On the lookout!!

[openside]

Gidday fellas, i'm on the lookout for s1000r 1st gen. Just got rid of my watercooled GS and a sportsbike is that itch I need to scratch....I think!! Whats it like as a daily drive. My commute is 35 miles each way in the Brecon Beacons so nice roads. However i'll be riding throughout winter, how's it handle the inevitable wet days. I took a GSXR1000 out for a test ride today which suprisingly I found rather comfortable. Is the 1000rr as comfortable as the gixxer? The only prob with the Gixxer is that it had no ABS. Which i will probably need during the winter months.

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[JimmyMac]

Hi openside, I have a 2010 GSA which I have racked up nearly 50k miles on, I have also ridden around 25k on either S1000rr or HP4 since 2012. To be honest I feel just as comfy on the sportsbike as I do on the GS and have taken a RR on a big tour to Poland and it was easy. There are some bargains out there all with traction control and abs which is a great safety feature for all weather riding, I hope you get the bike your looking for and enjoy the ride.

JimmyMac

 

[soofsayer]

Hi, the bike will do fine in the wet depending on the tyres you put on. The TC and ABS on these bikes is very good. However, bmw bikes do not like the grit we put on the roads here, so if you run one through the winter it will suffer from corrosion, seemingly more so than other makes.

 

[openside]

Thanks for the replies. I took the plunge and picked a 2011 up on Saturday. 55 miles return journey no probs. lovely bit if kit, similar dimensions to the gsxr I took out. May look into changing my helmet, got an arai chaser v at the moment with a lot of wind coming underneath. The rpha 10+ looks like a more sport orientated lid. Any experience with the kriega us30 tail packs for my daily commute?

 

[alex]

Hi,

I just got a RPHA 10+ (Lorenzo Ghost). Not been out with it yet but will review it this week if possible.

I also fitted the MRA Double Bubble screen to cut down on wind.

For commuting I just stick to an Ogio Mach 3 backpack.

Rgds

 

[openside]

Cheers Alex I look forward to the review. Quite fancy the shark race r pro carbon.

 

[alex]

Used it today, but just a short commute.

HJC RPHA 10+ Lorenzo Ghost - Medium

Previous lid is a small shell XR1100 Shoei, so comparing to that.

Pro's
40grams lighter fully fitted with chin curtain etc
Quieter
Potentially less buffeting from the airflow, inside around the mouth (chin curtain definitly working)
Looks cool ha haa
Good time to wear it with 99 on the top of the MotoGP standings!
DEAL: ?299 from SportsBikeShop, couldn't justify any other alternative.

Same
Pinlock visors, always a god send, just lacking much of a variety.
Visor swap easy
Comfort/padding - different but equally good.

Con's
Lacks the ear cutouts of the shoei, this is probably why it's quieter, but I spend longer putting it on as I have to unfold my ears by shoving a digit through the visor apature each time.
Vision...I'm not sure if it's real yet but the visor and pinlock might distort my sight in a way the shoei never did. But my eyes were watering from wind when I put the visor down and that too may have played a part. Might need to re calibrate my brain to deal with the optics. (IE get used to it).
Potentially my nose is a bit too close to the chin section of the shell. In a frontal impact I think I'd end up breaking it :-/

Unknowns
Wet weather performance.
High Speed - stability/airflow/noise/visor seal
Comfort with my custom earpieces

I too looked at the Shark Carbon, and felt it was an equal risk, yet significantly more expensive at the current time. Thus it was ruled out solely on cost. And I think it's pinlock-able not pinlock ready (ie you have to fit the bits - could be wrong there). Pinlock is a big thing for me - I hate nose/breath guards.

I think it's worth ?300, the NXR/X-Spirit 2 and Shark Carbon-R were the other options, 2 are almost twice as much to buy the NXR I felt would be limited in the same ways as the XR1100, rightly or wrongly.

 

[openside]

Thanks for such an in-depth review. Still on the fence, shark is ?250 in lids direct hjc rpha around ?200 pin lock very important for me also.....could be the deciding factor.

cheers

 

[openside]

Also I notice that you've got a tinted visor. How's it fare when the light deteriotes?

 

[alex]

I've got;
2x Clear visors
1x Dark Smoke Visor
2x Clear Pinlocks
1x Dark Pinlock

So I can have all combinations.
I'm using Clear Visor with a Dark PinLock for my commute, I could carry a clear pinlock in my bag if needed. I could see fine and the vision thing I mentioned yesterday was stupidity of the highest order. I left the outer protective plastic wrap on it LOL pin sharp today.

I'd not seen the Shark so cheap...hmmm maybe I need a back up...

 

[openside]

Ha ha I've left the plastic film on my pin lock before now until a few of the boys in work noticed and I still haven't heard the end of it!! PLONKER. I'm going down the local bike store tomorrow to try both on. Then order from lids direct as nobody else can compete price wise.

 

[JimmyMac]

Who said that? :tan::tan::tan: