Hello from Northern California USA

[fasttrak]

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-

[Shado]

Now thats some introduction  , great forum this i,m sure it will only get better 

[grnmtvt]

Congrats on the new bike.  You said it far better than I could have.  It never fails to leave a smile on your face!   

[fasttrak]

The more time I get on this bike the more amazed I am with BMW's integration of such things as the GPS Prep. This alone would sway me from most bikes, it allows 100% manipulation of your GPS while keeping hands on the bars, brilliant. That little rotary dial is kick ass, couldn't figure out why the GPS kept moving to the engine status page until I read the manual  The engine status and status read out screen is pretty damned slick and never seen anything like that on another bike, real cool. The rotary dial is actually multiple plane manipulation; ti scrolls forward backward and also toggles right and left with short and long holds for R\L.

I was a bit concerned with the seat but just had another three hours in the saddle and either it is breaking in or my ass is cause it is pretty damn comfy. I still might get the BMW HP seat as it just looks cool and even I can be whore to cool.

I finally read the manual and have a real good understanding of how the Quick Shift Pro actually functions and how it is intended to be used. I now get why people were raving over it. Downshifts at closed throttle, upshifts with a steady hold and it just gets it done so damned quick I hardly ever touch the clutch and that just makes it less fatiguing when riding for hours. Nice one BMW    Couple years ago and only GP bikes had such treatments, now us slobs can enjoy it too! Even having the shift light set to 7K rpm at the moment, I am about ten miles from it going to 9K, it is almost insane how quickly you can get from 1st to 6th with this bike. I can hardly wait the two weeks for the first service appointment and get that Pro chip installed, gonna be fun!

I got a chance tonight to put the bike through some aggressive maneuvers while braking to get a feel for the ABS, much better than anything I have used before, it cuts in but not in that nasty chunky manner of the last couple bikes I got to ride with ABS. The Brembo brakes put my last bike to shame, the front is just amazing at how quickly it will bring the bike to a stop and even off camber you can feel it adjusting itself to keep the line you are holding, pretty cool. Some of this requires just getting comfortable with how the software reacts to certain situation cause it goes against what you expect to happen, I guess that is normal of any new technology but the stuff actually works; go figure.

Tonight I chose some secondary roads I knew where kind of chunky and not the best asphalt around. I really wanted to test lean ABS and the suspension at some extremes. It is pretty weird to have a suspension that can be slightly supple and yet firm up when diving into a corner, this is going to take some time to get fully comfortable with as it just goes against many years of riding fixed rebound\compression based suspension. I am amazed it is even possible, going along at highway speeds and it just floats along, get into some sharp switch backs and it just settles in and the front end especially stays tight and true, I like this alot! I still have not even played with the multitude of settings as it is just working well and afraid I might screw something up 

Still not pushing the bike too hard yet as I want to get through breakin properly, I want this bike in good shape and running well for a long time to come

It is always so tough to break down a bike in the time you usually take to make the decision to purchase, made less than stellar decisions in the past and lived with it. This time, I am damned sure this thing is going to keep me smiling and riding many miles for years to come. Just in case it has it's faults I got the four year extended warranty to make certain it stays in good working order well past that time I usually keep a bike. That buys me seven years of a safety net to beat the living crap out of this bike, ok, maybe to just using it as it was designed.

Ended up on the coast at dusk, it gets pretty cool here near the ocean at night and got to use the heated grips, they work well. I also love that BMW holds what ever settings you had on when turning the bike off and than back on again, no screwing around with getting everything back where you had it to say, have a quick cigaratte over looking the Pacific ocean