Nc 500

I'm doing the nc500 at the start of September on my explorer, 2 of my mates r doing it on their GSs so there'll be plenty of friendly banter. We have this theory that GS riders don't wave.... There's also an R1, an FJR and a VFR so it should be interesting

 

I think it depends on the type of riding you do. If it's a weekend fun thing with the occasional road trip then BMW is perhaps overkill. If you spend hours in the saddle and cover long distances in all weather then it's not. Having owned one I wouldn't consider anything else if I was doing long distances. One of my friends has a Honda Africa Twin and he needed an Airhawk seat pad for a recent trip to the Highlands, the BMW riders who went with him didn't.

My last bike was a BMW R1150RS I had it five years and covered 185,000 miles on it. There are very few bikes I'd want to do that on and all of them start with BMW. While I had the BMW it never let me down, it had a new clutch at 98k and a new set of discs all round and other than servicing and tyres that was it.

What made it so good was that everything is adjustable, the seat, the handlebars for reach and height and the foot pegs. You can make the bike fit you.

 

185k in 5 years,that is impressive! hats off to you Mr Toad

 

Thanks you but it wasn't all fun stuff, I didn't have a car at the time and about 20k per year was work related travel to meetings. But I did do some good trips.

I went up into the arctic to see the northern lights and down through the Atlas mountains in North Africa to the edge of Sahara plus long trips round Europe.

I did 120,000 miles on the bike before the bike before the BMW, a Honda VF1000 Bol D'or, again mostly work stuff. As you can imagine with high mileage comfort is a big thing.

Most bikes out there seem to be toys, a quick look at the odometer on most bikes will confirm this so comfort hardly ever gets tested.

The bike before the BMW was a Ducati 748SPS, it was lust at first sight, but it only lasted 11 months, it gave you a hard on just looking at it but it was the most uncomfortable bike I've ever been on. It had to go, much to the dismay of my chiropractor.

After buying the Bonneville It took me a while to come to terms with the lack of comfort. I very nearly sold it after my first two hour trip but having accepted its limitations I'm glad I didn't.

 

Notice he didn't say to what or where 8)

 

I've had to put back my trip by a week, so I'll be going first week of September too. Going the wrong way round (anti-clockwise) on my Street Twin (maybe Tiger) so give us a nod as we pass.