Daves Blog

… night and nowhere to go so thought I’d just bring things up to date here.

Had a really great day today. Met up with some friends at George Whites and sat around nattering and drinking coffee. We then went for a ride to Moreton in the Marsh for food and more coffee and then onto another nearby small picturesque village for ice cream. Topped off very nicely by going back to one of our friends houses for yet more coffee. It really was a lovely day though and some fun riding. The K1200S continues to run beautifully and I noticed as we got home that I’ve now got over 1500 miles on the clock.

At George Whites we had a look at the new Suzuki Gladius which is the replacement for the SV650. Meike sat on it but didn’t feel as comfortable as she does on the Kawasaki ER-6N which she sat on again straight away, to be sure. There are also things about the Gladius, styling wise, that she and I didn’t like, although we both like the overall retro styling. Being a V twin there’s a large area at the front of the engine that looks very untidy and would be a real dirt trap and difficult to keep clean. The exhaust is made of that same matt black stuff that moped exhausts are made from. OK, they’ve put a nice chrome shield over the side but from any view other than the front quarter, it looks like a moped, pee shooter style exhaust.

Going back to the Kawasaki, Meike really likes the Orange ER-6N for it’s slightly quirky looks and the colour. I have to admit it is a funky colour, but I can’t help thinking she wouldn’t happier with the ER-6F. Unfortunately though this is a much more ‘regular’ looking bike with it’s full fairing and it’s not available in the funky orange colour.

She already has a ‘refresher’ course booked with Devizes Bike School. I won’t say for when coz that’s for her to tell people, but she is serious about pursuing this, at least for the time being. It’s not too far away and so I suspect we’ll be buying another bike soon. We made get a second hand one to start with, but there’s no doubt that the 2009 styling is the best yet.

Earlier in the week my two new video cams arrived but unfortunately I’m still waiting for the SW Motech tank bag to be able to fit everything. I did test them on the work bench though and decided that the 3.2mm lenses delivered as standard are too wide angle. In my previous cams I had 4.3mm lenses and I even felt they were too wide angle at times so I ordered, and have already received, 2 new 6mm lenses. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it all wired up and fitted before next weekend so I can test them on the Wiltshire Bikers ride out on Sunday 8th March.

Tomorrow is the monthly Wiltshire Riders rideout and we’ll be joining in as usual.

I woke up yesterday morning to more sunshine and dry roads and so obviously had to go somewhere on the K1200. Meike decided she was staying at home to get some house work done, which was very sensible and meant I could get out to ‘play’ on my own lol. I checked the forums and it seemed everyone was generally doing their own thing other than a small group from Wiltshire Bikers who were heading for the south coast. It seemed they were heading for Milford on Sea from Warminster services but I was too late to get to the kick off for 11.00am. I decided I’d go to George Whites yet again for some lunch but as soon as I set off, for some odd reason, I turned left out of my drive to head south rather than north lol.

I went down to Salisbury thinking I’d be able to find the others on route somewhere but I never came across them. Just outside Salisbury I sent a text to one of the guys I knew to be on the ride and then set off for Milford on Sea. When I got there, having ridden some superb roads and had a thoroughly enjoyable ride, I checked my phone only to see they’d changed plans and gone to Poole lol. So, I set off for Poole which only took about 30 mins where I finally met up with them.

I had some food and a coffee and then we set off for home. Again on dry roads with the sun occasionally peering out from the clouds, it was a lovely ride.

I’ve done nearly 1400 miles on the K1200S now and the more I ride it the more I enjoy it although I’ve still got some way to go (about 1/2 inch each side according to the back tyre) to explore its limits.

On Saturday, JP had posted up some old videos on Mermaid Bikers and it got me thinking about how to mount my cameras on the K12. Unlike the FJR there is absolutely nowhere to mount the recorder and so the only sensible option is to use a tank bag. Thinking about it reminded me of the SW Motech quick release tank bag system I’d seen once and about how they’d brought out a powered version. So, this morning I’ve ordered the powered tank ring and the rigid day pack powered tank bag. Being rigid, I believe I’ll be able to get all the video gear into it and won’t have any issues with feeding power to it so it could work out quite well. The BMW tank bag I have for touring sits above the tank on soft support strips and so I believe having a raised tank filler rim shouldn’t be a problem for that either.

I think though to make full use of the video equipment I really need to buy two new cameras. My original camera appears to have been damaged internally through vibration. Basically, it can be mounted perfectly rigidly to the bike, but the resulting image still shakes. I’ve had it mounted on my work bench and can see the same effect by just flicking it. I should imagine getting it repaired would be about as expensive as a new one. My second camera, which was an eBay special, although supposedly highly spec’d and 580 lines, seems to have real problems with changes in light and so is really not well suited to filming from the bike.

Anyway, of course I’ll post on how this all progresses.

Had a really good day today. Met up with friends at George Whites and then we went for a ride to Loomies. Loomies is a road side cafe in Hampshire that’s popular with bikers but what helped make the day really special was the sunshine and dry roads. For the first time in what seems like ages I actually managed to get somewhere still on a clean bike.

Also bumped into Driller at GW’s. Great to see him again too although apparently he’s getting rid of his K1200R in favour of one of the new R1’s. Hope it works out well for him.

After Loomies a few friends came back for coffee which finished the day off nicely.

Really, all in all, the best day I’ve had for quite a while.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this before but Meike has a full motorcycle license and just recently she’s been getting the itch to ride again. There’s a number of challenges with this not least of which is the fact she hasn’t ridden for 18 years and then her only experience of ‘real’ motorcycles was MZ’s. Of course bikes nowadays are much different and a lot better but in researching what might be a suitable bike it’s highlighted to me what must be a real gap in the market. Where have all the 250’s and 400’s gone? It seems that most of major manufacturers now make 125’s for learners and then go straight to 600’s. That seems a bit of leap to me, but it’s how it is.

She likes naked bikes and sensibly would like one that she can sit on comfortably and get both feet on the ground easily. Some months ago she sat on a Yamaha MT03 and liked the feel a lot as it has a fairly low centre of gravity. She also likes a little quirkiness in a bike. Nothing too radical, just a feature or two that makes it stand out from the crowd. Say like an unusual frame or a side mounted rear shock absorber or something like that.

For me, her criteria really rules out the 600 in line 4’s because of their typical high rev power bands. For someone returning to bikes I think something with a gentle but progressive power delivery will be much better.

So taking all this into account the bikes she’s sat on so far are the Yamaha MT03 and the new XJ6, a Bandit 650 and the new Kawasaki ER-6N. Also on the list of bikes to try are an Aprilia Mana and a Ducati Monster 696.

The clear winner right now, based purely on style and sitting on it is the new Kawasaki ER-6N. She likes the look and feel of it (at a standstill) and can easily get both feet on the ground. From my perspective I know they’re renowned as great bikes for beginners and so it could be a real winner.

Anyway, it’s not something she’s going to rush into, but I thought it worth mentioning as I suspect she’ll be getting on something over the next few months.

On so many levels…

I love my K1200S, really, it is by a million miles the best bike I’ve owned in recent years. The handling and performance are second to none and now that I have a fault free one it’s simply a joy to ride. Even at the weekend on some of the worst roads I’ve ridden on, it didn’t once give me any cause for concern.

Recently though tests of the new K1300S started appearing in the press and watching the BMW forums, I keep reading reports from those taking delivery. The general concensus of the press is that it is a much better bike than the K1200S. They claim the ESAII suspension works better, the engine is even smoother and less agricultural and that the extra power and torque being available lower down the rev range is very noticeable.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like to have the latest and greatest and they’ve even started on a thread on Mermaid Bikers about when I’ll be test riding one and then ultimately buying one lol. My desire to have the latest bike isn’t about showing off, but simply because the manufacturers do improve them and because it helps, to some extent, with resale values having a current, rather than obsolete model. Of course that’s got to balanced against typical horrendous depreciation of buying any new bike. I suppose mentally, I’m happier to keep a current model long term (erm, that’ll be 6 months for me then lol).

The K1200’s have had a number of inherent issues over the last few years and with the introduction of the K1300’s the hope is that they’ve all been addressed. So, am I interested in the K13? Yes, but I’m not desperate to pursue one because I’m so happy with my K1200S. Let the stupidity begin…

Stupid fact No 1. I went onto the BMW web site and used the bike configurator to spec. up a K1300S. I then sent the spec to, wait for it, yes I know, North Oxford Garage to ask them what it would cost me to change. This really was an enquiry out of interest, but never the less genuine. Why NOG I hear you asking… well, I did think about it and to some extent I felt it was better to deal with the devil I know. Once again though, they’ve convinced me how stupid I am.

Stupid fact No 2. You see I sent that enquiry last Thursday and I’m still, despite a reminder yesterday, waiting for a response. Can you believe that? A sales enquiry and they’re ignoring it lol.

Perhaps they’ve had enough of me? Perhaps they don’t want me as a customer which actually in hindesight probably would be their chosen way of dealing with things after all the problems THEY caused.

So onto stupid fact No 3. Following all my experiences with them I’d decided to give them the benefit of the doubt to date, but this latest level of unprofessionalism  shows me once again what a mistake that is.

Almost as soon as they took back my first K1200S, the one with the bent bars, front end, frame, whatever it was, they listed it in their second hand bikes as Available Soon. Let’s leave to one side all the stuff I was told at the time about how they were negotiating with BMW UK for the return of the bike etc. The point is this… they advertised the bike on their web site as having under 500 miles in it’s description and listed the mileage as 500 in the details. This remained true from when they first listed it on their web site until they removed the ad early in 2009. What’s wrong with that? Well, the bike had just over 1300 miles on it when I returned it and I know that, because I did most of them and kept mileage and fuel records.

I thought it was odd when I received an enquiry from the National Mileage Register  shortly after leaving the bike with them to verify the mileage. I understand the bike is now fixed (they tell me through replacing the entire front end) and sold. I just hope the new owner was given accurate information when they purchased it.

Let me be very clear, I’m not saying they deliberately lied, set out to deceive prospective customers or falsified the mileage on the bike. I am just reporting the facts as they appeared to me and anyone else who saw the web ad.

Anyway, any future BMW business for me most definitely will not be with them. Talk about chances… and yes, I know I was stupid to imagine otherwise.

However, we now get to stupid fact No 4…

The complaints from new owners of new K1300’s have already started. Oh yes, and they’re not new either. Juddering clutches have been reported by more than one owner and I’ve read at least one report of a loud bang followed by a rattling engine. Two issues that are exactly the same as some experienced with new K1200’s. Is that stupid or what? BMW had a golden chance to fix these problems for good and it seems they’ve gone and fitted exactly the same parts and used the same systems prone to failure.

I think I’ll be sticking with my K1200S! Or… LOL.

Late last week it was decided with some friends that we should have a rideout yesterday. I remembered a tea shop in Moreton in the Marsh that we’d visited last year and is very welcoming to bikers and so it was decided that was as good as anywhere. Meeting at George Whites as usual, I’d planned a route that instead of taking us directly there which would only be 30 miles and half an hour, was actually nearly 70 miles and took us along mainly primary B roads. I’d picked the route using MapSource on the PC and with there being little time had not done any further investigation.

Normally when I plan a route like this I’d then trace it in Google Earth so that I can see the roads will actually be suitable. Exactly as I’d planned the rideout a couple of weeks ago when everyone said what a great route it was.

So, we met at George Whites as planned and then set off towards Lechlade on the usual A roads. Shortly after we then turned off onto the planned B roads and it soon became very obvious that Gloucestershires idea of a B road was not as I’d expected. We ended up, to all intents and purposes, riding along country lanes. Now this in itself might not have been too bad, as certainly it was beautiful scenery, but it was also as if it had never stopped snowing in some areas. While the roads themselves were either dry, or more generally wet with melting snow, the banks and fields were still covered in the stuff. Then of course we rode into the inevitable rain. Getting stuck behind other vehicles meant that we were getting covered in muck, not to mention the stuff the bikes were throwing up, and some of the hills were much better suited to off road bikes lol.

After some 30 odd miles of this stuff I decided it was better to get back on the main roads and make a beeline for the tea rooms. Everyone else on the ride was glad I did.

The moral of this story, at least as far as I’m concerned is that rideout routes need to be much better planned and you can’t rely on road classifications or MapSource if you don’t actually know the roads. While everyone said they enjoyed it, and yes, there were enjoyable aspects, I’m sure they’d all have been much happier on faster, cleaner roads.

Lesson learnt!

The following pics will give you some idea of the muck we had to contend with…

Obviously I didn’t want to leave half of Gloucestershire on the bike and I also didn’t want the salt eating away at it and so as soon as we were home I got the hose and pressure washer out and set to work…

Almost as good as new again now lol.

On Saturday we’d also met up at George Whites and it was great to see Nelly on his new bike - a Yamaha FJR1300A that looks remarkably like my old one lol. No seriously, he looks really good on it and I know his initial impressions are very positive. I hope he’ll be happy with it for a long time.

A few of us went for a little ride in the afternoon, once again led by me, but we just went from Swindon to Melsham on some lovely roads I know.

All in all, it was a great weekend and made even better spending it with friends.

… but not forgotten.

Yep, the FJR has finally been bought and by a very good friend. He took it for a test ride yesterday and while he said he could also feel the buzziness in the pegs that I complained about, it didn’t bother him at all. If that remains true, which of course I hope it does, then he has bought himself a great bike. As I said all along, they can’t be a bad bike because of the number that have been sold and the solid following, but it certainly wasn’t the right bike for us. Having said that, I still think they’re a great looking bike and I can’t fault the handling or the power. I hope he and his wife have many happy miles on it.

As he is such a good friend I threw in the top box and my Garmin Zumo 550 with the sale. Originally I was keeping the top box because I thought I’d get a rack and fit it to the K1200S but the more I looked the more I decided against that idea. It just wouldn’t look right and so while I’ll still fit the rack from the new K1300S, assuming it does fit, I think a largish soft bag will be much better for touring. I was then going to sell the top box separately, as with the integral brake lights and the rack etc. it certainly wasn’t cheap, but it goes well with the FJR and so finally I included it as part of the deal. As for the Zumo 550 he’s agreed to wait until my new 660 arrives before he takes possession.

I dare say when I see him out on it, probably on Saturday, I will feel a pang of remorse that it wasn’t the right bike for us. I’m sure I’ll soon overcome it though when I get on and ride the K1200S lol.

I fitted the new hugger to the K12 earlier in the week and as I suspected it took all of 10 minutes. It does look much better than the first one I had fitted and I hope it offers better protection. If I remember I’ll take some pics with it fitted at the weekend. I’m really not sure about the CF finish, but we’ll see. It’s one of those things that might become less important the longer it stays there lol. The hugger certainly sits much closer to the rear tyre than the first one did and I’m obviously hoping it’s not too close. Of course it’s not touching it but in places I suspect there’s nothing more than a 6 to 7mm gap. It should be ok although I have read from others that because it’s only supported on the one side, it can make odd noises when hitting bumps in the road, and we’ve got plenty of those round here.

The weather for the weekend is meant to be dry with a high of 3 deg. C on Saturday but a heady 8 deg. C on Sunday. We’ve planned to meet up with friends on Saturday around lunch time at George Whites of course, and then hopefully go for a ride. Sunday will be the monthly WaBAM rideout, but I haven’t decided yet if we’ll be taking part.

At least it feels like it with the number of deliveries today. With the recent snow and what appears to be complete collapse of the countries infrastructure, deliveries haven’t been making it to the depths of Wiltshire. Today though everything changed and everything arrived this morning. That’s the new hugger for the K1200S, a small leather pouch for the Gerbring controller and a new sound system for the TV.

To fit the new hugger I have to remove the rear wheel from the K12 which I already did at the weekend and then 3 bolts from the final drive. These are replaced either with the original bolts or with new ones included with the hugger. Yesterday I looked in the BMW workshop manual for the correct torque for these but couldn’t find it anywhere. Fortunately a search of the BMW forums revealed that it should be 30Nm or 22ftlbs in old money. I’ll probably have a crack at fitting it later today as it should take no more than ten minutes including putting the wheel back.

The carbon fibre finish doesn’t look too bad but I’m sure I’ll eventually get it sprayed to match the bike. I just don’t like the look of the CF finish.

The pouch for the Gerbring controller will clip to my jacket belt so Meike can adjust the temperatures as we’re riding. We know this works because on the last rideout I had it held there with a rubber band lol.

Now all we need is for the snow and ice to disappear and some warmer weather with dry roads so we can all get out and really enjoy ourselves.

I’ve pre-ordered the Zumo 660 today from Audio 66. They’re not due in until mid April but their price is so much better than any others I’ve seen. Click here to see the details on the Audio 66 web site.

A friend commented on one of the forums I frequent about the limitted itinery planning and I assume by this they’re referring to the fact that as standard you can only store 10 routes. However this is increased to 20 with an optional Micro SD card fitted and I will certainly be fitting one for my mp3’s. I can’t imagine being able to store 20 routes could ever be a problem. The Zumo 550 allows the storage of 50 routes but the fact is, even when touring, I’ve never had more than 12 routes stored at a time including alternatives. The 660 allows up to 1000 favourite places whereas the 550 only holds up to 500. So it seems it’s swings and roundabouts really. The 660 has a slightly bigger screen than the 550, in 16:9 widescreen format and as I’ve mentioned before is much slimmer. Not only should this make it sit on the bike better but it should also be much easier to carry it around in a pocket or similar.

Anyway, it’s ordered and so all I have to do now is wait lol.

At the moment I have cradles for the 550 on both the K12 and the Bandit but I think I will only fit the 660 to the K12. Truth be told I never used the nav on the Bandit other than for listenning to mp3’s and I can do that with my iPod, so I’ll probably have a 550 cradle going spare. As the person hopefully purchasing my FJR also has another bike, perhaps they’d like the second cradle too?

I’ve been very disappointed with the performance of the hugger I fitted to the K12S. If you remember I purchased the cheaper one available because it was available in a plain black finish to match the bike. Well, while it might look OK it seems it’s too short to provide any real benefit. Everything still gets coated in muck and in fact the hugger just serves to collect the muck and display it even better. Therefore I’ve ordered the more expensive one now, made by Ilmberger. This one is longer and with a much neater mounting solution - it bolts to the back of the final drive, and I believe it should therefore offer better protection. Unfortunately it’s only available in a Carbon Fibre finish and I hate Carbon Fibre lol. Fortunately it has a pretty thick clear coat on it and so I’m hoping it will be possible to have it painted to match the bike. I won’t be attempting that myself because any previous attempts at spraying have always ended in disaster for me lol.

I ordered it yesterday from Nippy Normans and today got confirmation it’s been dispatched and so it should be here any day. Piccies when I get it of course.

I’ve been looking at the new Garmin Zumo 660 GPS. Anyone who follows my blog will know that my only criticism of the Zumo 550 is it’s depth, especially when mounted on its cradle. Well the 660 is supposed to be a development of the 550, has all the same or better features like a bigger screen and it’s only 0.9 inches thick. It’s not actually available yet but a number of companies are taking pre-orders and I’m very tempted.

I think I know who’s having my FJR and as part of the deal I’m throwing in my Zumo 550 and so I’ll need a replacement anyway. They’ll wait of course until I can get a 660. One of the companies offering the 660 right now is taking pre-orders for a very reasonable £350.00. I’ve emailed them to make sure the price includes VAT etc. but if it does, I’ll probably get my order in soon.

We woke up yesterday morning to -2 deg C. The roads looked dry though and as I was due to lead the first Wiltshire Riders rideout of 2009 we pulled our gear on to get out on the bike. This despite the fact the met office were guessing at a high of just 1 deg C. and the threat of snow by the evening.

By the time we set off at just before 10.00am it was zero degrees but with our Gerbing jacket liners surprisingly comfortable. On arrival at The Churchill there were already 4 or 5 bikes there and by 10.30, the start time, there were 12.

I’ve had the route planned for some time and although I knew some of it, I was deliberately taking us down some roads I didn’t recognise. The whole trip was about 120 miles on single carriageway A and B roads through the towns and villages of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset with plenty of open road in between. I’d tried to plan a route, using MapSource and Google Earth that would provide some technically interesting roads as well as being scenic. I was also keen to keep us off dual carriageways including motorways of course and avoid the tiny little country lanes which at this time of year would be covered in muck.

As it was, even on the more main routes there was still plenty of muck and mud and even a brick in one place to content with. Thank you farmers - very kind of you!

Anyway, we set off and it seemed everyone was happy with the pace. I try to stick to posted speed limits at all times leaving any ‘playing’ to the national speed limit sections where the road and conditions will really dictate the right speed. Having gone through a few villages the ride was starting to spread out nicely so even though I wasn’t riding too fast it gave the faster riders in the group the chance to play. Meike did a great job of pointing to drop off markers wherever I asked her to and after about 40 miles I pulled over to let everyone re-group. Also in this weather to warm up their hands a little etc.

It really was very cold and most of the time there was this drizzly snow around although really not much and not so it affected vision or anything. Once everyone was ready we then set off for the planned stop at the service station at Sparkford. Not the most interesting place to stop admittedly but with a MacDonalds somewhere to warm up and take on some food and coffee. To be honest on a day as cold as this was, it was perfect.

After 45 minutes or so we then fuelled up and set off on the return leg. I had a route planned that would take us north from there through Shepton Mallet before eventually turning east back through Melksham and Devizes. I was conscious though that there was a shorter more direct route through Trowbridge and so after about 30 miles I pulled over to ask what everyone would prefer.

Everyone said they were really enjoying themselves and wanted to carry on with the route and so we did. Of course I was really pleased to hear this.

We arrived back at The Churchill at about 3.00pm mostly freezing cold but everyone saying they’d really enjoyed it. Most of all it was felt it was a great route and we should do it again when it’s warmer.

Meike and I of course didn’t get that cold for the day and neither did Graeme who back marked as we all have heated clothing. The heated grips on the K12 are fantastic but with so much of the upper body being warm it only helped to highlight how cold my feet get lol. I think we might have to investigate heated socks or boot liners and maybe some heated gloves for Meike.

The K12S behaved impeccably and the more I ride it the more I love it. It is by far the most comfortable and best handling bike I’ve owned since starting this blog, in fact since getting back onto bikes some 4 or 5 years ago now. Even on some decidely dodgy looking surfaces it hasn’t stepped out of line once. It’s smooth and powerful and an absolute joy to ride. Meike remains equally pleased with the pillion comfort and so I see us keeping it for some time. The only bike I can imagine swapping it for would be to upgrade to the new K1300S when they’ve been out for a while and the bugs have been ironed out.

Oh, the temperature for the day? Well, it never did get above 1 deg. C. and with the wind and speeds we were doing it was probably more like -15 to -20.

Great day though.