Test rode a BMW F900XR/Stonesies next new bike

[Kwacky]

There's a lot of dickheads in the world.

[Stonesie]

Yeah too true, fortunately other customers were nice and just wanted to talk bikes and compare farkles, my seat got a lot of attention, even from Loads-a-money and his friend.

And between showers I got the bike cleaned and the radiator guard fitted.



That should keep that radiator safe from damage

[Stonesie]

Not updated this for a while as I really haven't done anything except for a 1250 mile long weekend to Scotland around Oban. The bike performed perfectly handling the luggage and miles with ease whilst returning mid 60's mpg, 200 miles from the 15L tank is very doable without riding like a pensioner on valium.
The roads and bike seem to like a smooth flowing riding style which is my default.

Today I did fit a new farkle, the BMW connected ride phone cradle, not a cheap accessory at £204 but it allows the handlebar controls to operate the phone within the BMW app so it controls the satnav and can give bike information about tyre pressures and other trip info, also charges the phone wirelessly.

I'm happy with that. It's a little over half the cost of a Garmin xt which many of my friends are buying.

[Stonesie]

I thought I had posted some pictures of the Scottish adventure but they were only on facebook, so I will post a couple here.

[Perkles]

wow awesome

[Kwacky]

That's what biking should be about.

How were the midges?

[Stonesie]

The midges were everywhere but not too hungry, I didn't get bitten after I replaced my repellent with Smidge, that stuff is not cheap but really worked for me.

We had rain every day, in that top picture we had just ridden out of it and could see it coming down Glencoe. It's a stunning area to ride around which in itself kept our speeds down.
For out main evening meal we happened upon a fantastic little restaurant on day 1 so went there every day, not the cheapest but sooo good we didn't care.

[Stonesie]

Small update at 6900 miles I have had a pair of Continental Road Attack 4's fitted, and of course I tinkered while the wheels were off by cleaning the callipers out. then cleaned the bikes belly and even under the swing arm ready for it's ACF treatment.

100 miles so far on the new rubber and it feels amazing, although there was some brake vibration for the first couple of miles but it soon sorted itself out, maybe some ACF got on to the discs? I thought I had wiped them down well enough with brake cleaner on a rag but maybe I missed a bit.

[Stonesie]

Today I did the air filter, which is ridiculously easy and the chain/sprocket kit, which is a pain as BMW made 1 part do several jobs. This 1 plate holds both front and rear pegs, the gear shift pivot, the bolts for both stands and the swing arm pivot bolt which is a single use item... Oh it also acts as the front sprocket cover so has to come off

An engineer in Bavaria is proud of such multi tasking of a single Aluminium casting, anyone who even wants to clear the old chain gunk from around the front sprocket want's to curse his bloodline for eternity.

I have a paddock stand but it has hooks, so I used my old scissor lift table, Bike up on the main stand, rear wheel out, lift table under the swing arm until the main stand is off the ground then I could take that side plate off.




I have a reasonable set of torx bits and needed the biggest one.


Cleaned out and checking the new cushioned front sprocket fits.


Air filter is nice and easy

[Kwacky]

That sounds like a real PITA

[Stonesie]

Yeah it was not a straight forward job but did allow me to remove the old chain without cutting it, so I riveted the new one in the garage with my chain tool in the bench vise, a bit easier than freehand trying not to scratch any shiny painted things.

There's always a positive.

Today's thing is a trip to Jordan bikes so they can see if BMW hid any extra horses behind the electronic throttle. I'm expecting more smoothness and a bit more midrange grunt.

[StMarks]

Great work there Stonesie, as usual...
What stuck me immediately though, is that I have never seen a font sprocket with so tight a space around it. That appears as though the chain would be almost touching the casing, and any chance of changing the ratio +1 at the front would be out ?

[Stonesie]

Yes it's a very snug fit in there, I had to put the chain on the sprocket before sliding it on so I don't think a +1 would work on the front, it's a pretty tall geared bike so not many would want to go up on the front sprocket.

I'm back from Jordan bikes already as the ECU did communicate with the Woolich software but only to give a few error messages so they stopped there and sent the logs to Woolich Australia with the ECU codes.

They should have an answer in a few days then if they can do it they will book me back in.

The good? They didn't brick my ECU and the induction noises with that Sprint Filter are very nice

[Stonesie]

Got a refund from Jordans as they have had no response from Woolich, which is a shame as other bikes identical to mine have been mapped and seen 7-10 bhp gains, which would be nice.

Now I have 3k miles on the Continental RA4s and the rear is just starting to flatten in the middle, front looks nearly new, I hope that they wear consistently as I'm off for a 3k mile European adventure in a couple of weeks, to lake Como and back...

Related to that I did take an angle grinder to a brand new aluminium top box today, I'm putting a fridge in it for my daily injections but it still feels wrong to cut up brand new stuff, even if it is cheap Chinese stuff.

[Stonesie]

I fitted the mounting plate for the cheap top box, not quite universal but I have a drill press so new mounting holes to get it on the GIVI rack were no issue, had round 2 with the angle grinder on the box and riveted the vent plates over the top so it looks better than gaping holes.

I will finish the wiring tomorrow, I'm just putting it direct to the bike battery with a secondary battery in the box so the bike will charge both, the fridge is for vehicles so has a battery protection feature but I measured it's power consumption at 4.6A peak on startup, settles to around 2.2A whilst running and on standby it's about 0.2A so a 12A battery will last 12+ hours as it seems to run for about 2 minuets then be off for 10-15.

It's a proper little fridge, not just a dumb cooler so for the money I'm impressed, I will see if that opinion lasts all the way to Italy and back.




*Context
I'm on a medication which has to stay refrigerated but not frozen and the combo of a dumb cooler, cool packs and the good will of hotel owners being willing to put this in a fridge for me is a huge question mark... If this works I will be self sufficient and shouldn't need to plug it in at night but it has a mains adaptor so I can if need be... BONUS is cold drinks/snacks in southern Europe in July. Oh and my continued good health, reminds me, must pick up a first aid kit and warning triangle...

[Stonesie]

First fridge test after leaving it on it's battery for 10 hours and the smaller gauge wire which I found was not good, with the bike running it was getting hot so I pulled the fuse and stuck the multimeter in there to measure the Amps, 9A, now replaced with 20A rated wiring and all cool although I had to make a fuse holder, it's insulated and not near anything metal so will be fine.

[Kwacky]

How long would the battery last running the fridge?

[Stonesie]

After 10 hours the battery tested at 33% so I think setting that as the limit should be okay, the fridge has a battery protection feature so won't flatten the battery so far that it causes damage.

This is mostly for lunch stops and such, so it's overkill. I will be taking the mains power supply so overnight the fridge will run from that and will have some cool packs in there to add thermal mass, so even without power it will stay cold in there for much longer.

[Kwacky]

Impressive work, nice one.