My bike arrived yesterday. It’s been a long wait and tbh I have considered cancelling my order a few times, partly due to the delays and partly due to some of the negative feedback.
Didn’t have a chance to ride it yesterday as work beckoned but as soon as I got home last night I was in to the garage to start doing the bits.
First off, the Arka carbon slip on. Then the evotech crash bungs, front and rear axle spindle protectors and the lcd screen protector.
AJ had very kindly fitted BMW rad and oil cooler guards for me.
This morning first job was to clean the chain. The white muck bmw use flings everywhere so after some patience and perseverance the muck was replaced with wurth dry lube.
Then out for first ride. I had only sat on a bike in the dealership and it’s been near 18 months since I had the HP4 so I was expecting it to be quicker than anything I had been on for a while. Oh yes! Even with the 9k rpm restriction and in road mode the bike just pulls in an almost ‘electric’ fashion. It’s instant, no lag to speak of, and the acceleration is smooth and progressive which makes it sound dull but it definitely is not. Easily up to illegal speeds in a couple of seconds, overtakes are hilariously easy in any speed in any gear. Ok so it’s very quick. I think that’s a given.
Riding it feels so light that tipping into a corner is a little unnerving as the bike just falls in, no gradual lean fighting the bars. I didn’t get over 32 degrees on the first 50 miles this morning. Partly down to the tyres (never used Power RS before) and the rear skipping out early on made me realise that these tyres need to get warm before you can play. It’s going to take me a while to build up the confidence to get into the 40-50 degree stuff, hopefully by 6 tonight lol.
Gearbox. No issues whatsoever. Neutral was easy to find, no different from any sports bike. If you’re trying to find neutral from standstill in 1 it might be a bit tricky but rolling up to a stop and dropping it in, no issues. Quick shifter and blipper were seemless. Clutch was a little grabby at full release as it only bites at the end and needs a handful more revs to prevent a stall, same as it was on the HP4.
Screen is great. Does everything it need to along with the connected app nav functionality etc there is nothing else you could want I don’t think. The only slight niggle I had was with the switchgear. Each time I used the indicators it was easy to accidentally touch the rotational controller and change screen read outs, but other than than no issues.
Looks. I think it looks great from every angle apart from the front. This imo is the money shot.
From the front I personally think it’s a bit of a
minger but it’s not important.
DDC. Much better than the HP4, pretty smooth everywhere and never did I feel I was being bumped around.
Seat. Should be called the plank. Clearly not designed for doing any miles. Need to get that upgraded. Interesting I found the seating position higher than I had expected, I think it might be higher than the Gen 3, or I’ve shrunk, but expect someone can pull out the facts and prove me wrong.
So far very happy with the bike although it’s only the first few hours of ownership. The settings are endless so I don’t think I am going to easily get bored of playing around with it.
As a bit of a bonus, I found that a disc lock fits very nicely in the space under the rear seat cowl (without a factory alarm).
Didn’t have a chance to ride it yesterday as work beckoned but as soon as I got home last night I was in to the garage to start doing the bits.
First off, the Arka carbon slip on. Then the evotech crash bungs, front and rear axle spindle protectors and the lcd screen protector.
AJ had very kindly fitted BMW rad and oil cooler guards for me.
This morning first job was to clean the chain. The white muck bmw use flings everywhere so after some patience and perseverance the muck was replaced with wurth dry lube.
Then out for first ride. I had only sat on a bike in the dealership and it’s been near 18 months since I had the HP4 so I was expecting it to be quicker than anything I had been on for a while. Oh yes! Even with the 9k rpm restriction and in road mode the bike just pulls in an almost ‘electric’ fashion. It’s instant, no lag to speak of, and the acceleration is smooth and progressive which makes it sound dull but it definitely is not. Easily up to illegal speeds in a couple of seconds, overtakes are hilariously easy in any speed in any gear. Ok so it’s very quick. I think that’s a given.
Riding it feels so light that tipping into a corner is a little unnerving as the bike just falls in, no gradual lean fighting the bars. I didn’t get over 32 degrees on the first 50 miles this morning. Partly down to the tyres (never used Power RS before) and the rear skipping out early on made me realise that these tyres need to get warm before you can play. It’s going to take me a while to build up the confidence to get into the 40-50 degree stuff, hopefully by 6 tonight lol.
Gearbox. No issues whatsoever. Neutral was easy to find, no different from any sports bike. If you’re trying to find neutral from standstill in 1 it might be a bit tricky but rolling up to a stop and dropping it in, no issues. Quick shifter and blipper were seemless. Clutch was a little grabby at full release as it only bites at the end and needs a handful more revs to prevent a stall, same as it was on the HP4.
Screen is great. Does everything it need to along with the connected app nav functionality etc there is nothing else you could want I don’t think. The only slight niggle I had was with the switchgear. Each time I used the indicators it was easy to accidentally touch the rotational controller and change screen read outs, but other than than no issues.
Looks. I think it looks great from every angle apart from the front. This imo is the money shot.
From the front I personally think it’s a bit of a
minger but it’s not important.
DDC. Much better than the HP4, pretty smooth everywhere and never did I feel I was being bumped around.
Seat. Should be called the plank. Clearly not designed for doing any miles. Need to get that upgraded. Interesting I found the seating position higher than I had expected, I think it might be higher than the Gen 3, or I’ve shrunk, but expect someone can pull out the facts and prove me wrong.
So far very happy with the bike although it’s only the first few hours of ownership. The settings are endless so I don’t think I am going to easily get bored of playing around with it.
As a bit of a bonus, I found that a disc lock fits very nicely in the space under the rear seat cowl (without a factory alarm).