So after changing my bike again to my missus annoyance, i went from a 08 blade to a 09 k1300s, my excuse to her was that i wanted to do more touring and that the BMW
would be better for it. she decided to book the Assen GP for a birthday present, only problem was she was coming too lol. after spending weeks getting some gear together for her, and continually having to explain why we didn’t need a rider to pillion intercom (a huge bone of contention) she likes to talk believe me, also got a new pair of michelin pilot road 4s fitted at micheldever tyres at £250 fitted, the day came, we packed a 60 litre waterproof bag and a givi tank lock bag and my phone in the little window on the bag as a satnav, this is where the power point on the bmw comes in really handy although they have gone with the hella fitting plug instead of the conventional cigarette lighter size.
i set the suspension via the switch on the handlebars to 2 up with luggage and in comfort mode, this is very very noticeable and its absolutely awesome.
a quick stop off at on yer bike aylesbury for winter goretex dainese gloves as the weather has been crap lately, then on the way. home to dover took 2hrs 20 minutes and it felt like we were only riding 1 hour, it just eats the miles and my missus was very impressed with the comfort on the back, time for the first fill up of the trip, she takes about £18 from warning to full and will do about 170 miles roughly. onto the p&o for a lovely sailing and a bit of grub. leaving calais we were only in france for about 40 minutes when we hit belgium, the roads were great but the weather turned (glad i waterproof sprayed all our gear now) it lashed down all the way to holland but i had full confidence in the bike as the traction control and abs kept it in shape at all times plus the michelin are awesome in the wet and they need to be because as soon as we hit holland they were doing 90mph in the slow lane, and at this speed i was still getting 52mpg which is impressive. petrol on the motorways is E1.65 so its not cheap. we got to the hotel at about 9pm and they had segmented the car park off for bikes which was great.
it was a long ride but i have to say i was very impressed with the bikes comfort levels especially in a bike which can also be sporty and fun in the twisties, although to do this you need to flick it into sport mode from comfort mode as i found i was coming out of the corners wide otherwise. i literally had no wrist pain or back pain either which i was expecting.
we had to book a hotel 30 miles from the track as it was all that was available but i was glad of that as i got to ride the bike for 40 minutes again the next day, loaded up the tank lock bag and away again, the tank lock system is worth its weight in gold, quick on and quick off. the B roads in holland are immaculate and great fun to ride and the locals were out in force taking pictures and videos of the 1000s of bikes.
on the way home it lashed down for 4 hours straight and i cannot recommend the dainese gloves strongly enough, they did not leak one bit although my feet were drenched,
surprisingly the missus didn’t get much water on her as i was shielding her as we rode along which is another great bonus.
All in all i am absolutely astonished with the bike and how versatile it is, i commute to london on it daily and have now done a long journey too, there were no vibration issues at all and the gears although not as refined as the blades were nice especially with the quick shifter system. i will not be changing this bike very soon, its too good to let go, it does all it needs to do and it does it very very well. no messing about with chains either. absolutely awesome bit of kit
