It has taken a while, because I haven't been going on a lot of long
rides, but the GSW is now around the 24K zone. Time to take it
in for the major services. As normal, the folks at Brown Motor
Works are super nice. When asked if I wanted a loaner, I say,
"Sure!" "What do you want to try out?" was the next question
they had for me. My last test ride on a K16GT (when I took the
GSW in for the 12K service) was anything but spectacular for
me. Of course that's my opinion and has nothing to do with the
quality of the machine. I'm so use to the couch that is the
GSW that I felt the K16GT was a bit cramped in the lower
extremities. This time around, I wouldn't mind trying out the
R12RT, but opted for the R9T. Beautiful machine, low seat
height, and a wee bit loud compared to the GSW. It has a whole
whopin' 1 miles on the Odo. "Are you sure about this?"
"Somebody has to break it in..." they said. "OK. If you
insist." Paper work done, I took it to the local Shell
station, put in a couple of gallons, and went for the ride
home. On the way I stopped by Mr. Speedy's place to pretend to
show off my new bike. The joke wasn't convincing enough.
He likes the R9T though.
The bike I rode had just a brush metal tank. Nice...
Oh I'm reminded how smooth the gearbox on the hex head R12R
was. The GSW gearbox is a bit clunky comparatively
speaking. I think it has to do with the GSW mechanism that
eliminated false neutrals. Most of the time the GSW gear shift
results in a "Clunk!", be it a soft or a loud clunk. There are
times when a good shift will make no sounds. It's far and few
in between compared to the hex head bikes.
At 180lbs with full gear, the inverted forks feel a bit soft.
The rear shock was decent, but rebound was a bit sudden.
Perhaps I'm used to my TT rear shock, which can be pretty
stiff. 75 MPH on the freeway wasn't too bad given there is no
windshield on the bike. Out and back. Once I'm on the
GSW, I felt like, "Oh yeah! This is the reason why I got the
GSW. My lovely hyperspeed couch."
All is good until the next day when I noticed a pain in my
shoulder. At one point, when I was sitting in front of the
computer surfin' the Internet, I felt this sharp pain on the left
side of my neck and then.. the world started spinning.
Apparently, doing 75 MPH on the R9T with enduro gear on doesn't help
this old coot. It appears I have stressed a muscle in the neck
next to my left inner ear. The pain is bleeding over to my
inner ear causing me to have vertigo. What the heck!!!
Am I actually this out of shape? Am I this old? Oh what
a pain... in the neck (pun intended). I took a work sick day,
and then had to drive the car to work for the next several
days. What in the world is happening? This isn't right.
Once the left neck muscle recovered enough, the vertigo went away
and I'm back on the GSW tossing it around.
The moral of the story? The R9T is a bunch of fun to ride
regardless of the front fork dive when stopping. There's a
definite difference between the GSW wet clutch and the R9T dry
clutch. Which is better? They're both good. It's
more a matter of how high the clutch is, and whether you like either
setting. The way the GSW is setup, the clutch is ultra
high. Same as the F8GS. I think this could very well be
because the GSW is an enduro so a higher clutch could reduce fatigue
while tromping around off road. For sure the R9T is a retro
bike. It has the feel of a retro. Mission accomplished
BMW. It doesn't have quite the torque nor the HP of the
GSW. You can still dust cars on a green light, but it's not as
powerful as the GSW. If given a choice between the R12RW and
the R9T? I would choose the RW. In fact I've made it a
point to acquire a RW in five years. Hopefully by then the
kids are out of college.
The last bit to this story is... we should all take care of
ourselves and not take our health for granted. I sound old
saying that...
Written on: March 30, 2016
Last modified: March 30, 2016