Went to Bude and back for a 150 mile bimble yesterday. There's too much traffic down here to get much of a free run. Bike feels much stiffer and harder than the K12, confirming to me that the K12 needs new shocks even though it just passed its MOT with no more than a note about worn rear brake pads. Having the higher seat was OK but I can feel more weight on my wrists and will be swapping it around with the low seat later to see if its noticeably different. The rearsets were comfortable enough but I did catch the back of my leg pulling away from a standstill at one point. The sidestand is hidden further underneath too, more difficult to get at. The clocks are all reversed for the sake of reversing them as far as I can see. I mean, why move the temp gauge and fuel gauge from one side of the display to the other? The exhaust note is strangled compared to my K12 Akra which despite passing its MOT yesterday without a murmur, I am sure has a hole in the down pipe. So, buy the new system, stick the pipes on the 12 and the can on the 13 and pop over to BSD for a remap.
Off we go bounce bounce on the harder suspension.
First roundabout there's a squirm on the wet road, not sure if I like these Metzelers and we are being a bit cautious to scrub in the new front, which tips in very suddenly as if its squared off , but this improves as we go along. Out of town, bit of gas and not slow but somehow maybe not as rev happy as the 12? Maybe I'm being cautious.
Bit of a buzz from the engine, certainly not creamy smooth.
Found it easy to accidentally nudge the quickshift up without intending to as I get used to the position, and also it definitely doesn't like you accidently knocking it down the box without the clutch. By the end of the run I'm getting the hang of it.
As I am the indicators which, having spent 4 years learning the old BMW way after 35 years of Japanese indicators, I am now having to go back to the left thumb only routine. Bit of a sharp pointy switch there BMW, my Yamaha one was bigger and rounder.
Fortunately having had a few new courtesy bikes I knew the headlight switch is out of sight around the front of the handgrip.
Bude was cold and grey, and the roads were wet, I did miss the hail though
I filled up with fuel and the computer said 48.7mpg but as it was only a part tank I have not done any real numbers yet. I will be doing the filler cap mod shortly though, had forgotten how annoying that was. The range display is odd, the K12 immediately kicks to a new figure as soon as it realise you have a full tank, but this one counts up slowly as you drive along which worried me for a minute.
As it was 6C on the way back I used the heated grips and found instead of the 2 click switch there's now a 2 push button and you have to look at the dash to see what setting you are on. If there's one thing I do not like about the new displays in cars and bikes its the need to have to look at the screen to see what's happening instead of being able to do things by feel/touch without taking you eyes off the road.
The screen had initially seemed to be doing a much better job of protecting me than the K12 screen until I looked at the windmills and realised the wind was behind me. Coming back from Bude along the A30 into the wind at higher speeds it is pretty good, but I am also wearing my new Enduroguard suit and its giving less wind noise off the shoulders than the leathers (think 1980 padded shoulders) . Time will tell. Having been used to the speedo needle telling my peripheral vision that left of 12 o clock is fine only and right of it is ban territory, I now have to get used to getting into serious trouble at 9 o clock.
Filtering through the commuters on my way back I found it harder to hold the front end straight, not sure why, maybe the different riding position with more weight on the wrists. Also the clutch bite position is very different. Sure I'll get used to it. The brakes are obviously sharper too, but I never had chance to use them hard at any point
Got home and as I was riding the bike up the ramp into the shed I did something , not sure what, and fell over in a heap against the side of the shed. Fortunately no damage done and when I put the 12 in 2 minutes later could not work out what I'd done. Anyway hopefully that's christened it
