Life after RR

[Pittsdriverwes]

With the interest on here looking at naked bikes like the Tuono and S1000R, I'm reposting a write up of my search for happiness after I wadded up my S1000RR.



I did test rides back to back on the Monster 1200 R and the BMW S1000R.





Two bikes with as many differences as similarities. After owning an S1000RR for the past couple of years, the S1000R seemed very similar. The sounds, the gearbox/quick-shifter, throttle response, controls all felt all too familiar. The demo bike was still rev limited at 9K rpm but the BMW R model is just about done at that point anyway. It seemed to handle lighter with a more flickable tip in than my RR and it pulled a bit harder in the mid-range but not enough of a difference to change how I'd ride it on the street. It's basically the same bike with up-right ergos and missing that heart-attack rush on the top end of the S1000RR. Not that that's bad - on the street anyway. My horoscope told me that 14,000 rpm romps on the street will eventually end at the gray bar hotel. The '16 R feels just like my '13 S1000RR with no shift assist pro and it still has that fugly cat can under the exhaust on it. My final thought on it is that maybe the R is the bike I should have originally bought over the RR but now after having owned the RR, the S1000R really doesn't excite me.

Jumping on the Monster R, the first thing I noticed was that it seemed like a smaller and lighter bike just sitting on it. The bars and pegs fell in very comfortable spots for me but still felt like they would work for an athletic ride. I'd cranked it before throwing my leg over it so the next thing I noticed was that the TFT display seemed not as bright as I would have preferred and it seemed to me that glare would sometimes be an issue. I didn't spend any time fussing with it and set off.

On the roll, it was very obvious to me that I was riding a high compression twin and it seemed like I could feel every combustion stroke resonate through me. When I pulled away from the first light and jumped on the throttle, I gave me the kind of woody that only an Italian machine can evoke. Fraaack, this thing pulls HARD from way down in the revs and had me laughing inside my hat within the first half-mile. I loved the sounds coming from this bike but without the wail I'm used to, I looked down and was surprised to see that I was more than double the limit on this winding industrial park road. The handling was much lighter than the BMW. It tipped in and went knee to knee like a 600. It was a short ride so I didn't get comfortable enough to test the brakes or push it (and I wasn't ready to own a bashed up Monster R) but I can really see why Ducati is saying that this is the most track day ready Monster they've built to date. Why in the world would they leave the quick-shifter off this bike? IMO, that's the biggest deficit with a bike this track ready.

For my kind of riding on the street, the Monster R seems like an avalanche of usable power compared to the BMW that, even on the R model, needs some coals thrown at it to stretch your arms.

Now my problem is that the Monster R is way more spendy than the other bikes on my list. Like $5K more. I haven't really started to negotiate yet but I'm getting quoted over $21K out the door. KTM and BMW are discounting and throwing in extras and the Speed Triple R is just a lot cheaper to begin with. The Ducati is molto sexy but also molto costoso.

I'm going tomorrow to ride a new 2015 Super Duke 1290 R that is deeply discounted and they are throwing in an Akrapovic exhaust for no additional money. More power, less weight, shorter wheelbase, and less money. Hmmmm.....

[Pittsdriverwes]

Disclaimer: I've been to Scotch tasting tonight so this might not be a totally coherent "R" report.

OK, it's not Italian or German or English. Today's "R" demo was the Austrian beast, a Super Duke 1290 R with 1 mile on it.



That's my GS in the background with the new 2015 SDR in the foreground. They have a great deal right now were the bike is deeply discounted and they're throwing in the Akra silencer. I'm going to talk about the bike but first I have to say that B&E Motorsports in Easton Maryland is exactly the kind of motorcycle dealer I grew up knowing. Bob, the owner, answers the phones, sells bikes, works behind the parts counter, works on bikes, and oh, he campaigns an RC8 race bike and a RC390 race bike. It's not the big premium experience I'm used to at Bob's BMW where I feel like part of the family. It's a small shop owned and operated by a different Bob that I could see being a great track day buddy. And if I need my bike worked on, Bob will come and get it and haul it over to his dealership and bring it back for me. As much as I enjoy the experience at BMW Bob's, I'm hoping this could be the start of a fun relationship if I buy this bike (and other KTMs on my radar for playing in the dirt).

Back to the bike - did I mention that it comes with the Akra thrown in? The one that has a single set screw to remove the db killer. Bwaaahaha.



This thing just screams "I'm a hooligan!" It looks like it's doing burn outs just sitting there. The first thing I noticed about it is that owing to the V-twin bolted in there, it's about as wide as a bicycle when you look at it from the back. Sitting on it, it feels like the short wheelbase that it is and I can't help thinking that I'm sitting on a 180 HP Grom.



Like the Monster R, when it's running you can feel every high combustion stroke but when I pulled away on it, I had to negotiate through a crowded gas station and then follow a little old lady a few blocks to some clear road. That was enough to know that the fueling off idle and loping around was flawless and this bike can easily be ridden slow like a starter bike - and it felt a little like one too it's so light and small feeling. The gearing is tall but because of the massive low end it doesn't feel like it except that you can ride it like a scooter with little shifting. Bob encouraged me to ride it off in "sport" mode - the most dynamic throttle, traction, and abs map but said "New tires, better leave the TC on for a few miles before you turn it off to ride any wheelies." Like I said - my kind of dealer. The little old lady turned right and the road opened up and MOTHER Frracker! the beast got out. I came to a stop about a mile later and was just speechless. In any gear up through 4th at any rpm above about 3K it would pull like mad hovering the front tire. No wringing its neck at 12,000 rpm. Just twist and go.

There was no traffic anywhere in the back country farm roads on Maryland's Eastern Shore and Bob mentioned "See you later" when I left to I just kept going for a while. I found some twisty road, some good pavement, some not so good, and again felt like I was riding a quick handling bike about a 1000cc's smaller. I mention that the gearing seems very tall and 6th gear is virtually unusable at anything less than 85 mph. I've read that some people drop down a tooth on the countershaft and that would seem to make sense after my short ride. Eventually, when it looked like I'd looped back to near the shop, I rolled off through a couple of neighborhood streets and hit several stops just to hear it pull away from idle. No one looked at me like I was there to plunder and pillage. In fact, hardly anyone noticed me loping by. Hooligan stealth mode - check.

$16k out the door including the Akra, delivery to me 40 miles away, and my first service included if I buy the oil from him.

I came back home by the Triumph shop intending to ride the Speed Triple. I kinda expected them to be picky about the R model as they'd said they are hard to find but they had told me to come back with my gear and I'd get a hop on a normal Speed Triple. Nope. Someone must have misspoke says the sales guy there. No demo rides on Speed Triples. I guess when you have a showroom full of Bonnevilles and Indian Scouts, a Speed Triple looks like mischief to them. I explain to the guy that he's making it pretty hard to give any consideration to his product and that this week I've ridden the Monster R, S1000R, and I just rode the SDR without so much as signing a waiver or a credit card on file. Nope. Guess not.

I'm off to ride the GS off-road this weekend up in some state parks in PA and I'll decide on Monday.

[Pittsdriverwes]

A couple of weeks go by and I have to fess up about my nasty high side on a single track in PA:


A couple of weekends ago, I went off up into Central PA near State College for a couple of overnights and trail riding on my 1200GS with some new friends. Just before I left, I put a deposit on the Super Duke to hold it for me until I got back. Long story short is that I got pitched off in a full-afterburner throttle high-side when returning to the trail and hit a hidden stump in some brush. Very stupid of me to not take it slow not knowing exactly what was there but I ended up hitting the ground, oh, about 15' from where the bike stopped and slid a ways from there. The bike is perfectly fine with just a few scuffs and scratches on the protection parts. Apparently the bike is tougher than me. I cracked my shin on the bars pretty hard and got the wind knocked out of me with some considerable discomfort in my back ribs. I went back to the cabin and sat around whimpering for the rest of the day and rode 180 miles home the next day - that ride started in freezing rain.

After laying around the house in a narcotic pain med induced stupor for a week, I decided to go see my doc who sent me straight away for x-rays. 3 broken ribs, hairline crack in my tibia (all healing nicely) and a small pneumothorax (partially collapsed lung) that also looks like it might heal on its own. My doc told me that in hind sight its a good thing I didn't go to the ER with this because those docs would have stabbed me in the chest with a big bore needle to try to fix the pneumothorax that seems to be healing all on it's own. They did tell me that if I started to have trouble breathing to call 911 for a transport and the big bore needles or I might die. Sheesh, the stuff these guys will tell you to run up your Obamacare bill.

Getting better day by day and the best part is that the guy who owns the KTM dealer is holding the bike for another couple of weeks for me until I feel well enough to bring it home. I'm pretty happy with that decision and have that bike to look forward to when I can get back in the saddle.

A couple of weeks later...

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been feeling well enough to start getting my strength back and I've done a small bit of riding. I called my KTM dealer back to see if he was still holding the '15 SDR for me and alas, it's gone to another. That's the bad news. The good news is that he'll sell me a '16 still in the crate for the same price but without the Akrapovic can. I've negotiated a 15-18% discount on the silencer and some accessories with the bike and it's getting delivered tonight. I'll post up some photos when I can but by this time tomorrow, I'll be out basking in all that torguey twin goodness. Giddy up!

As I reported previously, the smokin' hot deal I'd gotten on the '15 1290R was lost but the dealer made good on a '16 for the same price. That bike was new in the crate when we made the deal and it was delivered last night with the lowest mileage of any vehicle I've ever purchased:



I went over the bike with a detail spray checking it out and getting familiar with it but had to put it away without riding it last night.



I finally made it out about 2pm this afternoon for the first mile on it but not before scuffing up the shiny new tires. Not going there again. I ended up going for out for about 3 hours on my favorite roads between Annapolis, Davidsonville, and down to Chesapeake Beach and back - only about 80 miles because it's some pretty small, twisty, and often technical roads mixed in with some long flowing sweeper rich highway. I started out with the TC turned on in SPORT mode - then experimented with ROAD mode, then with the TC turned off. Let me just say that for a first date with it, ROAD mode with the TC turned off made the power easier to control and gave me more confidence to bust out lots of air time for the front when the road was clear and proper. This thing has monstrous torque from about 3,000 rpm and anything more than quarter throttle in 2nd or 3rd lofts the front. It's just stupid easy and nearly impossible to accelerate hard without the TC on. But that's not the fun bit.

As I got more comfortable with it, it started to feel like I was riding a 150+ rwhp bicycle. Owing to it's V-Twin engine, it's a very narrow bike:



This bike is so light and nimble compared to the S1000R or RR that it really feels like I'm riding something much much smaller. Flickable doesn't do it justice. I didn't push it hard with the new tires and being my first time back out since my hard off-road biff so I'm looking forward to continuing my dating period with it and getting out to the track this summer to feel it out there. It was a great first date:

[Pittsdriverwes]

OK, fast forward to a year later and I'm back down in scooter mecca on the 1290R. I can gladly report that this bike works for me in ways so much more compatible with my creaky body and riding style on these tight twisty roads. Some of my favorite roads here aren't on the squid routes and some of them have been repaved and brush and trees moved back from the road to improve the sight lines over the past few years. One of my favorites is the Richard B Russell Scenic Highway. I rode it 3 times during the middle of the week and didn't see another soul:



This bike pulls so hard from low in the revs, it makes it really easy to ride hard on these roads. Just twist and go.

[802Mike]

Glad you're healing now but, there could've been internal bleeding.
That's not a type-o "new 2015 SDR" ?

[Pittsdriverwes]

Sorry, I should have made this more clear. This is a re-post of my search that I did in the spring of 2016.

And yeah, that was probably pretty stupid to not go to the hospital after a hit that hard. I rode the GS 3 hours home from State College PA to Annapolis in a cold rain with 3 busted ribs and a partially collapsed lung. I didn't know that at the time. I just thought that I'd dinged a few of my ribs. That was pretty stupid as well.

There were times that week between getting back home and when I finally went to the doctor that I experienced the kind of pain that had me asking Jesus to take me. I think I'm all good now on the busted ribs experiences and don't need to repeat that again. That's why I'll usually be one of the slower guys when riding off road.

[MattB]

Wes, I haven't read them all, but you gotta stop... you have me sitting here thinking about that amazing engine again now. Zoom, zoom. Bike is definitely not lacking in the fun department.

You do have me curious though, I saw you saying about perfect fueling off idle. Have you never noticed some surging on steady throttle around 4,000 rpm? Even still, fun freakin' bike.

[Pittsdriverwes]

Matt, I have noticed it lately that it surges when the throttle is just cracked open and it seems to do that at any RPM. I notice it most when I'm just tootling round at 25-35 mph. It seems to do it more in cold weather, and has a more abrupt on/off transition, but now it's doing it occasionally when it's warmer. Not sure why.