Nute

I rode it on the trip to Bosham on Sunday. Can't say I noticed any undue vibes but then again the FTR is very vibey so anything else is rock solid by comparison. Every car ive had has been large displacement and lots of low end torque so that's what I am kind of used to and I find it difficult to switch to using the revs to get the ooopfh out of a bike, and that's exactly what the s1000 needs. I owned the MT09 for several months before I noticed that the rev counter went green once you wound the revs up enough . The BMW really is a lovely engine. I have raised the bars by 25mm which weirdly makes a huge difference to the comfort/riding position - I need to decide if I think it would be further improved but bringing them up a bit higher but that would require altering the brake lines. Im somewhat bigger than the average rider so all I can see in the stock mirrors are my shoulders - new bar end mirrors to fit tomorrow which will improve things.

Didn’t expect that ! Thanks all, I’ll have to work on my acceptance speech

Anything Italian looks beautiful, but it’s going to be in the shop a lot.

I saw some in the beemer dealer when I picked up my new bike. They look great and are certainly big and imposing…and expensive. I think if I talked myself into getting an enormous bike I’d be on a triumph rocket. Need a bigger garage though

By some miracle I actually have a picture of my frankenbike ... you can all wash your eyes out later if you don't like that style.

I could accept that, if the roads were ever resurfaced, but it’s 10 years since anyone has done that …

Bloody 20mph limits are a nightmare, they are popping up everywhere. What’s next 10mph limits?

Indian oil is ridiculously expensive, I was going to buy some and change it in the FTR but looking at the cost of it they can get stuffed, I’ll use a diff brand.

I was tempted, I’m fairly tall ( although not as tall as Marcel or Bucky obviously ) and probably the XR would be a better fit with a bit of fiddling, but for some reason I do enjoy the naked bikes.

Black, what other colour is there?

Just bought a BMW S1000R ( used) which is certainly fun to ride. I need some bar risers to raise the bars a little as the riding position is a bit far forward for me. Lovely engine… Also looked at the XR too which looked nice, just not sure I’m ready for a bike with luggage just yet. Maybe next time. Lots of instructions to read …

Watched the eclipse yesterday from the top of a large nearby hill, along with hundreds of other who had the same idea. It’s on a small country road- going back to the car people who had turned up later than us and couldn’t squeeze onto the grass verge just stopped and abandoned their cars in the middle of the road.

Do you need any form of oscillation damper on the hitch (ive never towed anything except in a tractor, but there are plenty of YouTube clips of caravans doing alarming things)...

meh, my money was on an Indian....

Rescue my car - only used once but if you call them a second time for the same vehicle they as for a copy of proof of repair for whatever was wrong. My fake cobra broke down on the garage forecourt whilst awaiting an MOT a couple of years ago, garage were clueless as it has things like a distributor and a carb, they gave me the number of a local recovery chap who arrived within 30 mins and was half the price of the nationals. The frustrating thing was it was only 400m from home.