So, I’m now over 400 miles into ownership and the bike is ready for its first into London commute on Monday followed by its 600 mile oil change and once over on Tuesday. The first thing I can report is that the engine is simply superb. (Did I mention that in my previous post?
) I had an opportunity yesterday to properly try out some of its abilities and it happily pulled 20mph in top gear for a tenth of a mile, then pulled away cleanly to 80mph (my self-imposed top speed at this stage of running in.) No fuss, no “judders†and no suggestion of being laboured. Just clean, smooth pull. With a red line of 12,000 rpm and a (limited) top speed of around 185mph, that gives a top gear usable speed rang of 165mph! As a note, and as with all my bikes, I’m running it on Tesco Momentum 99 RON. This may help with the smooth slow running.
The handling continues to impress as being light and “flickable†(despite it being a relatively heavy bike) yet stable and predictable. I have some BST Carbon wheels I’ll be fitting in late May (at tyre change time) and I’m keen to see what difference they make.
I never had an issue with the handling on my K1300Ss and was happy riding them to the limits of the tyres (conditions allowing) but I “feel†that the H2 SX will be quicker and easier in pretty much all situations. The Old Gits trip to the Dolomites in June may help prove/disprove that theory.
The tank range has proved itself to be a realistic 180 miles between fill ups. 200 should be possible and one day, I’ll strap a can onto the pillion seat and find out. Either way, it’s pretty comparable to my previous K1300Ss.
The brakes have improved with use and feel stronger when pushed hard. In normal riding, planned braking conditions, they are the equal (at least the front is) with those on the K1300S. However, while there has been a noticeable improvement, emergency/very hard braking is still not quite as good as the K1300S. That said, it’s still very acceptable.
The seat comfort has improved with use. Again, it’s not as good as the BMW seat, but it’s currently acceptable. A replacement/rebuild at some point in the future may still be on the cards but I’ll wait and see on that one. My Airhawk will be coming to Italy with me but, it’ll remain in the luggage unless really needed.
I’m getting to understand the huge number of setting options there are available and, just as importantly, how to change the “mid rideâ€. Some are very useful and used often, some will be very useful but used rarely and some are pointless for my use though may be useful to others. (The option of “medium†power mode being the perfect example. If the conditions are not so bad as to be using low power mode – still 100bhp - then full power mode would be used.)
The final thing is cruise control. This is the first bike I’ve had with cruise control. How the hell did I manage so many motorway miles without it? Like a quick shifter and heated grips, this is another item that was considered a toy until I had it, at which point it became essential.
Still early days but I continue to feel this is the bike (chain drive aside) that BMW should have produced as the replacement for the K1300S. It is, in my mind, the next evolution of the “do everything well†sports tourer. It lives by the ethos that originally gave us the R90S and the R100RS and on through the K1200S and K1300S.
