The virtual drinks are on me!

[Adski]

Hi everybody!

I'm new to Boxertrix and have just brought my first BMW - a 1998 Red R1100S with under 8k on the clock.
It came with a full Vanderlinde system (with ECU) and the dealer will give me a road legal set of cans once he's got some in which i thought was pretty good of them.
She cost me £3500 from South London Motorcycles who have been great to me so far. Much better than Doble motorcycles down the road and offer much, much better customer service. It even had a full tank of fuel, much to my surprise!

I've been riding nearly 5 years now and have had far too many bikes for my age (22) but I don't regret buying any of them.
I've had an NSR125, a GPz550, XJ900, GP100, CB600fs Hornet and now the R1100s.
After having the Yamaha XJ900 (its electrics died a slow death) I got the Hornet and while it was nice to have a bike from this century, and a lovely smooth revvy engine I missed the torque and shaft drive of the XJ so once again I was in search of something a bit larger! My search ended when I found the R1100s for such a low price - the dealer had reduced it's price twice as she'd been sitting around for a while. Fair enough the light red's nowhere near as nice as it in black but for two whole grand less it was something I was willing to live with!

Future upgrades:
I'll probably get a taller screen once I know how good the standard one is for touring and also a HID kit. Although I'd like a full hard luggage system it's already got a Givi single box so can't justify the expense, plus for the touring I'm likely to do some throwovers will be fine.

Hope you guys (and girls) have meet ups and ride outs every now and then, and i'm always up for the odd pint (or five) if anyone's anywhere near the Croydon area?

Adam

[RoLoo]

...a beer please...

Cheers !

[adamski49]

Welcome Adam

Your first BM at 22, Givi box, 'ski on the end of your name... hmmm, sounds familiar

Standard screen is fine for touring and some even find the taller screen to be worse so I wouldn't worry about that.

If you decide to go down the hard luggage route keep your eyes peeled on the 'for sale' section and ebay for used items - £250 should buy rails and boxes.

Cheers

Adam

[Adski]

Your first BM at 22, Givi box, 'ski on the end of your name... hmmm, sounds familiar

Yeah...I'm old before my time hence the reason for getting a BMW but i don't care! I still feel young so it's all good. I get called Ads or sometimes Adski by different people, but yeah it is odd.

A couple of questions I forgot to ask - any idea what tank range I can expect considering the Vanderlinde system? I hope it's a lot more than the 120 mile 16 litre tank of the Hornet, probably about 160 with relatively gentle riding?

Also should I be worried about it getting stolen? Anywhere dodgy I'll lock it to something but otherwise I normally leave it in my garage with just the steering lock. Is there a common* immobiliser that is recommended for it?

*cheap

[Jason M]

Welcome along...

Tank range - depends obviously - I usually get about 135 before the light, then another safe 35 on top. You can do simple things like drill a hole in the filler neck to get a bit more fuel in, or if your bike isn't ABS then you can get a bigger tank - up to 22 litres I think. You sometimes get them for sale on here.

As for the red... you'll probably hear it referred to as DDP on here, after a four legged friends pencil

Take a look on the days out - there is a mass meet up over one weekend in May in Burton on Trent

Jason

[bobbit]

Hi Adam ,

It's good that the dealers providing a standard can but if you are thinking
of putting it on at MOT time don't leave it to the last minute because
it won't fit directly onto the Vanderlinde Y piece . As I recall the Vanderlinde can is longer , so the standard can will leave you with a
gap .You would either need to make up a short piece of pipe to bridge
the gap or put on another Y piece (the Zach or Laser seem to be the favourites).
Mind you it sounds like most of the Vanderlinde users on the site keep it on full time .They must have very understanding MOT testers .

Bob .

[winger]

Hi Adam

Welcome to the mad house,i was wondering who the kind sole was going to be, about your bike actually being DDP,nice one Jason!!!

Chris

[Paul]

Welcome on board Adski. I have the Van Der Linde pipe too, and it got through my last MOT with it on, without any problems. I think it's down to the discretion of the tester these days...

Watch the days out section for breakfast runs around your neck of the woods. There's a hardy band of 4 or 5 of us who get out most Sundays once the weather is slightly less crap.

Cheers,

Paul

[Adski]

Glad to hear that the pipe may be MOTable...though maybe i should cover up the "Not for road use" bit at the end of the can as that is just a little bit too obvious. i don't think it's overly loud, just a lovely deep tone.

Thanks bobbit about the can advice, I'll certainly try to swap them before it's due. I'm also interested in the standard sound as I've never heard it!

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, I'll try my best to not ask too many newbie questions and will certainly be up for a brekkie run at some point...maybe followed by a GB burger at Rykers.

[Paul]

Glad to hear that the pipe may be MOTable...though maybe i should cover up the "Not for road use" bit at the end of the can as that is just a little bit too obvious.

Adski,

I had a very unfortunate accident with a metal file and some wet and dry, which sadly removed that sage warning from the end can. I keep intending to mention it at the MOT station, but to date I have always forgotten

Paul

[bmwonder]

Welcome. I have some standard BMW panniers that I was going to put on ebay maybe next month, when the punters have a bit more money after Christmas. Don't have the rails however, but if you are interested they will be cheap. You can get the rails separate.

As for the screen. I always found the stock one really good (I'm 6'1"). Furhest I've ever ridden was London - Manchester though so I don't think that I qualify as an uber-tourer.

[Rods]

i picked up some panniers on here ... hang around a while if it isn't urgent, and i'm sure some will turn up. ditto rails i imagine.

i'm also happy with the standard screen (i'm 6"3), having done several journeys of 400+ miles in a day. i have heard that some of the double bubble options are in fact considerably worse than the standard, as the wind ends up hitting your head, rather than around the neck, so bobbling you around somewhat.

[Ade B]

Got my panniers through this site, they were pristine until I ran them into a concrete bollard in a parking bay in norwich...

I'm 5'11 and the standard screen forces the wind onto my neck although not enough to bother me with trying a replacement - check out previous threads on here and also the pelican site (which I no longer have bookmarked for some reason...)

Another good touring accessory (I've found), is a Ventura rack, you should also be able to pick up a tank bag on the net cheap.

Think I saw your bike in the SL motorcycles show room with a sold sign on it. Looked good.

Ade

[BockingBandit]

Hi Adam.. and welcome to the site. I see it took less than 4 'Posts' before Jason brought up the Red V DDP issue. Don't worry... DDP is by far the best colour for all S's.

Anyway.. beauty is in the eye of the 'Beholder', .. not that i've ever 'Beheld' a dog's danglies, ... and not just beacuse of the restraining order either.

Have fun and play safe

Geoff

(The Organ Donor)

[Adski]

I'll be sticking with the standard single box I think. No point shelling out money when I don't do enough touring to justify it.
I had no trouble justifying the new bike though. Hmm.

Ade B - yeah that's the one. I've swapped the massive old box with my smaller sleeker one so it looks a bit better. It's definitely not DDP...yet...but if it turns that way I think a respray will be needed!
But no, red isn't the nicest colour. The Black R1100S Sport I saw in SLM looked the dogs. I doubt my red S, even if it had a colour matched undertray, looks as good to any eye.

Well I've had the bike about a week now and I'm loving it! My hand's starting to get used to the heavier clutch - it ached a bit in stop/start traffic when there was no chance of filtering (in Purley, just next to Tesco's ) though cars notice me more than on my Hornet with standard exhaust, which is nice.
The brakes seem to have pretty much bedded in now which is a relief.
I've barely noticed any acceleration, i think that's down to the Paralever. It's simply a case of think of a speed and the bike fulfills your wish!

Paul - I was thinking of doinf that myself but I'm worried I won't be able to get the finish quite as nice as it is now.