1290 GT doing what it’s supposed to do

AndyB_11

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This weekend was the first European trip for my GT and if I’m honest up until Saturday I hadn’t convinced myself it would be comfortable for longer trips because the only other time I’d ridden 200 miles in a day I ended up with a small amount of neck ache and couldn’t get myself comfortable.

I’ve now changed the screen for a Puig touring one which is a couple of inches taller and it’s a totally different experience. I rode 350 miles on Friday, about 160 on Saturday and 375 today and each time it was great. The two longer days were probably 2/3 motorway and 1/3 messing about in the Ardennes and Saturday we didn’t go near a motorway of any description but did ride like idiots all day and it was basically faultless.

I used a Ventura luggage pack on the back and as is normally the case took more rubbish than I needed because there was room and had a small tankbag fitted for my wallet, passport, phone and other small items that the modern rider now finds they can’t go out without and it worked well.

Now the bike has got about 1500 miles on it the engine has freed up a bit more and the fuel consumption has improved so sitting at 80mph on a motorway gives better than 50mpg and when I filled up this afternoon I’d done just over 250 miles and the bike claimed it still had 20 miles left but I bottled it and didn’t push it any further. I’m more than happy with that because that included the normal messing about getting on and off a ferry, queuing up at passport control etc so I’d say that on a motorway ride across Germany most days of around 500 miles would simply be a one stop strategy if I was in the mood to just get somewhere without messing about.

The handling in the Ardennes was as good as anything I’ve owned before and we were getting a move on a bit with me on the GT, another rider on an S1000XR and a third rider on a Kawasaki H2 SX though both of them had passengers but neither worry any too much about pushing it a bit with passengers and both are currently racing at National level with one being the happy owner of about 5 Replicas from the Isle of Man TT & GP so he’s no slouch. I reset the maximum speed previously recorded on my satnav and apparently I took it up to 130mph on Saturday but it says a lot for the bike that I didn’t realise I’d been that naughty.

I was going to try the standard seat on the GT but when I got it out of the box I checked out the lack of padding and put it back in the box straight away :blast

I’ll be taking the GT on a summer trip of about 4k miles later in the year and until this weekend I’d been unsure about whether my knackered body would need too many Ibuprofen to get through the day but now I’m happy enough to just go for it and not worry :thumb2
 
Good to hear !!
How's matey liking the H2 SX ?

From UKRM, after 800 miles:

Short version: yabba dabba do

Long version:

The SX had its first service on Saturday, so now I'm (effectively) not
troubled by running in rev limits. Just the sheer ability to let the
bike accelerate without always having one eye on the revcounter seemed
to free it, and my soul, and on the way home everything felt *so* much
better. It has instant power, as much as you need, in any gear, which
combined with *very* good brakes and light and neutral steering made
it a very fun place to sit.

At the first service I also had most of the 'touring kit' fitted,
which consists of a slightly bigger screen, heated grips, main stand,
and some gee-gaws such as crash protects, rim tape and a tank pad.
One bit of the pannier kit was late arriving, which was annoying.

Predictably the missing pannier fittingg turned up on Tuesday, and the
whole lot was put in the post to me, arrriving today. I fitted the
kit myself in less than an hour. I've had Give hard panniers before,
which I rate, but a factory kit is a different world - everything is
so much more slicker, cleverer and plusher. To start with, they don't
add to the overall width of the bike at all. Inside, they have little
soft inner bags, shaped like the outer, so you can leave the cases on
the bike and tote your belongings in a plush soft carry bag. When
removed completely, there's almost no evidence that the bike is
adapted for panniers at all - just a little extension with a rubber
boot on the pillion footrest hanger. And the single key operation,
for ignition, seat and both panniers, is the icing on the cake.

I went for ride with the panniers, and everything just felt *so*
right. I rode it like I stole it - accelerating off a motorway
roundabout and down the slip road, I was doing an effortless 135 as I
*joined* the motorway! And with the bigger screen, this was utterly
undramatic - it felt like I could sit at that speed all day. My
confidence in the handling goes from strength to strength, and I was
throwing it round roundabouts like a 600, not a 200bhp tourer. I need
to get my knee-sliders out, as this bike will be soooo knee-downable.

I did a few motorway miles this evening too, and with the cruise
control set, and the heated grips warming my hands as the spring
evening temperatures dropped, it felt like I could ride this bike from
one side of Europe to the other with no fuss at all.

Verdict: this may be the perfect road bike for me - stupidly fast,
great handling, and amazingly practical to boot. I love it.
 
Just to clarify things, the H2 owner had one of the first H2 supercharged Kawasakis and rode it like a complete idiot only selling it to fund the purchase of a TZ250 for the Manx and he says the fueling on this one is miles better and it’s a much easier bike to ride fast. His current collection includes a Hyabusa, a Kawasaki 750 Turbo, a Kawasaki ZX10R with a Superstock spec engine, a TZ250 Yamaha and ZXR750 race bike and apart from when he’s actually racing bikes he rates this one as the pick of the bunch.

The bike looked completely untroubled by anything he threw at it over the weekend and his girlfriend has agreed to go to Italy on it later this year but I think she’ll live to regret that one :blast
 
Do you ever get to see any sights at them speeds mate...........

My eyesight is remarkably good at illegal speeds though the three of us that were out on Saturday did miss a German cop on an unmarked bike on one occasion and it cost us a substantial amount of money plus made Wessie laugh for years.
 
It’s an old newsgroup from the days when text only mediums were basically all that was on offer if you wanted to discuss motorbikes. Totally unmoderated and very robust to put it mildly but at least half a dozen subscribers here used to post on there regularly and we had a lot of laughs ranging from nights out on the piss to running a race team for a few seasons.

It’s just about dead now, I occasionally pop my head in there as does Wessie but I think the average post count per person is in single figures for a month now.
 
It’s an old newsgroup from the days when text only mediums were basically all that was on offer if you wanted to discuss motorbikes. Totally unmoderated and very robust to put it mildly but at least half a dozen subscribers here used to post on there regularly and we had a lot of laughs ranging from nights out on the piss to running a race team for a few seasons.

It’s just about dead now, I occasionally pop my head in there as does Wessie but I think the average post count per person is in single figures for a month now.

ah ok ta
 
My eyesight is remarkably good at illegal speeds though the three of us that were out on Saturday did miss a German cop on an unmarked bike on one occasion and it cost us a substantial amount of money plus made Wessie laugh for years.

Ouch so he was faster, the cop
 
What or who is UKRM ?

some of us have been using motorcycle related social media via usenet since the mid 1990s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet - UKRM or uk.rec.motorcycles is a still (barely) active group on the platform - Gyp, Andy and me first met through UKRM and have become mates in the real world to the extent of holidaying together at times. At its peak, UKRM had 1200 posts a day and no moderators. I think I still have 2 active death threats against me. UKGSer is quite tame compared to the shenanigans online and the overspill into the corporeal world.
 
Ouch so he was faster, the cop

he had onboard video, a radio and an armed roadblock ahead :p

Andy wasn't involved as he was busy breaking his bikes, but the other idiots provided me with even more giggles by upsetting a Swiss border guard on his way to work. He had a mobile phone and border post ahead.

I was plodding along on my R1150GS breaking loads of laws at a more sedate pace but always seemed to get to the next hotel first.
 
he had onboard video, a radio and an armed roadblock ahead :p

Andy wasn't involved as he was busy breaking his bikes, but the other idiots provided me with even more giggles by upsetting a Swiss border guard on his way to work. He had a mobile phone and border post ahead.

I was plodding along on my R1150GS breaking loads of laws at a more sedate pace but always seemed to get to the next hotel first.

Was it Herr Happy face by any chance.

 
some of us have been using motorcycle related social media via usenet since the mid 1990s
.

Newbie!

Ok, not particularly social media, but I first communicated with Rudy (ex-UKRM) via a Gloucester based dial up BBS in (I think) 1989 or 1990
 
was Andy aware of your affection for his arse before you posted this?

I forgive his twisted thoughts because he occasionally brings T out so we can take the piss and wind her up about 25 years and no wedding ring.
 
Rather than start a new thread I thought I’d use this one to admit that I’ve been riding my bike like a girl and the fuel consumption figures reflect this.

The only time it dipped was when I was caught in seemingly endless roadworks then spun it up a bit because I wanted a beer. Apart from that I’ve been remarkably sensible due to the positively evil speeding fines in Scandinavia and the excessive amount of unused crap strapped to the bike.

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I’m not usually bothered about recording fuel use but it amuses me to see the changes according to riding conditions when I’m away on holiday.
 


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