Daves Blog

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.

Yesterday I got chance to try out my new Schuberth SRC bluetooth collar for my new Schuberth C3 helmet. The SRC is a complete collar that replaces the standard collar in the helmet. It’s a doddle to fit and is by a million miles the neatest bluetooth solution I’ve seen yet.

As you can see in this picture the collar is delivered with all the components pre-assembled. All you have to do is charge it, remove the original collar from the helmet and then fit this one. It’s a bit thicker and heavier than the standard collar and not as flexible. I’m sure this is because on one side, as you can see, there are the controls, and on the other side there’s the battery. However, it’s not a bad fit at all, although I do wonder if it’s this ’stiffness’ that’s letting more air into my helmet and making it a little noisier than I expected it to be.

The sound from the speakers is amazingly full although not as good as the sound from the J&M speakers I had in my C2 helmet. This isn’t surprising because they’re much smaller but I’m relieved they don’t sound as empty and tinny as I thought they would. On the move of course, all hint of bass disappears, but the resulting sound isn’t terrible. Music and the navigation system are both clearly audible.

When I first paired the Zumo 660 with it I was very disappointed with the sound quality of the music, which was mono and dreadful quality. A quick search on the Zumo forums though pointed me in the right direction. I’d paired it as a GPS when in fact I should have paired it as a music source. That way it uses the ADP2 bluetooth protocol which passes stereo sound at much higher quality.

Unfortunately while on the Zumo forums I also read of another issue which I can confirm. When the 660 is connected via bluetooth and playing music, if you receive a phone call, when the call is terminated the music will not resume. No amount of poking and prodding will get it to either… the ONLY solution is to reboot the 660. I really don’t like talking on the phone when riding, so I don’t see this being an issue, but it’s a shame to find there’s yet another bug with the 660.

The intercom function is supposed to work over 300 metres and so we’ll get to try that out when we buy a new helmet and collar for Meike.

We only went on a short ride, me on the K1300S and Meike on her Divvy, but I was generally pleased with the sound although a little disappointed the C3 isn’t quieter. I think I might try removing the SRC and re-fitting the original collar just to see if that could be responsible. One problem I had when riding was that most of the sound was in my left ear. This was because I’d not fitted the speakers properly mainly because I was trying it out. They’re supplied with velcro pads to stick into the ear recesses in the helmet, I hadn’t fitted these and the right speaker had slipped out of place. Once home, I fitted the velcro pads and speakers correctly and on re-trying the sound found it to be the same in both ears.

I’ll report more on the helmet when I’ve had a chance to try the standard collar on it.

Today I received the clear tank protection I ordered for the K1300S from Nippy Normans. In readiness for this, last night I polished the tank to get rid of any buff marks my leathers had already left on it. Right now I’m heating the garage as it’s not supposed to be applied below 15 deg C, and I’ll have a crack at fitting it tonight.

Went for a short ride on the new K1300S today… usual haunt on a Saturday, George Whites. I could have gone much further and wanted to, but I’m actually trying to keep the miles down on it lol. The reason for this is that in less than two weeks time we’re off on the Roundway Riders annual Wales trip, and that’ll be an ideal time to really get it run in. NOG have confirmed that although the first service is stated as 600 miles, it will be OK to put say 800 on it. I reckon we’ll do around 600 on the Wales trip, so I don’t want to put too many on right now.

So, what’s it like? Well, let me tell you, I thought the K1200S was a great bike and indeed it is, but the K1300S is simply better. It’s not just a matter of 100cc’s either. It handles better with quicker turn in response and appears much more responsive and lighter to rider input. There’s little to no clunkiness to the gear box. The difference between the ESA on the K12 and the ESA2 on the K13 is very noticeable and the fueling issues of the K12 especially at low speed seem to be completely eliminated on the K13. It rides smoothly at all speeds even down to 20/30mph. At these speeds the K12 was notorious for hunting and providing a pretty jerky ride but there’s none of that on the K13.

The recommended running in range is 0 to 7000rpm and as 6000rpm in top is 100mph I really don’t see that being an issue. I didn’t notice anything of the ABS or the anti skid control but I assume they would have done their jobs if required. However, the one thing that is simply sublime is the gear shift assist or to give it it’s racing name the quick shifter. It’s truly amazing, allowing clutchless up shifts in a fraction of the time it would take even a good rider to do it normally. I need to practice with the ideal conditions for it as some times it was a little jerky and yet other times, almost imperceptible. You have to have steady or positive throttle and it seemed to me to work best around 6000rpm. I’ll report more as I get used to it, but it really is a fantastic option.

I spent this afternoon putting a few bits from the K12 back on the K13… The rack, which was for a K13 anyway, the tank bag clips, the pannier mounting frames and of course my Zumo 660. I’ve used a ram ball straight through the slot in the bars for this and while I’m pretty sure it should work well and be secure, I will be keeping a close eye on it. The Zumo power plugged straight into the canbus socket near the battery that’s still provided on the 13, just as it was on the 12. I also moved the tax disc holder from the front wheel, to the pannier mounting frame, where it was on my K12. Much less noticeable and yet still clearly visible in this position.

I also got to try out my new Schuberth C3 today but without the GPS so I wasn’t able to try the SRC bluetooth collar. The helmet itself, which is a size smaller than my C2 is much lighter and a much better fit on my head. However, I was a little disappointed with the noise. I was expecting it to be at least as quiet as my C2 if not quieter and I reckon it was slightly noisier. Whether this was because I had the vents open on such a lovely day I don’t know, but will be listening closely as I try it with music etc.

Anyway, tomorrow (hm, today now) is supposed to be lovely again weather wise and as Meike needs to put more miles on her bike, I suspect we’ll be out again :)

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 :)

Not much to write about at the moment to be honest, well, that’s not stictly true, but there’s not much I am going to write about lol.

Meike’s been out a few times on her bike and seems to be getting on well with it. Certainly she’s a lot happier on it than she was on the 250 and so hopefully as the weather improves she’ll only want to ride it more and more. I’ve ridden it a few times too and I have to say it’s great fun. Obviously we’re not thrashing it yet, but I’m looking forward to when we can. I reckon there’s some get up and go in there straining to get out. I’m certain I’d be happy with it as a substitute for the Bandit and so I can see us going to just two bikes in the not too distant future. Obviously it doesn’t have the torque or power of the bandit being just half the size engine wise, but never the less it’s a fun bike to ride and easy to chuck around etc. If I want more power then of course I always have the ‘K’. So far we’ve got about 300 miles on the Yamaha and it’s already booked in for its first service at the end of the month just before Meike’s planning to ride it on our Mermaid Bikers annual Wales trip.

Speaking of Mermaid Bikers, we’re changing the clubs name and at the moment there’s a poll up on the forum to choose the new one. Roundway Riders is winning at the moment… named after Roundway Hill or the Battle of Roundway if anyone wants to look it up. Generally speaking we were all happy with the name Mermaid until the new landlord of The Mermaid pub decided to re-commence bike nights on the same night as ours now at The Oliver Cromwell. I have asked The Mermaid if they’d consider changing their night so we could then more easily support both, but so far no reply. Strange attitude! Anyway, we’ll be changing our name soon so watch this space.

I’ve been looking again at new comms systems for the bikes as a new bluetooth system has been introduced by Schuberth for the C3 helmet. Of course being Schuberth it’s not cheap but it is by a million miles the neatest system I’ve seen yet, with all the bluetooth gubbins built into the helmets collar. I’ve made some enquiries on price and so hopefully will know soon. I’ve wanted a new helmet for some time because while I find the C2 comfortable and reasonably quiet, it doesn’t seem to fit my head shape well. It tends to sit too low over my eyes and this is supposed to have been addressed in the C3.

Anyway, that’s about all the news for now, but watch this space :)