Breaking in Run

After installing the rack and cover a went for a 60 mile ride around the moors local to us. For running in I was told to keep the bike below 8000 rpms. This isn’t that difficult on this bike as it still shifts due to the low down grunt from the 1300cc engine. I am really liking the bike although I am not that keen on the HP rearsets. They may look fantastic but for me I am not entirely sure about them.  I did have one issue on the ride and that may be down to these rearsets, the quickshifter was hard to get to function in 4, 5 and 6th. I seemed to have to lift the gear lever up a lot more than my old bike to get it to work. Which for someone who isn’t very flexible like me could be a problem. I think I will adjust the height of the pegs and see if that makes a difference.

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Tank Cover and Luggage Racks

Today I installed my old luggage rails and SW Motech topbox racks to the bike. I had learned from posts on the forums that getting the grab rail bolts out can be problematic due to BMW using red Loctite on the bolts. Some people have also had the issue of the nut welded onto the inside of the frame coming loose and just spinning with the bolt. As I undid the bolts some of them just grabbed and seemed very stiff. I used some WD40 and then tightened the bolts back down. I did this several times and eventually the bolts came free enough for me to happily undo them completely. I then cleaned the bolts up that I was reusing and then reinstalled with some copper grease for ease of extraction next time, I hardly think they are going to vibrate loose. The only bolts that I did put Blue Loctite on was the ones holding the topbox plate on, as these do vibrate loose.

I then set about installing my new Bagster tank cover that I got off Ebay. Bagster don’t actually list my cover on their website but they do make one for the motorsport edition. It isn’t a perfect colour match as the black near the seat area is missing and it is just all white. But for someone like me who is very good at wearing tanks away with knees and crotch it is a no brainer. The added benefit of being able to attach a tank bag is a bonus, you can also use the front clips for putting you helmet D-Ring on when resting it on your tank.

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New Bike Collected

We went over to Southport Superbikes today to pick up my new bike. On my way over I monitored the temperature gauge on my bike to see if it was running hotter than other K1300S’s. We arrived and parked up and Kirk was very happy to see us. I signed the relevant forms and then took charge of my new bike. We headed off back home via Croston and the Grane Road so I could get a feel for the new bike and to help scrub in the tyres a bit. The bike ran far cooler than my old one and it also turned in much quicker and easier. I don’t know whether that is because of the lighter HP forged wheels or the 190 rear. Anyway I am very pleased with the bike and the extra bits that come with this special edition really set it off. I also decided straight away to remove the baffle from the Akrapovic exhaust, before the constant heat makes it hard to remove in the future.

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New Bike Ordered

After Williams poor offer I rang around some of the other dealers to see what deal they could do. They all offered a better deal than Williams did, but fortunately we where able to track down Kirk who used to work at Williams and who we have know for around 8 years. The salesman at Williams foolishly told us that he had gone over to Bowker, who are opening a new 1.5 million showroom on Preston Docks. That site only opens in October but we tried Southport Superbikes who they bought and are transferring to the new site in Preston. We phoned them up and asked if Kirk was there and to our surprise he was. We soon got talking and he did me a great deal over the phone and so I put some money down to secure a new K1300S Motorsport.

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BMW R1200RS Test

Helen and I went over to Williams today to have a test of the new R1200RS and also to look at trading in my bike against a new K1300S.

We arrived as they just opened and also met are friend Ian there. I left my bike there and rode on Helen’s Z1000SX. We left and headed on the motorway over towards Glossop. We used some of the back roads to test out the bike and then passed through Glossop and headed over to Woodhead Pass. We then climbed up Holme Moss and stopped at the top for a debrief. Helen was a bit disappointed as she keen on the bike but didn’t like the way it rode. We swopped over and headed back down into Glossop for some lunch.

After lunch we headed back to Williams, Helen was on the R1200RS again. When we arrived back we both agreed that the bike felt a bit agricultural to ride and hard work. I felt it ran out of revs too fast for me and I was up and down the box far too much. After we had handed the bike back we discussed trading my bike in but I wasn’t happy with the deal they offered me, they offered me far too little on my bike. All in all a wasted day in the end, except that Helen did find out that the R1200RS is not for her.

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