F750GS - first 100 miles

OldSteve

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New bike delivered Friday evening :beerjug:; Saturday - hugger fitted and gear lever moved up by one spline to allow me to get my boot underneath it. Good coating of ACF50 applied. Went for a 100 mile run around N Yorkshire today so tyres and brakes now bedded in. First impressions are that the bike is very comfortable and very tractable with good low-rpm grunt. Heated grips are effective and all seems to work as it should although I have yet to figure out how to reset the trip and mpg meters in the TFT screen. Also need to figure out how to set up phone, helmet and sat nav via the TFT system.

My only complaint is that I find the rear brake pedal is far too low for me so that I can get very little pressure applied for low-speed riding. There is no way to adjust it upwards as it sits against a metal stop so I have removed a bit of free-play and ordered an extender from Nippy Normans which will raise the effective height a bit and if that is still not enough I can use it as the basis for adding a thicker spacer. My other observation is that the vario luggage is VERY heavy even empty!
 
If you're still not happy with the foot control positions try a set of Pivotpegz as the pivot action really helps with this. Their main benefit though is they are bigger, offer better grip and really come into their own when stood on the pegs compared to standard kit.

Andres
 
I’m using 1 at the moment courtesy of Joe Duffy’s. Nice little bike. My rt should be fixed this week. Can’t wait. The gs has little wind protection for a 30 mile winter commute. Am I going soft? JJH
 
The wind protection is easily sorted with a 850 mount (<£30) and a Givi AirFlow AF 5127 adjustable Screen (around £120). This makes the 750 into a nice little tourer. Plus, the small screen will be a real bonus in 25+ degree summers like last year. You can get lower pegs that sort out the brake issue. Cheapest I found were the Gilles set up (<£100) and I went for the 30mm drop. This sorts out the rear brake and you can adjust the gear lever to suit.
 
I’m not going to do all that on a loan bike!! I believe the 850 to have better protection. I had a 800 gsa and found it perfect. Why did I change? How long is a piece of string? JJH
 
The issue I found with the standard screen was not windblast (at up to 70mph it seemed OK) or turbulence (none) but the amount of c**p that gets onto the visor after a few miles on damp roads. I think I’ll be looking for a bigger screen in due course, but something a bit smaller than the ginormous Airflow.
 
I had the same initial feelings about both the brake and gear-shift pedals, but having not adjusted either, I have to say I have got used to both of them now, and they are no longer an issue.

The TFT trip-meter and phone/nav is quite intuitive - although I do admit to reading the manual... The navigation is very basic but it works very well and I think it will be fine for my needs.

As for the screen, I'm still waiting for my WRS, as clearly ordering between Xmas and NY was not the greatest idea I've ever had...
 
Have to say I didn’t notice anything about gearshift or brake. JJH
 
OldSteve, great you are enjoying your bike, mine is due in March. Interested in your opinion of the hugger Powerbronze? How much crap they keep off you and some pics if possible.

The Varios are heavy, but the flip side is, I dropped my GS1200 LC and the protected the shaft from damage, with only a scuff on the replaceable plastic edges.
 
I have some stiff Daytona boots and there is not a lot of bend at the ankle and they have quite thick soles so getting under the gear lever was uncomfortable and I cannot bend enough to get full rear brake operation - obviously just me/the boots. The Powerbronze hugger seems pretty effective - hardly any muck over the back of the bike after today’s ride. The instructions were a bit unclear about fitting but once understood no problems. I agree that Varios could well protect in a small fall, they are very robust! I have read the manual and still cannot find out how to reset the trips, I will have to try again tomorrow.
 
Just wondering has this bike linked brakes and if so how are they linked? JJH
 
I have some stiff Daytona boots and there is not a lot of bend at the ankle and they have quite thick soles so getting under the gear lever was uncomfortable and I cannot bend enough to get full rear brake operation - obviously just me/the boots. The Powerbronze hugger seems pretty effective - hardly any muck over the back of the bike after today’s ride. The instructions were a bit unclear about fitting but once understood no problems. I agree that Varios could well protect in a small fall, they are very robust! I have read the manual and still cannot find out how to reset the trips, I will have to try again tomorrow.

You mean the TFT trip, right? If you have the SatNav there is another 2 trips you can reset IIRC

Anyway, starting from the main screen, "go down" twice to enter the bike info.. The main screen is the colourful one with the all the info. Going right you can go to the first trip. Press down again and you will have the options to reset one individual item or all of them. This "individual reset" works only for Trip1. For Trip2 you can only reset all of them or enable the "Automatic Reset". I haven't done this yet.

Btw, congratulations for the bike !!!
 
Just wondering has this bike linked brakes and if so how are they linked? JJH

I don't think so. At least with my tests to slide the rear wheel or aggressive front wheel braking I couldn't feel the other wheel locking.
But I can have a look to the manual
 
You mean the TFT trip, right? If you have the SatNav there is another 2 trips you can reset IIRC

Anyway, starting from the main screen, "go down" twice to enter the bike info.. The main screen is the colourful one with the all the info. Going right you can go to the first trip. Press down again and you will have the options to reset one individual item or all of them. This "individual reset" works only for Trip1. For Trip2 you can only reset all of them or enable the "Automatic Reset". I haven't done this yet.

Btw, congratulations for the bike !!!

I've gone for the automatic reset option, which does what I want and works the same way as my car.
 
Sounds just like an almost new F700GS I had as a loan bike a while back. Turned out there was air in the system, which should have been picked up during the PDI. The clue was that, with many stabs at the pedal, around say 10 IIRC, the pedal could be made to firm up & raise the biting point, if that makes sense. Anyway, try the feel of any other 750/850 bikes at the dealers next time & see how they feel under the boot.

If you can live with it for now, make sure it is on the query list for your 600 mile service & be cautious/insistant if you get any BS response.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I have found the trip resets on the TFT screen, partly by trial and error and have gone for auto-reset on trip 2 and I will use trip 1 for longer journeys or between fuelling and trip 2 for daily mileages. Re the rear brake, there is no issue re air in the system, it is just that for me the height of the pedal is too low to start with and other bikes I have looked at, including my original demo rides, are the same. An extender and spacer will be my next steps.

Next challenge is to get the TFT and Nav V both working to my helmet; apparently the integrated Nav mount does not include the audio output to the TFT so this has to be on a separate channel. I may have to run phone and media through the Nav V if I cannot get them to work in parallel. My Sena system suggests it can handle 2 external phones and a sat nav but I cannot get them working yet so have reset the Sena and will start again!
 
^^ I think you need to connect both the phone and the helmet to the TFT - and neither of them to the Nav V - or perhaps that's only with Nav VI?
 
That was how I had it but you only then got either the Nav V or the TFT in communications, the Nav instructions stopped the media playback. I'm not sure that is really a problem for me, but I would like to get everything working together if possible. Apparently the comms on the K1600 do integrate the instructions from the Nav device so BMW clearly have the capability.
 


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