So after 3 years of F800ST and maybe I got promoted or something and decided to make the move (April 2013 ish). I almost green lit the flip out of a lava orange bike at BMW Alton. Then they decided I had piston slap. And to go and speak to my usual dealer as my bike is now worthless. Thanks Alton.
BMW North Oxford were great at avoiding answering this: "so for 3 years I ask each time, 'any piston slap signs' and you say no it's one of the lucky ones, how does this all make sense?". They were absolutely useless anyway, said they'd raise a BMW UK thing for me and then never said a word. I obviously chased them for a bit then decided I didn't want to give them money.
So anyway Honda seemed to think it sounded fine. Although I did get a pants price, I also got a 2009 tricolour K1300S with about 14,000 miles on it. No electronic suspension here, or extra computer bits. But it had TCS, ABS, grips etc so hurrah.
I loved this bike.
I did quite a bit of Europe on it too.
Oh and I also finally became a person who changes their exhaust. About a year before selling I finally got an SC Project italian exhaust thingy for it:
I kept this bike up to about 47,000 and in November 2015 I think, finally it left me. For the entirety of this ownership (so 2.5 years ish) I'd migrated to using Maidenhead BMW (Thames Valley). I've yet to be disappointed, and they've even come to pick me up from the office once when I forgot how taxis work. Also dropped me off a bit when they've had to keep the thing in overnight.
