Author Topic: Business use: am I the only one  (Read 13952 times)

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Offline tiggerwood

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Business use: am I the only one
« on: January 19, 2016, 06:59:32 pm »
Hi All!

Another newbie.

Since becoming self-employed ten years ago, I've chosen to use BMW bikes for business travel (around 28000 miles per annum).

I buy secondhand and low mileage bikes.

Cost of ownership is key, so I quickly learned to avoid BMW Franchised dealers.

My most recent aquisition a K1300GT 2010 arrived last week with 30000 miles on its odometer.

Electronic toys suggest 54mpg at near UK legal speeds. Reality is 52mpg but only over the first two fills.

I'm intrigued by the possibility of changing the final drive ration in the quest for higher economy.

Has anyone done this before?
Business  bikes are tax deductable

Offline Duc750

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2016, 07:54:41 pm »
Not on a K slant engine - I would imagine the GT is the highest ratio anyway

Offline chriscanning

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2016, 08:11:18 pm »
I don't know anyone or seen any post on the net about such but that doesn't mean anything,I spent 8 years trying to find a higher ratio or should that be lower ??? For an 1100s then when my mate went on a fact finding mission to Germany to find out what they did know it was an absolute eye opener,I had that much sought after bevel for my boxer inside 2 weeks for peanuts.

He races r1200s when he came back with bevel drive info for his I was just amazed there was so many options.

Best advice try and find a German K forum and ask.

As for the rest of your post about big miles and not using a franchised dealer it's what I class as one of the great spectator sports I'll be buying a season ticket to watch.

Offline tiggerwood

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2016, 09:23:59 pm »
Thanks folks!

Research to date suggests that there's plenty of scope for mixing up crownwheels and pinions to generate ratios from 2.39:1 up to 2.82:1. As with all modifications, the devil will be in the detail.

Servicing at BMW labour rates was just about bearable however costs escalate rapidly once things start to wear out. The last bad experience took 7 months to unfold, left me with a bill larger than the purchase price of the bike and damage to fairing parts in areas inaccessible during normal use: a series of unfortunate events, each one ratcheting up the bill.
Business  bikes are tax deductable

Offline Phmode

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2016, 09:38:56 pm »
Hi Tony and welcome to the madhouse that is EuroKClub!

It'll be interesting to see how your ratio quest pans out. It's also interesting to have someone looking for better economy rather than greater performance. One also assumes you are being scrupulous with your tyre pressures.

Brian (who loves a good quest as long as he isn't in it  :o )

Offline chriscanning

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2016, 10:18:03 pm »
Thanks folks!

Research to date suggests that there's plenty of scope for mixing up crownwheels and pinions to generate ratios from 2.39:1 up to 2.82:1. As with all modifications, the devil will be in the detail.

Servicing at BMW labour rates was just about bearable however costs escalate rapidly once things start to wear out. The last bad experience took 7 months to unfold, left me with a bill larger than the purchase price of the bike and damage to fairing parts in areas inaccessible during normal use: a series of unfortunate events, each one ratcheting up the bill.

The theory in life you can do just about anything!! The reality is a tad different.

The only person I found in the UK that could press a bevel drive is Steve Scriminger and even then he 's depending on you sourcing parts,how all that would work out putting 150hp through a home brewed lash up is a step into the unknown,and the clutch on theses K's leaves a lot to be desired at the best of times,and before you did anything I'd try and find out what ratio the German police use!!!.

Re maintenance looking at your previous their all boxers,I've had my 1100s 16 years it hasn't seen the inside of a dealers for 15 I do the lot,but it ain't no K and apart from the badge on the side they have nothing in common and keeping one on the road really is another ball game one sure certainty cheap it won't be.

Offline TomL

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2016, 11:25:09 pm »
How do you think that changing your final drive will give you more mpg?  Are you suggesting that you would like your bike not to rev so much in top gear? Are you riding flat out on German autobahns?  ::)

As I have grown older, I've learned that pleasing everybody is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.

Offline tiggerwood

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2016, 12:30:02 am »
WoW! Lots of food for thought.

Replies in order:.

1. I have fuel consumption records for every vehicle I have owned. I try to use the same pump at the same station and fill to the same level every time. Going fast is easy: getting from A to B in the same time but using less is less fun but more legal (no driver license = no fun + no income). Tyre pressures checked at least weekly using a Michelin Verdict guage ( a present from an engineer many years ago).

2. Warp factor speeds are great in short doses however addiction is tempered by blue lights and oblivious other road users whose speed perception experience stops at the legal limit.

For an indirect injection petrol engine, reducing the engine speed for a given road speed reduces the amount of power consumed by engine friction  and reduces pumping losses (inlet manifold depression) as the throttle opening is increased for any given road speed.

I've modified final drive ratios on many chain driven bikes. The first time it was to get rid of a top gear judder on a Yamaha SR500. I thought a lower ratio would allow me to use 4th instead of 5th around town. One tooth up on the front sprocket: judder gone; 5th useable at lower engine speeds without judder; fuel economy improved. The best achieved was +10% economy on a Honda VFR750.

I made a virtue of a necessity on one R1150 RT (part of the big bill saga) and replaced the standard bevel gears with a hub assembly from an R1100S. A final drive ratio reduction of 5% has resulted in 57.0mpg over 47000 miles compared to 54.2mpg over 42000 miles (There are too many variable to make accurate comparisons of fuel consumption over short journeys).

Improved economy increases range. If I can get from A to B without an intermediate fuel stop, I save ten minutes on the journey. I have quite a few journeys each year which exceed 250 miles one way.



Business  bikes are tax deductable

Offline Timbox

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2016, 07:14:24 am »
HI mate, well, good luck,  as Chris says this could be interesting. I ran a K1300GT from new for 60K miles over 3 years. Most of my mileage was job related and yes for such a beast of a bike the MPG is pretty astonishing really, I found ditching the panniers made a fair difference, running on premium 99 Ron the jury's still out. Tyres and servicing was the killer for me, �2K a year or thereabouts, Michelin Pilot Road 2's being the best for longevity as well as grip for me. Yes I went the Dealer route but so very glad I did, without Lovetts in Bristol I would have been stuffed on several occasions. Only thing  I did was brake pads, changing to Carbonne Lorraine's which lasted twice as long as the OE's without burning the discs out. Watch the rear caliper especially, the slider pins can get seized very quickly. If it ever makes a clatter briefly on start up just make sure its had the cam chain guide mod, most of them should have but you never know.

It'll be fine, hopefully ;D
« Last Edit: November 07, 2016, 02:57:06 pm by Phmode »
Isnt it Ironic, no its a BMW what dya expect.

Offline Greenman

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2016, 07:35:24 am »
How does the cost of parts square up to the �s saved on fuel?

What's your target payback period?
« Last Edit: November 07, 2016, 02:57:17 pm by Phmode »

Offline chriscanning

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2016, 09:09:03 am »
Oh blimey when it comes to being a member of the 'Change the gearing club' I'm you man I have run my 955 Tiger with another tooth on the engine sprocket almost from the day it rolled out of the show room brand new,with an airbox mod to pep the performance back up you get the same result as stock for 500 revs less and the consumption to go with it.

My issue,here is a guy who's logic and experience is mostly to do with boxers and he's trying to transfer that over,now the boxer motor is a time honoured tractor developed over a million years and frankly you could device one with a knife and fork,the K is a billion light years away.

There are two people who have used a bike for work that's Tim and FJ,FJ was different in the fact the bike was outside the system came in from the cold got all the bugs sorted out with both a dealer and Rexxer and cracked on,Tim always had his in the system and even then it was a struggle.

If this guy turned up telling us his situation would you recommend him buying 30,000 mile K to do what he intended to use it for? exactly!! Both Tom and Brian have done their own thing with K's one has bailed out and bought almost new and the other is trying,did I forget Gramey  :)

I love the old K I've got but have never forgotten that it has the ability to burn one to the ground financially which takes us too extended BM warranties and all that tosh :)

Jeeze I never even got to mention clogged rads :'(

Offline TomL

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2016, 10:04:37 am »
I'm still going to be looking after my own bike Chris and the decision was prompted by news of the K1300S being discontinued.
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Offline tiggerwood

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2016, 10:43:06 am »
Hi All!

Many thanks for your comments and experience.

My K1300GT is an experiment. R1150RTs are getting harder to find in good condition and some of the reliability stories around the later boxer engines are worrying. The GT came with a year's warranty although terms and conditions are as bad as ever and a full BMWSH for what its worth.  If the experiment fails, the loss is tax deductible, but the question of what to replace the RTs with remains.

At �1 per litre, payback on the GT ratio change is achieved via fuel saving after 100000 miles; at �1.40/L it goes down to 69000 miles.
If journey time saving is considered, payback is achieved if it helps me avoid two missed appointments.

As I only need pannier capacity for overnight stays, I think I will be taking them off before tomorrow's journey which should stretch tank range to the full.

Kind regards tw






« Last Edit: November 07, 2016, 03:00:42 pm by Phmode »
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Offline Phmode

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2016, 12:39:56 pm »
All good stuff guys, keep it coming.

One important thing you mention Tony, which is eminently fixable, is the ability to do a day's run without a fuel stop, particularly if you like to use the same pump at the same station, which you obviously do.

If you are marginal on some runs, getting your big drill out and performing the fuel-fillerectomy is a great and free way of getting a greater range from the tank. There are many details in here and elsewhere on the web about this simple, one hour mod.

If you haven't come across it, it is a simple way of getting more fuel in your tank in a much shorter time than it takes on a standard filler and without all the phaff of dribbling it in and shaking it all about - a good thing at any time of year, an enormous boon at this time of year.

Bigger and more air vent holes allow more fuel in in a shorter time. The one caution is not to over-fill the tank with this mod and then park it overnight otherwise the extra fuel may well vent out as the fuel warms up (!?!). Over-filling your tank in a morning would be a great bonuson a long, marginal run.

Brian (who only does 47 miles a year so doesn't need to drill holes in his tank  ::) )

Offline chriscanning

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Re: Business use: am I the only one
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2016, 01:47:40 pm »
I'm still going to be looking after my own bike Chris and the decision was prompted by news of the K1300S being discontinued.

That's fair enough but from my angle I see someone who was quoted as saying he's going to run his K into the ground,the next thing we see is holes drilled in the clutch basket and money spent on spares and it still wasn't working right and then a 1300 turns up.