tour reports » My summer with the RS

This is a long one so stand by and it's more about the bike than about the locations I've visited but I can add to that if there's interest; it starts back in June with my Sept 2016 RS (M/Y 2017) having the 18k mile service and new tyres. I had prewarned the dealer to get the rear in stock (I wanted to try the Metzler Roadtec 01s) but hadn't noticed that the front was toast too, so the dealer had to replace that one. They only had a HWM (heavy weight version) front in stock and although this isn't recommended fitment by Metzler I went for it. The bike also needed new pads and the service, tyres and pads set me back best part of £1k – ouch.

Fast forward to end of July when I set out with BMW Motorrad Tours for a tour of Norway. I hadn't done many miles between the service and the tour (maybe only 1000). I came to this tour having initially booked with BMW Motorrad Tours on their short 4 day tour of Iceland in 2017. This got cancelled because of lack of uptake so I moved my deposit onto their Norway tour.

Left the UK on the Harwich – Hook of Holland overnight ferry with a stop in Bremen in Germany on the first night of the tour. There were 5 of us on the group tour, 1 GS, 1 GSA, 1 XR and 1 F800GT. You can see the tour in detail on YouTube as one of the participants was The Missenden Flyer on his GS so search for his YouTube channel. He was a throughly nice chap and the group got on really well. I can't really add much to his commentary on Norway. It's expensive to eat and drink although fuel is normal price. The roads and scenery are both excellent and we were blessed with some the hottest summer the Norwegians have experienced since 1947! There seemed to be a bit of a Norwegian joke going on as twice we were recommended roads to ride that turned out to be off road. Although they were easy gravel trails they did come with a surprising amount of across the road washboard which was about 5cm deep and about 7cm in pitch. Although I was able to ride it, the first casualty of the vibes were the bolts holding the screen extension on my MRA Vario MXC on to the rest of the screen. That night we stopped in Lillehammer and I managed to scrounge up a couple of cable ties (the ones I had were too wide) from a guy working in a cycle repair shop at about 9 at night – chapeau!

At this point I'd also noticed a bit of a bar wobble at about 40 – 50 mph. I put it down to being fullly loaded with luggage but when we got to Mo I Rana and we had a free day I unloaded the bike and rode up to and past the Arctic Circle Visitor Centre. Although far less noticeable without luggage the bar wobble was still there. I started to wonder what was causing it. I managed to get some replacement bolts for the screen as the my cable tie fix was pretty ropey.

Roll on a few days and I also started to feel a pulse / knocking sensation when applying the front brake. We had another day free when we got to Bremen so I drove to the BMW dealer there to ask if they could check the front wheel bearing. I wasn't too concerned if I had warped disks, or if the head races needed adjustment but I was worried about continuing with a knackered wheel bearing. The kind chaps in Bremen checked it out and all was fine. At this point I rung home and booked it into my normal dealer to check on what was wrong, bearing (sic) in mind that I was home for 4 days before heading off to France.

Got to the dealer in early August who confirmed the front and back disks were warped. They were replaced and the 24k mile service was also performed. Another ouch. The only thing I can think contributed to the disk warping was some quite serious disk pitting from leaving the pads in contact with the disk when the snow stopped me riding last winter. But I still had the bar wobble which was a bit disappointing.

Onwards into France via Portsmouth Cherbourg SeaCat and a couple of weeks family holiday near Toulouse. I didn't ride it much as I was too busy holidaying and doing other fun stuff. Leaving the area I travelled up through Bourges and towards Saarbruken with a final stop near Spa before a 2 day instructed motorcycle only track day on the Nordschleife run by the Motorrad Action Team. At Saarbruken I had new tyres fitted, again Metzler Roadtec 01s (with the correct normal front and HWM rear) and this instantly cured the bar wobble even fully loaded. Looking back I think I either lost a wheel weight some time in Norway, likely on the washboard of the 50 km or so of off road I ended up doing. Or the RS really does not like the HWM front Roadtech although I can't think why that would be.

The Nordschleife was excellent and a real challenge to ride because learning the track takes so long. As a newcomer I was put in one of the beginners groups and during the 30 minute sessions on day 1 we did 2 laps per session but on the second day we were doing 3 laps per session. By the end I was pretty happy with the start up until the Carousel (in terms of knowing the fast/slow corners and which direction the track went after each corner) but after the Carousel was a bit of a blur so next time I will need to pick that up. I also need to by a corner map so I can learn corner names. Headed home via the tunnel with 2 UK based riders from one of the experienced Nordschleife groups, and onto to the dealers for an end of warranty check.

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They found the following; leaking steering damper and a seized exhaust valve flap. I pointed out the significant corrosion evident on the black painted sections of my bike and the dealer is replacing the following; grab rails, drive shaft case, rear sub-frame, centre and side stands, throttle bodies and front engine case.

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At my hands the bike suffered a bit of gravel rash through the summer. The first incident was in Norway where I spotted a view point which could be reached by a narrow bridge. I sized it up and thought I could get my bike across the bridge for an awesome photo. Waiting for the rest of the tourists to leave I rode out onto the bridge only to come to a grinding halt when my panniers met the first upright metal supports. I was stuck! I had to get off the bike and stand it on the side stand (good job it's too long and leaves the bike nearly upright), remove the panniers and then I could get it across. The panniers now bear a scar very reminescent of the scenary, a patina reminder of my tour! Somehow I'd also managed to wedge the rear indicators up at a jaunty angle breaking a connection on the left hand one. I discovered that removing the indicators to put them back how they are supposed to be requires the removal of a small undertray which needed a torx size I didn't have so that waited until home when I could also repair the damaged wire.


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The second incident also happened at a photo opp. I have had a couple of moments before this when I have nearly toppled the bike off the side stand because the bike is so damn upright. Once I was ferreting around in the top box and it nearly went over but I caught it. Other times I'd noticed it when closing the left hand pannier. I'm normally very careful not to park such that the road camber made this problem worse but alongside the road heading to Saarbruken I wasn't and sure enough when closing the left hand pannier it went over. The good news was nothing was damaged other than the plastic of the BMW rocker cover protector which is a little scuffed. And a bit of my pride. I've asked my dealer if I can have the old side stand so I can get it modded; 1cm chopped out, rewelded and powder coated should do the job – I'm surprised no one makes one.

The last bit of the summer was a day of instructed riding at Cadwell Park, with Hopp Rider Training. This was my third visit to Cadwell and the best riding so far. I love this circuit especially the fast back section which is so satisfying if you get the line correct. I'd seen a lean angle sensor demo'd at the Nordschleife and had bought and fitted one before Cadwell. It's called the kurv-x and you can programme it to flash when the bike reaches a certain user set lean angle; it also reports the maximum lean angle experienced whenever it flashes. I had it mounted in the OEM RS Nav mount position so although I was aware of it flashing in all corners (first flash was set to 30°) I couldn't look at the angle apart from during the corners leading onto the straights. I will be mounting it differently soon. I think depending on throttle application or not, the max lean of the bike before something decks out is between 40 and 45° as I had it over to a reported 41 without decking but decked at the hairpin (didn't look at the angle was too busy concentrating on breathing).

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What a blast this bike is, summer all but over and I now have 27k on the clock. Superb machine but it does come at a price. The warranty issues have been dealt with superbly by CW Motorcycles in Dorchester but I do have to overlook the warped disks and black paint from Hell...

Cheers

Bill

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Zitat von Grumpy Goat im Beitrag #2

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There is a problem with clicking on the thumbnails of the pics you posted.

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Zitat von Grumpy Goat im Beitrag #2

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Very good post Bunter ... lots of fodder for interesting commentary. I am presently following the Missenden Flyer's Norway tour video series and he did mention that there was an RS in the group ... good to hear from the owner! :)

There is a problem with clicking on the thumbnails of the pics you posted. On clicking any one I get:

Dieser Link war nur eine begrenzte Zeit gültig. Erneut laden / This link was valid for a limited time only. Load again

When Load again is clicked another page comes up and this is presented:

Unfortunately no forum was found under this URL.
>> http://797706.homepagemodules.de/gallery.php <<

Don't know if anything can be done about that.

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Zitat von Grumpy Goat im Beitrag #5

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Must have been a transient error on the server where the photos are hosted. They are working fine for me now, with no changes on my network.

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Hi Holgar

It was the 20 km BTG old circuit.

Bill

PS - Just remembered one my group was carrying a camera and made an excellent video. By a trick of editing several sessions together I am both behind and in front of the camera bike on the RS and in front of the camera bike on a CB1000F that were made available for free demo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqv7aFpUyi8&t=502s

I have done Tourist Fahran tag for the last 16 years (circa >300 laps) at the Ring and loved it but am now done with the place as far as Tourist days are concerned, far too busy, too expensive and full of idiots.

Would be interested in the closed circuit training days though, perhaps we should have an RS Forum outing?

Holger, you are indeed a wise man.
It took me me three to four years to know it well enough to have the confidence to push but the Tourists day seem to be crazy the last few years. People pay a lot of money for a lap of the holy circuit and seem totally unable to give any space or tolerance towards others on the same piece of track.
Now it seems if you need real pace around there to be safe (to stop people diving under you into the corners), I was fortunate to get hooked and build a pace when it was a lot quieter.
The early years were great when it wasn't so popular and a lot cheaper and have on a few occasions combined it with a track day on the F1 circuit, SPA is only 70- 80Kms away and is also a truly great track. Bikers Days organise a really good track day there and usually coincide it with the classic endurance festival (which is also great) but the weather is a lottery in Belgium

June this year I had a 3 week in south west Norway and no rain. Missenden Flyer even showed the same roads (I have put some on youtube) around Kristiansand plus the north/arctic and atlantic road I visited in 2014/16 and 2017. Great roads, little traffic and by the time you returned via Odda I could see the road had been repaired since my visit. In June it was a 30 minute wait on a closed road, explosives used in rock blasting, two local youths were wheeling a trolley selling food and cold drinks to the trapped motorists.
My route, Devon to shuttle, 450 miles to Nijmegan, 450 miles to Kolding, Denmark and by the end of the 3rd day I camped in Norway.
If you are planning another trip it is worth joining the Fjordline club (free) but discounts on bookings, especially busy sunday return to Hirtshalls saved me plenty.

Zitat von Fugly im Beitrag #13

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Holger, you are indeed a wise man.
It took me me three to four years to know it well enough to have the confidence to push but the Tourists day seem to be crazy the last few years. People pay a lot of money for a lap of the holy circuit and seem totally unable to give any space or tolerance towards others on the same piece of track.
Now it seems if you need real pace around there to be safe (to stop people diving under you into the corners), I was fortunate to get hooked and build a pace when it was a lot quieter.
The early years were great when it wasn't so popular and a lot cheaper and have on a few occasions combined it with a track day on the F1 circuit, SPA is only 70- 80Kms away and is also a truly great track. Bikers Days organise a really good track day there and usually coincide it with the classic endurance festival (which is also great) but the weather is a lottery in Belgium

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