A/C open day Sat 8th

[BillB]

A reminder to club members wishing to try out a new bike, A/C will be having their open -day, with test rides on most of the models they sell tomorrow (Sat).
Let's support A/C who support the members of BMWMCCWA by coming along to their event.............
When
08 Apr 2017

8:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location
Auto Classic Motorcycles 48 Burswood Road, Victoria Park


"Auto Classic BMW Motorcycles Invites you to the 2017 New Model Test ride and Sausage Sizzle Event. Come on down to the dealership, Saturday the 8th of April between 8am and 12:30pm March and grab yourself a snagger along with the chance to test ride the Brand New Models that BMW Motorrad has to offer. This is an open invitation to all Motorcycle owners and enthusiasts, so if you happen to have a friend OR 3 who are looking for that ultimate riding adventure then please feel free to pass on this invitation and have them come on down for a meet and greet with the BMW Motorcycle Team. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Auto Classic Motorcycles 48 Burswood Road, Victoria Park 6100."

VP

[Cookie]

I can't make it this morning, due to other commitments, which is a shame as it is shaping up to be another great morning of fellowship, mixed with some of the best new bikes on the market.

Hoping to make it to breakfast tomorrow.

[Kots]

A terrific morning! Good to catch up with everyone. Just gotta make some room in the shed now.

[Bozo]

Kots
Some of us got there at sparrows to see Swampy and Paul fighting over a 1200rs and Theape acting as unpaid salesperson for the RNineT.
Getting there early meant I could duck down to Dunsborough. Currently having a coffee at Clairault Winery.
Bozo

[spacey1]

Ripper morning at AutoClassic, the weather, the coffee, the hotdogs, good company... and oh yeah, the bikes.

There was keen interest in the latest renditions of the RNineT: Racer; Scrambler; Pure; Urban G/S (later in the year). BMW is on to a good thing with this range.

However... I was figuring on demoing the R1200 RS LC and the S1000 XR.

A few rambling thoughts...

The R1200 RS LC
The reviews on this machine are extraordinary. A friend warned me about riding it. "You won't want to give it back!" he said. "A total waste in this country"... where we're controlled by a mish-mash of historical limits standardized in the 70s, 1970s that is. Nearly 50 years ago

How true were his words. This has got to be the stand-out machine that I've ridden in recent years:

• Beautiful smooth fueling at low rpm;
• very impressive power from nothing to forever;
• light and flickable;
• the wet clutch is a massive improvement on the early LCs when you were embarrassed to engage 1st gear (the 'CLUNK' could be heard by every cage driver within cooee ). It just silently 'snicks' into gear.
• Even the wind protection from the small screen is actually pretty acceptable.
• Cruise control I love, it's got... so relaxing to not have to worry about speeding and to be able to give the gas hand a break. Simple and ergonomically comfortable to implement.
• I can't recall any disconcerting vibration.
• I didn't really try out the shift-assist, I'm still in old school clutch-ing mode, so I won't comment there.
• Sure it needs a seat, I reckon they found a container load of the early F800 seats somewhere.
• Sure, I'd love wider handlebars, a more upright seating position, and of course more ground clearance...

All said, this is one very sweet bit of kit to cover big miles... with a few small 'comfort' mods.

In another world where speed limits moved with safety technology and road quality >>>>>> drooooooooool

And that'll never happen in a nanny state/nation where the latest rounds of limits are imposed on school kids, now banned from doing risky cart-wheels and hand-stands

[spacey1]

I needed half an hour or there-abouts to settle my mind and body after the massive adrenaline rush from the R1200 RS.
Downed a couple of coffees and a double dog hot dog, blabbed incoherently (I'm sure), then lined up for the XR...

BMW S1000 XR
Most modern motorcycles are fast, some searingly fast. I like to first feel how they perform at human speeds, commuting, lane filtering, and other normal stuff.

Surprisingly, the S1000 XR is a very docile machine in traffic and freeway duties, doing the aforementioned normal stuff.

With a more upright seating position than the RS, and definitely more GS-like, the S1000 XR also fitted nicely into my idea of how a long distance motorbike should feel.

It has nice wide handlebars (probably GS) so you really feel like you have the bull by the horns and 'you' are in control.

It's an easy bike to launch gently, good clutch control and butter-smooth fueling. It has all the expected goodies on modern bikes: cruise control; ESA; awesome brakes; pin sharp handling; and again surprisingly good wind protection from such a small screen.

It is a also a very busy engine, buzzing away at 4800rpm at 100kph. I set the cruise control on at 80 and 100. At 100, the vibrations are something you would have to get used to. This machine is meant to sidle up along-side a cruise missile, then time warp into another dimension. At higher RPMs, the engine smooths out.

The S1000 XR has impressive power, like the R1200 RS, up to mid-rpm, then it's simply GUT-WRENCHING up to the top of the dial.
I rode a S1000 RR a couple of years ago and thought then that the power hit was like someone had just thrust a dagger in your gut.
BMW's efforts to de-tune the S1000 RR 199 hp engine to 165 hp for the XR, in order to give it a more GS-like style, only barely manages to shave the edge off the performance of this machine.

Oddly, after riding the RS, the XR's power wasn't intimidating.

So maybe BMW have done a fine job packaging the S1000 engine into a modern GS - Gelände/Straße (German: off-road/road).

I just want to add that it's difficult to talk about BMW's S1000 engine, in any of it's guises without constantly referencing it's enormous power.

I'm sure there will be few who opt to add a set of knobbies and tear up the dirt on one of these. The only tearing-up would be said 'knobby' tyres. 160 horsepower simply won't be kind to any sort of dirt tyres.

[spacey1]

The important question: I'm a GSA rider, would I buy either of these machines?

In another life where off-road motorbiking is outlawed and speed-limitless highways are the norm, I simply wouldn't know which one to choose. Both are mind-warping speed demons capable of traversing vast distances on paved roads with ease.

I'd probably choose the BMW R1200 RS boxer-engined bike.

The cylinders (2 of 'em) stick out in the open making maintenance chores simple and accessible.
And the reassuring knowledge that when a cage driver pays too much attention to some distraction, any distraction, I know that there are 2 big lumps of metal (the aforementioned cylinders) between them and my legs. Simple safety proven twice in my years freeway commuting.

Neither have the ground clearance I require for my style of riding. Safety for me is being able to avoid dangerous situations by riding over curbs and gutters. I once had some tosser in a ute actually nudge me off the road. The only survivable option was to mount the curb to escape.

So at last, the fun was over. I now dreaded the thought of riding my 2008 GSA home...
When it finally happened, I was pleasantly surprised. It fitted like a comfortable shoe, awesome suspension, well set-up with years of farkles, good power, super comfortable to ride at human speeds... still loving it after 155,000 km.

Lastly, many thanks to AutoClassic BMW for giving us this opportunity to demo their latest crop of modern marvels

And I didn't have to cook sausages and sell cold drinks

Hope you all appreciate what a great club we have!

See you all later... spacey... out