FreudianSlip
Well-known member
I took a panniered up S1000XR (66 reg) out for an hour on Saturday afternoon, courtesy of Pidcock BMW, Nottingham.
First impressions - wow, how comfortable is that bike. Taller than the RR with an increased seat height. I'm 6' tall and could only just get my feet on the floor - not exactly on tip-toe, but not a flat foot. The wider bars made it feel like I was riding a chopper or something - seemed weird after getting off my bike and straight on to this.
Quickshifter - an absolute bitch going from 1st to 2nd, but then was fine from there. It was very annoying whilst going round right handers, not to be able to just knock it up into 2nd but this was later explained as 'a feature' and the quickshifter only works from 2nd onwards .. Not sure about that - if thats the case, I much prefer the RR 'box.
Blipper - worked fine with only 1 slip into neutral from 2nd rather than 1st.
Brakes - good enough, but considering the bike had only 360 miles on the clock, I expected them to be keener - seemed almost old-tech but I'm farily sure they're standard across the range (hp4 exempt of course). The levers seemed a little loose - not sure if this is common to the XR or just this 1 bike.
Wind protection - with the adjustable screen is ok although I did expect a higher degree of calm & quiet - both of which were missing. My schuberth helmet is quieter on the RR even at speed.
Power - as this XR hadn't been run-in, the gear shift light was strobing at me from 8k but it seemed urgent enough on the way up to that level. Again, not sure if it's just me, but it did seem muted compared to the RR. I'm sure I've read that the XR is quicker mid-range but it just didnt *feel* as quick. Could be the seating position or the wind protection that cloaks its real performance.
Comfort - wonderful .. up to a point. Foot position is lower meaning you're not perched on the bike like I seem to be on the RR. You sit lower in the bike with the bars much higher and feet lower. After about an hour my arse started to go numb because I think that I was sat on a different part of it. It was numb further back, towards my spine, due to - I think - the more upright seating position.
Handling - probably the wrong man to ask here, but it did seem a _LOT_ easier to manoeuvre tilting left/right with just the slightest of pressure on the bars. Made slicing through Saturday shopping traffic through Derby not only a breeze, but enjoyable too! The ease it changes direction (for me anyway) gave me confidence to carry a bit more speed into roundabouts and the riding position meant that when I braked, I wasn't putting much more weight on my wrists in a downward direction, and instead I just pushed the bars.
Sound - not great - the bike I had, had the standard OE can on it, which made it sound more like a GS than a RR. Again, I thought I'd read that the 2017 Sport SE models come with an Akrapovic can,so maybe the 2017 one will sound better.
Practicality - brilliant compared to the RR - probably a long way off a GS. Full luggage was fitted to the XR I borrowed (although I didnt use it) but it certainly didnt seem to hamper my experience and with the wider, comfier seat for both rider and pillion, I can see this being a very welcome change to perching on the postage sized stamp that the RR calls a pillion seat.
The biggest single problem I encountered was the high frequency vibrations through the bars and footpegs at about 5k revs. This vanishes at about 6/6.5k but in top gear at those revs you'll be getting your collar felt. I'm assured the 2017 bike has this problem overcome with some vibe damping in critical areas.
In summary, a brilliant bike - and one that you'll probably fire up 90% of the time when the suns not quite bright enough.
Pls note - the scratches were not my doing - their ex-salesman dropped it :E
First impressions - wow, how comfortable is that bike. Taller than the RR with an increased seat height. I'm 6' tall and could only just get my feet on the floor - not exactly on tip-toe, but not a flat foot. The wider bars made it feel like I was riding a chopper or something - seemed weird after getting off my bike and straight on to this.
Quickshifter - an absolute bitch going from 1st to 2nd, but then was fine from there. It was very annoying whilst going round right handers, not to be able to just knock it up into 2nd but this was later explained as 'a feature' and the quickshifter only works from 2nd onwards .. Not sure about that - if thats the case, I much prefer the RR 'box.
Blipper - worked fine with only 1 slip into neutral from 2nd rather than 1st.
Brakes - good enough, but considering the bike had only 360 miles on the clock, I expected them to be keener - seemed almost old-tech but I'm farily sure they're standard across the range (hp4 exempt of course). The levers seemed a little loose - not sure if this is common to the XR or just this 1 bike.
Wind protection - with the adjustable screen is ok although I did expect a higher degree of calm & quiet - both of which were missing. My schuberth helmet is quieter on the RR even at speed.
Power - as this XR hadn't been run-in, the gear shift light was strobing at me from 8k but it seemed urgent enough on the way up to that level. Again, not sure if it's just me, but it did seem muted compared to the RR. I'm sure I've read that the XR is quicker mid-range but it just didnt *feel* as quick. Could be the seating position or the wind protection that cloaks its real performance.
Comfort - wonderful .. up to a point. Foot position is lower meaning you're not perched on the bike like I seem to be on the RR. You sit lower in the bike with the bars much higher and feet lower. After about an hour my arse started to go numb because I think that I was sat on a different part of it. It was numb further back, towards my spine, due to - I think - the more upright seating position.
Handling - probably the wrong man to ask here, but it did seem a _LOT_ easier to manoeuvre tilting left/right with just the slightest of pressure on the bars. Made slicing through Saturday shopping traffic through Derby not only a breeze, but enjoyable too! The ease it changes direction (for me anyway) gave me confidence to carry a bit more speed into roundabouts and the riding position meant that when I braked, I wasn't putting much more weight on my wrists in a downward direction, and instead I just pushed the bars.
Sound - not great - the bike I had, had the standard OE can on it, which made it sound more like a GS than a RR. Again, I thought I'd read that the 2017 Sport SE models come with an Akrapovic can,so maybe the 2017 one will sound better.
Practicality - brilliant compared to the RR - probably a long way off a GS. Full luggage was fitted to the XR I borrowed (although I didnt use it) but it certainly didnt seem to hamper my experience and with the wider, comfier seat for both rider and pillion, I can see this being a very welcome change to perching on the postage sized stamp that the RR calls a pillion seat.
The biggest single problem I encountered was the high frequency vibrations through the bars and footpegs at about 5k revs. This vanishes at about 6/6.5k but in top gear at those revs you'll be getting your collar felt. I'm assured the 2017 bike has this problem overcome with some vibe damping in critical areas.
In summary, a brilliant bike - and one that you'll probably fire up 90% of the time when the suns not quite bright enough.
Pls note - the scratches were not my doing - their ex-salesman dropped it :E
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