I Ride a Motorcycle.
I came (sort of back)
to it quite late and passed my CBT (or Compulsory Basic Training - which is the
"are you safe enough to be let loose as a learner rider" test
required in the UK before taking to the roads on anything from a 50cc moped to
a 125cc proper bike) four and a bit years ago aged, well more than 40 - but
less than 50!
My first bike was
brand new, a Honda Varadero 125. I bought it because having ridden a pretty
knackered CB100 on the CBT I didn't want to be struggling with the mechanicals
of a bike whilst trying to learn to ride and stay out of harm's way. I chose
the Varadero as essentially it doesn't look like a learner bike (except of
course for the rather obvious 'L' plates) but more importantly it's big,
especially for a 125, and I'm fairly tall and so it made sense.
After passing my main
test I stuck with it as "Niunia" (kinda means "little pony"
in Polish) is a lovely little bike. Great for meandering through the smaller
roads of the rural county of Herefordshire where I live. However when I started
commuting to Bristol, despite keeping up with traffic on B & most A
roads, she just didn't hack it on the motorway. So I got myself a Honda
Transalp. Both of these bikes fall into the "adventure-style" bike
grouping with their sitting up, quite commanding road position. As I started
chucking on the miles on the Transalp (circa 12-15,000 a year) it wasn't too
long before I needed to consider a replacement and so I embarked on a quest to
choose a new bike.
What Bike to Buy?
One of the wonderful
things about bikes is that even if you've got 2 grand to spend, you can get
anything from a moped, to a learner 125, to a sensible commuter to a out and
out nutter bike. So, the first thing I needed to decide is what style of bike
was I after? Given that my first two were both the adventure-style bikes and
even the bikes I'd had first contact with as a teenager were off-road
trail/trials bikes it meant that these were the only style of bike I knew. So I
resolved to try a mix of bikes and styles before deciding what new bike to buy.
What Bikes Did I Test?
- BMW F800ST
- Kawasaki Z1000SX
- Suzuki VStrom 650
- Suzuki GSR 750
- Suzuki Bandit 1250
- BMW K1300S
- BMW 1200RT
- Honda 800 CrossRunner
- Honda CB1000R
- Honda 700 Transalp
- BMW 1200GS
- Triumph Tiger 800XC
- BMW 1200GSA
- Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer
- KTM 990 Adventure
- Yamaha 1200 Super Tenere
Where Did I Ride Them?
I wanted my test ride route to both be
familiar and encompass as many different road conditions as I could sensibly
squeeze into a test ride of a little over an hour. I also wanted to take each
bike over the same route and chose the following near 25 mile route;
The three dealers, Bransons (Honda),
Cotswold (BMW) and Frasers (Kawasaki/Suzuki) are all in the South East part of
Gloucester and so marker A (hiding behind I in the picture) is the approximate
starting point. (The Triumphs & Yamaha were tested around Swindon – out to
Fairford airbase & back – and the KTM around Tewkesbury.)
Moving Off
Up the A430 towards the A40 gave me enough
time to start to adjust to each bike's;
·
Riding
position - How upright was I, was this comfortable, what position the foot pegs
put my legs in and the associated hip spasm cramp from an unfamiliar position.
·
Throttle
manner - How did I have to handle the throttle so I could control the damn
thing!
·
Clutch
position - Where was the clutch biting so I wasn't going to stall or pop a
wheelie when pulling away.
·
Steering -
How do I steer it! I'll come back to this so you understand what I mean.
·
Braking
"profile" - How much brake pressure did I need to use to stop and not
do a stoppie!
The last short stretch of the A430
before the A40 was the first chance to start to get more comfortable with the
bike as you either just pulled round a nice left hand T junction at a
conservative 40mph opening onto that short 50mph stretch or you got caught at
the lights which gave the chance to maybe filter through to the front but
anyway pull away and take the left hander. A nice opportunity to use the
torque.
Up the A40
The first bit of the A40 is single
carriageway with a reasonable semi-hatched centre section. Lots of opportunity
for fast filtering when I'm commuting this section but for most of the rides
there just wasn't the congestion that I experience travelling through there at
8am on the way to work. It's a 50mph zone, but a "quick 50".
Straight over the roundabout (point B)
it opens up into a dual carriageway that relents to the national speed limit after
a few 10's of metres of the remaining 50mph zone. There's then a few miles of
fast national speed limit dual carriageway as the A40 "turns into"
the A417 with a couple of nice roundabouts and fast exits before getting to an
almost motorway feeling straight section - that runs under the M5. Very good
visibility - especially of vehicles that might be sat on bridges or on the slip
roads - and fairly sparse traffic allowed the umm, err, aerodynamics
of the fairing/windshield to be "explored" before pulling left and
onto the slip up to the large roundabout and right over the A417 and onto the
A46 (Point F).
Off Towards Birdlip
This is a proper 40 zone which allowed,
particularly for some of the bikes, a welcome breather and a chance to drain
off some adrenalin! There were a few filtering opportunities and a petrol filling
station on the roundabout (point C) - which I took every bike to for a drink.
Up the C road through Witcombe and I'm
now on the back road up to Birdlip - on a heavy traffic commute day this is a
great way to avoid the 2 into 1 tailback going up the A417 to Birdlip and on a
test ride a nice little bit of uphill twisty and beautiful with the trees in
full Autumn mode. There's a challenging point just on the junction with the
B4070 where you've come up the steep bank, into a 30mph zone (from
"40") and then into a no forward visibility tight left hander pretty
much straight into where the B4070 to/from Stroud comes in at you from the
right. Here you're fairly reliably either dealing with someone pulling out onto
you, or someone stopped pulling right onto the B4070 AND you're also met with
some good potholes to manoeuvre past, so a challenging little junction for an
unfamiliar bike.
Having pretty much reached the top of
the hill you're now going through little old Birdlip, a very tight left hand
bend out continuing through and past the 30 zone until a sweeping right hander
takes you to the entrance on the left to the Birdlip beauty spot viewing point
(Point D).
Larking About in the Layby
On entering the quiet slip towards the
parking I took the opportunity to pull over, and try an O-turn, i.e. a slow
360. Some bikes managed this, others didn't. Once I was facing back towards the
parking I waited until completely clear behind and performed a number of
emergency stops, typically from about 25-35 in second gear. Following 3 or 4 of
these it was down over the cattle grid and down to the parking area for some
more slow circles and figure 8s before turning back. Up over the cattle grid
and then making use of the damp leaves on the edge of the slip road to try
out the ABS. So it's 5-10 mph in first, legs out and I'm deliberately trying to
skid £8,000+ worth of new and heavy motorcycle. Heh heh. I'd never felt ABS on
a bike before and it was interesting to experience it and notice how the systems
behaved differently. It was now time to just stop and take stock of my ride so
far, so stopping each bike in about the same place I took pictures and had a
breather and chocolate bar. It was also an opportunity to have a good look
around the bike at different things.
Heading Back, Concentrate
Composure regained - those ABS
"tests" are damn nerve-racking! - its back onto the bike and time to
head back to the respective garages, via a bit more variety. Pulling back out
onto the B4070 and back into Birdlip, the right hander in the village is VERY
tight, a very slow first gear corner with lots going on about. The corner is
also a junction with traffic from your left having to give way to you, then comes
a hotel on your right with vehicles in and out, followed by the B4070 peeling
off on that junction to the left and then down & round that tight-ish right
hander. A great way to be sure how you cope with mirrors, front & rear
braking throttle and clutch control all thrown in with the massive observation
you're doing on an unfamiliar bike. With that behind you it's down through the
glorious wooded run with a little bit of twisty going on. Nice.
Bikes in the Brown Stuff
About halfway down this back road
(point E) there's a little one track lane on the left, turning into here it's
also a little holey and then there's a gate into a field on the right. A great
place to check out how easy it is to turn a bike around in slightly muddy,
rutty grass. So with a new bike sliding about a little I stop & turn &
yank it back & fore and get it back onto the road with muddy tyres and back
onto the back road. Stopping at this little junction - it's downhill and with a
mass of soggy leaves - is another great opportunity to check out the ABS and
how easy it is to keep a slippy bike upright!
Test Ride Through Town?
Continuing on I get to the roundabout
(point F) and head right back to the A417. This roundabout gives a very tight
right hander which I manage on some bikes better than others! Pulling back onto
the A417 in now the other direction for one hop lets me have one more blast
before hitting proper town traffic. One last opportunity on each bike to simply
let it pull and pull, as far as I dare let/allow it. Sweeping off the A417 left
towards the Gloucester Business Park I go twice around the island where Tesco
lives and head off into 30 mph zone territory in search of the mundane side of
riding a motorcycle. Town traffic.
Homeward Bound
Hucclecote Road leading onto Barnwood
Road is Roman straight all 30 mph with pedestrian crossing humps and cars and
buses. Some filtering opportunities here until at point H I get onto the
"homeward stretch" - at least for the bikes it is - of the A38. This
is now 40mph but delivers some traffic light starting grids to play with. It's
long and tedious but perfect "real-life" as far as how my bike will
often be used.
How I Compared the Bikes
This is my summary
table. It’s not an expert’s thorough road test opinion, simply how I felt about
what I’d ridden.
Bike
|
Brakes
|
Throttle
|
Like
|
Dislike
|
Summary
|
BMW F800ST
|
Tight
|
Quite surgey, very controllable
|
Not much
|
Felt cramped.
|
This was my next bike "on paper".
Was left very underwhelmed and very disappointed.
|
Kawasaki Z1000SX
|
Very Sharp
|
Immensely powerful response, just
controllable and extremely quick. Probably only got 60% to redline
|
Brakes, Acceleration
|
Likely fuel consumption, threat to my
licence & being
|
|
Suzuki
VStrom 650
|
Tight
|
A step-up from my Transalp, quite
responsive, very controllable
|
Fuel consumption, responsiveness for
engine,
Seating position,
Gear indicator
|
Whilst with more power/acceleration than my
Transalp, still quite a lot down on what I'd feel far more comfortable with
|
Felt very at home on this bike as soon as I
got on it. Nice bike, really liked it.
|
Suzuki
GSR 750
|
Very Sharp
|
Very strong powerful response, controllable
and very quick.
|
Brakes, acceleration, noise
|
Likely fuel consumption,
Biggest dislike was nakedness, not a good
all weather workhorse.
|
This bike was a big surprise. Looking at it
initially I thought, "Nah, sports bike", within a few miles I
absolutely loved it, it was suprisingly comfortable, felt really good. Just
not practical, but still lovely.
|
Suzuki Bandit 1250
|
OK
|
Strong, determined powerful response,
controllable, very very useable and very quick.
|
Solid feel/presence (even at +++ speed),
wind protection
|
Likely fuel consumption
|
A very sensible decision, nice quick,
handleable bike and would definitely be in the frame...if it wasn't
for the last 1/2 mile of "green lane" to our house. Just not
comfortable with taking a road bike up through stoney, grassy, muddy track.
|
BMW K1300S
|
Very Sharp
|
Insanely powerful response, only just
controllable and unbelievably quick. Probably only got 50% to redline
|
The experience of having ridden it
|
Unusable (for me) gearing and power, hand
position (very far forward/downwards riding and aching under braking)
|
If I owned it it would be a waste. Like
keeping a greyhound on a leash. Also not a good bike for green laneing.
|
BMW 1200RT
|
OK
|
Strong and tourqey
|
Electric windscreen, heated seats,
potential for stereo installation (I.e. toys), brilliant weather protection
(but I have another BMW for that, it's called a 5-series)
|
Restricted leg positioning due to boxer
engine whilst manouvering, too large chasis
|
My least favourite, and whilst
obviously good enough for Her Majesty's Constabulary, just didn't do it for
me.
|
Honda 800 CrossRunner
|
Sharp
|
Powerful, quite quick, past 6000rpm and the
additional 2 valves of the 4-valve VFR technology kicked in and the bike
started quacking! Absolute hoot. Very nicely controllable and useable.
|
Quacking performance, seating position
|
Stupid thin line tacho (albeit as used on
other bikes, still crap),
Fuel consumption,
|
I absolutely loved this bike. Brilliant.
Never experienced Vtech engine before and never mind the grin factor,
that had me cackling like Sid James inside my helmet!
Just put off by fuel consumption and tacho.
|
Honda CB1000R
|
OK
|
Strong, determined powerful response,
controllable, very very useable and very quick.
|
Very solid & stable.
|
Nothing dramatic about it.
|
Probably very dependable, reliable,
decent bike. Just not for me.
|
Honda 700 Transalp
|
Weak
|
Pretty sluggish and not much better than my
older 650 Transalp. Exhaust doesn't sound anything as nice as my Arrow after
market.
|
Very familiar.
|
Very familiar.
|
Nah. My second least favourite!
|
BMW 1200GS
|
Sharp
|
Very tourqey, very useable, very
controllable, just really nice.
|
Very solid, just sits there. Oh, this felt
so right.
Shaft drive.
|
Non-standard indicator controls, tamperable
clutch & brake resevoirs.
|
I think I found my bike.
|
Triumph Tiger 800XC
|
OK
|
Quite surgey, very controllable, not huge.
|
Light enough to chuck about a bit. Feels
like a good off-road choice.
|
Not much really, probably the smaller
engine performance.
|
I’d already ridden a GS by the time I
rode this!
|
BMW 1200 GSA
|
Sharp
|
Very tourqey, very useable, very
controllable, still really nice
|
High seating position, sheer size & presence.
Shaft drive. Availability of after market
farkles!
|
Non-standard indicator controls, tamperable
clutch & brake resevoirs. A HEAVY bike!
|
Loved this bike. Loved it.
|
Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer
|
Very Sharp
|
Despite some claims about the electronic
throttle being very light, I found the “feedback” to be fine. Response was
quick and offers different profiles that I found did make a difference, but
it mostly stayed on Sport! Nicely powerfull.
|
This was a very nice bike to ride and it’s
British! I loved the right angle tyre valves – why doesn’t every bike do
this????
Shaft drive, cruise control!
Big generator to drive all my little
add-ons.
|
I’m not a great fan of the angular styling.
|
This “might” be a future bike, but for now
it’s a new bike, there may well be things to iron out and certainly nowhere
near as many extra gadgets for it.
|
KTM 990 Adventure
|
Very Sharp
|
Nicely torquey and very controllable.
|
Commanding riding position. Loved the
brakes.
|
Chain drive. I commute and need as little
day-to-day maintenance as possible.
|
Really nice bike this, but it just wasn’t “enough”.
|
Yamaha 1200 Super Tenere
|
Sharp
|
Very torquey, very controllable.
|
Shaft drive.
|
The view from the seat into the front felt
like a tea tray sat in front of me, it was a bit weird.
|
Of the big adventures (including the KTM
here) this would be last on my list.
|
So, What Did I Buy?
Two bikes. A Suzuki
650 V-Strom, I adore this bike! And a BMW 1200 GS Adventure – there’s a very
good reason it’s the bestselling bike by a country mile!
Now the
gadgettering can start!
