Daves Blog

At least for me. The new owner has just been to collect it and I hope they have as much enjoyment from it as I have. He’s got a fairly long ride home and so it will give him plenty of time to find out of course and play with that wonderful torque. I hope he’s not disappointed and gets miles of fun from it.

I took this picture literally seconds before he rode it away and apart from the, to be expected and unavoidable discolouring of the exhaust pipes, I think it looks almost as good as the day it was delivered, nearly 3 years ago.

So now we’re back to a ‘normal’ two bike family and I must admit while I know I’m going to miss the Bandit I am looking forward to the extra space in the garage. It’ll be much easier now to work on the K and the Divvy as well as other garage based chores. Now to update the blog home page.

Yesterday I ordered an MRA Double Bubble screen for the K and I’m hoping this is going to move the turbulence away from my neck when riding. Hopefully it will arrive on Wednesday so I can try it Wednesday evening.

Got up at 6.30am yesterday… That’s right, 6.30am on a Saturday - madness! Had to in order to have the K1300S to NOG for its first service by 8.00am. Meike came with me on pillion and sure enough we arrived at 8.00am on the dot. Bike was straight into the service bay. Unfortunately it had rained a lot the night before and so while we didn’t get wet from rain, we got splashed with all the muck and spray from other vehicles. By the time we got there the bike looked like I’d ridden across country.

While we were there, waiting the one and half hours for the service to be completed, I noticed their K1300S demo bike was fitted with a Remus Hexacone and so of course I had to have a listen. Then of course I had to go and ask the price and then to top it all they just had to tell me they had one in stock lol. Consequently the bikes now fitted with one and I have to say it does look and sound much better for it. There’s no question the K1300 exhaust can is a great advancement on the water cannon fitted as standard to the K1200’s, but even so I still found it a little too quiet for my liking. As I’ve said before I don’t like seriously loud exhausts at all but I do like them to sound, well, sporty and this certainly does.

By the time we left to come home the sun was out and the roads had dried a lot and so I deliberately took the back roads home. I must admit the sun shining, the dry roads, the freshly serviced bike and the great sound from the exhaust all led me to ride in a somewhat spirited manner and I think I may end up paying for it. Coming down into a small village where the speed limit dropped from 60 to 30, I saw a police camera van, but way too late. I know I was reducing speed at the time but I’m really not convinced I’d shaved enough off at the point I imagine the camera was pointing at. If I’m really lucky, he’ll have got the car in front of me or he won’t have had any means to get my registration number (eg no forward facing cameras). So far in my motorcycling I’ve never been caught for speeding and it would be a real shame if I have now as I’m usually very observant and respectful of the limits, especially the lower ones, but with so many cameras and speed traps around it really must be only a matter of time I guess. Fingers crossed, he didn’t get me, and I’ll take it as a lesson to be more careful, but only time will tell. Guess I’ll be dreading the post for the next week or two.

I know why my C3 helmet is so noisy! It’s turbulence from the top of the K’s screen. I can’t explain why it doesn’t affect my C2 as much, but there’s no question in my mind now. From the stock screen I can feel the wind, and turbulent wind at that, hitting my shoulders and this is just the right height to be just under the helmet. This explains why if I move my head up or down a couple of inches, or put my hand on my chest just below the helmet it becomes significantly quieter. There’s a number of after market screens available for the K1300S and I think I’ll try a double bubble one as this worked well on my Bandit, directing the air around me rather than into me. More on this of course as I decide and progress.

Speaking of the Bandit I’ve spent some time today getting it ready for its new owner who’s coming to collect it tomorrow. I have very mixed feelings about this as I love riding it. Not quite as much as I love riding my K1300 though. I’m satisfied its going to a good home where it will continue to be well looked after and so that makes me feel better about it. I’m also looking forward to the increased space it will give me in my garage. As I’ve said before, I can always take Meike’s Divvy for a blast when I want to and so I won’t be without my second bike.

Unfortunately the weather yesterday afternoon and today has been pretty awful and so I haven’t got out on either bike. Tomorrow’s a bank holiday but as usual, as it isn’t in the USA I’m not likely to get much chance to enjoy it. Still, the weather is supposed to improve again this week and so I’m already looking forward to Wednesday evening with Roundway Riders and The Oliver Cromwell.

Just got back from a long weekend in Wales with Roundway Riders and once again it was really enjoyable. We stayed in the same huge house as the last time with its 11 bedrooms and full size snooker table and went on some fantastic rides including the ones there and back. The weather was good too. Sunny on the first and second days, overcast on the third and ending sunny on the fourth. Great company, great roads, great weather… what more could you ask for?

Meike rode her own bike there and back and thoroughly enjoyed it and it gave me the chance to get the K1300S run in which I’m pleased to say it now is.

Here we all are at a ‘rest’ stop on the way to the house. Blue skies!

I rode back marker on the way there which was perfect for allowing me to keep varying my speed etc. while running in the K1300S. That’s Meike’s bike to front left in the pic.

Just setting out from the house on the second day to lead the ride out. First stop, M&P in Swansea and then over the Black Mountains to New Quay (the Welsh one) and finally back home. We rode on some truly fantastic roads. Smooth and well maintained with plenty of bends and fortunately not much other traffic around.

Here’s the full crew at the top of the Black Mountains on the A4069 prior to tackling the descent. From left to right… Ro, Nkosi, KJ, Ade, Frenchie, Rinksy, JD, Nelly, Lou, me, Meike and Sue. Thanks for a great weekend peeps… you’re great.

The K1300S behaved impeccably and is a real pleasure to ride. It feels so much more sure footed than the K1200S did. I don’t know what that’s down to, perhaps the ESA2 or the tyres but whatever it is, I can already tell there’s a very very long way to go to find its limits. There was one ‘incident’ that I’m not sure I understand yet in that on one stretch of road, the quick shifter simply wouldn’t. Shift, change gear that is. I was accelerating at the time so that’s when it really should work, but it just wouldn’t. At all other times it’s worked perfectly and so I don’t know what caused this. Even later in the same journey, without stopping and restarting the bike, it worked perfectly. Perhaps as I live with it more, I may realise why. It’s booked in for it’s first service this coming Saturday morning, and so I will ask about it then too.

During the course of last week I’d fitted the rack and the pannier mounting frames which of course were straight bolt ons from the K1200. Previously I’d bought the BMW large soft bag for the rack but I found with the panniers on the bottom of this bag would have rubbed on the top of them. To be honest I wouldn’t have needed the capacity anyway and so last week I also bought the small soft bag which fitted perfectly. That meant I could take all the luggage for us both easily leaving Meike to ride her bike without additional weight or unbalance.

The only real cause for concern on this trip, apart from a driver of a black van and another driver of a Citroen C4, who both decided to overtake, on separate occasions when I was already over-taking them, has been the Bluetooth connection between the Zumo 660 and the Schuberth collar. When it works it’s great but twice, and at the most inconvenient times, it simply stopped. Of course I didn’t realise until I’d missed a turn and then it seemed no amount of switching on and off would get them to communicate again, until we got back to the house. When of course, everything then worked perfectly.

Looking at the Zumo forums it appears there are issues with Garmins Bluetooth implementation, particularly on the 660 and so I hope they get it fixed soon. I do have the option to hard wire the headset and so will do so if I’m leading any rides soon. I’ll also be keeping a close eye out for the fix.

The Bandit is sold! To a very nice chap who’s coming to pick it up next week. I’ll be really sorry to see it go as it’s a great bike, but with the K1300 and now Meikes Divvy I really can’t see the point of keeping it. It will be much better with someone who’s going to use it much more.

Think that’s about it for now.

I said I wasn’t going to say too much in my last post… and here’s why. I just didn’t want to tempt fate or jinx anything by saying I was expecting delivery of my new K1300S today, but as promised, it was delivered and here she is. This is the Lava Orange colour which to my eyes at least is the best colour on offer of the current crop.

I’m not sure it really is a pearlescent colour but it does change under different lights. In these pictures for example it is decidedly orange but in the short space of time I’ve had it I’ve also seen it looking more bronze.

I haven’t had chance to ride it yet thanks to work, but rest assured I’ll be out on it tomorrow for sure. The weather is supposed to stay good for the weekend… Perfect.

I’m not really sure how this all came about. Obviously it was deliberate but it all seems to have happened in a bit of a whirlwind.

On the Wootton Bassett ride we saw a lava orange one close up and I suppose that got me thinking about the K1300’s again. I then checked back through some old emails and found it was almost a year to the day I’d emailed NOG and asked for the price to change. At that time it was prohibitive as I’d only had the K1200 for 4 months, but I wondered what difference a year might have made. So, I sent an email off to NOG (Yes, yes, but as I’ve said a million times, far better the devil you know). Phil, the boss, replied almost immediately and with a much better offer than this time last year… so discussions pursued, and last Saturday I placed the order.

You can imagine my amazement and joy when he told me he had reserved one to my exact spec. Even so, I wasn’t promised delivery until next Monday, especially as this last weekend was Easter… but as it’s all worked out. Delivery was today and made personally by Phil. So, so far on this transaction, I honestly can’t fault them.

The day started well too and it’s been a bit like Christmas. Yesterday I ordered a new Schuberth C3 and the SRC Bluetooth collar and they were both delivered this morning. I’ll report more on both later but initial impressions are very positive.

Also today I’ve put the Bandit up for sale… £3,700 for an 07, GDF1250SA with less than 4000 miles on the clock. Bit of a bargain really, but worth every penny.

Anyway, more tomorrow I’m sure when I’ve ridden the K1300 :)

I can’t believe how long it is since I last made an entry in the blog. Five plus months and so it won’t surprise me if no one ever reads this. I imagine anyone who’s had an interest in the past will be long gone. There so much that’s happened over the months that I can’t even remember it all, let alone write about it, but let’s see what I can…

I still have the BMW K1200S and the Bandit 1250 and both are still going just fine. The BMW’s had it’s first service some time back… 6000 miles which almost coincided with 1 year and so both parts were done at the same time. Oh, yes, that reminds me now… I had the service done at North Oxford. Yes, I know, but apart from better the devil you know, they also collect and deliver it free of charge. They kept the bike for a couple of days and delivered it back on a Friday. On the Saturday we went to meet friends and go for a ride and it was lovely to ride, that just serviced feeling being very evident. Once home, I was chatting to my friend near the bike when I noticed some drops of oil (I thought) on top of the fairing, just under the right handle bar. “Hope that’s not brake fluid” said my friend. Well, it was! To cut a long story very short, and as it happened a few months back I know this to be correct, the moron that serviced it had completely overfilled the front reservoir and spilt brake fluid all around it. In the ham fisted way these idiots work, to clean it up he’d only wiped what was visible from above. Underneath the bar, the switch gear and the brake lever it was absolutely dripping. It took me a few weeks and many checks to clean it all up. Good one North Oxford!

Nothing really to report on the Bandit except that it continues to be reliable and great fun to ride as my “chuck it around” bike. Meike still has her 250 Ninja but she seems to have lost interest in it and so with just 600 miles on the clock it’s for sale. I think she just needed to get the experience out of her system but I can’t help feeling she wouldn’t have had more fun, and therefore still be keen if we’d got her a 600 rather than a 250. Never mind, I’m glad she’s done it and at least now on the back of my bikes she knows that’s where she wants to be and won’t be hankering after riding for herself.

Mermaid Bikers is still going strong even though The Mermaid pub closed without any warning and we had to find ourselves a new home. We now meet at The Oliver Cromwell in Bromham every Wednesday and despite the fact The Mermaid has reopened it’s where we’ll be staying. The pubs great and very friendly and the location is a million miles better than The Mermaid.

Funny thing! I haven’t ridden either of my bikes for over 5 weeks now and for some odd reason I have no great desire to do so. I’m not sure why I feel like this. You couldn’t keep me off bikes at this time last year and even through the winter, but whether it’s because of the weather or work demands, I just have no desire to ride right now. I’m sure it will improve soon though.

Wiltshire Riders finally folded for good. No big surprise there, the guy who ran it had really lost interest and although he’ll blame anyone else before himself, it never really recovered from him abandoning it over last Christmas. He has other interests now though, which a few friends are also involved in… Biker FM. It’s an internet radio station supposedly for bikers, but I’m not sure how that works. I wasn’t aware that bikers had musical taste any different to anyone else. I don’t listen though, so perhaps there are bike related things going on I don’t know about.

Hm, what else? Well, I’m not sure there is really. We’ve had some great times with friends and the bikes over the last months including quite a few ride outs and a 4 day trip to Wales. That was so good we’re doing it again next year.

I think that’s enough to be catching up on and I’ll try to start writing more regularly again, although that will depend of course on having anything to write about lol.

What a truly excellent weekend I’ve just had.

On Saturday the forecast was for cloud but dry all day. Looking out some of the clouds were very grey and so I decided to take the Bandit out to George Whites as I didn’t want to get the K12 mucky again so soon after cleaning it. Meike had decided to stay at home and get some housework done and so I was off to play on my own. As soon as I left my house I knew I was going to enjoy it. It’s a few months since I’d ridden the Bandit in the dry and to be honest I’d forgotten just how well it handles. I seemed to be going faster and faster and leaning it more and more and not once did it give me any cause for concern. Very sure footed and such fun to ride with that amazing torque that I took a really long way home. What a blast!

The day also gave me the chance to try out my new leather jacket I’d bought earlier in the week. I bought an Akito one from IntoBikes to match my leather trousers and while it’s not a perfect fit, it is the right size for me. Any smaller and the arms wouldn’t fit for sure lol. I was surprised by how warm I was in it. I’d forgotten what a difference the wind proofing capabilities of leather can make. It needs to be ‘worn in’ a bit yet, but it should make an excellent jacket for the spring and autumn months.

Yesterday we woke up to glorious sunshine and headed off on the gleaming K1200S for the monthly Wiltshire Riders meet in Marlborough. Wiltshire Riders appears to be well back on track now which is great and the plan for the third Sunday of every month is that we’ll meet at different coffee shops and pubs around Wiltshire. This time it was the turn of Azuza just off Marlborough high street and it was very pleasant to congregate outside and catch up with everyone.

The day was so nice that it was soon decided most of us would be going for a ride to somewhere. We decided on Loomies and as I know where it is Suggsy asked me to lead. Not a problem, and it was great to see some 16 or so bikes setting off.

We had a few new club members with us and it took a while for them to get used to the marker system but once they had everything went smoothly and we all arrived at Loomies after a nice ride.

We stayed there for about an hour before deciding to head down to Poole Harbour. We never got there!

Again I was asked to lead as I had the sat nav on board but I was determined to try and keep us off the M3 and M27… consequently I had to keep ignoring the sat nav and go in the direction I felt to be right. The first 20 miles or so went just fine but once we were just north of Southampton it became very obvious the group had got split up. So, I pulled over at a roundabout to let everyone else catch up. There were about 6 bikes with us including Suggsy who decided to go back and back trace the markers to find out what had happenned. It turned out one of the new guys had mistaken Suggsy for the tail ender and so had set off after him. The next marker realised the mistake and sent him back but it was all too late and too careless. First off, in the time he wasn’t there two of the group had gone past and missed the turning, then on returning he apparently had caused another motorcyclist on a Gixxer 1000 to have an accident causing quite a lot of damage to his bike. Meanwhile, another rider (another new one) had stopped for petrol with the tail ender but then set off in the wrong direction and the tail ender was unable to catch him. So now we had four from the group completely split up from us.

Once we had all the others back together we decided to head off for home and so then made contact with all the ‘lost’ ones. Finally, we all managed to meet up again in Salisbury and then made our own ways home from there. We arrived home on a K1200S that was still clean apart from a few inevitable squashed flies! Perfect!

Despite the ‘confusion’ it was a lovely day and very enjoyable. Sun, friends and bikes… I can’t think of anything better.

The new tank protectors for the K1200S arrived this morning so later on I’ll be peeling the fairly useless carbon fibre lookalike ones off and then setting about cleaning the tank before fitting the new ones. I hope these will offer much better protection and stop the tank sides from getting marked and scratched by my clothing.

I should also mention that I’ve already had confirmation from North Oxford Garage that a new seat will be supplied under warranty and that they should receive it by the end of this week. Not sure if I’ll have to take the bike there or not or if they’ll just post it, but I’m glad they didn’t ignore me again or make this more complicated.

On the up side…

Yesterday evening I finished rebuilding the K1200S and cleaning and polishing it so that it looks like new (almost - see the ‘downs’ later). The new rubber captive nut thingy’s arrived from Motorworks which meant I’ve been able to complete the rebuild. I have to say the bike is looking very good and it’s a great shame to know it also won’t last. Call me pessimistic but I’ll bet it’s filthy again after the next time I ride it.

In fact the K1200S looks so good that it made me notice just how grubby the Bandit has got over the last few months and so I spent a couple of hours washing, cleaning and polishing that too. So now I have two bikes that are as clean as I can get them. Hopefully we can have some dry weather for a few days this weekend so I can keep them looking so good.

Yesterday Meike attended the bike school in Devizes to try her hand at riding again after a break of some 18 years. I felt sorry for her because it was drizzling all morning, but she came home at lunch time with a huge smile on her face. She was soaking wet and hadn’t been able to see much, but she’d really enjoyed it. She spent the morning on a 125 and has already booked her next session when she’ll most likely get out on one of their ER6-N’s. That’s next week sometime.

I think she looks really good on the bike and I know she felt very comfortable even though it was a challenge for her. Good stuff!

So, let’s get to the downs… and of course they’re all to do with the BMW K1200S…

Firstly I am disappointed with how easily the black paint finish marks. There are now blemishes on the sides of the tank surround where my clothings been rubbing and I’m not sure they’ll ever polish out correctly. There’s also other marks and scratches on it from various items not least of which are stones I suspect hitting the front. Of course these kind of things always happen but it does seem this bike marks more easily than any other I’ve had. I’m sure being black doesn’t help too but in order to try and overcome the worst I’ve ordered some new and different scuff protectors today. These are thicker rubber type pads that go either side of the tank, and up the middle and should help at least in these areas. I’ve ordered them from Nippy Normans and so I hope to get them soon.

But now the real disappointment. On putting the bike back together and fitting the seat as the last item, Meike noticed it had split underneath on one of the sharp corners. The following picture shows it much better than I can describe…

I am absolutely certain, beyond any doubt, that this hasn’t been caused by me and so I’ve emailed North Oxford Garage to ask what needs to happen now to get a new seat under warranty. Hopefully they won’t ignore me like they did recently when I enquired about a new K1300S. Of course, if they do, I’ll just take it up with BMW directly, but hopefully they won’t force us down that path.

Anyway, the weather for the weekend seems a little unsure at the moment but taking the average of the forecasts there’s a chance of light rain on Saturday and then sunshine on Sunday. If the long range forecasts are to be believed, and I don’t but would like to, then we’re in for more than a week of sun and no rain. That would be wonderful. Depending on the dryness of the roads at the weekend and if they are at all damp then I’ll be taking the Bandit out and not the K1200S. Saturday will no doubt be our usual meet up at George Whites and then on Sunday it’s the monthly Wiltshire Riders meet.

Really not much to write about right now. As I type this it’s just been snowing outside and so there’s not a lot of motorcycling taking place lol. The weather guessers are saying it will warm up a bit for the weekend but as we’re away visiting friends it doesn’t help lol.

Wiltshire Riders had the first meet of the year on Sunday and there was a great turn out considering it was below freezing. Mind you, the majority including us were really members of Wiltshire Drivers. Still, 3 or 4 turned up on bikes and some having come a real distance too. Madness lol.

I’ve got the January rideout all planned and providing it’s not below freezing on the day then I think it should be an interesting run. It’s just a 120 mile round trip from the Churchill pub going into Somerset, but I’ve tried to keep us on fairly open A and B roads, and off the motorways and dual carriageways. Obviously we’ll have to go through some towns and villages, but I’m hopeful it will be scenic and have some interesting sections of road. Of course the proof will be the comments received afterwards.

Other than that, the K1200S and the Bandit are in the garage connected to their battery chargers and both ready to ride as soon as possible.

Last Tuesday we got to the Cherhill meet and the Avebury meet both times on the Bandit. I still haven’t got the new tyres fitted to it, but the current ones still have a little life in them. They’re legal of course but the rear one is pretty much squared off and has affected the handling. I’ll get them changed next week when I’m on holiday from work for a couple of weeks.

Speaking of holiday, it’s in the middle of the two week break from work that we’re off to tour Europe for a few days. We’re going along with a crowd of people we’ve never met on a tour organised by MSL Tours (Motorcycle Sport and Leisure). It will be our first organized tour and we’re greatly looking forward to it.

On day one we all meet at Dover at 7.00am and then spend the crossing to Calais getting to know each other. The tour is pretty free format but they do give you recommended routes although you don’t have to follow them. On arrival at Calais we all make our way to Dinant in Belgium where we spend the night.

Day two is spent in and around Dinant exploring either for yourself or with an organised ride if you want to join in. Out for dinner and then back to the hotel for the night.

Day three we all ride from Dinant to Koblenz in Germany. The recommended route for this looks as though it takes in some spectacular scenery and just happens to go right past this somewhat famous place…

Day four is spent in an around Koblenz once again either doing your own thing or joining the organised ride.

On day five we then move on again this time to Reims in France. This is the longest single ride of the holiday at some 240 miles and again the recommended route looks to take in some spectacular scenery. The first 60 or so miles of this is along the banks of the river Mosel following it’s winding path and I have to say I am particularly looking forward to it.

We ride from Germany through Luxembourg and finally into France.

Day 6 is then spent in and around Reims again doing your own thing or going on the organized ride out which takes in a Champagne vinyard.

On Day 7 we all ride from Reims back to Calais and home.

From the details we’ve received it looks as though there’ll be about 14 bikes on the ride and it sounds like it should be great fun. As last year my only concern is with my shoulder and I really hope I manage to avoid any serious pain.

This coming weekend is the second Wiltshire Bikers organised rideout and this time we’re off the Cheddar Gorge. We’ve been there a few times but it’s always fun and we’re looking forward to it. We’ll also try and get in Cherhill and Castle Coombe meets this week but a lot depends on the weather which really is pretty wet right now.

In anticipation for more rideouts and for our holiday I’ve enhanced my videoing capabilities for the FJR. I’ve bought another bullet cam so I can have one facing front and one rear, a switch box to select which camera is being recorded and I’ve also invested in a PDR100 solid state MPEG2 video recorder. This way I can fix everything to the bike, semi permanently and not have to wire things up to a tank bag. As I’m sure this will be of interest to some people I’ll put together a separate post on the install and system.

Some video of us on the FJR on the way to Abergavenny last weekend shot by JP from Wiltshire Riders. The quality isn’t great as I only had the compressed divx footage to work from but it gives a good idea and it’s great to have some video of us for once.

My riding’s definitely not perfect but it was the first time we’d ever been down these roads and I always enjoy new roads for the challenge. There’s one bit towards to end when on a left hand bend, so out near the centre line, a couple of cars come the other way and it looks like they are really close to us. Well, they weren’t that close I can tell you and it doesn’t help that JP’s front wheel went down a pot hole at the same time lol.

So, what else has happened in the last week? Hm… We went to Cherhill on Tuesday evening and Castle Coombe on Wednesday. While we were there Neil from WR let me have a go on his GSXR750 as I happened to mention I was thinking about a sports bike. Very interesting, but it almost served to remind me why I don’t want one lol. My Schuberth helmet which sits pretty low on my head and has a low neck line made it very difficult for me to hold my head up to see where I was going. The other thing that struck me and people commented on was how small the bike is. I felt like my knees where round my ears. Other than this though, it was a great experience and I can well imagine the GSXR750 is a lot of fun - just not for me. Now, maybe I should look at the GSXR1000 lol.

On Saturday we went to George Whites to get a tank bag for our upcoming holiday. Found a really good one I think, made by Oxford. It’s from their new range and appears to be really well designed. I especially like the fact you can still turn the bars lock to lock with it fitted.

Finally on Sunday we went out with some friends. Initially we were going to go to the British MotoX championship at Foxhill but when we got there and realised it was 20 quid each to stand in a field we gave that a miss and went for a ride instead. Had a really lovely day with some great people.

Yesterday, Monday, I ordered some new tyres for the Bandit from eBay. Michelin Pilot Road 2’s. I’d been quoted £295 fitted for these from a local supplier but got the pair from eBay for £186. They were delivered this morning and so I now have to find somewhere to fit them for me.