Finally made a decision, but first a little bit of background,
I initially came to this forum for informatiom and advice regarding the 1100 engine BMW's as I bought an R1100r new in June 2000, that's her below,
She's been a fantastic bike, quicker than a lot of people imagine and it handles really well as I've got Ohlin's on it now,front and rear, the quality is superb with the two tone paintwork and hand painted coachlines etc.
There's not a spot of rust on it anywhere and after 11 years and 26,000 miles she still looks good as new.
I've done quite a few decent trips on it and we were in the Vosges region of France for a week in May, just loved it!
My intention is never to sell this bike, I want to keep it till I've retired so I can just potter about on it
I have also for the past 5 years been running this 954 Honda Fireblade,
I've always had a sports bike as well as the BM, the pair make a good contrast, things like RSV 1000 Mille, 2 other Fireblades, 1000 Exup Yamaha, and an 851 Ducati ( hated it!! ) but I had vowed due to the state of the roads up here ( bumpy as hell and covered with gravel ) that this Blade would be my last sports bike, I'm 54 and I feel like I've had my fill of them now and want something with a bit more relaxed riding position
I've had test rides on the new twin cam GS and been quite impressed with the engine, but just could not figure out how they were worth about £12,000 by the time you had extras fitted, so that kind of ruled out a new GS for me, I had the cash for one but just couldn't get my head around how a 2 cylinder air cooled bike was going to cost over £12,000
That and the fact the dealers offered me a pittance on my Blade and also the finish on the second hand bikes in the showroom didn't seem to stand up too well for relatively new bikes started to sow the seeds of doubts with me.
I quite fancied trading the Blade in against a second hand GS 1200 SE if I could have found one, a bit more realistic in the money stakes, I have this mental barrier that no bike is worth more than £10,000, to me that's just silly money for what is essentially a plaything in my case, so another bike that was on my list was a KTM 990 SMT, I'd posted on here a while ago asking if anyone had tested one out and got a few mixed replies, favorable and otherwise, I was most concerned about all the horror stories about the fuelling on the KTM twins being horrible and lurchy, definitely couldn't live with that
So a few weeks ago I actually went for a test ride on one from my local dealer :-
2011 model SMT demo bike with ABS as standard.
So I rode this bike with a critical eye and specifically looking for problems with the fuelling.
Wow! to say that I was impressed was a bit of an understatement, the first 6 miles or so were through a built up area and the bike would pull 4th gear at 30mph and about 2,800 revs without any problem and then pick up smoothly from there.
Out onto a short stretch of dual carriageway and the bike would cruise very steadily at whatever speed you picked, no "hunting" or snatching, also the pickup out of slow corners and roundabouts was seamless, nice and smooth, no lurching at all - I was totally surprised at how smooth this big twin was.
When you opened the stops it went like the clappers, made a lovely "bellow" as it revved through to 9,000 rpm, definately not short of go and don't forget, I was comparing this to the Fireblade I'd just rode up to the dealers on.
The instant accelleration combined with the tall riding position ( a novelty being able to see over hedges! ) and lovely bump absorbing suspension made this probably just as quick or even quicker point to point than the Fireblade.
So I took it back to the dealers, and the week after took this home :-
A hardly used 2011 ABS example with 1,700 miles on it, saved a grand over a new one, £8,600 it cost me, still with almost 2 yrs warranty on it, always fancied a white one!
Early days yet, but I'm still dead impressed with it, ( as you can tell by the Gormless grin on my face! ) tweaked the suspension to the sport settings given by KTM on a label under the seat and this thing really goes well around the twistys.
Did a 280 mile run on it last Sunday mixed riding conditions, a bit of everything, including full throttle runs through the gears, it flies when you give it the berries! and it was returning just over 40 mpg, I'd read they were a bit thirsty, would have preferred mid - 40s, but I can live with this, fuel light comes on at about 130 miles, but still has around 4 litres in the tank when I re-fill it.
And the riding position is just perfect for me, no more aching wrists and shoulders, just a tad of buffeting from the screen which I should be able to sort out later but its not too bad.
I've got it over 2,400 miles now and I've just put a set of Pilot Road 3's on it, seem pretty good.
I want to state now that I still like GS's and wouldn't knock them in any way, but in my case to have a GS and my R1100r didn't seem to make sense, and who know's, in the future I may one day own a water cooled boxer!
I also want to say what a great forum this is, dead helpful, informative, funny and piss-taking at the same time, so you'll pardon me if I hang around it still.
No Timmy's rules here, so feel free to have a shot at me
Cheers,
Poucher
I initially came to this forum for informatiom and advice regarding the 1100 engine BMW's as I bought an R1100r new in June 2000, that's her below,
She's been a fantastic bike, quicker than a lot of people imagine and it handles really well as I've got Ohlin's on it now,front and rear, the quality is superb with the two tone paintwork and hand painted coachlines etc.
There's not a spot of rust on it anywhere and after 11 years and 26,000 miles she still looks good as new.
I've done quite a few decent trips on it and we were in the Vosges region of France for a week in May, just loved it!
My intention is never to sell this bike, I want to keep it till I've retired so I can just potter about on it
I have also for the past 5 years been running this 954 Honda Fireblade,
I've always had a sports bike as well as the BM, the pair make a good contrast, things like RSV 1000 Mille, 2 other Fireblades, 1000 Exup Yamaha, and an 851 Ducati ( hated it!! ) but I had vowed due to the state of the roads up here ( bumpy as hell and covered with gravel ) that this Blade would be my last sports bike, I'm 54 and I feel like I've had my fill of them now and want something with a bit more relaxed riding position
I've had test rides on the new twin cam GS and been quite impressed with the engine, but just could not figure out how they were worth about £12,000 by the time you had extras fitted, so that kind of ruled out a new GS for me, I had the cash for one but just couldn't get my head around how a 2 cylinder air cooled bike was going to cost over £12,000
That and the fact the dealers offered me a pittance on my Blade and also the finish on the second hand bikes in the showroom didn't seem to stand up too well for relatively new bikes started to sow the seeds of doubts with me.
I quite fancied trading the Blade in against a second hand GS 1200 SE if I could have found one, a bit more realistic in the money stakes, I have this mental barrier that no bike is worth more than £10,000, to me that's just silly money for what is essentially a plaything in my case, so another bike that was on my list was a KTM 990 SMT, I'd posted on here a while ago asking if anyone had tested one out and got a few mixed replies, favorable and otherwise, I was most concerned about all the horror stories about the fuelling on the KTM twins being horrible and lurchy, definitely couldn't live with that
So a few weeks ago I actually went for a test ride on one from my local dealer :-
2011 model SMT demo bike with ABS as standard.
So I rode this bike with a critical eye and specifically looking for problems with the fuelling.
Wow!
to say that I was impressed was a bit of an understatement, the first 6 miles or so were through a built up area and the bike would pull 4th gear at 30mph and about 2,800 revs without any problem and then pick up smoothly from there.Out onto a short stretch of dual carriageway and the bike would cruise very steadily at whatever speed you picked, no "hunting" or snatching, also the pickup out of slow corners and roundabouts was seamless, nice and smooth, no lurching at all - I was totally surprised at how smooth this big twin was.
When you opened the stops it went like the clappers, made a lovely "bellow" as it revved through to 9,000 rpm, definately not short of go and don't forget, I was comparing this to the Fireblade I'd just rode up to the dealers on.
The instant accelleration combined with the tall riding position ( a novelty being able to see over hedges! ) and lovely bump absorbing suspension made this probably just as quick or even quicker point to point than the Fireblade.
So I took it back to the dealers, and the week after took this home :-
A hardly used 2011 ABS example with 1,700 miles on it, saved a grand over a new one, £8,600 it cost me, still with almost 2 yrs warranty on it, always fancied a white one!
Early days yet, but I'm still dead impressed with it, ( as you can tell by the Gormless grin on my face! ) tweaked the suspension to the sport settings given by KTM on a label under the seat and this thing really goes well around the twistys.
Did a 280 mile run on it last Sunday mixed riding conditions, a bit of everything, including full throttle runs through the gears, it flies when you give it the berries! and it was returning just over 40 mpg, I'd read they were a bit thirsty, would have preferred mid - 40s, but I can live with this, fuel light comes on at about 130 miles, but still has around 4 litres in the tank when I re-fill it.
And the riding position is just perfect for me, no more aching wrists and shoulders, just a tad of buffeting from the screen which I should be able to sort out later but its not too bad.
I've got it over 2,400 miles now and I've just put a set of Pilot Road 3's on it, seem pretty good.
I want to state now that I still like GS's and wouldn't knock them in any way, but in my case to have a GS and my R1100r didn't seem to make sense, and who know's, in the future I may one day own a water cooled boxer!
I also want to say what a great forum this is, dead helpful, informative, funny and piss-taking at the same time, so you'll pardon me if I hang around it still.
No Timmy's rules here, so feel free to have a shot at me
Cheers,
Poucher
