Steve_M

I have fond memories of CX500 ownership, my first ”big bike”. I saw a one that was rather nice customised at the NEC a few years back. While I would love to own a properly restored one (the Eurosport model, in black) I am rather taken with This CX500

Spot on. One observation -stating the bleedin’ obvious - on depreciation being that buying new and changing within three years or so is a good way of burning money.

I used to be on the VFR forum and a few of the guys on there had the VFR1200F which has the same engine and never had any complaints. I may just have been a bit unfortunate with the fuelling issue.

I really wanted to like those a few years ago. I even took a few out on CJ Ball (Norwich) test days - I was ride leader/tail end Charlie so got to ride a wide range of bikes over the day. Two of them had serious fuelling glitches on a steady throttle opening. I took to the DCT, which didn’t have the fuelling issue but it really put me off the bike in general. I’m a big fan of Honda’s V4 engines having owned VFR750, VFR800 and an ST1100 so you can imaging my disappointment.

I owned a Tiger1050 Mine’s in the 99%, apart from short stretches of gravelly bits around Kielder and my drive which has been described as a pseudo rallycross course. Based on my experience of moving from a Tiger1050 to a R1200GS (via the FJR1300), my GS is substantially heavier than my Tiger but the weight is not noticeable once above 5mph or so. It does carry its weight lower then the Tiger: part of the reason for changing from the Tiger was the fact it carried its weight high, not helped by luggage - topbox particularly- that was a hazard to low flying aircraft. The only time the weight is an issue is pushing it around our gravel drive, and when it’s fully laden with luggage for our tours. Using the GS I have taken part in a Motogymkhana tryout day, done five half hour sessions with Hopp Rider Training around Cadwell Park, participated in a machine skills day at Carlisle Airport, and toured many of the lumpy bits of Europe two up. It’s an amazingly proficient bike. I’m a big fan of its capabilities - I’m not so keen on the cost of ownership due to a couple of reliability issues which include: front and rear suspension replaced. Rear done under warranty. Front cost around £1000 to sort. I could have got it rebuilt cheaper but I needed the bike for this year’s tour. On the other hand, it now has a two year warranty. Cruise control switch failure. Required the whole switch mechanism replacing. I didn’t get this fixed straight away but it’s such a useful function on long days on autoroutes etc. £450 Throttle body replaced. €660 and bloody inconvenient while touring. i’ll add in the Motorrad Navigator IV satnav. Not so much that it broke, just that it was bloody useless in the first place. I bought it at 4years old with about 8,000 miles on the clock. It’s now 9 years old and has done 42,000 miles. I expect to keep it as long as I’m physically able to manage it or my eyesight packs in (glaucoma is a bitch).

Most of my bikes have been “sports tourers” or touring sports though I was influenced by a desire for a TDM850 way back, which I think had a category of its own. At that time the U.K. scene was dominated by sports bikes with the folk on the continent (according to the biking press) tending towards Africa Twins and the like. I never got the TDM - but realised that preferred riding a bike with that riding position, so bought the Tiger1050. I went back to touring-sport with the FJR but really didn’t like that bike so I’m now onto the GS which is amazingly capable.

A fine afternoon spent at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre today. The Blue Man Group. An odd mixture of percussion music and comedy - wit, slapstick, mime and audience participation (pleased to sit in the dress circle when they started Co-opting members of the audience.

We had a jaunt around the Dolomites last year, arriving from the Stelvio Pass. The Stelvio was full of locals riding like nobs, and a few tourists on bikes, the Dolomites were mostly tourists. Very few scooters so it may be that, as they’re more suited to an urban environment, we saw few, and no apes (the three wheeler things). We found Italy more expensive than Switzerland. Perhaps due to some event/local holiday (?).

It’s an art installation on Kielder DrIve.

I usually change my tyres when the rear has 2mm of tread remaining - well before the legal requirement - and have got 8,000 miles from a set , so I would expect 9,000 from them. Generally this mileage will include a two-up, fully laden tour of about 3,000 miles. I’m not the most aggressive throttle jockey or heavy brake user so that might be a consideration. The most off-road I’ve been with the PR’s is Kielder Drive. Passable on most road bikes, I’m told, so probably not a yardstick for judging off-roading capability.

I’m not sure but I suspect “trail” is more about marketing to those of us with pretentious bikes… sorry, I mean big adventure bikes that will never go deliberately off road. Having said that, I expect to get around 9,000 miles from a set on my GS much of which is done two up and fully laden with luggage. So mileage shouldn’t be a major isssue.

I have to agree. I found myself at Buttermere (how did that happen? ) checking out the menu at the Syke Cafe. It appears I hit a bit of a diversion and didn’t go there by the shortest route, either

I had, probably, around 2,000 miles of wear left on my tyres before I embarked on our little jaunt on the continent. I put new on on the basis that i didn’t want to waste touring time while away, and I’ve had punctures on well worn tyres in the past (may be coincidental). The bike was ridden for 3050 miles, so I feel it was a good decision. Oh, and the tyres are PR6 Trails to replace the PR5 Trails which had done around 6,000 miles. Slime - avoid!

It’s also knackering when you’re doing it on a steep slope. Still, not much more to do.

Not the weekend - weekends are kinda irrelevant when you’re retired. Currently scything one of the (under development) wildflower areas of the garden. It’s quite tricky being on a steep sloping part of the garden, and exhausting. I’m not particularly adept at the skill but it’s most satisfying when you get it right - about 5% of the time.

We’ve been doing that since 2013 (2016 excepted as finding hotels in Scotland in August is nigh on impossible). Next year, though, we hope to visit a couple of days we missed due to this years little biking hiatus.

I bought a Stop and Go in 2019 having had punctures three times while touring. I carry it most of the time - have yet to use it.

We didn’t. The bike was fully laden and we just wanted to get on the road and head home by this point.

The bike’s booked in for service tomorrow - booked before we went away - so I’ll have a chat with the service guy in Carlisle. I wonder if hitting the button too quickly contributed to my issue: Something I probably do due to impatience. Of note, also, there had been a frost overnight though not sure that’s significant

Non-functioning throttle body.

The post was to share my experience and help set expectations for those who might think that it’s a “one touch and done” service. In my case I did expect a better managed process and communication but, with hindsight, getting involved in the process myself was beneficial - and, at times, enjoyable (utilising some of my project management skills from a previous life). I wouldn’t consider an alternative “do it yourself” approach for something this technical and with the challenges of finding a garage that can diagnose and repair a BMW in an area quite so far out in the sticks. I have no issue with the people involved: the processes, though, would benefit from a “fit for purpose” review and systems thinking used to improve it.

An oldie but…

It’s been said before but there’s no other bike on the market that fills our requirements to the same degree.

Summary. Green Flag didn’t do a great deal, having apparently outsourced actions to NWBA while retaining control of the benefits that I, as the customer, anm entitled to. It’s tricky to understand the actual relationship between Green Flag and the people actually doing the work but it seems there’s also a French Agency between NWBA and the French service providers. With this number of links in the chain communication is poor. Ultimately, as the key stakeholder, I took the responsibility for progress chasing and communication between the end supplier and NWBA - which is not the service I anticipated. I will continue to use Green Flag but would go into a similar situation, should it arise, by managing across the line of communication right from first contact.

Day 4. Called the BMW garage at around 10am. the bike’s not yet tested.Call back at around 11 and bingo! Collected the bike, paid the bill (£lots) and set off around midday.