Another John Clark loan bike!

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Man-of-Mystery
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Another John Clark loan bike!

Postby Man-of-Mystery » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:28 pm

Road this home today. It was a surprisingly nice ride.

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I don't get on with the LCD display. Most of the time it's black on brown and scarcely visible...

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... and of course I don't get on with the single indicator button, finding it a strain on my old arthritic thumb. Perhaps the most alarming thing, however, is the kick to the left when you blip the throttle. I don't know if this was due to the way this particular bike was set up, or is a characteristic of the model, but it's a long time since I felt a boxer yaw in that way. Other than that, it was a pleasure to ride.
07 R1200S

Love your enemies - it'll drive the bastards crazy!

andy griff
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Postby andy griff » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:39 pm

I felt the same with the dash on the test ride, but 1200 miles on I am very used to the display and its fine. There is a brightness setting if its too dim for you.

The computer does so much, it takes a while to work it all out - but much if its a loaner !

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Man-of-Mystery
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Postby Man-of-Mystery » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:10 pm

andy griff wrote:I felt the same with the dash on the test ride, but 1200 miles on I am very used to the display and its fine. There is a brightness setting if its too dim for you.

The computer does so much, it takes a while to work it all out - but much if its a loaner !


Yes, I felt it might have been worthwhile to have a read through the manual to see what was what, but it was just a case of jump-on-and-go.
07 R1200S



Love your enemies - it'll drive the bastards crazy!

dave the german
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Postby dave the german » Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:20 pm

What did you think of those "funny" forks?
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Postby Man-of-Mystery » Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:52 pm

dave the german wrote:What did you think of those "funny" forks?


Same as those on an R Nine T aren't they? Didn't really make an impression one way or the other.
07 R1200S



Love your enemies - it'll drive the bastards crazy!

dave the german
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Postby dave the german » Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:43 am

Conventional forks were the one thing I didn't like on the RS
'15 R1200GS TE

'06 R1200S

'04 BCR

Yam SR 500 long term restoration

wanna win the lottery and ride my bike

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Topcat
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Postby Topcat » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:10 pm

Had one for the day on Saturday along with a F800R. The R12R had a real torque reaction thing going on, some right handers it needed a good counter steer push to get it turned. Not all the time, I think it depended on revs and possibly the road surface. Anyone had the same with the RS (because that is very nice 8)) and I'm tempted?

A good bike on the whole and for once a bike that I felt it was a little to short for me (they do a higher version), plus it would need a fairing for what I want it for. No issues with the forks Dave, but I ride an old Bandit daily and have got used to 'em by now. It's only after a long weekend with the R12S that I get the funny front end thing again :?

Liked the F800, good bike and handled very well.

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Man-of-Mystery
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Postby Man-of-Mystery » Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:48 am

Hi TC. I'm glad I wasn't alone in noticing that torque. Remarkably nice-looking bike, but I thought BMW had solved that particular feature/problem.

There's an urban story going round that when various police forces changed from Norton Commandos to Boxers, a large number of coppers crashed on left-handers, because they opened the throttle too soon and too harshly. That's going back a few decades.

I love the bike's lightness. If BMW dealt with that torque, and gave me the indicator buttons on each handlebar, I would retire Captain Black buy one.
Last edited by Man-of-Mystery on Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
07 R1200S



Love your enemies - it'll drive the bastards crazy!

metropolis2k
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Postby metropolis2k » Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:43 am

Man-of-Mystery wrote:
dave the german wrote:What did you think of those "funny" forks?


Same as those on an R Nine T aren't they? Didn't really make an impression one way or the other.


I found them way too soft on the R9T I test rode. The S1000R didn't have the same feeling (probably much firmer anyway plus the dynamic suspension helped).
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