A mate at work has taken the plunge and accepted a job offer in Australia, that and the fact his missus is an Aussie means he's leaving sunny Yorkshire behind and starting afresh in Perth. He's looking to flog everything he owns, so the for sale board at work is full of an entire houses contents, I'm not interested in the DVD collection even though he has some rare "specialist" material , or the dinner service that has one of everything missing, or the free weights and every other abs crunch dominator ripped super torso that he seems to have bought off the telly. No, I have managed to successfully negotiate a four day test ride. Until Monday I have this; Never ridden a bike with a quick shifter or similar, but I'm liking the idea, home along the motorway this evening and a slight detour due to ferrybridge power station being on fire, up some B's and lesser A roads. Have to admit it's an impressive bit of kit, but I've never ridden a post 2007 Blade either so I can't make a comparison with the current Honda offering. Other half hasn't noticed, due to it just being a black two wheeled thing in the garage, which is what I went to work on
Buy in haste, repent at leisure Graeme! Need a full day on it to see how my back, ankles and wrists deal with it. I can tell you one thing I don't like straight off, the indicator switch doesn't do that definitive move left or right, obviously BMW decided they still needed a quirk in respect of indicator switchgear. Not a major issue I know, but niggly. I wasn't actually gonna change bikes this year, I'm still loving my RR7, but who knows, I've got till Monday before he advertises it properly, decisions decisions.
Decision made. I'm not having it, but I do love it. It's a phenomenal bit of kit compared to my old blade, although I'm definitely getting aching shoulders quicker on it, but I could probably adjust to that over time. The handling and response is awesome, the looks are . . . . . something you'd get used to and probably grow to love. I just can't justify paying the amount of money he wants for a 2010 bike, when I could get a 2012 blade or zx-10 for the same money or less. Also I'm being offered a rubbish deal by the local traders for cash purchase of mine, I'll expect better when I go to px somewhere. What I do know is that I need a qs on my next bike So back it goes tomorrow, bye bye Beemer, it's been fun, maybe another time.
Get the new £200 entry level QS from HM - you can move it from bike to bike so look on it as a long term investment I've had one on my Blade for easily 30k miles, my R1 has 5k on the clock and just feels clunky compared to the QS equiped blade so I am going to put on the new HM QS on the R1 . THink it will need a new shift rod plus the dreaded VAT but it makes such a difference even on road
Yeah I've been reading the HM pages about that new super lite one, I think it may well be the way forward. Didn't think I'd be so impressed by the qs type tech before trying it, but I was.
