My Ownership Experience at ~ 32 K miles
Just thought I’d give a detailed summary of my ownership experience as I’ve done a fair few miles on the bike now. I hope you find this of some use, or at the very least find it a pleasant read.
So I picked up this 2015 S1000RRs back in May 2015 from Cannon Motorcycles in Braintree, Essex, and have since covered some ~32 K miles.
The milage is made up almost exclusively of road miles consisting of commuting and weekend riding, all year round, come rain or shine. All manufacturer service intervals met and work done at Cannon's BMW in Braintree. I ran the bike in as hard as possible on the road with the 9K rpm limiter in place and the bike didn't use a drop of oil during the first ~15K miles, from then onwards it's started drinking oil, nothing horrendous, but not insignificant either.
I found the gearbox gradually improved during the first 6K miles or so, the only thing I struggled with early on was the quick shifter, which was inconsistent at both low and high rpm especially going from first to second gear. The auto-blipper had a tendency, maybe 1 in 10 times, to hop out of first and into neutral. However, this was all back in 2015 and BMW released a software update for the bike which resolved this.
From new I also noticed that at cruising speeds the right rearset was buzzy, to the point that I'd be getting a numb foot on longer rides. A successful, albeit very expensive, solution to this, was once the bike got to ~12K to ~15K miles, I fitted the Akrapovic Evolution system (new style). I say I, but really I mean Simon from Race Evolution in Dunmow. All “additional” service work and mods etc have been carried out here, it's a really friendly place and Simon is an excellent mechanic who I trust explicitly, I'd recommend anyone local to check them out. For road riding, this exhaust makes loads of sense as the resonance from the exhaust is transferred through the subframe rather then straight to the rearset, so the result is periodic dull vibes through the seat, but substantially less through the right rearset. The exhaust sounds amazing, the weight reduction is noticeable when wheeling the bike around and more so in motion, and the titanium looks sexy! It's my favourite single upgrade to the bike ... there is however, a problem, for anyone wanting to do track days in the UK ... This exhaust is louder than the previous gen Akra Evo system. Last year when I went to Snetterton, with the Akra baffle fitted, it passed the good old static test with flying colours ... but on the first lap I got black flagged for being over 4 Db over the fly-by! That was the end of that day ... since then I got MHP exhausts to mod the baffle by adding probably 4 " extension to it, which makes a substantial difference. Leant it to someone with an identical bike at the same circuit and if you shift gear at redline past a noise meter, it will still set it off ... bottom line is, if you want to do UK track days, this is NOT the exhaust for you.
Oh and as for fuelling, on the dyno the Akra full system with stock air filter and O2 sensor installed actually fuels really well. The only part that benefits from a PCV is at the top end which runs rich with the stock ECU map on this setup, a fact that I ended up proving to myself when installing a PCV some 12 K miles later and getting custom mapped to gain nothing but ~ 10 hp at the top end, so not particularly useful for road riding lol!
More recently I decided to try and increase mechanical stability (to try and reduce my “accidental” wheelie habits!), so I've ended up getting a 120 link DID 525 pitch chain cut to length so that the wheel sits almost all the way back in the axel block. On paper this will slow the steering down, but I can honestly say I haven't noticed any significant decrease on the road ... but in terms of stability, oh my God what a difference! You can now roll the power on in first at a reasonable speed without it wheeling like an animal and if you roll on through the rev range in first and shift to second you can use full throttle in second gear without any anti wheelie intrusions or wheeling ... it's fantastic and I would recommend it to all!
As far as wear and tear items are concerned, well apart from more tyres then I care to think of, it's now on the third chain and set of sprockets, it's very recently had the swing arm bearings, cushdrive rubbers and rear seal replaced. Riding through the UK winters the brake callipers have needed some TLC from time to time, but nothing untoward. The grips are wearing a bit, particularly at the ends, but have not warn through yet. I'm pleased to say that I've had absolutely NO corrosion issues, it's actually faired better than my previous bikes in this respect.
The gearbox and general refinement of the bike has only improved with miles.
Oh and as for the above mentioned oil consumption, I’d say it’s subjectively beginning to improve again, fingers crossed!
As for warranty claims, the bike had a very faint mark on the tank when I collected it, which was only visible in certain light, so tank was replaced no questions asked. I also had a strange issue with the indicators which would self cancel at random duration, this was resolved electronically rather then any mechanical parts being replaced. I've also had two dashes replaced due to dust.
Miscellaneous mods, well, I swapped out the OEM bars to HeliBars for about 10 K miles, so I gave them a good go, but have changed back to stock. My opinion is that they are good for touring, but if you like hanging off with your upper body the wrist angle doesn't work well, so they're definitely not for everyone. With hindsight, that's one mod I wouldn't have bothered with.
Another product I wound not recommend, is R&G's tail tidy ... it's crap ... no other way to say it ... I've had Evotech on my previous bikes which after several years looked great ... the R&G tail tidy on my bike has rusted terribly, and my bike is meticulously maintained. Considering there's no difference price wise, that's not good enough.
Lastly, I'd like to point out that no bike is perfect, but what's been important to me is that whenever there has been a warranty claim it's been handled professionally and with no questions asked on BMW's side. The bike has also never missed a beat, it's started first time, every time with no hesitation whatsoever, no oil or coolant leaks and no flat batteries either and I've never plugged it into an optimate charger!
So with all that said, would I buy the bike again, YES! Will I be buying another one in the future, almost certainly! In fact, I can't really understand why anyone in the market for a 4 cylinder sport bike would buy anything other than an S1K!?
So congratulations everyone, you've all bought the right bikes! ;p
Hope this has been of some use?
Ride safe, and have fun! ;p
Oli
