Wobs
Registered user
Well not exactly.
I got her 8 years ago (1150GS with the big tank and various Touratech bling) but have just put new shocks and lights on.
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just back from 5400 miles in 16 days around Europe.
Big thanks to Pete at Every Accessory for the pretty and very effective Wilbers bouncy things.
Service from this guy is just the best.
50 kilos of luggage, cranked at silly angles around lumpy mountain hairpins and grinning insanely. Bouncing up the Don Quixote trail in Southern Spain, clunking up some of those old French military roads in the Alps near Bardonechia or autoroute pounding, they were just superb. Give you more sense of confidence than 200mg of viagra and a full set of body armour.
Equally big thanks to Les Wassall for the HID lighting.
Fantastically quick service and surprisingly easy to fit. The difference its made to dip is just night and day if you'll pardon the pun. Did a through the night back from Andorra to Dieppe and I just don't think it would've been half as easy without it.
Course, all good things come to an end. By the end of the trip the gearbox was getting really really really clunky when hot. Knew I shouldn't have changed the old oil. Put GL5 80/90 in and I might change now to a straight 90 or even heavier. Any thoughts? Probably the linkages have got a bit sandy and sticky as well so they'll probably need a clean up. Just my natural sense of paranoia about the gearbox; I am on my third now. Might be my technique or lack of it, but I did loadsa miles on my old 1100 with no problems.
Also put all new throttle cables on before the trip just in case (I had one break once before) and I reckon they've stretched a bit as the old surgy thing had returned by the end of the trip possibly as result of cables bedding in and upsetting TB balance or maybe just caused by a lotta abuse in extreme heat. Up to 45 according to my temp gauge in the hills in Southern Spain. Either way a valve clearance and TB balance session coming up. I might think about buying some small balancing guages I can either fit to the bike or take with me on these longer trips. Anyone got any ideas? Also does anyone know if those Techlusion R259 boxes ever break down or if they do, how do you know?
Oh yeah, anybody got any thoughts on screens? I've gone through standard screen, tobinators and currently a high Givi version. Bloke I met in Italy swears by the MRA and those deflector thingies that fit each side of the front of the tank. He reckons that most of the turbulence comes from "underneath" and he might have a point. Anyone know where you can get those delector things and if they're any good?
Probably the worse bit about a fully loaded metal box equipped GSA is that its gotta be about the worse bike in the world on very windy roads. Driving across the Corbiere is tiring at best and downright scarey at worse. But I guess what can you expect from something with the aerdynamics of a wardrobe.
And is it just me that thinks immaculately clean and polished multi thousand euro, fully tooled and toyed up brand new 1200 GSAs piloted by multi-coloured lederhosen Germans riding in formation are just sooooooooo uncool? Or is that just jealousy? (Of the bike not the lederhosen).
And on the subject of Euro bashing, some bull fighting wannabe nicked my gloves while they were drying out on the tank. Thanks Pedro
Lastly, word of warning. I could not find a Metzeler Tourance anywhere in Andorra or Spain. Everybody had to order the bloody thing. Meant coming home with a good impression of a slick.
I got her 8 years ago (1150GS with the big tank and various Touratech bling) but have just put new shocks and lights on.
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just back from 5400 miles in 16 days around Europe.
Big thanks to Pete at Every Accessory for the pretty and very effective Wilbers bouncy things.
Service from this guy is just the best.
50 kilos of luggage, cranked at silly angles around lumpy mountain hairpins and grinning insanely. Bouncing up the Don Quixote trail in Southern Spain, clunking up some of those old French military roads in the Alps near Bardonechia or autoroute pounding, they were just superb. Give you more sense of confidence than 200mg of viagra and a full set of body armour.
Equally big thanks to Les Wassall for the HID lighting.
Fantastically quick service and surprisingly easy to fit. The difference its made to dip is just night and day if you'll pardon the pun. Did a through the night back from Andorra to Dieppe and I just don't think it would've been half as easy without it.
Course, all good things come to an end. By the end of the trip the gearbox was getting really really really clunky when hot. Knew I shouldn't have changed the old oil. Put GL5 80/90 in and I might change now to a straight 90 or even heavier. Any thoughts? Probably the linkages have got a bit sandy and sticky as well so they'll probably need a clean up. Just my natural sense of paranoia about the gearbox; I am on my third now. Might be my technique or lack of it, but I did loadsa miles on my old 1100 with no problems.
Also put all new throttle cables on before the trip just in case (I had one break once before) and I reckon they've stretched a bit as the old surgy thing had returned by the end of the trip possibly as result of cables bedding in and upsetting TB balance or maybe just caused by a lotta abuse in extreme heat. Up to 45 according to my temp gauge in the hills in Southern Spain. Either way a valve clearance and TB balance session coming up. I might think about buying some small balancing guages I can either fit to the bike or take with me on these longer trips. Anyone got any ideas? Also does anyone know if those Techlusion R259 boxes ever break down or if they do, how do you know?
Oh yeah, anybody got any thoughts on screens? I've gone through standard screen, tobinators and currently a high Givi version. Bloke I met in Italy swears by the MRA and those deflector thingies that fit each side of the front of the tank. He reckons that most of the turbulence comes from "underneath" and he might have a point. Anyone know where you can get those delector things and if they're any good?
Probably the worse bit about a fully loaded metal box equipped GSA is that its gotta be about the worse bike in the world on very windy roads. Driving across the Corbiere is tiring at best and downright scarey at worse. But I guess what can you expect from something with the aerdynamics of a wardrobe.
And is it just me that thinks immaculately clean and polished multi thousand euro, fully tooled and toyed up brand new 1200 GSAs piloted by multi-coloured lederhosen Germans riding in formation are just sooooooooo uncool? Or is that just jealousy? (Of the bike not the lederhosen).
And on the subject of Euro bashing, some bull fighting wannabe nicked my gloves while they were drying out on the tank. Thanks Pedro
Lastly, word of warning. I could not find a Metzeler Tourance anywhere in Andorra or Spain. Everybody had to order the bloody thing. Meant coming home with a good impression of a slick.
