First Impressions of my first BMW

[Fat Biker 66]

Finally got the bike GS LC TE and I am one happy biker!

The mods done so far include Fender extender, aux lights, brembo covers, rear mudguard, Bars and engine covers, Cymarc light protector, Nippy Norms camel toe, Nav 5, gearshift assist and akro exhaust, panniers and bags (for the bits that fall off according to the forum) Bark buster Storm & pinch pin on order.

Got the bike home and smothered in ACF50. My first impressions on the bike

Dealer service.
Few minor niggles but sorted and no fuss. Ross at Lind (SBW) in Welwyn great guy and knows his stuff and got my extras fitted free. Everyone happy. Coffee also drinkable.

Gears
Clutch is really light. Where have you been all my bike life? It changes up so lightly with the gearshift assist. I can get into neutral unlike my Hondas. Stalled it on way home, as wasn’t use to such a light clutch.

Handling and flick ability
After scrubbing the tyres. Really impressed the weight just disappears. Very planted in corners. Anak III will get swapped shortly for something more lasting roads focused. Filtering and low speed very easy and bike very stable.

Comfort
I am short arse and with seat on low setting its ok at the lights. Light years ahead of my Hondas for seat comfort.

Wind Noise / Buffeting
OEM screens 3/4 ways up with no real buffeting. Road noise is there but I suspect is from tyres but not an issue with earplugs. Akro exhaust makes a sweet noise and helped when filtering.

I will be riding all winter so it will be interesting how it holds up over the winter. Only regret at the moment is that I should have bought one years ago.

Ride safe and thanks to all on the forum for helping me.
Mike

 

[ymfb]

Mike, glad you found the bike, I agree it's one sorted machine.

There's a lot of info on tyres on here, but what I found was some of the makes/models were not readily available when I needed them. I was pleased to get rid of the noisy Anakees though.

 

[Rockred]

Welcome to the forum. And enjoy your new bike. If your are parking it in London or any big city for that matter, make it hard for the scrotes to steal. There has been some interesting threads on here about the subject.

 

[Mr Bean]

I've just done a deal with Ross on a 63 plate TE. Picking it up tomorrow.

Nice easy to deal with bloke.

 

[Eunuch]

Glad it's all going to plan Mike. It's a great bike.

Anakees are noisy and theres a noticable difference moving to 100% road tyres.

 

[Fat Biker 66]

Thanks for the warm welcome

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

I ride into London weekly but at quite random times. I am lucky there are ground anchors parking bays next to our buildings for bikes. Waiting till i have the proper security. Have the Pragmasis chain and waiting the pinch pin (out of stock). Came out of our office in June and poor women was looking at her new CBF500 front wheel still chained with rest of the bike missing.

Off out to ride to the hospital this morning. I guess when the shoulder surgeon ask how I am doing after my operation, I am going to grin and point outside at the bike.
Ride safe
Mike

 

[gateway77]

Hi
Glad to hear you're enjoying the bike.
Re: Anakee 3- some on here absolutely love them but personally I found them incredibly noisy even with ear plugs and so got them off the bike asap.
Perhaps everyones ears are tuned differently to various pitches, anyway plenty of alternatives to choose from so not an issue.
NB. when I complained to my local BMW dealer about the tyres they offered to swap for £30 labour charge which seemed very fair.

 

[Caesi]

Comfort
I am short arse and with seat on low setting its ok at the lights. Light years ahead of my Hondas for seat comfort.

Set the suspension to 1 rider, Soft, no luggage. You might be able to fully put your feet down

 

[sybaseian]

Set the suspension to 1 rider, Soft, no luggage. You might be able to fully put your feet down

If you need extra length to reach the floor, Daytona do boots with extra 6cm in height if you really need it:-


http://www.daytona.de/index.php?page=801

And to keep a balance, the also do extra large sizes:-

http://www.daytona.de/index.php?page=800

 

[Fat Biker 66]

Thanks for the suspension trick and the boots I am getting use to it. Have also booked a slow rider training session to get my confidence with the bike.
Mike

 

[rogerstan]

I use the Daytona boots, they are expensive, but they are the best boots I have ever owned, they are well insulated, and that means for hot weather as well as cold. I
would never be without them now.

 

[crotchrocket]

The GS is great through winter, loads of protection and road presence. I found the Givi hand guard extenders very good last winter and just rode in thin gortex gloves with the heated grips on.