"Life gets in the way of life"
However, I know I have been woefully lacking in this area and I must make amends. I come onto the board most days and luckily, my IT dept. (i.e. the internet Police) have yet to classify this website as a chat room and ban it!
So, inspired by all your posts (especially DJ and Kristi's brilliant submissions recently), excellent photos, which are eagerly downloaded to my PC so I can dip in at any time when I want to experience "50R life" from around the world, I think it's time to give back to those who have given me so much. Work may be dreadful sometimes but I can always rely on this board to lift my spirits and give me the diversion I sometimes need.
I recently had an annual service completed on the bike. As usual I knew work would make demands of my time so I booked the day as annual leave. The plan was to drop the bike off and have an courtesy F800ST for the day, plus test drive a 1200GS just for fun. A work colleague was also having his bike serviced so we agreed to meet at the dealership and have a decent rideout together. I arrived early, handed over the keys and with high hopes they would not "overfill the oil", I took advantage of their free coffee.
Two double Espresso shots later my friend arrived, only to be told his courtesy bike was double booked. How the day changes. I was given an F650GS (somewhat lacking by 150cc and a piston!, I had booked the F800 after all!)
After a minutes silence while the service technicians stared into space, the floor or looked intently at their hands; anything but the customer's eyes, I agreed to give my friend a lift home. You build up a special work style friendship with your colleagues but it is enlightning when these work relationship boundaries are challenged by sharing the "cosy" seat of an F650GS and get physically intimate! - His beer belly (wine actually) was pressed into my back for the whole of the journey. I guess it's a man thing.... but I'm getting over it now...thanks for asking. The round trip to his home was 40 miles and it took 1 1/2 hours, (I did stay for a coffee, it was the least he could do), before returning to the dealership, determined to have a test ride of some sort.
Customer service front of house is always exemplorary. They always greet me by my first name even though I may have not have crossed their threshold for many months. The Salesman remembered me and arranged for the low seat to be fitted even before I saw the bike; he hadn't forgotten my preferences in that department. I must be infamous or something......The F800ST was fuelled up and I was given a quick run through the controls; very much like the 1150R.
The bike was great fun to ride. The fuelling is spot on and the power builds up evenly with no suprises, @ 85bhp like the 1150R but with less torque. Interestingly the vibration stays the same from idle to the red line. The frequency increases with the revs but not the amplitude. BMW have designed a clever balancing system. Handling was stable no matter what I tried and I cannot remember the front diving under heavy braking. Instrumentation was very clear with an excellent scrolling data function. It claimed it was returning about 58 mpg!
The belt drive was excellent. I never noticed any snatch but more importantly, I never noticed it at all. A indication of a great design.
Switching on the ignition put the bike through its diagnostics with lights flashing and the needles completing a full sweep of the clocks. All that was missing was a quick introductory rendition of Wagner's Valkyrie through suitably positioned speakers!!!! BMW please take note!
Overall a nice bike.....would I buy one? .....not really. For me it lacked the overall character of the 1150R. Saying that, I think BMW are onto a winner with the F800 series.
After returning the bike, it was back onto the F650GS to pick my friend up to bring him back to the dealership to collect his bike.
The day carefully planned turned out to be totally different. As Kristi said, an unexpected turn of events can be very rewarding in their own way. All in all a great day and yes they did overfill the engine with Castrol GP 20:50!!
THERE ARE PICTURES....would I ever let you down this way.
TTFN
Mike
..nice blue color.
