An interesting day....

[Bixxer Bob]

Today I had to have an assessed ride in order to get onto the insurance to ride the County Council's road safety bikes, an ex-police BMW 1200RT and a Ducati Multistrada (I know, how did they get that one past the bean counters  ).  No probs I thought, a quick run out for an hour or so with me on my bike and the assessor following then back to do the paperwork. Oh no,  not at all.  Three hours  on the RT 

I've not ridden a BMW with their funny indicators before, it's a behemoth, albeit with a low CofG, and bloody awful handling.  Apparently when the police let it go they took the expensive electric shock off it and replaced it with a cheap standard affair.  That doesn't work.  The result is a bike that torque steers, has a very heavy counter steer bias up to about 30mph when cornering, then goes steering-neutral above that.  With having to look for the indicator buttons and cancel button, work out where the steering was going to change characteristics, and a real vagueness through the tyres, there wasn't a lot of attention left for riding by the book.  And did I mention the assessor was an ex-police senior instructor????

Eventually I got the hang of the RT and he gave me a go on the Strada.  What a difference!  Handling was spot on, engine is amazing, although it wheelied on me twice because I wasn't prepared for the sudden throttle response, going from nothing much happening to holy shit in about 2 degrees of throttle.  And light, did I mention light?  It weighs nothing on the move and not much more stationary.  I'm not a fan of the engine though, too lumpy for me. I know it's a big V twin, but even so.....

So in the end I passed, but it wasn't the box ticking exercise I was expecting, I really had to work for it.  And on the ride home I began to appreciate once more what a truly amazing bike the Tiger is 

[nickjtc]

Oh what fun!! 

[Nick Calne]

Well done BB. Glad it isn't just me who rides other bikes and thinks, "...not as good as a tiger".

[Sin_Tiger]

As per the police bike thread, talked to one of the Blood Bikers riders and he told me that they previously had used Sprint ST and GT of which they all petered the ST for its nimbleness but the load capability coupled with the riding position made it less than ideal for the job. They had also used Roadies which they loved for the job but the style of usage meant they ate chains even with an oiler, so the Trophy is the best tool although it has more bulk that also means it has more presence with other road users.

[Chris Canning]

Today I had to have an assessed ride in order to get onto the insurance to ride the County Council's road safety bikes, an ex-police BMW 1200RT and a Ducati Multistrada (I know, how did they get that one past the bean counters  ).  No probs I thought, a quick run out for an hour or so with me on my bike and the assessor following then back to do the paperwork. Oh no,  not at all.  Three hours  on the RT 

I've not ridden a BMW with their funny indicators before, it's a behemoth, albeit with a low CofG, and bloody awful handling.  Apparently when the police let it go they took the expensive electric shock off it and replaced it with a cheap standard affair.  That doesn't work.  The result is a bike that torque steers, has a very heavy counter steer bias up to about 30mph when cornering, then goes steering-neutral above that.  With having to look for the indicator buttons and cancel button, work out where the steering was going to change characteristics, and a real vagueness through the tyres, there wasn't a lot of attention left for riding by the book.  And did I mention the assessor was an ex-police senior instructor????

Eventually I got the hang of the RT and he gave me a go on the Strada.  What a difference!  Handling was spot on, engine is amazing, although it wheelied on me twice because I wasn't prepared for the sudden throttle response, going from nothing much happening to holy shit in about 2 degrees of throttle.  And light, did I mention light?  It weighs nothing on the move and not much more stationary.  I'm not a fan of the engine though, too lumpy for me. I know it's a big V twin, but even so.....

So in the end I passed, but it wasn't the box ticking exercise I was expecting, I really had to work for it.  And on the ride home I began to appreciate once more what a truly amazing bike the Tiger is 

I go through that everytime I swap between my Tiger and one of the BM's takes me around 150 miles to tune in and when I go back to the Tiger even though mine is set up like concrete god does it feel wishy washy till I've dialled back in.

[Bixxer Bob]

Similar when I swap to the Blackbird Chris, although it's mainly about recalibrating my brain for the extra horses.  The other thing I've noticed since you brought it up a couple of years back is I used to think when I first moved over here that the 'Bird suspension was hopeless on the Norfolk roads, too rough and rutted.  But after your comment about warming up the oil I noticed that it's bloody awful on the way out, but not so bad when I get home.  I can do the return trip from Norwich in about 3/4 the time it takes to go there and that's only because the suspension is working properly by the time I get back.