Holidays! ...and a new bike!

[sheeny (Al)]

Woohoo! I'm on holidays for a week.

Tomorrow I fly up to the sunshine coast to visit my brother and pick up my new (to me) bike... a BMW R1150GS Adventure. We'll have a few days touring around Queensland, then on Wednesday I start making my way home.

At this stage I'm planning to do The Lions Road, Ebor Road and Bylong Valley Way on the way home.

Should be fun.

Al.

[koputai (Jason)]

Cool. I'm on holidays from today as well!

A week at Narooma and Milton on the South Coast, then a week on Lord Howe Island. I've always wanted to go there, so really looking forward to it.

Enjoy your holiday Al.

Cheers,
Jason.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Sounds like a good Plan Al, Have a great time. I am also leaving tomorrow to drive up to Moonee Beach near Coffs Harbour for a few weeks R & R in our van.
Ride carefull.

[Sarge (Rod)]

I take it we're not talking push-bike Al.

Rod

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by koputai

Cool. I'm on holidays from today as well!

A week at Narooma and Milton on the South Coast, then a week on Lord Howe Island. I've always wanted to go there, so really looking forward to it.

Enjoy your holiday Al.

Cheers,
Jason.

I've been to Lord Howe. Loved it. Very speccy place! Fabulous snorkelling, walking and scenery. I love the afternoon ritual of wandering down to the lagoon beach to watch the sunset too.

Originally Posted by Hagar

Sounds like a good Plan Al, Have a great time. I am also leaving tomorrow to drive up to Moonee Beach near Coffs Harbour for a few weeks R & R in our van.
Ride carefull.

Thanks Doug. I intend to.

Originally Posted by Sarge

I take it we're not talking push-bike Al.

Rod

I certainly hope not. Its not the type of bike I'd like to push too far!

Al.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Excellent Al!

Enjoy the holiday and enjoy the road trip even more.

Show pics of the bike ASAP

[M54 (Molly)]

Have a wonderful week Al.

[sheeny (Al)]

Thanks Molly and Ken.

Here's a couple of picsof the bike the dealer sent me.

Like most bikes (or scopes for that matter) there's some stuff I plan to do to it to make it my own... intercom, GPS, lower seat, light and oil cooler protectors, maybe a different screen?, etc.

Al.

[Ric]

Beautiful bike Al

As another Beemer rider, I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on how it performed on tour.

Cheers

[kustard (Simon)]

BMW R1150GS Adventure *drool*

I'm envious!

[sheeny (Al)]

Here's a couple more photos:
1. Waiting at a cafe is Imbil(?) on my first ride.
2. The bike (of course) at the Railway Loop Lookout carpark on the Lions Rd.
3. Ebor Falls this morning. It was cloudy at the time so I've boosted the contrast.
4. Another shot of the new toy.

Originally Posted by Ric

Beautiful bike Al

As another Beemer rider, I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on how it performed on tour.

Cheers

It goes really well Rick. The ride home was 7 hours yesterday and 9 1/2 hours today, and it was just eeeaaasssyyy.... I took my Air Hawk seat up with me, so no sore bum. The bike is very tall. It reminds me of riding my brother's XL250 when I was about 10. I will need to look at getting the seat lowered or buying a low seat (~$750 I'm told). I haven't had any problems with it, but a lower seat will definitely improve confidence in less than ideal conditions especially 2 up.

The windscreen could do with being just a bit taller to kill the wind noise. The wind blast hits my helmet just above the visor. There are bigger and different shaped screens available, so I have an idea of what I want without going too big.

Once mobile it doesn't feel like a big bike at all. It feels like a 250 - 400 enduro bike to flick about... its just amazing. It not only stops and accelerated quicker than my R80 (of course!) but it steers quicker too. On my first ride I found I often had to pick the bike up and tip it into the corner a second time... but I'm getting used to it.

It eats long distances with ease. After riding the R80 for several years now, I found it easy to creep the speed up . Twice today I passed highway patrols doing a little bit faster than I should've, simply because it is so easy to do, but fortunately neither time they were interested in pulling me up. Whew!

Originally Posted by kustard

BMW R1150GS Adventure *drool*

I'm envious!

Thanks. I was too, but I figure we only live once, and I'd like a GSA before I get too old to enjoy it, so there was only one solution....

Al.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That bike is a monster Al! Enjoy!

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Do you wear your freezer suit on that AL.

Tad cold down your way.

Cheers Kev.

[Ric]

Good to see you had a great ride Al.

I believe and have had it confirmed by other riders that the 1150 is a better and nimbler bike when compared with the 1200's.

That air seat sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that for my Beemer.

Cheers

[TrevorW]

Be safe, wear protection

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

That bike is a monster Al! Enjoy!

It's only big when standing still.

Originally Posted by Kevnool

Do you wear your freezer suit on that AL.

Tad cold down your way.

Cheers Kev.

Unfortunately the freezer suit doesn't offer adequate protection. The touring suit I have performs thermally like a freezer suit, but does have the necessary padding, armour, water proofness, etc.

It does get cold, but the heated grips and good riding gear make it very enjoyable.

Originally Posted by Ric

Good to see you had a great ride Al.

I believe and have had it confirmed by other riders that the 1150 is a better and nimbler bike when compared with the 1200's.

That air seat sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that for my Beemer.

Cheers

The Air Hawks sound expensive, but if your are touring and doing long runs they are worth it. Have a look at www.aussiebiker.com.au.

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Be safe, wear protection

Always.

Al.

[sheeny (Al)]

Here's a few photos of the bike now that I've made all the mods I want to do for the time being. Taken on a ride yesterday at the Stone Hut at Mt Werong and Bummeroo Ford Camping Ground. BTW the mods are: touring screen, Moorhouse seat (lower), LED driving lights, fitted my intercom and GPS, larger and taller side stand foot, and a decent toolkit and compressor.

Al.

[desler]

She looks great al! Rode a work 1150 rt for a few years, loved it, now on the 1200 rt and love it more. Seats can be pain but I manage 4 x 10 hour days a week on and off without to many problems.

Heated hand grips are the best thing, I'd also like the heated seat option for the 12, but a little pricey! Good luck with your adventures! Ps: what tyres are you running?


Darren

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by desler

Ps: what tyres are you running?


Darren

Thanks Darren. Anakees are what's on it ATM.

Al.