I have left the UK on the 21st of September, heading through France, Switzerland and Italy to Venice for a ferry to Egypt. We will then be riding South, through Africa to Bloemfontein, South Africa on my motorcycle.
RT @808GLI: #HareScramble can you answer the question why you can't get people name right? I'm over here yelling at you guys though my tv.-- 10 months ago
they should do like F1 coverage, show the battles, no point showing the leader ride around šĀ #harescramble-- 10 months ago
who da f*** do roadworks on the #A13 during peak hours ? ⦠what an utter nightmare !! i feel sorry for all motorists !-- 1 year ago
feel sorry for anyone in a car on the #A13 tonight, on a bike itās bad enough, tailbacks all the way past tower bridge !-- 1 year ago
We decided to change the route slightly, not for Africa, but mainly Europe. As we have done France extensively in the past, we decided to do something else. Instead of the normal France, Italy route, we are going from Calais, then Belgium, Germany, Austria and down into Ā Italy !
This way we see a bit more of Europe and places we have never been š
I recently went to South Africa for a holiday (photos here) where I rented a R1200GS for 2 weeks to travel around with. I have to say, the bike was very disappointing (for me at least).
It felt heavy, lazy and full of rattles and shakes. The most annoying thing was the centre console bouncing all over the place. At some stage my dad was driving in front of me in a car and he told me all he saw was a bouncing light. I then discovered this annoying centre console is attached to the headlight unit. I can’t believe people moan about the little “wobble” you get on the F800GS brake fluid reservoir compared to this R1200GS.
I did eventually drop the bike, came down quite hard over to the left and had to pay the rental company around R13000 (+/- £1000) in damages.
So, for me at least, the 1200GS is not the bike for me and probably never will be. The 800GS is so much better for me and much more fun !
Picking up the bike on arrival in South Africa:
Setting off from my brothers house on my 2 week holiday:
The video above is the sound which my BMW F800GS engine started making. It started out “not asĀ noticeable” but as time went by it became worse and worse. I had the bike at 2 BMW dealers (Vines Guildford and SBW) who told me it sounds normal. The problem was, that when the engine gets warm, the sound subsided, so by the time I got to the dealers I was given the “sounds normal” speech.
I ended up taking my motorcycle to my local dealer, BMW Battersea London, which would you believe it or not, were the most helpful. I have asked them to keep the bike overnight and listen to it the next morning when the engine is cold. I received a call the following day to tell me it doesn’t sound good, but they are not sure what is causing it.
They have consulted BMW Technical in Germany who asked them to strip the whole engine and find the fault. So they did and found worn pistons and bearings. They did a complete engine rebuilt, new pistons and parts all free of charge to me at least. I also recently went back for my “600 mile run in check” again which was done completely free of charge. I have to say a thank you to Veronika, Joe and the team at Battersea for all the help, they have really been very helpful !