BoxHill.co.uk

[Baloo]

This review is written as the memories come to mind and, other than being long, may also jump around.

Thanks to Vines of Guildford I managed to get hold of the above bike for the whole day and without charge. Having seen a quintizillion of them up in Scotland and seeing Tusky throw one around, there must be something to them.

This was the 2010 model which has 110bhp (claimed) up 5 bhp on the 2009 model and 2.5 more torques. Being a demo it was also fitted with every electronic gizmo BMW make for the bike (ABS, ASC (stability control, or anti wheelie if you are Luke), ESA (electronic suspension), plus LED indicators, heated grips etc etc..

Upon viewing the loan bike’s metallic grey colour, I thought: “ Yes, kewel”.

The dash board is simple in design with three basic pods: analogue revs and mph and an LCD display. The last item shows: gear, clock, range, avge mpg, usual oil temp etc warnings, ESA settings, outside temp, tyre pressures (an extra), oil level and God knows what else. Very comprehensive, although a lot of the above is scrolled through by button pressing and therefore not overly complicated to read.

The fuel gauge, as advised by the salesman) is not very reliable with the bars dropping quicker than a hand held iPhone 4 to start with then slowing down before speeding up towards getting empty. It is apparently a BMW issue they cannot sort (due to tank shape?). I was told to only rely on the range display for nest fill up. But then again, perhaps not. Apparently a “10 miles remaining” display may only be a few hundred yards (from the salesman’s personal experience!).

The standard seat height (820mm?) was just right for me (33" inside leg) to get both feet flat on the ground.

The mirrors are good even with broad shoulders (see note below re a blind spot).

A few of the handlebar based controls, however, are not (for my large hands) very well sited. The start button is set at such an angle that it needed to be pressed before I could get a hold of the throttle. The info (scroll) button (left hand side) is also awkward to hit, although the ESA button is just right for my thumb and therefore was played with a lot. The clutch and break levers are adjustable, albeit by only a small amount.
The ESA allows you to set the rear suspension to a myriad of settings: Normal, Comfort, Sport. One up, two up, plus luggage, off road one, off road two and get the feck out of here (not really I made that last one up).

A real personal gripe, although one should get used to it (hopefully before causing a crash) are the individual indicator buttons (on the left and right). A, they are poorly sited underneath the grips and B) the cancel button needs a real “click” press to work (the self cancelling only worked occasionally). I got it all wrong several times today. I prefer the one button approach.

Okay so what is it like to ride? Bear in mind I come from 6 yrs of Gixxers and ‘blades so there would be a huge amount of adaptation needed by me to get the best of this bike.

Firstly, the upright riding position and height are very good, it allows good visibility over the top of cars, but also for gives a real presence of the bike and rider ( amazing how many people pull over when being followed by an upright riding position and a yellow jacket ).

I would question the foot pegs. Whilst my knees were not compressed even with my bum against the back of the saddle, my size 46 feet felt pushed back. I ride with the balls of my feet on the pegs, but had to keep moving the arch onto the peg to get comfortable.

The bars are very wide and too close to comfortably get the bike on full lock. I did (sucessfully) try the odd U turn etc to see what slow control was like. Despite the bike’s weight (215kgs claimed), it does not feel heavy on the move at any pace.

Interestingly, the saddle caused partial num bum after only 60 miles. Not ideal for touring with me on it. More padding needed or memory foam perhaps if you are of the larger persuasion.

Going up the A3 with very little wind and at around the national speed limit the bike developed a very unusual weave. I was wearing a loose textile jacket which may have something to do with it, but the wind was hitting me alternatively on the left side and then the right side of the front of the jacket . I am somewhat larger than the average person ( ) and I wonder if the small fairing, whilst stopping the wind coming straight on, was causing the wind to spill over the sides and generate this small but still uncomfortable weave. This repeated itself coming back in the afternoon.

The vibrations: The Beach Boys would have been proud. Unreal. The bike had only done 410 miles when I collected it so may be still needing a shake down but the rapid and sharp vibrations through the bars were extreme.

Handling felt good, although leaning a bike when 6ft up as opposed to only 4ft makes a big difference in feeling; the ground seems much further away. Something to get used to and not for today.

The bike pulls well (not, unsurprisingly, ‘blade like though) but also feels slower than actual. I found myself “not hanging about” when I thought I was just touring.

Despite the 200ish cc engine size difference with the ‘blade, there are only two more (claimed) torques than my ‘blade, although the BMW does pull cleaner from lower down, perhaps ‘cos it is a boxer twin?

I originally set the ESA to Normal mode but coming out of a corner and opening the throttle, I found the rear sank causing understeer. This may be weight related. Changing the setting to Normal mode, two up seemed to work well. Comfort did not seem to make that much difference and Sport just made the ride a little choppy.

One interesting moment. Whilst the mirrors are generally very good, with full adjustability, there is a severe blind spot. I know I should have done a life saver, but a car pulled up alongside my left side and I did not see it until I almost sat in the front seat when changing lanes. My fault, however, I was stunned a whole Ford Focus type car could disappear so close to me.

Petrol consumption was working out at around 47 mpg with a range of 176 miles at fill up. Not bad at all and a vast improvement on the ‘blade’s 120 mile range.

The LED indicators were bright but a following bikeist told me that they were occasionally too small to see in the bright daylight. I would not spec these if I buy the bike.

Overall , it was obvious the bike is very capable, however, it did not give me the thrill I get from riding a sports bike. The nearest comparator I can think of right now (from a subjective viewpoint) is the difference between owning an Italian car and a Toyota. They may both have similar performance, however, the Italian car has heart and gets the pulse racing, whereas the Toyota will just do a good job day after day after day and with little excitement. NB: my test ride was spoilt by some depressing personal news and so my mood was not positive which may have affected my overall view.

Would I buy one, I am not sure? if I do, it will be as a second bike, not as an alternative to the ‘blade. I will go back for a second test ride when I am in a more positive state of mind.

The current list price is £ 10,250, however, if you want the helpful goodies, the cost creeps up to £ 12,600 OTR). BMW are currently giving away two expandable panniers, but were not prepared to swap them for the aluminium ones on the Adventure model or give any meaningful deal (not that I pushed hard on this latter point at this stage).
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When in doubt, open the throttle. It will either solve the problem or remove the suspense.

[wivvy's dad]

You should have ridden the S1000RR, more your stylee I would have thought.

Consider it.............
_________________
Half a Llunt - no use to man or beast!



Set the controls for the heart of the sun.....

[Tusky]

As mentioned.... you need a second day..... and then a third.....

My 28 inch legs manage but it is a bit keystone cops if I don't pay full attention...

Regarding indicators, I now hate the single button method and the click of the cancel button is second nature.... and if you forget.... yup it cancels itself

You will get a bit of a buffering at speed on motorways and dual carrigeways because it is a tractor at heart and not faired but take it on anything remotely twisty and it becomes sublime....

Had mine over a year now and I am still learning all the time.... having the pillion confidence to chuck it into bends took a while but I seem to have grasped that now

What seat setting were you on high standard or low standard?

I will look at the other poinst you mention tomorrow...... vibration is interesting ??? Yogi says he gets it and his mirrors blur...

My bet is that it had Metzeler Tourance on it........ The conti trail attacks that I have seem really smooth and WD would go one step further and recommend sport based road tyres

Good report..... take one out again..... you will learn to love it

[wivvy's dad]

The BMW indicators are an aquired taste, but once aquired, you wonder why the single button system was ever adopted. And yes - they do self-cancel

Why bother with semi off road tyres - pointless in the extreme.

Most people seem to think that the GS takes quite a while to know and love, but once there...................................
_________________
Half a Llunt - no use to man or beast!



Set the controls for the heart of the sun.....

[southernspeed]

Good write up Marc. I really want to like BMWs but having ridden several, I just can't. Too many negatives from my point of view.
Interesting about the fuel gauge, my 'Busa and a friends Sprint do the opposite. The 'Busa won't budge for 60 miles, then start moving til 3/4 tank when it drops like a stone to 1/4 tank then creeps towards empty.
I've experienced that buffeting on a few bikes. A combo of screen and clothing.

A customer of mine track days a couple of late Ducatis, an '09 'Blade and the BMW 1000RR. The BM is fitted with carbon wheels, Akro and various other toys and he far prefers his 'Blade!
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It's not the speed of life that bothers me, it's the sudden stop at the end!


www.carshaltonmcc.com
www.surreysportsmotorcycles.com

[Tusky]

The dash board is simple in design with three basic pods: analogue revs and mph and an LCD display. The last item shows: gear, clock, range, avge mpg, usual oil temp etc warnings, ESA settings, outside temp, tyre pressures (an extra), oil level and God knows what else. Very comprehensive, although a lot of the above is scrolled through by button pressing and therefore not overly complicated to read.

Yup tyre pressure warning and actual pressure display are a brilliant idea

The fuel gauge, as advised by the salesman) is not very reliable with the bars dropping quicker than a hand held iPhone 4 to start with then slowing down before speeding up towards getting empty. It is apparently a BMW issue they cannot sort (due to tank shape?). I was told to only rely on the range display for nest fill up. But then again, perhaps not. Apparently a “10 miles remaining” display may only be a few hundred yards (from the salesman’s personal experience!).

I have never had a problem at all.... manages 220 on a tank and the 40 miles warning light and countdown comes on at 160 - 180 miles

The standard seat height (820mm?) was just right for me (33" inside leg) to get both feet flat on the ground.

A heady dream in my case !!

The mirrors are good even with broad shoulders (see note below re a blind spot).

Yup........ very good but not noticed a blind spot but I am usually spending as much time looking in the mirrors as looking ahead

A few of the handlebar based controls, however, are not (for my large hands) very well sited. The start button is set at such an angle that it needed to be pressed before I could get a hold of the throttle. The info (scroll) button (left hand side) is also awkward to hit, although the ESA button is just right for my thumb and therefore was played with a lot. The clutch and break levers are adjustable, albeit by only a small amount.
The ESA allows you to set the rear suspension to a myriad of settings: Normal, Comfort, Sport. One up, two up, plus luggage, off road one, off road two and get the feck out of here (not really I made that last one up).

Covered that in my previous post.... have you seen the size of Yogi's hands ??? Shovels and a bit more best describes them.... be interesting to find his thoughts.. The ESA for me is the best aspect at I love my B Roads..... it would be an esential on any bike I buy from now of unless it was a focused sports bike or a Harley


A real personal gripe, although one should get used to it (hopefully before causing a crash) are the individual indicator buttons (on the left and right). A, they are poorly sited underneath the grips and B) the cancel button needs a real “click” press to work (the self cancelling only worked occasionally). I got it all wrong several times today. I prefer the one button approach.

As WD says that would soon change.... I had a F800R as my loan bike a couple of weeks back and hated going back to the single button.

Okay so what is it like to ride? Bear in mind I come from 6 yrs of Gixxers and ‘blades so there would be a huge amount of adaptation needed by me to get the best of this bike.

Massive adaption..... hence 1, 2, 3 + days of test rides.

Firstly, the upright riding position and height are very good, it allows good visibility over the top of cars, but also for gives a real presence of the bike and rider ( amazing how many people pull over when being followed by an upright riding position and a yellow jacket ).

Yup similar to my mates KTM Adventure... cars soon hope out the way but you can dazzle them at night through the rear window due to the height

I would question the foot pegs. Whilst my knees were not compressed even with my bum against the back of the saddle, my size 46 feet felt pushed back. I ride with the balls of my feet on the pegs, but had to keep moving the arch onto the peg to get comfortable.

I think you need to make sure the seat is on high Standard or try out the Adventure like Yogi, look perfect for the 6ft + man

The bars are very wide and too close to comfortably get the bike on full lock. I did (sucessfully) try the odd U turn etc to see what slow control was like. Despite the bike’s weight (215kgs claimed), it does not feel heavy on the move at any pace.

Hold your tummy in next time

Interestingly, the saddle caused partial num bum after only 60 miles. Not ideal for touring with me on it. More padding needed or memory foam perhaps if you are of the larger persuasion.

Think that may be down to new riding position and old age

Going up the A3 with very little wind and at around the national speed limit the bike developed a very unusual weave. I was wearing a loose textile jacket which may have something to do with it, but the wind was hitting me alternatively on the left side and then the right side of the front of the jacket . I am somewhat larger than the average person ( ) and I wonder if the small fairing, whilst stopping the wind coming straight on, was causing the wind to spill over the sides and generate this small but still uncomfortable weave. This repeated itself coming back in the afternoon.

Fully loaded you do get buffering on open roads.... Had the front tyre lifting off the ground with panniers and Madam pillion when going down to Cornwall last year but we were facing 70mph + cross winds that threw Barb and Paula straight across the lane.... could only put it down to an air cushion under the bike but I was asked why I was pulling power wheelies

The vibrations: The Beach Boys would have been proud. Unreal. The bike had only done 410 miles when I collected it so may be still needing a shake down but the rapid and sharp vibrations through the bars were extreme.

As mentioned I think this is down to tyre selection as I have no problem at all....

Handling felt good, although leaning a bike when 6ft up as opposed to only 4ft makes a big difference in feeling; the ground seems much further away. Something to get used to and not for today.

I think it is only when you have a spirited ride that you start to like the bike A LOT and find out what it is capable of.

The bike pulls well (not, unsurprisingly, ‘blade like though) but also feels slower than actual. I found myself “not hanging about” when I thought I was just touring.

A common complaint.... or not as the case may be

Despite the 200ish cc engine size difference with the ‘blade, there are only two more (claimed) torques than my ‘blade, although the BMW does pull cleaner from lower down, perhaps ‘cos it is a boxer twin?

Still sounds like a tractor though.... but 49 mph from a 1920s aero engine with 21st century injection and electronics is pretty good


I originally set the ESA to Normal mode but coming out of a corner and opening the throttle, I found the rear sank causing understeer. This may be weight related. Changing the setting to Normal mode, two up seemed to work well. Comfort did not seem to make that much difference and Sport just made the ride a little choppy.

For me, I probably use normal 60% of the time, comfort 30% and sports 10%.... click of the button... simples... For you, I would have opted for the single rider + luggage rathher that two up with luggage..... thing the pre-loading would have been a little hard for you to take advantage of the comfort mode.... normally if you hit a rumple strip approach like the one a Pembery on the A21 and flick the button, it smooths out very nicely

One interesting moment. Whilst the mirrors are generally very good, with full adjustability, there is a severe blind spot. I know I should have done a life saver, but a car pulled up alongside my left side and I did not see it until I almost sat in the front seat when changing lanes. My fault, however, I was stunned a whole Ford Focus type car could disappear so close to me.

Observation Observation Observation!!!

Petrol consumption was working out at around 47 mpg with a range of 176 miles at fill up. Not bad at all and a vast improvement on the ‘blade’s 120 mile range.

That would be 200 + to a tank without risking it then

The LED indicators were bright but a following bikeist told me that they were occasionally too small to see in the bright daylight. I would not spec these if I buy the bike.

Not a fan of LEDs but mine has got them and they are very bright... I WOULD SPEC THEM!

Overall , it was obvious the bike is very capable, however, it did not give me the thrill I get from riding a sports bike. The nearest comparator I can think of right now (from a subjective viewpoint) is the difference between owning an Italian car and a Toyota. They may both have similar performance, however, the Italian car has heart and gets the pulse racing, whereas the Toyota will just do a good job day after day after day and with little excitement. NB: my test ride was spoilt by some depressing personal news and so my mood was not positive which may have affected my overall view.

Test ride 1, 2, 3 + I am afraid, it really takes that long.... Perhaps some load exhausts would help?

Would I buy one, I am not sure? if I do, it will be as a second bike, not as an alternative to the ‘blade. I will go back for a second test ride when I am in a more positive state of mind.

Gwan

The current list price is £ 10,250, however, if you want the helpful goodies, the cost creeps up to £ 12,600 OTR). BMW are currently giving away two expandable panniers, but were not prepared to swap them for the aluminium ones on the Adventure model or give any meaningful deal (not that I pushed hard on this latter point at this stage).[/quote]

I would look and try the Adventure if I were you... you don't need to have the super big tank and it would have been a cheaper option for me to buy to the same spec as mine, if only my legs were longer, I would have even got the £500:00 auxiliary lights at no extra cost.....

Apart from the pannier deal, BMW don't really need to do deals on this bike because they are flying out as fast as they can build them.... I just had things like the front beak, wind deflectors (wrists), metal engine guards and stuff like that as part of the deal..... An Adventure would have those as standard and I do think it would suit the larger man, so give it a go!!!

Looking forward to write-up No2
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Boxhill Chippendales

[Baloo]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I have tried to be objective and also went into this with an open mind. The comments are for my body shape and my findings. Yogi and others will have their findings which may give different results. That does not make it right for me.

The tyres were Conti Attacks.

The indicators did not always self cancel hence my issue with the cancel button. I had these on the hire Harley in both the USA and UK and after a total of three weeks still did not like them. Each to their own i guess.

The foot issue is not seat heigh related, my knees were fine. The foot pegs are a little too far back for my size feet. Not much at all but enough for me to have to move my feet after a while.

I will do another ride, however, I am not going to force myself to like / to fit on the bike more than I do. It is a good bike, just not what I was hoping for.
_________________
When in doubt, open the throttle. It will either solve the problem or remove the suspense.

[Tusky]

[biggus]

[wivvy's dad]

BMW build quality is certainly not a patch on what it used to be. Now that all motor manufacturers are ruled by accountants, everything has to be built DOWN to a cost.

The BMW Club (one of the oldest in the country) has endless reports, reviews etc etc comparing new with old. Not a fair comparison admittedly, but interesting nevertheless. A bit like asking, who was the better racer - Moss or Senna / Hailwood or Rossi? A pointless question really, but does provide some interesting comparisons.

At the end of the day, if it doesn't turn you on, then walk away and try summat else.

FWIW, I thoroughly enjoyed my 175 miles on the S1000RR. Would I have one? Yes, but only as a toy, I couldn't see myself doing the sort of touring on it that I used to do on the Pan and latterly on the K1.
All that has now been confined to the dustbin of memory.
_________________
Half a Llunt - no use to man or beast!



Set the controls for the heart of the sun.....

[Baloo]

BTW When I typed "break" I meant "brake" That mistake being one of my pet hates too.

If I go the route of the upright, it will probably be this bike, however, as I say it would have to be as a second bike.
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When in doubt, open the throttle. It will either solve the problem or remove the suspense.

[moriwaki]

Re; Footrests.
I can recall from when i owned a BMW R80 back in the '80's, that the footrests were not in line, one being set further back by an inch or two. Is this still the case ?
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Just call me Waki.

London Triathlon. 7th August 2010
http://www.justgiving.com/TeamBoxhillBikers

[Tinks]

I was disappointed with it, found the bars to high and not as much fun as the 800, which i loved.

To scared to try the s100rr as i know ill want one
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Happiness is a friction burn on your knee

The 1st Lady of the forum.

[wivvy's dad]

[Tinks]

Friends got one, was looking lovingly at it Sunday.

Top of new years shopping list the new banana yellow WTF
_________________
Happiness is a friction burn on your knee

The 1st Lady of the forum.