My mate has bought this and I got a chance to have a decent run out on it today...... Hmmmmm..... Good points, masses of low down power, pulls like a train much further down than my Blade (14). Brakes are outstanding, never touched the back as I never needed to. Quickshifter seemed to work well up and down but it kept using the clutch out of habit. Turns, goes and stops very well. Bad points Throttle seems to do what it wants with no predictability, 1/4 throttle seems to give power sometimes and then not, it's a new bike so this may improve. Switchgear is terrible, looks cheap and the indicator is basically a guess as to whether you've activated it or not. Bars were quite vibey at lower speeds, seemed to improve as you went quicker but I could definitely notice it through the villages. This might not be a negative to everyone but it's stupidly fast without any sense of speed, 100mph skips past feeling like about 60 or 70. Finally although it's a great piece of kit I found it a bit lacking in something I just can't put my finger on, not memorable at all. I jumped back on the Blade and it felt like home So all I all a great bike but just didn't float my boat. I do feel my brakes need sorting though
I agree with your findings Blix, i've ridden two demonstrators. I didn't like the QS it felt very wooden on down shifts and sometimes it didn't shift. Interesting you say the switch gear looks cheap, they have had lots of failures, BMW were even replacing the out of warranty failures but have stopped that now, and at £200 a time some peebs are going to be pissed of when warranty expires and they fail. The vibes through the bars is very common, there's guy on the S1K forum who makes extra heavy bar ends which is supposed to help so its obviously a very common problem. Performance wise the power delivery is a little more brutal than the new blade but there's not much in it, much more noticeable compared to my 2009 blade as you'd expect. I very nearly bought a 16 plate S1000RR a the end of last year, but like you I felt there was something missing or not quite right, I am so glad I waited for the 2017 Blade, I think it will turn out to be more reliable and less costly if kept after warranty has expired.
Yes the quickshifter was a bit odd, seemed to work fine sometimes and then just didn't even though I was booting it up harder than my old Kat, I ended up just using the clutch. I can't really say it's a bad bike but just characterless. He's getting a little exhaust to try and make it a bit louder but as it's got a Euro 4 cat I doubt it will change it that much.
I'll let him know, I guess it's a bit more ferocious in that mode on road tyres. One time coming out of a corner it felt like the back wheel was sliding but didn't feel like a slide, just felt I was moving sideways in a controlled manner, I know that sounds odd and it's probably how you would want a bike to behave but again sort of disappointed. I'll wait til he's had it a few months and then see if I can blag a go in slick mode. Also turns out he'd fitted after market levers which were playing up with the QS.
The exhaust will make a huge difference too.... take the cat off a 16 zx10 and it's like a different bike. They are standard rearsets, how do levers affect a quick shifter?? Never heard that before....
Clutch lever has a switch which does something to the QS in launch control mode apparently, you pull the clutch lever in slightly and it deactivates the QS, so I'm told.
He probably pressed the disagree button by accident I'm always catching the sodding things as I'm scrolling
Same as above nice bike but nothing special and it's a fair step up from the 2012-2014 model that is total dog shit imo I would have my 14 sp over the current bmw and the new standard blade
Just as an update he tried to put his bike in slick mode by sticking the dongle in (ooh-err) and it wouldn't activate saying he didn't have the correct options, even though he has every option other than mag wheels. Got to go back to dealer to check the software. Bloody electronics, I'm happy to sacrifice a few ponies for a cable throttle
