I rode behind Tom on this years Picos trip for quite a few hundred miles & didn't hardly ever have to use the brakes.
Generally just rolling the throttle in 6th or going down a gear or two if the corner was tight.
And of course being second, you get a bit of a heads up from the rider in front if the corner turns out to be tighter than it looks.

Regarding engine oil type as raised by Ron, I use a fully synthetic 5w40 which should be as slippery as a slippery thing.
Same oil is of course shared by the gearbox.
So if anything, that would reduce the engine braking.

The K1300 certainly has the best engine braking of any bike I have owned & helps to make it one of the best bikes to ride on the road.

Well, with mine, unlike Glen who stalled his (from memory) (as did I on the way back from Cadwell) this time I turned the bike off, re-fuelled, hit the starter and it wouldn't turn over, just a 'clunk' 

Cycled ignition, same again 

Cycled ignition, same thing 

Cycled ignition, burst into life as if nothing was wrong 

It wasn't 'dead' as if the starter switch was not working but much more like the loom problem!

Brian (who is off to take the K12S to its potential new owner in the morning  )

I came accross someone in a similar predicament a few weeke ago.

I had left home for a ride after having not ridden the bike for a few weeks.
As soon as I was rolling the low tyre pressure alarm flashed so I went straight to the nearest garage, Sainsbury's, about 3 miles away.

As I pulled in I had noticed a bike parked up at the side & thought he was just waiting for a mate.
While pumping up the tyres he came over & asked if I could give him a push.

He had come in to fill up with petrol after a 20 mile ride & the engine just wouldn't turn over fast enough to start.

I advised him to put it into either 3rd or 4th gear for the push. as I thought it was a twin. ( turned out it was a v4 but hey ho )
He insisted on using 2nd & when he let the clutch out the clutch just slipped, the engine didn't even turn over.

We tried again in 3rd with the same result & I was starting to lather up in my leathers with it being a warm day.
Then he said something about the bike being fitted with a slipper clutch, so looks like we were onto a looser from the start.

So I said I would go back home & get some jump leads which I duly did.

We connected them up with my engine off, as don't like the idea of virtually short circuiting the alternator with a starter motor with the engine running.

His bike started straight away from my 6 year old battery.
So in his case it seemed to be a tired battery despite the bike being only 3 years old.

So I gues it could be the same with your bike Brian, or perhaps a poor conection between the battery & starter or battery earth lead.

So I had done my good dead for the day & went off on my ride, but it wasn't about to be rewarded.

I was on the A49 heading for Whitchurch & came accross two cars following one another at about 50.

I caught them a few hundred yards into a longish straight & proceeded to pass.

I'm out in the oposite lane on a single carriageway road just a few yards from this Jaguars boot when the driver decides it would be a good idea to pull out & overtake the car in front.

I grabbed the front brake, mentally thanking Mr BMW for fitting ABS.
The front tyre squeeled & I swerved to the right as I was now about level with his rear window.

All I could see of the road was the grass verge on the right getting closser & closser.

After a couple of seconds I had lost enough speed to drop in behind the Jag, but think he new nothing of my presence during the whole incident.

I did explain to him by way of some hand gestures when I passed him further down the road, but I think he was totally oblivious.

Anyway, I thought I'd better go straight home before anything else happened but at lest I'd survived to fight another day.

When you switch on the ignition only the parking light lights.
When the engine fires up the dip lights up.
So the dip bulb is either powered direct from a canbus controller or via a relay & may not go via handlebar switchgear.
I havn't got a wiring diagram so can't help further.

Had a reply back from the IOM, they arn't letting out their house next year, but will put out some feelers & let me know if someone else has some accomodation.

I remember reading this thread in Feb & mentally putting it on the back burnrer, as I was in the middle of renovating a bungalow we had just bought.
Now its been resurected it has sparked my interest, especially as its in the middle of TT fortnight. ( TT highlights are on ITV4 at 21:00 each night in case anyone didn't know )
So you can certainly count me in for 2017 if it can be organised.

I last visited the island in 2012, the worst fortnight of weather on the island in all my visits which probably amount to about 10.
I can confidently say that it rained at some time every day, and on some days, all day.
But then I was also there in 2007 when I didn;t see a drop of rain for two weeks. Looks like it is set to be similar weather this year so we should see some records tumble.
You pays your money & it is total pot luck.

The last few visits have been takeing over a 4 bed house in Onchan, two miles out of Douglas on a quiet estate.
I could make enquiries to see if the house was available in 2017 if people are interested.

" Just seen a headlamp bird strike and found out how much a replacement is "

Yes, thought that was a good idea too.
How much is a replacement headlamp ?

I had a pheasant hit the screen on my TL1000 at about 90 once.
It completely wrecked the screen & probably wouldn't have done me much good either, but luckily saw it coming & managed to get my head down onto the tank in time.

A loose battery connection shouldn't affect it once running as the alternator will supply the load.

But that's not to say there isn't a poor connection somewhere else, ie ignition switch a someone else mentioned.

A power problem won't always show up with a sensible diagnosis on the GS911 if the different modules it interrogates also lost power at the same time.

Certainly GS911 is the place to start.