decided to trust my common sense and downgrade the unit to release 4.30. The result is that it worked perfectly. The unit still knows it’s a BMW Navigator IV, it still works perfectly in the cradle and all the functions from the iDrive still work and it remembers when it’s on a route no matter how it’s powered off. Perfect!

So for any others fed up with this stupid bug… here’s how to downgrade to version 4.30.

• Connect the unit to your PC.
• Open My Computer and find the drive labelled BMW Navigator IV.
• Open it and copy the contents of the Garmin folder to your hard drive. (This is a back up in case anything goes wrong).
• Download this file and put it in the Garmin folder on the unit to replace the one that’s already there.
• Disconnect the unit from the PC and replace the battery cover.
• When it reboots it will ask if you want to ‘Erase All User Data?’ to which you should say yes. This performs a master reset. It will also warn you that you’re attempting to load a system file older than the one currently installed. You should say yes to this too.
• Allow it to go through the update process and once finished the unit is reverted to v4.30.
• Now remake all your preference settings and re-pair any bluetooth devices.
• Reload your routes and waypoints and you’re good to go.

Let me say at this point. This process worked perfectly for me but I clearly cannot guarantee it will work perfectly for everyone else. If you follow these instructions I can’t see why it wouldn’t but I am not responsible for anything that might go wrong for you.

Hope this helps… it did me. I’m much happier.

Apart from the niggles with the audio system and the sat nav I’m absolutely loving this bike. It handles so sure footedly and in fact on one left hand bend yesterday I leaned it further than I have so far and it remained absolutely precise and on line. Wonderful. Now all I have to do is lean it the same amount on a right hander so the chicken strips are equal :)

We didn’t take any pictures of the event however, so I’m afraid there’s none to show. Next time hopefully.

Today I started building an Aston Martin DB5. OK, it’s only a model and a replica of the James Bond car. I’ve been collecting the pieces for just over a year, since it was announced and there’s still around 20 to 30 weeks to go, but I figured it was time to get started…

Here’s all the pieces as I’d collected them so far.

By the end of the day I had an engine, engine bay, half and interior, a dashboard and a couple of wheels. There’s still more pieces that I’ve got to continue with and more will of course be delivered. I always enjoy this sort of thing and I’m sure the finished model with it’s many working parts will be fun.

I read in last months Practical Photography about a technique for taking pictures called shutter drag. Basically you set a long exposure but with a flash. You pan the camera in any direction, pressing the shutter when the subject is in line but keep panning. The flash ‘freezes’ the subject, but the effect is rather striking backgrounds and effects. As it said in the magazine, there’ll be many failures but when you get all the factors right, the effect can be dramatic and interesting…

Consequently this image isn’t as bad as it might first appear :)

Clearly I need some practice but I reckon this could be a really effective way of shooting pictures of static objects.

All the wires by the way, plug into something on the model for all the lights and effects etc.

On the second day we were there we took it to a local tyre specialist and sure enough there was at least one out of balance wheel and he thought they’d been pumped up too much so set them all at a lower pressure. A quick test afterwards confirmed the cars smooth handling had returned.

I bought a new camera. I’ve always been interested in photography but in recent years have relied on a number of point and shoot cameras. They’re great when you just want a photo memory of something, but when you want to try and be a little creative you realise their limitations. I’ve liked the looks and sound of the Panasonic Lumix G series since I first saw them advertised and so finding one at a great price in Germany meant it had to be purchased. I’ve not tried to get really creative with it yet, and there is clearly much to learn about it’s myriad of settings, but inital impressions are very positive. I just have to remember not to obscure the fast focus IR sensor when holding it.

Meike’s mums birthday party included a fire show and that gave me a great opportunity to try some slow shutter speeds…

As well as the birthday celebrations and of course the obligatory shopping we also got the time to visit the local ski jump at Klingenthal and a nearby model railway. Who says you have to grow up? :)

Rather you than me! I never realised that when you’re at the top of the jump you actually can’t see any of the landing area – only the bit in which, all being well, you should finally come to a stop. Brave people I think… or mad.

And so finally the toy trains…

Hoping to get out on the bike this coming weekend, but may be at the mercy of the weather.

Stay tuned :)

Then the last few days, once again, couldn’t have been more different. Quite calm, sunshine and temperatures in the 8 to 10 degrees C range. Quite remarkable for this time of year.

Yesterday afternoon and evening we returned to Wiltshire for a friends birthday party. Of course we did this in the car as I’m not sure my shoulder would be up to 135 mile treck, especially when you’ve got a deadline to meet. I haven’t mentioned the car recently, and it’s still wonderful although this journey reminded me just how bad the roads in Wiltshire are. The whole of the UK’s road network is falling into disrepair it seems, but Wiltshires roads seem to me to be worse than certainly those here in Kent. Having said that, we’ve got some pretty appalling roads round here too and I certainly know it when I’m driving the SL. Anyway, it was great evening and great to catch up with old friends.

Today was pretty much the same weather wise and so we decided to try another biker cafe – Wessons in East Sussex, just over the border from Kent. I’d planned a route in the sat nav, this time being careful to make sure it didn’t include country lanes, and we, or it, found some lovely roads. In contrast to what I just said, many of them were smooth with some beautiful bends.

Although it doesn’t look it in this picture Wessons was packed but we managed to find a seat and enjoy some food and a welcome coffee. I can see why it gets such rave reviews and is clearly very popular. We’ll definitely be visiting again, both for the cafe but also the ride there.

We decided to try a slightly different route home which was also good, but the roads somehow didn’t seem as smooth as those on the way there. We stopped for a few minutes at Bewl Water, which considering it’s a reservoir and it’s winter appeared very empty. Hopefully not a sign of the year to come.

Interestingly, I did notice something odd with the K1600 here. We only stopped for 3 or 4 minutes and when I went to restart the bike the starter appeared to have difficulty turning the engine – almost as if the battery were flat. I let go of the button, pressed it again and it started fine. I’m sure the battery isn’t flat and so I wonder what caused this? Perhaps it doesn’t like restarting after such a short break? I’ll certainly notice if it does it again.

Other than that, I’m absolutely loving this bike. Although I’m still running it in (400 miles covered now) and taking it relatively easy, I’m finding very comfortable and confidence inspiring. It has loads more to give of course and lots more potential and I’m really looking forward to having it run in and exploring more of the upper rev bands.

I’ve been thinking about getting Remus cans for it recently. I don’t like the fact the current exhausts are a little crooked in that the left one sits a little lower than the right, and they just look somehow too big. I’ve had Remus on the K1200 and K1300S and I love the sound they make without being obnoxiously loud. These thoughts were a little more cemented this week when I learned that of the six holes in the standard exhausts – three either side to show it has 6 cylinders – four of them are actually dummies! So, carbon, titanium or stainless steel? OK, I don’t want carbon, I had titanium on the past K’s and it’s beautiful but I wonder if stainless wouldn’t suit this bike better? Decisions, decisions :)

We left home at 9.00am to meet up with a couple more people from GB Riders at The Grasshopper in Westerham. One of the others had planned a route to Brighton via a morning coffee stop at somewhere called The Chalet. It was a bank holiday and with the sunshine reasonable to expect quite a few bikes to be on the road. We arrived just before 10.00am as planned to find one of the group, the leader for today, already there with his bike.

Talk about a small world. Although we already knew this to be fair. The chap was standing there next to a gleaming red Yamaha XJ6 that looked strangely familiar. Indeed, he’s the very same chap that bought Meike’s bike from us via eBay in the middle of last year. In a way it was odd to see it again, but I know Meike didn’t care and as he’s absolutely delighted with it, that’s all we could want really.

Soon the next couple arrived and so three bikes and five people set off south through The Ashdown Forest. We arrived at The Chalet as planned only to find it firmly closed. While there, other bikers were turning up hoping to find it open. What a missed business opportunity eh?

Anyway, we decided to go and try and find some catering van that apparently has a regular spot and failing that, as it was now only a few miles away, head straight for Brighton. Needless to say we couldn’t find the van!

We spent an hour or so in Brighton, coffee and lunch and then Meike and I set off for home on our own as we needed to be further east than the others. All in we did about 150 miles today and the more I ride the K1600 the more I love it. I’m still running it in of course, but it seems to be getting more eager, or I’m just getting used to it, but it’s definitely got some incredible performance for such a large bike. I was absolutely delighted to reach Maidstone and realise I ridden all the way home without needing to stop because of my shoulder.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable day, I love the bike and I hope these winds disappear soon so I can get out more.

Couple of issues…

On the first part of the ride today and within a very short space of each other, both mine and Meikes helmets decided to tell us their battery’s are low. Yes, the bluetooth headsets actually speak. We switched them off for the rest of the day, but we must remember to charge them up and probably, each time we’re not using them.

A week or so ago, I loaded the latest update onto the BMW Navigator. Version 4.4 I think – the same as a Garmin Zumo 660 but with some BMW features to work in the mount etc. Well, and others have noted this on the forums, since then it never remembers I’m on a route when I turn the power off. Honestly, who tests these things? So, if you do stop in the middle of a route, when you get back on you have to reselect it and remember to tell it NOT to navigate to the start of the route. Hopefully Garmin will release a new update soon that addresses this glaring oversight.

The roads were wet, very wet, but it wasn’t raining and so I decided to take the bike out. Yes, it was new years eve but it should have been just a normal Saturday shop wise and so we decided to try the H Cafe at Kent Motorcycles. I’d planned a route there on the Navigator that kept us off the motorways and main roads, but that turned out to be a mistake. Even though they were identified as B roads, most of the roads we ended up going down were little more than farm tracks – really. No more than 6ft wide and without exception debris and growth down the middle leaving about a foot wide track to ride in and even that at times was covered in mud. After a while I decided to ignore the GPS and just try to get us onto a more main road. Eventually we came across one heading for Canterbury but the GPS kept insisting I turn around. I can only assume I’d planned a via point and by golly it was going to take us there. We arrived at H Cafe to find it completely closed despite the fact the shop was open and with a very dirty bike…

Poor thing. So much for my shiny new bike eh?

We set off back home on more main roads and stopped at a Little Chef just outside Canterbury for an Olympic Breakfast and coffee. After which we rode home so I could wash the bike down while it was still light.

There, that’s better.

While we were out I noticed that my right hand exhaust appeared a little crooked, sticking out more than the left one and so I also took the opportunity to slacked off the exhaust clamp and straighten it. It seemed to stay in position once tightened up but I’ll be interested to see if it stays there when we ride again – hopefully on Monday.

Speaking of exhausts I had a Remus Hexacone on both my previous K bikes and I’m very tempted to fit them to this one. I’ve seen a couple of videos of bikes fitted with them and despite the obvious weight savings they sound OK. I also prefer the looks as they appear to fit parallel to the bike whereas the stock exhausts taper in at the rear – something that offends my sense of symmetry. We’ll see, they’re not cheap and obviously this bike would need two.

I also found out today why people complain so much about the Navigator volume when it’s used through the bikes audio system. It really is quiet despite the mixer being turned up to 100%. I could make out what it was saying most of the time, but it really should be at least at the same volume as other audio if not slightly higher. It seems with this set up that the intercom is very loud, the music audio OK and the GPS way too quiet. I hope BMW come out with a fix soon otherwise I really will have to pursue alternatives.

Well it seems so anyway because every time I try on gloves I always seem to need the XXXXL size. This means that I find standard motorcycle grips a little on the thin side, and this seems especially true with the K1600. So, just as I fitted to my previous bikes, I ordered some Grip Puppies.

They arrived this morning and were fitted in a matter of minutes. I needed to trim about 1/2 inch off each ones length which is easy with a sharp knife and then with a little soapy water they just slide on. Experience with them on the K12 and K13S tells me they’ll still work well with the heated grips and so hopefully they’ll fit my big hands better.

It’s rained for the last couple of days but the next three are supposed to be dry. Cloudy, but dry. Of course that’s according the weather guessers and so who knows what it’ll really be like? If it is dry though I hope to get some more miles on the bike. Hopefully on Monday, being the day in lieu of New Years Day we’ll be meeting up with a couple more from GB Riders.

The Blog

I’ve been giving a little thought to the layout of the blog. I like the current theme I’m using because it’s different, but it’s really designed I think for more of a news type blog and I’m not sure it’s so easy to read for anyone coming here for the first time. I might be playing around with some other themes for a while and so don’t be surprised if the place looks a little different at times.

I also finally today got around to changing the URL. Up until this point it was always pointed to a folder called goldwing, which for obvious reasons made perfect sense at the start in 2006, but since I’m on my 5th bike since then, it doesn’t really make any sense at all now. So, I changed it to the highly imaginative name ‘blog’. I’ve put a redirect in place so any links around still pointing to goldwing should continue to work just fine but if you have it bookmarked you might want to change it to the new URL.

For anyone who doesn’t know, they’re easily loaded…

• Snaffle the picture from this page (right click it and save it).
• Connect the Nav to the PC and copy the picture to the JPEG folder.
• Disconnect the Nav from the PC and let it start up.
• Go into Tools. Down a page. Select Picture Viewer.
• Select the picture.
• Click Info.
• Tick Use this photo as the default splash screen.

Now when the Navigator restarts it will have a much more interesting appearance :)

I don’t claim to be an artist of any description and I’m sure others could do something far more impressive, but feel free to take these and use them if you’d like to. If I make any more, I’ll add them to this post.

I feel BMW missed a real trick with this. They had the opportunity to deliver the bikes with a state of the art audio/intercom system but instead it seems chose to deliver a sub standard system based around the existing technology of the BMW Communicator headsets. These are BMW’s bluetooth headsets and according to them, the only ones available that can handle three different sources. OK, woo hoo, but they’re still restricted by the bluetooth technology they’re based on.

Most people understand I’m sure that for two devices to ‘communicate’ via bluetooth they have to be paired – imagine pairing as fixing an invisible cable between the two devices. What perhaps not so many understand though is that only one pairing or input can be active at any one time. Therefore when a device has to handle connection to multiple devices (it has multiple invisible cables connected to it) it also has to be able to switch between them.

Such a switching device is usually called a hub and there is a lot of focus in the motorcycle communication world to make the headset itself the hub. This is understandable because the headset manufacturers want their headsets to be able to be used by as many people as possible and on as many motorcycles as possible. In this respect BMW are currently onto a winner with their headsets being able to connect to three other devices.

The K1600 is delivered with an on board audio system. There is the facility within the right hand fairing pocket to connect a USB stick or device storing MP3 files or an iPod using the appropriate interface cable. There is a built in FM tuner and in the USA satellite radio also and the audio of the navigation system is also connected. All this can be controlled through the menu/jog wheel interface and the rider can choose whether to send all the sound through the bikes built in speakers or to a paired bluetooth headset. Two headsets can be connected simultaneously (rider and pillion) so they can both hear the sound from the audio system.

So where did BMW miss a trick? By insisting the bluetooth hub remain in the headsets and by not moving the intercom facilities to the audio system. You see to make all this work for a rider and pillion, first the headsets have to be paired together (that’s the intercom), then both have to be paired to the bike (for the sounds). Remember what I said though, bluetooth is restricted by the fact only one pairing can be active at any one time so if the audio is on, there’s no intercom and the only way to activate the intercom is to mute the audio (only the rider can do this and the button to do so is in a very awkward position by the left knee) and then wait 5 or so seconds for the headsets to recognise this and switch over.

Now let’s bring a phone into the equation. OK, we could use the third channel on the headsets and the rider and pillion can have their own phones. However, anyone who knows anything about the Zumo 660 (This is what the BMW Navigator IV is based on) knows it has a great phone interface and it’s good to be able to not only hear you have a call, but to see who it is. However, with everything paired as described above, it’s no use on the 1600 pairing the phone to the Navigator, because while the audio system connects to the headsets for sound, there is absolutely no microphone audio back to the audio system. Dumb!

BMW’s solution to this is to ignore the built in hard wiring of the audio system for the Navigator and to bluetooth it to the riders helmet. The downside of this now is that only the rider can hear the navigation instructions. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m always much happier if I can double check the nav issued instructions with the all seeing, all knowing global positioning system sitting on the pillion seat :)

All BMW had to do to make this system perfect was to:

1. Build the intercom into the audio unit.
2. As a result of this, pass microphone audio back to the navigation.
3. Allow individual volume balance between the various sources.

By doing this, the headsets would have to handle one bluetooth connection permanently – to the bike, there’d be no delayed switching and no need, ever, for the headsets to switch to a different source or act as a hub. Intercom, navigation, audio and phone would all be handled and switched appropriately by the bike – as many built in intercoms already operate and have done for years.

Some people are so frustrated by this unnecessary complexity and limitations that they’ve already resorted to fitting Autocom or similar wired intercoms. I like the freedom bluetooth provides however and so as I get some time, I’m going to figure out how the system is currently wired and see what might be possible with some re-routing of signals and cables and some additional units. I feel even using existing technology, it will be possible to make the system work as it should, with just a single, permanent bluetooth connection to the headsets. Of course the ideal solution would be for BMW to realise their mistake and come out with an audio system that really takes advantage of the K1600′s possibilities.

I really do feel they missed by a mile on this one. Don’t get me wrong, I love the bike and I even love the technology, I’m just surprised they took the route they did when it could have been so much better.

Oh it’s been suggested on the K1600 Forums that I probably had a corrupt MP3 file that caused the problems yesterday. I’ve reformatted the USB stick and reloaded the MP3′s so we’ll see what happens next time we’re out.

Last week, looking around the web for somewhere to go I found out about a traditional VMCC (Vintage motorcycle club) meet at Farningham. Seeing some pictures from previous years it looked like an interesting meet and so that’s where we went. We weren’t disappointed at all and there must be have been at least 1000 bikes there with people arriving and leaving all the time.

As you can see from the pics, there were all sorts of bikes and trikes there.

On the way home though I had a problem with the audio on the bike. I’ve read in the K1600 forums how the iPod connection is unreliable and gives a No USB warning when being used on bluetooth. BMW are aware of the problem and have promised a fix soon. However the same forums also usually advise that using a USB stick gets over this problem. Consequently I didn’t waste any money on the iPod adapter cable and instead moved a few MP3′s to a USB stick. Well, on the way home, almost immediately on starting the engine to leave, the dash started cycling through USB, Loading, No USB. Basically it simply couldn’t find the USB stick. Stopping and starting the bike didn’t fix it, neither did unplugging and reinserting the USB stick although once home and having turned everything off, including the helmets, and then turning the bike on the check, it of course behaved perfectly.

I’ll have to experiment a little, but I wonder if it matters what sequence the various devices, including the helmets, are switched on in.

I must admit I’m a little disappointed with the audio system on the K1600. BMW had an opportunity to make a really effective state of the art system, but it seems they chose instead to build a system around their existing bluetooth headsets. This was wrong for a number of reasons, but I’ll cover this in a later post, as well as what I might do to fix it.

All week they were guessing at sunshine for both Saturday and Sunday. Cold, around 3 to 4 degrees C but sunshine. Then on Saturday morning they changed the forecast completely to rain and sleet. Never mind though, they will still forecasting sunshine for Sunday. That is until late on Saturday when they decided it was going to rain around 12 noon, then they said it wasn’t – a story they persisted with until this morning when they then decided it would rain after all. That wasn’t the end though because they then decided it was going to sleet as well.

So, all last week I was looking forward, because I could see the weekend sunny forecast, to putting some more miles on the K1600. I’d even planned where to – I thought we’d try H Cafe at Kent Motorcycles. In preparation on Friday night I fitted the Gerbing heated jacket lead direct to the battery. I’ve said before I don’t mind riding in just about any weather but there is a limit to what weather I’ll set off in. Rain with sleet in it is a good indicator of the possibility of ice and that’s most certainly beyond my limit. I don’t mind the cold and would have been happy to go without the wet stuff, even at 2 or 3 degrees C.

Oh well, here’s hoping Christmas Eve, next Saturday, provides a chance. Although as we’ll have family staying any trip will have to be a short one again – weather permitting.

I found an extra power socket on the K1600. Right hand side, just in front of the battery compartment. This power socket isn’t mentioned anywhere in the bikes manual and so it was a bit of a surprise to find it. I might have been interested in powering the Gerbing stuff from it except the manual clearly states 10A across all sockets which won’t be enough for two jackets.

I’m confused over the battery charging for the K1600. Apparently it has a new CANbus loom and circuits and BMW state very clearly in the manual that unless you’re using the BMW charger through the accessory sockets you must disconnect the battery before charging with any other charger direct at the battery terminals. Failure to do this will apparently cause a 1.21 gigawatt reverse polarity charge through the flux capacitor and the bike will disappear to 1956. OK, that’s not what the manual says, but it does say you may damage the electronics.

This renders my trusty old Optimate III redundant unless I disconnect the battery and I daren’t risk doing it any other way. I wonder what the truth is in all this and if it isn’t just another marketing ploy to get people to buy their charger? The last BMW charger I had only worked for a few weeks before packing up completely. I’m still thinking on this one.