Decided near death isn't for me now, so the Hayabusa goes & so does the GS650. Along comes Ewan McGregor & his BMW bike! I just went mad & got a full blooded GS1200!! Panniers, the lot, comes Monday. I can feel the Humber Bridge as my first conquest.
I have to struggle along on my 1150GS! Enjoy - especially what might be BM's nearest attempt at a usable headlamps - particularly dipped beam. You'll know what I mean if you have ever ridden an 1150 GS along a dark, twisty road.
Nice choice mate, just pulled the covers off the T'bird Sport and given it a full service, all ready to go for its MOT as soon as I get some free time....! Badger.
Spotlamps are all well and good but BM seem to think that mainbeam must be a pencil thin shaft of light. Thus when you lean over to take that first corner on the road from Beedale towards Hawes in Stygian darkness you find that you can see the drystone wall in front but nothing of the corner that you are turning into. Boy, did that frighten me. Previous bikes have had stupendous floodlight-like main beam that illuminated into corners. Not the BM. It now sports two very horrible Wipac worklamps that are angled up and out to light my way round corners. Spotlamps don't, IMHO, really add much lighting as they are too narrow in illumination.
But then you must have the necessary sense of humour by virtue of owning LR products!
Look on the GSclubuk forum for good tips on lighting. Much like this NG
- they've all seen and done it before. The ADVrider forum is also good except that, being American, its subscribers seem to have vast amounts of money! It was from them that I got the idea to replace my final drive with one from an 850GS thus reducing the overall gearing by 13%. It has improved first gear somewhat!
On or around Thu, 1 Mar 2007 19:59:18 -0000, "Rich B" enlightened us thusly:
well, I've still got me old bike. not going to get the top-end rebuild I promised it either, it'll have to carry on smoking this summer. Must be almost time to haul it out and tax it...
Speaking of the Humber Bridge, I used to commute across there every day on a Guzzi V50. Unlike every other bridge I have crossed, in high winds there was no gusting (except around the pillars). A physicist friend (I had to ask) told me about laminar flow - the bridge is designed with an aerofoil section to withstand (IIRC) 120mph winds without getting too far out of shape, and the result is a totally smooth flow of air over the road deck. It was quite uncanny, setting out onto the bridge in a gale, leaning the bike 45deg to the left, and then riding across without a care in the world. Also, approaching the bridge at night from the South, the curve of the lights across the water is truly stunning. I love that bridge!
It is lovely, gonna do it Monday night. I like the whole experience, just a superb bit of engineering. I know the blokes that did the fire alarm for it, interesting too.
On or around Sat, 3 Mar 2007 22:19:53 -0000, "Rich B" enlightened us thusly:
I dare say the purists would have a fit over mine. Actually, I'd rather like a 75 engine for it :-).
as a knocked together prototype it works incredibly well. I could now do a better job of the swing arm bit and suspension mounts, but frankly, it's not worth it on this bike, I'd do better to buy an R80 or something and re-do it. Personally, I think it looks much neater than BMWs own monoshock, which was a big ugly thing :-)
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.