After having a Blackbird this bike is a lot different, more comfortable, more manoeuvrable, offers better visibility, plenty of luggage space and bags of fun.
Its now got nearly 4500 miles on the clock, but the engine is still very tight and because of this still very vibey above 4500 revs. I’m told this will slowly go when it’s got a few more thousand miles on it.
When I was running it in it was frustrating as with just 4k revs being used it gave a top speed of 70mph and unlike other bikes its apparently important to run it in according to the book.
With luggage on BMW say top speed should be kept to 80, but I’ve had it doing 110 fully loaded with no problems, when I went to Italy last October.
The tyres really suit the bike (Metzler Tourances) but on broken road surfaces they make a fair bit of noise, far more than any tyre I’ve had before on my previous bikes.
So what does it go like, its great away from lights (no its not sports bike fast) and I’ve even managed to get the front wheel off the ground doing that, which I’m sure is down to the low end torque. I normally stick to about 80 on motorways, which is a comfortable speed, but drop it a gear and it’ll pull willingly if a bit slowly for such a large engine.
Fuel consumption isn’t that great as I normally refill it after about 160 miles which requires about 18 litres (4 gallons), in fact it’s poorer than I got out of my Blackbird.
Downsides to the bike.
A few niggles that I’ve got are the inaccuracy of the fuel gauge, it says I’m on reserve with half a tank remaining, this IMO is unacceptable and its going to have to be fixed at the next service.
The screen isn’t tall enough and when the bikes idling it shakes all over the place (bit like a jelly).
The good points.
It’s effortless to ride, good dash layout and when you get used to them the indicators are very good. Its also got self cancelling indicators, very useful when coming off dual carriageways/motorways as they cancel after about 250 metres.
Brakes are excellent and with ABS if you over do it there’s no scares, I tried them once on an empty road in the wet, there was no twitchiness and it pulled the bike up in a straight line.
Mirrors are very good as well (must admit I didn't think they would be)
You also have a commanding view forward, most cars roofs are well below eye height.
I’ve added a couple of bits to the bike, new foot pegs and extra lights (these light up the sides of the road which is something I think most bikes could do with and I’m fitting an after market seat as well (Sargent) as this will offer better support on very long journeys as the standard seat eventually makes your bum go numb.
I can see me keeping this bike for a few years, it does everything I want and its good fun.
Here are a few pics
