No1 the bmw car badge puts me off! number to let give the blade another 30 ponies and ohlins and brembos then run a head to head test Also my dyno man said you still cant beat the blade for drive out of corners and he said the midrange of the blade makes the bmw look silly! then you got the crank bolt probs basically its a blinged up monster that aint all that on the rd haha!! O and 70% of our rd riding will be done at 5 to 30% throttle and using about 80ish brake 130bhp for the really fast nutters!! hence why a good little rgv250 or lc350 ypvs can spank even 200bhp bike in the right hands
I think BMW are keen to sell bikes as they gave my mate 10k for his 2010 and swapped all parts, carbon, crash port, full akrapovic etc etc free of charge, odd that the only thing they would not swap was his PCV, guess they have issues with it for warranty but that's also odd of they have issues with the full akrapovic but they were happy to swap that! I have it booked in this week for the PCV and Dyno so will see how it looks on paper..
I agree Benn theyb should be able to make it better quality for that money but I expect most of their money went on the engine, gearbox and electronic gadgetry and of course trying to recoup their money from the development costs of their first commercial sports bike. The Aprilia has fantastic spec and IMO looks awesome, but resale prices are never that great and that is surprising.
my mate i went with y,day picked a 11plate one up with the full electronic package all singing and dancing for wait for it.......................................... £8700 2200miles all it needs is a new rear soon.
My mates rich slow round bends old moans quite a bit has too much money and upgrades his bike after 1000 miles... Typical s1000 owner....lol
I did a back to back road test on the BMW & the Fireblade last year. 2 hours on the BMW and 30 mins on the blade - no contest as far as I was concerned. The blade was a much nicer bike to ride on the road so that's what I purchased. The fuelling on the BMW in rain mode (150bhp) was really nice but in sports mode it turned into a bucking bronco - quick shift was good though. At the end of the day I'm never going to exploit the full potential of the blade let alone the 200 bhp of the BMW. Steve
Too big for me couldn't put both feet on ground.Stuck with Honda blade cos Kent motorcycles look after me and it is easier to ride.BMW dealears are not in my good books long story involving service manager job with a local dealer. Nearest BMW bike dealer is miles and miles away.
Test rode one when they first came out and I was convinced that I was going to trade the r6 in for it, the mags were all over it so thought it must be revolutionary. Had it for an afternoon, headed out on my favourite roads and what an awesome peice of machinery, don't think much is quicker, but it's like a big 600, but what put me off was te t/c that was really obtrusive, whole bike was great but felt very clinical and souless, and anti wheelie??? Wtf! The big thing for me was choosing the route back to the dealers, I went the quickest.... That told me everything. Test rode the blade and it made me smile, that grunt, that pure feel to it, no gizmos, and it handles sooo plush. Sold it for me And I'm a bit of a sucker for the underdog lol
I am not having a pop here at you Jimbo because i have seen it typed up before on other sites and i dont really get it. Are you saying that you were riding the bike on the road that hard that the t/c is cutting in and ruining your ride? Surely a bit more control/being smoother with the right wrist would negate the t/c cutting in. When i read this stuff about the t/c being too obtrusive i think of racers who perhaps like their bikes to drift a little in the corners etc (you maybe a racer for all i know and that may answer this little query i am having). I dont think of Joe Bloggs going out and test riding a bike. Do you drift the Blade?
I had it on the least setting (sport I think) was under the illusion you had to take the tank off for race mode? Not sure they were up for that on a test ride. Ha ha
No to get "TRACK" you just had to do it when not running - took me time to sort it - but the final run back to the shop on my test run - was very interesting - lol
To put it in slick mode you have to remove the rear seat cowl and fit the slick key... I know coz I like to know....lol
So there is... Wet Sport Race Slick Sure I had it in race then, as the saleman said run in the softest mode for a while, then move up one but don't put it in 3rd mode, and you can't do 4th I put it in the highest mode available in the carpark lol What year did you ride mate, as I think they have updated the system since I rode one
