New Toy Collected

[Deleted member 126251]

Ooops, they saw you coming chap. Although it's bit of hassle, once the coil pack rail is removed, they are easily accessible. Jeez, some garages are just pirates!!

Australia is not cheap and Mercedes there is not cheap ----and it was part of a bigger service but yep!

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Not sure, but your bike looks very similar to one my son has. Bloody amazing. The screen extends and retracts according to speed. I also asked about the central locking. All the various boxes etc lock.....
Bloody enormous. Could not get my leg over....the bike....before anyone starts.

 

[gaz_l]

It sounds absolutely wonderful - like a GT3 car winding up

This isn't Tony's, but his had the same exhaust system..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbH1D11BkA4

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How to make friends and influence people!

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[merc85]

Awesome machine Sir, Well done!! I didnt relise that they still produced 6 cylinder bikes, But ive been out of the biking scene for years. My friend had a 1980's z1300 which was the last 6 cylinder i saw.

 

[Edd1968]

Awesome machine Sir, Well done!! I didnt relise that they still produced 6 cylinder bikes, But ive been out of the biking scene for years. My friend had a 1980's z1300 which was the last 6 cylinder i saw.

Loved the Z1300, mad thing it was, as was the CBX, and the Beneli Sei for that matter!

 

[st13phil]

Loved the Z1300, mad thing it was

Back in the late 1980's I was at Santa Pod at a Run What You Brung when I spotted a guy who I knew on nodding terms on his brand-new, just run in Z1300 pulling into stage.

Lights turned green and he launched, and within about 60 feet the front end started to come up. He hesitated for a moment, obviously trying to decide whether to get the front end back on the ground or to keep going. He decided upon the latter and pulled the front up further, then proceeded to mono-wheel the quarter, going through the trap at around 75mph

As you say, mad things, the Z1300

 

[Edd1968]

Back in the late 1980's I was at Santa Pod at a Run What You Brung when I spotted a guy who I knew on nodding terms on his brand-new, just run in Z1300 pulling into stage.

Lights turned green and he launched, and within about 60 feet the front end started to come up. He hesitated for a moment, obviously trying to decide whether to get the front end back on the ground or to keep going. He decided upon the latter and pulled the front up further, then proceeded to mono-wheel the quarter, going through the trap at around 75mph

As you say, mad things, the Z1300

Excellent. Dab of the rear brake would have sorted that!
I used to do the 'run what yer brung' thing there way back in the day

 

[T5R+]

Never ridden this category of motorcycle nor a 6 cylinder. Always look at the K1600 and R1200 when at the dealer and think that perhaps "one day". The new K series is just lush - congratulations on your new "toy".

 

[Deleted member 126251]

The last "big" bike I rode was a friend's 1970 BSA 650 lightning (in the 70s) (no helmets and leathers in those days). You had to keep spanners handy to tighten things every time you stopped and an oil rag to clean the leaks. I had a Mini and if he had a date that did not like bikes, we swapped. It was the early days of the Honda 750 4 and BMW's were only used by the cops. It is amazing how far these machines have come.
Gyro stabilisers next?

 

[C43AMG]

Spain

We are doing the Paradores in the CL in September. I'll keep an eye out

 

[st13phil]

We are doing the Paradores in the CL in September. I'll keep an eye out

You'll need good eyesight Peter, we're there in July!

This year it's Cangas de Onis, Avila, Cuenca and Lerma

Which ones are you heading for?

 

[C43AMG]

Which ones are you heading for?

de Vic-Sau - de Cardona - de Alcaniz - de Javea - de Hondarribia. Not confirmed yet.

 

[st13phil]

@C43AMG Peter - if you can time your visit right, the Fiestas at both Cardona and Alcaniz are fantastic. We sat at the top of the Parador in Cardona a few years ago actually in the firework display The Bull Run (the only animals that get hurt are the testosterone-fuelled blokes) in Cardona is also brilliant to watch.

If Hondarribia is booked up and you need an alternative that's not too far from the ports, Parador de Olite is worth a look.

 

[C43AMG]

Many thanks.

 

[Edd1968]

This isn't Tony's, but his had the same exhaust system..

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How to make friends and influence people!

Cheers,

Gaz

Not my type of bike but I love the 6 cylinder sound of the motor (that is bigger than most family hatchbacks!). It almost sounds like an aero engine while it's ticking over as he maneuvers it. or even a 911 flat 6

 

[blademansw]

What a lovely machine.

I would love a nice BMW bike myself, but unfortunately I cannot afford to buy anything I actually might want (according to the wife), so I am stuck with a bike I no longer really want.

 

[Bellow]

Once briefly rode a CBX1000. Smoother than a suppository.

 

[st13phil]

We’ve now completed our first longer trip on the new bike, so as I promised @Mactech elsewhere, here are my thoughts on it. I’ve ridden Honda Pan-Europeans (“Pans”) for the last 27 years, so I’m used to riding big, heavy, tourers and am using the ST1300 as my reference point.

Our trip was to Einruhr in the Eifel region of Germany, first staying in Charleville-Mézières (the capital of the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of France) for a couple of nights. We rode on 6 out of the 7 days we were away on a variety of roads including Autoroutes and some fantastic single-carriageway country roads, plus some rather less pleasant time in heavy traffic on city roads in Brussels, covering 1,070 miles door to door. Temperatures ranged from a cool 14 degrees to a rather sweaty 33 degrees, and we rode in torrential rain for most of the journey from Charleville-Mézières to Einruhr so I now have an intimate feel for the weather protection the bike provides.

There’s no question that this is a big bike and it has huge road presence, noticed not just by other bikers but by car drivers too. The “owl eyes” DRL’s give the front a very distinctive look and I found that when filtering through stationary / slow-moving traffic on the M25 if I switched on the low mounted auxiliary lights as well then the traffic imitated the Red Sea when Moses commanded it to part. Most satisfying, and great for making progress.

The ST1300 has mirrors mounted lower than the handlebars that are very effective as “cat’s whiskers” when judging narrow gaps: if the mirrors will go through, then so will the rest of the bike. By contrast, the K1600’s mirrors are mounted on stalks and are above the ’bars and although the same principle of “if the mirrors fit the gap, then so will the rest of the bike” applies, it made it a little more difficult to judge the tighter gaps. On the subject of the bike’s width, I didn’t put a tape across it, but visually it looks a little wider than the Pan and the panniers are certainly slightly higher in relation to the seat which Angie found made the bike more difficult to get on and off. However, once on it she found it just as comfortable to fall asleep on as she did on the Pan

Despite the sheer bulk of the bike, it’s incredibly easy to ride as long as you’re confident. The balance is excellent and it’s no problem trickling along at walking pace or making feet-up U-turns when needed. Clearly it’s not a bike for weaving through city traffic, but then no big bike is. However, the home territory for these bikes is the open road and it’s where they really excel.

Having spent a couple of long days on it covering many motorway miles, I’m inclined to agree with Mactech’s friend, Mr Brundle, that the K1600 really is the best way there is to travel long distances on two wheels. People who have never ridden motorcycles don’t really appreciate that it’s a much more physically demanding activity than driving a car, shifting your weight to change direction, taking braking forces through your arms, tensing your core to resist acceleration and braking forces, etc. Add in wind noise, wind buffeting and drivetrain vibration and a long day on a bike can be quite physically exhausting, so minimising these factors has a huge effect on endurance. And it’s in the combination of addressing those areas that this bike is head and shoulders above others.

While large screens on touring bikes look protective – and in principle they are – they also have some undesirable features. One is that at higher speeds a low-pressure area is generated in front of the rider which feels like a large invisible hand is pushing you forward, and you’re thus having to brace against it rather than just sitting in a relaxed position which is a drag on endurance. Another is that turbulence from the screen creates buffeting around your crash helmet with attendant low-frequency wind noise, both of which can be really tiring. Some of these effects are exacerbated when in dirty air behind and around other vehicles – particularly trucks – and the dirty air causes the bike to “wriggle” and move around. Although you can generally just let a bike get on with it without having to make definite physical inputs to maintain direction, you do have to expend muscle effort to maintain good balance and proper control which over time adds up.

Fortunately, the overall aerodynamics of this bike are quite exceptional with gentle smooth airflow around my head when travelling at speed, and no appreciable buffeting or low-frequency wind noise. The low pressure area in front of me that I’ve experienced on other bikes pushing me forward and that causes rainwater to be driven down the helmet visor was also minimised, with me sitting in a largely still pocket of air and very little rain actually reaching my visor. All in all, it was a much more relaxed place to sit than I’m used to. Weather protection is excellent, with most of the rain being directed over and around the rider and passenger. Obviously you’re still going to get wet, but the bike’s ability to keep the worst of the weather off – especially the hands – is very good. Another great feature for when in hotter conditions is that there are “ears” that can be opened on either side which then direct airflow onto the rider. Anyone who has ridden a fully faired bike in hot conditions will know how welcome this is.

Drivetrain vibration is another important energy drain for the rider. The V4 engine in the original ST1100 Honda Pan-European was pretty vibration-free except at the top of it’s rev-range. When the ST1300 was launch in 2002, Pan owners were quite excited to see that Honda had added a balance shaft to the completely new 1300 V4 engine, thinking that it would deal with the last vestiges of harshness and result in a turbine-smooth power plant. How wrong we were. In their “wisdom” (and I use that word with full irony), Honda’s powertrain engineers had decided that the engine should vibrate a bit “to add character”. We couldn’t believe it. While OK at UK speeds, at Autobahn speeds (i.e. from around 95mph up) the thing was buzzy and unpleasant and a definite retrograde step. When Honda flew all the lead engineers from the bike’s development program to the UK to meet with a large group of European owners in 2003 I think they expected to get lots of praise. When they received a barrage of criticism – especially about their decision to make the engine vibrate – I thought the Powertrain Lead Engineer was going to commit suicide

Fortunately, BMW have a better grasp of what makes a great power-plant for a long-distance tourer, and the six-cylinder engine is an absolute gem. It has a wide, flat, torque curve and produces 70% of its peak (175Nm) torque at just 1,500rpm before spinning effortlessly through delivering its peak power (160bhp) at 7,750rpm to the redline at 8,500rpm. It’s absolutely silky smooth, with just the slightest perceptible vibration through the footpegs at around 4,000rpm if you’re being really picky. On the road this translates into effortless progress, allowing you to just ride the torque curve with impressive thrust available from low rev’s in all but the highest gears. It’s rather pleasant being able to select (say) 4th gear and smoothly accelerate from 20mph to grossly illegal speeds just with a twist of the throttle. However, the fun really starts from around 4,500rpm with the engine pulling hard and with a satisfying howl through to the redline.

Ride quality is very good, but perhaps not quite so good as on my last ST1300 which was exceptional. It’s not really a fair comparison though as that enjoyed being on rather expensive after-market suspension components that were perfectly matched to our weight and my riding style. Comparing standard bike with standard bike, I’d say that the K1600 betters the Pan by a reasonable margin. As far as handling goes, I found that with both of us and the luggage on the bike and the suspension set with preload for two-up and in Road Mode, the steering wasn’t absolutely neutral, with a very slight tendency to want to fall in to low speed turns indicating that the rear of the bike was marginally too low. Selecting Dynamic Mode raised the rear ride height just enough to correct this, but at the cost of slightly reduced ride quality. When pushing on around the Eifel hairpins I chose Dynamic Mode, but used Road Mode for most of the trip, with the ability to switch between the two while riding making it very easy to swap. On the subject of the Duolever / Hossack front suspension, I was happy that I could feel what the front end was doing which is an essential when pressing on, although as we were two-up and on public roads I wasn’t going to be deliberately seeking out the limits. The linked brakes use the bike’s onboard sensors to dynamically alter front / rear bias and, like all the best automation, it was impossible to detect how it was working: the bike just stopped with no drama. The only oddity is that you only use the front brake lever to operate the brakes, leaving the rear brake pedal unused. The only time you use that is at low speed if you want rear-wheel only braking, and re-learning 40+ years of muscle memory has taken conscious effort. One really nice feature is the provision of Brake Hold that works in the same sort of way as on Mercedes cars, but also operates automatically on a gradient (either up- or down-hill) meaning that you can put both feet down and also take your right hand off the bars and the bike stays stable.

The first long ride of the year is always the most physically demanding as you use particular muscle groups more aggressively and for longer sustained periods than you have for a while and a few aches are always the result. When we arrived home on Monday evening after riding for around 7hrs from Einruhr I was less tired and have less aches than I would have expected. We achieved a creditable 48.3mpg for the trip.

Overall then, I’m rather pleased with my New Toy.

 

[Alfie]

Post deleted.

 

[Alfie]

Here are some of my toys.

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