I picked up my S1000XR today and thought I would look for a forum specific to this bike and this seems to be the most organized and active one out there. Lets make this one stick!
I have a local forum I post in and they have a thread dedicated to the new BMW S1000XR. I posted this, copied and pasted below hope this is ok, to my local forum and hope you folks enjoy my take on my new bike.
Copy Paste Below-
No more Tiger Explorer so moving on
Quick recap of the days events. Hit the Ducati dealer, as I was considering the new 2015 Multistrada, as they opened, find out the demo is a low mileage 2014 and that does me no good. The salesman I talk to is a nice guy, says about two weeks for a red MS to be available as he has a list for three white and four red already. They are uncrating three new red ones in the service department. I get to look it over, sit on it and I do like the fit and finish on the bike, has beautiful lines and fairly low seat height, was a bit surprised how low. Not much else to do at the Ducati dealer I head down the road to the BMW dealer as they should have the S1000XR ready and prepped by this point.
Get to the BMW dealer and the bike is parked with all the other service bikes and purchased bikes ready to be picked up by customers. There is at least eight people standing around and staring at the S1000xr as I grab a parking space. Spent some time looking over the bike, sat on it, tested it on and off the side stand to get a feel for weight of the bike and it is surprisingly light compared to my Explorer, easy to maneuver and get on\off the sidestand.
Salesperson is willing to let me do a short demo if I am serious about purchasing, I let them know I am but contingent on some conditions. I do not want to bother with selling my Explorer, neither the time or inclination and already know the hammering I am going to get on a trade in, she goes over NADA and Kelly Blue Book (these are standardized pricing guidelines in the USA) and agrees to my price and trade in amount. At this point the deal is done and I do not even bother to do the test ride and complete the paperwork to get on the road. It took about three hours to complete the entire transaction and at least forty minutes of that time is spent getting my gear off the Explorer and attached to the BMW. Tank bag will not work, tail bag has to be made to work as I had a ton of items to stuff in it and get it home. I make it work and hit the road. The Explorer was my first real street bike, lived in Hawaii for a few years back in the 80's and I had some rust bucket of a Kawasaki two cylinder cruiser. Dirt biking for forty years and now moving on and up to bigger\better bikes.
I had no clue what the shift assist was, and pretty much flubbed the first forty shifts due to going about it as I did on the Explorer, that sucker grabs the next gear so quick it was already up\down shifting by the time I was beginning to chop the throttle and reaching for the clutch icon10.gif The Explorer has an extremely firm and positive gear change and was trying to preload the BMW's shifter like it was the Explorer. After an hour on the bike it starts to become second nature and really is pretty damned slick, especially going from 1st-6th as fast as possible. The transmission is sublime, clutched or quick shifted, not the agricultural feedback I was told to expect, smooth and damned quick. The clutch lever was a major oversite on BMW's part, how the hell does the R9T end up with high quality, adjustable levers and their new showcase bike has this crap lever on the clutch side.. I will grab something that works and is adjustable as the reach is just too damned much for long days in the saddle (obviously with the quick shift only time the clutch is needed is in first at stop lights and stop and go traffic).
This bike came with all the packages, so they told me, most of the launch models are coming this way.
-Touring Package - Includes Dynamic Electronic Suspension Adjustment (ESA), GPS Preparation, Heated Grips, Center Stand, Luggage Rack, Cruise Control and Saddle Bag Mounts
-Dynamic Package - Includes Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), Gear Shift Assist Pro, Ride Modes Pro and Cruise Control
The GPS prep is pretty damned cool and with the Garmin\BMW Sat Nav V you get a sh#t-ton of info right on the GPS screen. Only played with it a few minutes but it is pretty neat if you're a techno geek.
Already put traction control pro through it's paces around some secondary roads near my house, you can feel it kick in but is not intrusive. Also, leaving the dealership I was already a bit fatigued\overly excited and grabbed way too much throttle on brand new tires leaving their parking lot it kicked in nicely and probably saved me some coin icon10.gif
Some of the items do not get enabled until after the first service and not really done much more than leaving it in Street\Street (tired and hungry at this point since it has been like eleven hours since breakfast so that may not be the actual name, what their tech suggested for the first few days to get comfy on the bike).
Never having owned a true sport bike and the last few I got some time on I never did much with since it was not mine, so I do not have a long list of bikes to compare this too as many others will. The power band on this thing is pure insanity! It seems so docile up to about 4K rpm and then it lets loose the screaming banshee from hell. I see why the seat is scooped in the manner it is as it will make you hang on for dear life, the massive shot of adrenaline that follows definitely helps. I remember telling their tech that I had no plans of banging this thing off the rev limiter and that took all of about twenty feet from the dealerships parking lot. Even though the Explorer supposedly had like 135hp and supposedly more torque than this BMW, bullsh#t, this thing pulls arms out of sockets and hits 9K so quick it is giggle inducing. I spent the first forty miles rowing up and down the gear box trying to make the 46 mile drive home with out droning at one speed, this was fun and got me comfortable with the speed shifter and this bikes love for 9k rpm's. I am sure the traffic thought I was an idiot newbie, oh well, stayed out of their way and had a blast. This motor is a beast, really is some serious loads of fun and I am looking forward to becoming more intimate with it.
The handling is damned quick and neutral, I have a hard time putting into words, made what I thought was a pretty competent back road carver (the now deceased Explorer) into a pig of a bike that was slow on transition and had to be coaxed back to center and was not real keen on secondary line changes once committed, this BMW does what you want with very little input. This is very inspiring and exactly what I was hoping for. Got a chance to run it through some fun twisty roads around the house and it just does what you ask, no drama, no need for kicking it or working it too hard, goes where you point it.
At first I thought the seat was going to be an issue, after 120 miles of highway and back roads, it works damned good and cups your ass in comfort. The one odd thing is coming to a stop, due to it having that Corbin style bucket, the sides of the bucket force your legs out a bit and it just seems a tad awkward. After three-four hours in the saddle I could care less, I do not plant to ride this bike to stop signs all day and will live with it like it is. When riding it is comfy and no hot spots so far and today was pretty damned hot, seems to always work that way when picking up a new bike.
The only two pictures I got of the bike today-
