Am I this old?


[ Saturday - February 27, 2016 ]

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