New Bike
Mon, 06/09/2010 - 22:18
Dear Ash , by chance yesterday evening i saw your web site : it is one of the best sites which are not bias. i realy like your reviews and read all of them until this morning 5 am !
I am 50 yrs old, my first bike was a year ago honda 300i scooter , i made over 6000 km with it ;) traveling around the spain ! then 4 months ago in may honda made an offer for me for DN01 , i grabed the oportunity and exchanged the bike plus few thousand more euros on top: i got 35 liters paniers and 50 liters top box and my girl friend started to a big journey 15000km in two months in spain, frnace italiy and sardegna island. it was wonderful and i loved the comfort ,stability of this nike, my top speed was 180 kmh most of the times it was about 150kmh, thankfully i got no ticket;)
this bike now is in my friends garage in spain which i will go back three months later , now i am in new york city and cant do do without a motorcycle because its in my blood and i am iching to buy new one now ,
There for i would like to ask you and your valued readers opinion what to buy ,
I do not like sport bikes , i dont want to lean over , ergonomics , comfort technology safety most of all should be well made.
I narrowed some of my choices ,
R1200RT , K1300GT, DUCATI 1200 MULTISTRATA ,
I MAY EVEN GO FOR K1300S or VFR1200 !
FIRST TIME I DROVE MY FRIENDS HARLEY YESTERDAY WHICH HAS CLUTCH , IT WAS 800 LBS , IT SEEMED TO ME NOT MUCH HEAVY AND I ADOPTED CLUTCH WITHIN A FEW MINS BECAUSE I DRIVE BOTH AUTO AND CLUTCH CARS VERY VERY WELL ,
I really appreciated your and your readers feed back. I am open all the suggestions and i would like to buy the bike in a week.
Kind regards to all (sorry about my english )
Tue, 07/09/2010 - 05:28
#2
Re: New Bike
Dear Eldor thank you for your reply. I actually sat on all of those bikes except Ducati. I am 6ft seems like K1300GT and S type and R1200RT is perfect fit for my height: I actually drove dual clutch VFR1200 and that was fine as well and it was very easy to drive, but my biggest problem was discomfartable sitting position and leaning to front also my girlfriend was not comfartable she was leaning towards me and made it clear to me it is not for long journeys definetly not for touring: having said that, i liked K1300GT but reading and watching to many videos at you tube made me wonder about its relyability : i heard that some switches specialy start switch has problems :
THATS WHY I NEED ADVICE FROM THE OWNERS AND EXPERTS ABOUT WHAT TO BUY,
Seems like i am heading towards to K1300GT : (I would have love to get 2011 Honda VFR1200T if i knew that was the truth about a spy news !, see picture)
thank you
Tue, 07/09/2010 - 05:42
#3
Re: New Bike
Eldor , by th way congrads with your new bike ; have a safe jouneys. I have two questions for this bike , What is 2011 exclusive edition is stands for . i am in NYC i am not aware of 2011 exclusive edition bike, price different too ?
thank you ,
Tue, 07/09/2010 - 12:53
#4
Re: New Bike
Alexander, I don't know anything about the 2011 VFR1200 but the current one had too short a cruising range for me and also too small panniers (and optional top box).
The Exclusive Edition 2011 BMW K1300GT (it is being sold in Canada as a 2011 year model) is really just a loaded KGT with all the options (except alarm system) and a special paint job. It has been suggested that since BMW will be replacing this model in the very near future with the 1600 (6-cylinder model) they are trying to clear out their inventory of parts and expensive options. The price of this special model was actually less than what it would have been for a 2010 model with those same options.
And as far as reliability goes, I too was a bit concerned due to various Internet reports, but I believe all those problems have been fixed with recalls for existing owners as well as changes in the production runs of recent bikes. And most of the issues I read about seemed to be with the first 2009 model year of that bike. I have not heard of problems with 2010 or newer. BMW service is supposed to be top notch too.
Cheers!
Tue, 07/09/2010 - 15:37
#5
Re: New Bike
thank you for your reply ; i will go today hopefully i can get for test drive for these bikes and i will choose afterwords. I will inform later about my decision
greetings
Sun, 12/09/2010 - 06:27
#6
Re: New Bike
Hi Eldor , I have decided to get 2011 R1200RT but not in New York , I will go back to spain in three months and i will buy it than . Altough i am now looking for a smaller bike for new york city such as triumph street triple R
take care have a safe riding
Sun, 12/09/2010 - 13:09
#7
Re: New Bike
Well, I'm sure you will be very happy. The R1200RT is what the local police forces (several of them) are using here and just yesterday I was looking at one in the shop where it was being maintained. It's quite cool how they customize them for police needs.
Anyway, what made you decide on that instead of the KGT?
In three months time when you return to Spain there will probably be new choices to tempt you.
Cheers!
Mon, 13/09/2010 - 17:33
#8
Re: New Bike
i like Kevins opinions , Triumphs street triple seems like perfect for new york city may be even sprint st would do it, I would have like Kevins opinion on that too but so far i havent hot any comments from him.
I do not do any touring in USA , however i love long 20.000 km several months rides in europe thats why this time i am buying for touring R1200RT when i am returning back to europe withing 2 to 3 months ,I also like K1300GT but i did not think i need that much power , for my touring experience , r1200rt is fast comfortable nibble and light enough for me. besides my girl friend loves the shape , altough i would love to have one k1300s but new york citys roads so awful you need a dirt bike.!
tired of here moving out soon :::: )
Hi Alexander,
Your English is just fine.
My suggestion would be to go and actually sit on the bikes you are interested in, and if at all possible to test drive them (even if you have to pay to rent a bike for a few hours).
I'm now on the sixth bike of my life and the third one of this summer (there was a gap of twenty-five years between my third and forth bikes). I read all the reviews and drooled over the specs and from that decided I wanted the new Ducatti Multistrada, but when I actually sat on it, I found I could not get my feet flat on the ground when stopped. And I think that would be dangerous.
I sat on the BMW K1300GT with the standard seat in the lowest position and it was better than the Ducatti. I test drove it and fell in love. I've now had my new 2011 K1300GT Exclusive Edition bike for nine days and I love it. I've already got over 1300 kms on it!
My dealer has ordered the low seat for me and the bike should even be better for me with it. I just hope it arrives soon, as I've already dropped the bike once.
The VFR1200 is also a nice bike but the small gas tank and relatively poor fuel economy make for a much too short cursing range for me. Plus here in Quebec Canada that bike is scheduled to become one of the "high risk" bikes next year, making the registration fee almost three times what the BMW is. And because of that the insurance will most probably be higher as well.
I'm real happy with my choice.
Good luck with your decision.