best-worst-2011

THE BEST & WORST – 2011

Okay, here we go again with my summary of the “best and worst”. The bikes that impressed me most and least during this past year. Of course when I make these picks they’re based on bikes I’ve ridden during that year, not on what is generally available in the market-place. So it’s a very narrow selection criteria. If you want to know what the “contenders” were, just go to the list on the “Bikes” page and check the ones ridden this year.

As usual, I’ve added a couple of other sections. The “Thumbs Up” and “Thumbs Down” are brief comments on what has impressed me and not impressed me in the world of motorcycling over the past year. Then I’ve included a more personal item on what my “Most Memorable Ride” was during the year.

So, let the choosing begin!

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE BIKE

This is a toughie, because I rode some impressive bikes during the year! I’m sure the new Ducati Multistrada would’ve impressed me even more than it did (and it was the first Multistrada I actually liked!) if I’d had the opportunity to ride it further and really try it out. It is so versatile, with different settings for engine and suspension all available at the push of a button, that it needs time and varied terrain to really let it shine. The Triumph Tiger 800 is another great bike, only let down by an overly firm seat. But a great concept very well executed.

Gee, I even liked the Harley 48! I expected to hate it because it is, after all, purely an image thing, done at the expense of practicality. You need look no further than the fuel tank with its paltry 8 litre capacity for proof of that.

Being based on the Nightser, the suspension was almost non-existent, so the ride was dreadful; and it vibrated so much I stood up when stopped at traffic-lights. But somehow I came back having actually enjoyed riding it!

Another very impressive bike was the Triumph Daytona. No, of course I didn’t do it justice when I rode it, but that was kind of the point – even ridden in “old bloke” fashion, it still impressed!

Sure, the ride-position was, as I said in the test, “like a dog eating its dinner”, but it didn’t stick my head out over the front wheel like the Ducati 696 did.

Unlike the Duke, the Daytona made me feel confident and safe from the moment it left the driveway. Especially for what it is, it’s brilliant! And it handles real-world riding conditions very well too. The engine is a prime example of that, being easy and tractable at low revs, fast and fiery at higher revs, and delightfully smooth throughout. It handles like a sport-bike should, but doesn’t rattle your teeth over real-road bumps.

Yep, I was very impressed with the Daytona! It almost got the nod, but there was one bike that was even more impressive. It was ……… wait for it ……… the BMW K1300S.

I reckon the sporty big Beemer is a fabulous bike! With nearly 130kW (that’s well over 170 horsepower), it’s the most powerful K-series BM, easily out-powers any of the boxers, and is only beaten in the Bavarian maker’s stable by the supersport S1000R. So I was won over by the power, right? Well, no, not exactly. The power was impressive, yes, but like the Daytona, there was no way I was going to be able to fully appreciate what this bike could do! Not only because I’m an old bloke, incapable of riding it to its full potential, but also because my test was on a relatively civilised group ride.

But, as with the Daytona, that was the really impressive thing; it could be ridden in “old bloke” style and was entirely happy. For example, the amazing engine (and it is an amazing engine!) would pull away cleanly and happily from under 2,000rpm. And then you could toddle around at low revs like it was some mild-mannered commuter. Handling was the same thing; of course it handled well – far better than I could ever ride it – but it handled well at slower speeds too. Also defying the usual sports-bike characteristics, it had a comfortable seat and delivered a comfortable, compliant ride.

I found it amazingly easy to ride, and it inspired confidence almost from the moment it left the driveway. Sportsbikes don’t do that! Okay, with 228kg to lug around it’s clearly in a different market to the R1, GSX-R1000 etc. In Suzuki terms it’s probably more Hyabusa than Gixxer. But whatever it is, it’s simply superb!

This is how I summed it up in my Snapshot. “It looks great and it’s surprisingly comfortable to sit on. The hands might start to feel the weight a bit on long rides, but in every other sense it would tour easily. It’s great for a blast on the highway and great for a blast through the twisties. It’s surprisingly easy to handle and it gives a comfortable ride over our lumpy real-world roads. The engine is happy to lug away from low revs, and then it can be screamed all the way to 11,000rpm. It’s just a superb bike. Oh, and apparently it is also very fast!” So that gets my pick for 2011.

THE LEAST IMPRESSIVE BIKE

This was a difficult choice too, because most of what I test-rode were quite good; there were no real dogs there! As I mentioned above, even the Harley 48 impressed me! I should’ve hated it. It had no suspension, a thinly-padded seat, stupid mirrors, ridiculously small fuel tank, illogical gearing …. But I kind of enjoyed riding it! I mentioned above that it vibrated so much I stood up at traffic-lights. When the lights went green I'd flop back into the seat, stick my leg out kicking it into gear, then ride off on this tough looking Hog. There was a kind of pleasure in the way it did that. So even the bad things were kind of enjoyable! It’s totally a case of form over function, but I knew that. And, as I mentioned in the report, it does have some redeeming features. As I said in my Snapshot summary, the bike is all about image, but it carries that image into the real world better than Harley’s previous chopped-down tough-styled Sportster. I think that’s why I liked it more than I expected I would.

So what was the least impressive? Well, my pick for this dubious award has to go to the Yamaha Tenere 660.

Okay, this is really unfair, because it’s apparently a pretty good thing off-road; and its main design aim was probably off-road. But I have to say that, when ridden on-road – which is where I rode it – it wasn’t too impressive. And let’s face it, just like those “Toorak-taxi” 4WDs that get no further off-road than a gravel driveway, there will be people who buy these and ride them mostly on-road.

But even if you do ride one off-road (where, according to reports, it works very well), you will almost certainly be riding it on-road as well – otherwise you’d just buy a dirt-bike, wouldn’t you. So, criticising it for its on-road experience might be a bit unfair, but still valid I reckon, considering the way many examples will be used.

Now, I have to say there was a lot I liked about it. As I said at the top, there were no real dogs this year; so it’s not a bad bike! In fact, as I said in the test, it handles on-road conditions better than some big trailies do. I just reckon it could be better on-road than it is, while still being good off-road. For example, consider bikes like the Tiger 800XC; it handles off-road conditions well and yet is still a good ride on-road. Okay, the Tenere is more off-road focused than the Tiger, so shouldn’t really be compared to it, but you see where I’m coming from with this.

The big let-down for me was the engine. It’s a big single, so you’d probably expect it to feel a bit harsh; and it did. It also made the bike feel very high geared. The gearing is a bit too high anyway I reckon, but it's made worse by the characteristics of the engine, which has a very narrow power-band that makes it unpleasant on the road. As I said in my Snapshot summary, “I reckon it’d be a good thing on the Birdsville Track, and even on the tracks that run off it! But if you aren’t that heavily into off-roading there may be better choices.”

THUMBS UP

Okay, just a couple of items in these segments.

Harley Davidson deserve a big thumbs-up for introducing modern technology to their bikes; technology that puts them ahead of the Japanese in some instances! For example, how many Japanese bikes have self-canceling blinkers that turn off by responding to lean angles? No, they’re not the antiquated low-tech beasts they once were!

Harley also gets a nod from me for what they’ve done to the Sportster 883 range. For many years the 883 was almost the forgotten model of the range, but Harley tarted it up into a couple of different models, with some glitzy new styling.

The one on the left is the 883 Custom, with its tough-looking alloy wheels and black engine. It comes in all-black too, which makes it look tougher, but I prefer the coloured version.

BMW gets a thumbs-up for its K1600GT, which is receiving rave reviews. They’ve managed to design a bike with a 6-cylinder engine that basically takes up no more room than a 4, and squeeze it into a superb touring package. In the test on the K1300S I joked about two different design teams at BMW – one that think symmetry is bad and produce weird looking bikes with lop-sided headlights etc. Well, the K1600GT was obviously designed by the “other team” – the one that thinks symmetry is good! It’s a good looking bike! Oh, and that engine is an impressive thing! The 118kW of power is impressive, but what is most astounding is the 175Nm of torque – that’s a lot for a bike! And a lot for a 1600cc motor! A kerb weight of almost 320kg could be a problem, as could the $35,000 asking price. But they’ve done a good thing with this bike just the same.

THUMBS DOWN

First up, and this is a NSW issue, the continued use by the RTA of mobile speed cameras. My complaint with these is that they are partly operated by private enterprise. Any activity that has a bank involved is obviously set up for revenue raising! That’s what I object to. And remember when they were told that they had to put up signs warning motorists of the presence of a speed camera? Well, they did put the signs up – about two feet behind the rear bumper! (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but by the time you saw the signs it was too late). There is no negotiation, no assessment as to how the driver or rider may have been driving / riding, as the police will mostly do, treating each case on its merits. With these guys they are like a machine; if the vehicle is over the limit then the driver / rider is booked. End of story. More coffers in the RTA and bank’s pockets!

And still on the RTA, they get a thumbs-down for “fixing” so-called dangerous roads by simply lowering the speed-limit. Many factors can be involved in why a particular road becomes notorious for crashes; poor surface, bad drainage in wet conditions, irresponsible driving / riding, and so on. But rather than address the real problem, the RTA’s answer is to lower the speed limit. It’s something that costs very little (how much does it cost to put up a few signs?) and they can proudly announce to the media that they are doing something to save lives!

The RTA (sorry to our interstate dwellers, but I’m sure this applies, to varying extents, where you live too) and local councils get a thumbs-down for the pathetic attempts at fixing pot-holes. I’ve seen so many pot-holes get “fixed” by the workmen just dumping a load of bitumen into them and not taking the time or effort to smooth the repair. So instead of a hole you get a hump! And it’s not long before the road breaks up again – often at the same place or just beside it. And what should be the object of the exercise – to make a rough section smooth again – is never achieved, even straight after the repair is done. At a roundabout near where I live the road had to be dug up to lay some pipes under the road. They had to have three goes at re-surfacing this before it was fixed properly. The first two attempts left the road with so many humps and hollows it looked like a profile of the Blue Mountains! A bit dangerous for a bike – especially on a roundabout!

And still on the subject of roads, a big thumbs-down to whoever was responsible for this little masterpiece – spreading loose gravel over the road just as it comes to a T-intersection with a much-used highway.

I mentioned this – along with a dangerous piece of wire-rope barrier that had a pole leaning over ready to skewer any rider unfortunate enough to hit it – in my Blog of November 19, 2011.

(I did try to find out who was responsible and report it, by the way).

Okay, just a final one on bikes – this is supposed to be mainly about bikes, after all! A thumbs-down to the current trend in design of exhausts – the muffler bit in particular. There are some ugly looking cans coming out, aren’t there! Remember when exhausts were chromed? (Yes, cruisers still have these – and they look great!). Now there are all sorts of ugly misshapen bits of hardware hanging off the sides of bikes – or underneath them. And the latest trend is to totally hide the exhaust in the lower regions of the fairing and just have the end poking out; so all you see is a short piece of open pipe sticking out from the lower fairing somewhere. Oh well, I suppose it isn’t as silly as putting them under the seat, where they regularly toast the bums of any pillion who sits there long enough, especially in summer.

Hmm, yes, I was going top make that short wasn’t I! Trouble is, when I get started on something like that …. Let’s move on.

MOST MEMORABLE RIDE

The award here would have to go to the Charity Ride I organised earlier in the year. Although it was the event itself that was the memorable bit, not the actual ride!

It was a follow-on from a similar one I organised a couple of years ago. This time I thought I’d make it bigger and better; get the local press involved and so on. I approached some businesses for support and they were very generous in their response – especially Kenma Australia, who very kindly donated a swag of stuff as prizes for our raffle. It was all shaping up well, but then I was alerted to the legal complications that can come with doing something like this. I had been aware of some of this anyway when I organised the previous one, but back then it was intended as just a bunch of mates, or mates-of-mates, being involved. Back then I thought that a statement of indemnity on the web-page I’d set up for it should be all that was required. This should be the same, shouldn’t it? Well, no! Especially when it is a more publicly-advertised and promoted one like this. There were police requirements with regard to the number of bikes we could assemble as a group and so on, but the most important – and worrying – thing was the potential for liability claims if someone did the wrong thing or got hurt. You can read all about it in the story, but suffice to say here that it involved seeking legal advice from solicitors and police, and was a most stressful time!

Still, when I got to the finish point, and everything had gone smoothly, it was a nice feeling to have done something like this to raise some money for people doing it tough – even if threatening weather kept the numbers (and donations) down on what I had hoped for.

In terms of the actual riding, as I said, that wasn’t very memorable at all. Others were more so, for different reasons. There were some very enjoyable rides during the year; and in that respect they were memorable. There was one that wasn’t so enjoyable though. Well, most of it was enjoyable, but on the return journey I got wet. Now, there’s getting wet, which happens to us all from time to time, then there’s getting wet! We’ve all experienced that slight dribble of water down the back of the neck, or maybe boots leaking; that’s getting wet. Then there’s getting wet when you get thoroughly soaked; when the water even soaks down into your underpants – cold and wet. You tend to remember that!

It was summer and I was wearing my mesh-jacket, which isn’t waterproof of course. My throw-over rain jacket had been letting in water for a while, but I thought I (or actually my wife) had fixed the problem. But we hadn’t. It wasn’t a high quality one (although it had worked very well for a long time) and time had just taken its toll. So when I encountered a heavy downpour the water streamed through the jacket, drenched my T-shirt, and then soaked down the T-shirt inside my jeans, soaking my undies and leaving me feeling very very wet and cold! I bought a new jacket after that!

So, there it is; some thoughts on what I liked and didn’t like during the year. Let’s see what 2012 has to bring!

Click here to see what my picks for the previous year were. (And you can follow it back even further too).

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