Modern Vespa

Got the first service at the dealer's to my Bonnie this week. Its a multi-brand house, BMW, Triumph and Kawasaki with good showroom coverage.

While waiting for the maintenance to be done, I spent my time jumping on the bikes - too heavy rain to enjoy proper test rides.

R18 - to say it politely, it felt just ridiculous Sitting on the bike, the cylinder heads look and feel disproportienate. Holding the bike at standstill feels like balancing a long pole, with an easy sliding weight trying to escape to either direction. And yes, it requires either strenght or tactics to pull it up from the side stand.

And the looks...well, certain masculine jokes about compensation etc. do come into mind. I found the view from the seat to be the most ridiculous, the bike looks better from a bystander viewpoint.

I have no doupt the machine behaves OK once in move, but this is not enough justification for all the suffering when handling the bike at standstill/ walking speed.

There was a K1600 B(agger) next to the R18. I'll guess it weights a lot more (?), but it felt easy to hold compared to the R18.

From there a jump to GS1250 at different seat hights, all felt top heavy coming from those lower bikes, but more compact, easier otherwise...to a R1250R, a bike that I was close to buy once, but was now happy I got the T120 instead. It feels easy, quite like the T120, just everything a bit more sporty (harder seat, a tad deeper lean angle,a tad tighter knee angle etc...and, of course, an engine with about twice the power, superb brakes and high-tech suspension...) and to a new F900XR - a bike that surprisingly felt really good. Although it was positioned into the adv gategory, it lacked the typical top-heaviness of GS series...yet had a similar upright riding position. 105hp with the low weight it is an interesting combo, that's likely a bike well beyound it looks, not much of the fairing though.

The new Kawasaki Z650RS felt a bit like a small toy compared to the big brother Z900RS, not in the good way, I'll guess it tries to be as newbie friendly as possible....I did not bother with Kawi's extensive sport range...neither I did with the various Tigers around and 'classic' Triumphs I know already.

Oh, and I got my bike serviced too.

Mechanics these days can be such sissies. What's the big deal?

I will say Beemers are great bikes to ride, but not great to own. After 6 oilhead and hexhead RT's, a couple of K1200LT's, and some GS's I finally got tired of the issues and stopped buying them.

Wow, that looks like the mechanical equivalent to open heart surgery.

I actually enjoyed working on /2 and /5 Beemers, and the bricks aren't bad. The current stuff is great for the service department revenue.

It is. But just like open heart surgery, people are doing it every day!

I don't think it's the job per se. It's more to do with the nature of high mileage BMWs like Bill's and the character of some of the folks that own them.

It's never going to come out well in text on a screen, hence why I think it's a conversation Bill and I need to have face to face over a coffee...

... once we've exhausted tales our various medical adventures!

(PS - great photo )

I have exactly the same bike Bill Dog, tho mine's a 2001 R1100RT "oilhead" boxer and there have not been any major or minor failures in 117,000 miles (I have a complete service history). Bill Dog's his is 1999 and with fewer miles. He told me his wasn't treated as nicely as mine thru it's life. Like any mechanical device, you have to keep up with the maintenance. There are some design flaws but the bike runs well, is fast and powerful,s fun to ride, and routine maintenance is pretty easy, similar to a Vespa GTS in many ways. Th model is old enough that there are no electronics gadgets to fail like the newer BMWs.

Miguel

I've just returned from riding in the US and I've decided to sell one bike to pay for the clutch and oil seal replacement.

Good to see you Trout Bum, Miquel and Feb 31st.

Which ride is gettin' the boot, Bill?

(Darn, didn't know you made it to this side…would've been cool to meet.)

Bill Dog. I hope you had a great time crossing the US and managed to avoid Covid along the way. Did you get to Cape May?

Please keep us in the loop wrt to the BMW repair. Good meeting you and Troutbum.
Cheers. Miguel

Yes. Rode down to Cape May and spent a week in Wildwood Crest with one of my favourite people.

Clutch and Oil Seal should be resolved around late August after a little trip to Germany and France, but not on the Problem Child.

So in late September I dropped off the RT at the independent BMW Tech's place then swiftly went shopping for a "fill in" budget tourer for my August ride and found a 2003 Kawasaki KLV 1000 ( Which is really a Suzuki V Strom ) and rode that to Reims, Mullhouse, Stuttgart and Boblingen instead.

It served its purpose well and went immediately up for sale on my return. It was taller, lighter and easier to ride than the BMW plus it's gearbox was as soft as butter but it had no quirks or charisma. Typically Japanese then.


Just two months later the RT is finally finished, together with another massive bill but I don't care because a franchise dealer would have robbed me of even more than this guy did

Fun fact. It cut out in traffic 3 times in a row a few days back.

A replacement Hall Sensor and Ignition Switch was fitted plus a strip and rebuild of the fuel system was requested.

Got it back within two days which is a record.

Runs like a train now.

Hates going uphill then

Over priced and constantly delayed more like.