SPORTS BIKES

The Giant Loop project bike, our 2010 BMW F800GS. Follow along as we build our stocker into a dirt-worthy adventure touring machine! Here's round one: our top priority is to protect the bike from the punishment of riding offroad on a 450+lb ma All the holes and fitment on the Moto Overland were perfect (not always the case with aftermarket parts).chine. Recessed bolts on the Moto Overland skid plate let the bike slide over logs.

Moto Overland's skid plate for the BMW F800GS is far more burly than the BMW part, and it comes up higher in the front to better protect the oil filter, oil cooler and exhaust header pipes.

Driving Force Graphics, the Bend company that makes all of our stickers, applied clear protective film to the body panels to protect the paint from any possible abrasion from grit getting under the Great Basin Saddlebag and Fandango Tank Bag.
You can't even see the clear film on the battery/intake cover, but it will keep grit under the Fandango Tank Bag from abrading that bitchin' Lava Orange, all sparkly and all.

Clear film protects the fuel tank body panels on both sides, so any grit under the Great Basin Saddlebag won't mar our beautiful Lava Orange. Shout out to Driving Force in Bend - real pros at printing/installing all things vinyl on motorcycles, cars, trucks, etc.

 You can't even see the clear protective film they installed for us.
We added the extra wind spoilers to the Touratech hand guards, which really keeps the hands out of the wind/rain. There's also a small patch of clear film protecting the "G" in the GS logo from getting rubbed by the Fandango Tank Bag's sid Our Australian distributor, Steve at Adventure Moto, sent us Pivot Pegz for the F800GS. They're larger and more aggressive than the stockers, and the platform pivots to keep your boot in contact with the whole peg all the time, even when braking and shifting.e straps.

The Pivot Pegz are beautifully machined too.

I got to put the F800GS and all the protective parts to the test last weekend at the 19th Annual Black Dog Dualsport and Adventure Ride - rode there and back on pavement and covered nearly 250 miles offroad on Saturday and Sunday. Check back for the full report.

                                           Thump thump… Thump thump… Thump thump..

No, this is not the sound of the engine. This is your heartbeat. It’s fast, around 110 beats per minute. And you haven’t even turned it on yet. You turn the key, hit the starter button. A high pitched shrill rings out followed by a baritone hum. It’s already music to your ears. Don’t you dare touch that throttle: the engine is still cold. A few minutes pass and you can give it a blip. It’s electric, the engine spinning up like nothing else this side of a Formula 1 power plant. Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump… It’s time to throw your leg over. This is the S1000RR, the fastest, most powerful production motorcycle in the world.

BMWBLOG spent one short lived but glorious week with BMW’s new superbike. In the following article we’ll take you to the racetrack, through busy downtown streets, along open highways and straight up to redline. We advise you wear your helmet for this one, it gets pretty wild. Fasten the strap and read on.

It’s unfortunate but true: most of your time atop this BMW will be spent around town on your daily commute. Conservative speed limits and stern faced police men (along with your own good judgment) will prevent you from unleashing even a fraction of this bike’s performance. It’s better this way, there are too many variables beyond your control. Too many oblivious pedestrians, slumbering drivers and wayward taxis. Just exercise the type of restraint that keeps you happily married and out of jail.

You know, riding with restraint offers its own gratifying experience. It’s kind of like hypermiling. It’s not nearly as much fun as thrashing it, but then you’re quite contented by your self-control and superior fuel mileage. Well, you get the idea. Just the knowledge of vast power reserves under your wrist will put a smile under your helmet and give you an air of proud confidence in your machine.

When I first mounted the S1000RR, I had just spent a week with BMW’s R1200RT touring machine. Obviously this track day demon feels a little different. By virtue of weight distribution over the front wheel, you have to assume the position – forward tucked with weight on your wrists. But this is no Ducati, no GSX-R for that matter; and I intend this as a compliment. While you can still move around on the bike as needed for sport riding, you can also ride relatively upright in a comfortable position. All day. The S1000RR’s seating position strikes a great balance between comfort and all-out sport; within the superbike segment it’s unmatched for its ergonomics and comfort.

I said I wasn’t going to say too much in my last post… and here’s why. I just didn’t want to tempt fate or jinx anything by saying I was expecting delivery of my new K1300S today, but as promised, it was delivered and here she is. This is the Lava Orange colour which to my eyes at least is the best colour on offer of the current 

crop.

I’m not sure it really is a pearlescent colour but it does change under different lights. In these pictures for example it is decidedly orange but in the short space of time I’ve had it I’ve also seen it looking more bronze.

I haven’t had chance to ride it yet thanks to work, but rest assured I’ll be out on it tomorrow for sure. The weather is supposed to stay good for the weekend… Perfect.

I’m not really sure how this all came about. Obviously it was deliberate but it all seems to have happened in a bit of a whirlwind.

On the Wootton Bassett ride we saw a lava orange one close up and I suppose that got me thinking about the K1300’s again. I then checked back through some old emails and found it was almost a year to the day I’d emailed NOG and asked for the price to change. At that time it was prohibitive as I’d only had the K1200 for 4 months, but I wondered what difference a year might have made. So, I sent an email off to NOG (Yes, yes, but as I’ve said a million times, far better the devil you know). Phil, the boss, replied almost immediately and with a much better offer than this time last year… so discussions pursued, and last Saturday I placed the order.

You can imagine my amazement and joy when he told me he had reserved one to my exact spec. Even so, I wasn’t promised delivery until next Monday, especially as this last weekend was Easter… but as it’s all worked out. Delivery was today and made personally by Phil. So, so far on this transaction, I honestly can’t fault them.