My Latest Road Bike

The new long term test bike has arrived in the office , its BMW's latest rocket ship, the K1200 S, 4 cylinder across the frame delivering 167 bhp of monster power, shaft final drive. The cylinders are sloping forward at 55 degrees to create a very low centre of gravity. To be honest the bike feels very light and small, more like a japanese 600 from a few years ago.

At the front end BMW's Duolever suspension keep the plot on track with a central spring strut, rebound damping electronically adjustable. Push button suspension adjustment may sound like a unnecessary extra but as anyone who has ridden with sports suspension on the road will tell you, its great when you're really on it, but a pain when your in traffic around town. Well now with a simple press of the ESA button in town and go from sports setting to comfort setting. Then when the open road beckons simply select sports mode and the whole plot stiffen up and your back in Tron mode.

The steering is accurate with good feel, but when you're braking into corners the bike sits upright very strongly which has the effect of pulling you wide, when you get used to it, you have to compensate with some forceful counter-steering to keep on your chosen line. The K1200 S always feels so planted and sure footed you soon find yourself taking liberties with the sports Michelin tyres, which on first impressions I rate very highly.

The 6 speed gearbox is very very positive, with a pronounced cluck on every shift. The ABS brakes are better that some earlier BMW's I have ridden and are very powerful, the confidence the ABS gives you when braking into a wet roundabout is amazing.

BMW K1200S

Overall its BMW's best bike to date, and one of the best road bikes you can get, it has more useable outright speed than virtually anything on the road, but when I want to go very fast, I hire a bike and do a track day.

Advanced Motorcycling

No matter how long you have been on bikes or how much experience you think you have, you could always benefit from some expert training. So I went and joined the local Advanced Motorcyclist group to see how good, or bad I really was.

I always held the (unqualified) belief that such groups were a bunch of self righteous old farts riding strictly to every speed limit at every opportunity.

What I actually found was a group of dedicated bikers sharing qualified hard earned skills and experiences that if some of it was to rub off on you, may just keep you that little bit safer.

One to one riding assessment is the first stage, which really gets you thinking about what you are doing and anticipating what other road users are going to do. But this goes further by assessing and splitting risks and taking the appropriate action.

Coming from a racing background I thought my lines through corners would be perfect but I would probably loose my mentor in the first mile, I was wrong on both counts. Because the racing line is all about achieving the highest exit speed, your visibility at the bend exit can be compromised, especially on left handers, so you stay wider, to the point of using the other side of the road if appropriate, but not on tight blind left hand bends as some oncoming cars will cut the corner and take you out, then you need to adopt a mid lane position. It amazes me how little of the road most riders use to their advantage.

Its this attention to detail that is the big difference between how most riders use the road and how advanced riders do it.

Do yourself a favour and get along to your local group for an assessment ride.

Ducati 998

Motorcycles

Too Fast for you have had a long association with motor bikes, from the humble BSA Bantam, when I was eleven years old, paid £5 for the bike and rode it on public roads to a friends farm where I taught myself to ride, to racing ex Grand Prix bikes in International races.

Over the years I have owned many wonderful bikes including;

BMW R1100S, R1150GS, R1150 Adventure, R1200GS
BSA Bantam
Bultaco Pursang, Alpina, Metralla & two Sherpa's
Ducati 996
Honda 400/4, 500/4, 750/4
Laverda Jota
Scorpa 250 (Yamaha engine trials bike)
Suzuki GS250, GS850, GSX1100R,
Suzuki Racing bikes RG500 mk3 & mk6
Yamaha RD350 LC (full proddy racing spec), DT250 & DT175

Too Fast For You.com Rating
Adrenalin 5 out of 10 - riding fast on the road is OK, but if speed is your bag, a track day is much more fun and safer. Be warned, it is addictive, you are only a short step away from selling the road bike and spending every penny you can lay your hands on and buying a "proper" race bike and going racing.

Injury 3 out of 10 - be careful out there, its not always your fault and if you want to ride very quickly then do it on a track day. (See our track day page)

Expense 3 out of 10 - the faster you wanna go the more it will cost.

If you are serious about going fast on a road bike then get along to a track day