biking

Sorting a few teething problems on the BMW r1200GS TE and Navigator V

Not a very inspired ride, though enjoyable all the same. The aim was to sort out a few problems with the bike and GPS. First my new bluetooth headset (Interphone F3MC), unlike my five year old trusty Interphone F4, works properly with the BMW Nav V GPS that came with the bike instead of the intermittent loud hissing just when you need to know whether to turn left or right you can hear Emily lound and clear, second: one old pair of prescription sunglasses lets me actually see the GPS screen better than the new ones – their polarising must be slightly different, so those two things are really important to get sorted before going on a trip to foreign lands and inevitably getting lost and frustrated. Last, I worked out how to adjust the gear shift so that I can wear my huge motocross boots on the bike.

I spent many happy hours searching for bluetooth headset reviews. Sena seemed a good make and build highly specified intercoms, but reviews are very critical and about basic construction. Scores of people complain that a small plastic tab used to fasten the headset to the helmet breaks very quickly and in addition to that, it seems that the unit is ok in light showers but when it rains heavily water gets inside and it stops working. I find this astonishing. For me Interphone is tried and tested, though even that has some problems playing music from the Nav V. But it works in the rain, having ridden many hundreds of miles in pouring rain, I know that about the make. Crucially it is firmware upgradable via USB. My old one probably stopped working properly because it couldn’t be.

The back roads to Ipswich

Today I attempted the scenic route over to Ipswich to see my old friend Andrew Vass who is unwell. I am getting to know the bike but the Navigator V GPS is beyond me at the moment and I am thwarted in its use. For a start it does not talk nicely to my ageing bluetooth earphones (new ones on order), so a typical instruction is, ‘at the roundabout [loud hiss]’. Second, it clearly has a polarised screen because when I put my polarising prescription sunglasses on, the screen instantly turns blank. To see anything on it I have to tilt my head through at least 45 degrees. Finally I don’t understand how Basecamp routes turn into anything you are obliged to follow on the GPS. At junctions it shows you any number of optional turnings simultaneously and even a BMW GS can’t go in more than one direction at a time.

On the way back, I resorted to putting in the names of towns I remembered were on the route back and ended up with a beautiful sunny evening ride avoiding all main roads, absolutely ideal. The trip was 61 miles out and 59 coming back – strange.

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Ride to Baldserstons and back

Now with a Touratech top box, the bike is more like a sail ship in the strong fen wind. This was an indirect approach to Balderston’s in Peterborough to look around. My GPS tells me my fastest speed was 83mph. I have no idea where that was. I have to tilt my head sideways through about 30 degrees to be able to see the GPS screen properly while wearing polarising sun glasses.

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BMW 1200GS TE the first ten days

Frustratingly, the longest ride I have had so far on this new lovely bike, is riding it back home from the dealer in Welwyn.
What I don’t want to lose is the sense of the bike’s slightness, lightness and responsiveness compared to my old bike, as well as very welcome slight closeness to the ground. It takes up less space in the garage and has none of that imposing bulk. Opening the garage door to Bertha felt like I looked her in the eye but this bike is definitely down there on the ground.

Plenty of people have offered impressions and more lengthy reviews of this bike, some are clearly new to Beamers and this sort of eccentric design while some compare it carefully with previous models.
For me, I was most surprised by its similarity to riding the old bike, the same position, the same clunky gear box, but as everyone says, it is just so much more zippy and the brakes, which were strong on my old model are even more impressive on this 2014 bike. In fact I’m surprised that the 7 years between Bertha’s production and this model have made such a difference to the sophistication of the machine. The bike, along with the customised GPS is a model of the quantified self, it records and logs all kinds of minute information: how many times you have used each brake, the average opening of the throttle (mine was only 4% after the last but one ride). You can make miniscule adjustments to the way it rides and the suspension which I have only briefly tried in the park and ride car park I go to for low speed practice. As others have said, I can’t say I noticed much difference. The bike also looks and feels more mainstream, less individual and eccentric. Even the seat is springy and comfortable. And the indicator switching has finally come into the 21st century.

I was keen to install some basic protection, SW Motech engine bars and radiator protection and a device meant to make theft of the clocks more difficult, both from English firm Cymark with voluble instruction sheets. So this mass-produced slightly anonymous bike is gradually becoming a little customised. On order are some beautiful Touratech panniers and top box and a couple of other minor enhancements.

In order is a much longer ride.

Bertha and Belinda

Yesterday I rode down to SBW Motorrad in Welwyn for a booked test ride on the F800 that I have been mentioning, my thinking being to move to a lighter more manageable bike but one that still has some style and presence. When I got there it turned out they had sold the test bike and didn’t have another. Not a good start, so as I had spent the best part of an hour getting down there I asked whether they had a 1200gs (the current version of Bertha) for me to try, more out of curiosity. They did and I was shown a TE version with spoked wheels which I rode. Again, more out of curiosity I asked the price and this demo version seemed surprisingly reasonable, not that much more than the smaller machine. So what was it like? Once astride it feels suprisingly similar to my current bike and apart from being noisier (I forgot to put in my ear plugs) and the gears clunkier (mine are well worn in) it was a very familiar experience. But this bike seemed much lighter and easier to get around corners. All reviews say it is much more responsive than the old model but it was hard to compare. Very quickly I realised that this bike was clearly the more manageable bike I was after, with the wind protection and motorway capability that I feared losing on the smaller F800. I loved it. Here it is in a lay by near Welwyn:
on-test

Pleasant surprise number two was the offer I got for Bertha’s trade-in. If all goes to plan next Wednesday I will drive down on Bertha (all that cleaning and repainting was worth it) and drive off with a 2014 1200GS TE with just over 1000 miles on the clock, very many extra switches and dials, plus alarm, and I shelled out for the overpriced but clever BMW GPS. I was so excited that I barely slept last night. The Touratech catalogue is on my desk.

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Ride to Saffron Walden

On Friday I test ride a BMW F800, for those who don’t follow such things, its an ‘adventure’ bike similar to mine but about 2/3 the bulk and also 2/3 the power. I am also taking Bertha down for the dealer to give me a quote for its part exchange value.

Here’s Bertha cleaner and shinier than ever before:

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