Today, I've been riding this...
...as a thought to replace one or more Buells...
Picked the bike up from Dick Lovett's in Bristol and the salesman ran me through the details. ABS, basic traction control, the onboard computer, the fact that it had loads of engine braking, that it would grow on me etc. After taking that all in, I snicked into first gear in one buttery smooth movement before pulling away to escape from Steve the salesman. First impression was "where's the torque?", I'm used to a big grunt with a whiff of throttle to pull my arms out of their sockets (exaggeration) and it wasn't there. Okay I thought as I made my way to my little test route which includes lots of poor road surface followed by faster smoother stuff with tight bends then high speed with long sweepers. Opening the throttle at low revs in a high gear didn't give the response of a Buell (my S1 at least) and made lots of clapping (not sure how else to describe) sounds from the exhaust. But it revved to 8500, about 2000 more than a 12, and that's where the (110hp on paper) power comes from, and it was quite engaging with revs, maybe cos it was a novelty. The handling was nice, the S1 I tend to be fighting with at low speed on uneven surfaces, the BMW not so. At higher speeds the BMW was more comfortable but a little soft with some wallow on my high speed bends. The engine was (nice) lumpy at low revs but super smooth (boring) at higher speeds. I didn't once feel that need to look at the computer apart from to see what time it was. As I came back into Bristolia in the heavy traffic, I was reminded how thin Buells are and how much of a pleasure for filtering, the BMW had wide mirrors and cylinders that protruded to cause concern with small gaps. It also felt heavy compared to a Buell and also felt like there would be trouble not too far from the horizontal, surprising after reports of nice balancing of the GS range.
Anyway, I was relieved to give it back and to be honest
paris taxi Airport I had been looking forward to the ride home (on the S1) throughout the ride on the BMW.
Many thanks to my local BMW dealer, there was a potential sale but unfortunately I wasn't won over...
Interestingly two of the salesmen there used to sell Buells. One told me he and his wife had sold their XB12S and had bought one of these 9Ts (but a high handlebar one) as they missed the Buell and this was as close as they could get to one. The other salesman seemed to be putting Buells on a pedestal as if they were a benchmark, obviously they are to me as apart from a little V4 Honda and an Ossa that's all I own.
I enjoyed the ride home, as expected, and treated the salesroom to a mini (2000rpm) wheelie as I set off.
If only I could get interested in motorcycles again...
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