Latest S test ride

[RossHarper]

I wanted a panigale but Ducati messed up and made it skinnier than a bulimic supermodel. No good for my fat ass.

 

[Shug]

Of course you can can buy aftermarket active suspension. Ohlins and Marzocchi do it. I think the Ohlins Active rear shock is only $200/300 more than the standard TTX shock

I don't think they're active, are they? They are just electronically adjustable damping. The big whizz about the Sachs stuff on the HP4 is it's constantly changing the damping, dependent on what the bike is doing. So you don't set anything, it reads the accelerometers and the load cells in the suspension and makes the changes on the fly in fractions of a second. If we're being mega-picky, even that's not truly active - BMW call it semi-active. Fully active does away with springs and the whole job of suspension is done with computer controlled hydraulics - that's far too complicated and heavy though - the tech has been around since the mid-80s, but no road cars have ever used it.

 

[RossHarper]

I'm not sure to be honest Shug, not something I've honestly looked at in much depth. But Ohlins and Marzocchi do advertise it as semi active suspension.

heres the info on Marzocchi: http://moto.marzocchi.com/en/discov...emi-active-technology.aspx?idC=61754&LN=en-US I've not read it, just knew that it existed.

 

[Ash700]

I imagine that active/semi-active suspension would work quite well somewhere like the IoM TT. It's 37 miles of varying road surface - basically what we ride on, so would be surprised if most high performance vehicles end up with this type of suspension as standard in the future.
I tried to get a road test of a HP4, but was told that they don't have them as demonstrators! Anyone know differently?

 

[Shug]

I'm not sure to be honest Shug, not something I've honestly looked at in much depth. But Ohlins and Marzocchi do advertise it as semi active suspension.

heres the info on Marzocchi: http://moto.marzocchi.com/en/discov...emi-active-technology.aspx?idC=61754&LN=en-US I've not read it, just knew that it existed.

Yeah - of course, forgot that Marzocchi had leapt on board hard. Is the Aprillia Caponord that has that rear shock with active preload on it as well - think so. Brave new world.

 

[Godzilla]

Don't you need to buy a sensor to get the HP4 forks working fully as they should/could do?

 

[RossHarper]

And I know Ohlins do a complete front and rear set for a BMW it was either a GS or K model can't remember.

 

[RossHarper]

I tried to get a road test of a HP4, but was told that they don't have them as demonstrators! Anyone know differently?

My dealer let me have a test ride on a HP4. It wasn't a demo bike it was the managers bike to use although still owned by BMW, he hadn't bought it. Kept it for 5 hours, 3 of those it was sat on my drive, but golly it made my driveway look sexy.

 

[ekdg]

My dealer let me have a test ride on a HP4. It wasn't a demo bike it was the managers bike to use although still owned by BMW, he hadn't bought it. Kept it for 5 hours, 3 of those it was sat on my drive, but golly it made my driveway look sexy.

What did you think of it compared to the s1000rr?

 

[RossHarper]

I thought it was amazing, although it is 80% looks in my opinion due to all the added HP parts.

IMO it's definitely worth the extra 3k over the standard if your buying new, but if you bought your S1000 2nd hand for the £10k mark, it's not worth the extra 6k.
I know thats comparing a new bike to a second hand one, but if you can pick up an S1000 for 9/10k you can kit it out like a HP4 for less than 6/7k.

My S1000 new was £15,500 with the extra's I had fitted, if the HP4 was out when I bought mine I would of bought it.

 

[Ash700]

My S1000 new was £15,500 with the extra's I had fitted, if the HP4 was out when I bought mine I would of bought it.

I'm with you... I'd prefer to buy the complete package than have to spend extra to get it as I'd want it.