My 2004 R1100S Diary

[Yogi Bear]

Great write up. Best colour scheme of all I reckon, but I'm biased as I had one!

Cheers

Ian

I’d have to agree as I have one!

[buzzz90]

Nice bike and great story.

I'm looking forward to read more about your Beeline experience. I thought about buying one last year but never crossed the fence...

[andy griff]

Well ,that was 15 minutes well spent - cheers

Best colour scheme for me - I had one and a mate bought one the same after following my orange wheel across a few miles. Mine has moved on but Id get another if i could find the right one

[FuzzyEdges]

You may be interested in these 'reprints' from Bike magazine?
It's from the time when they used to do more in depth reviews.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dmGYTzGsi2qkDprjr-2TmdgwjwQF65h3/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HFRHRyJjaoLKvkSUh_FefNfFvt2iGfcE/view?usp=sharing

They've got your colour scheme!

[R1100S]

Hi All,

Well that's another year (+) gone...!

Thanks for all the kind comments. Thanks to FuzzyEdges for the magazine article; very interesting reading.

I'm looking forward to read more about your Beeline experience. I thought about buying one last year but never crossed the fence...

The Beeline is great. I love it. It's so discreet and that was my main reason of purchase. Apologies; aesthetics over functionality here I'm afraid...



It has great range on its battery. The app is well designed. Point to point routes and "windy bike mode" is great. Makes me use the bike more (which I guess any satnav will do). It's not infallible though. You learn to understand the pictograms but sometimes its hard work. For example, deep city centres, using a "magic roundabout" system..... errr, forget it! Sometimes you have to pull over and re-map if there's a very close succession of instructions and you screw up.

I hear all sorts of iPhone vibration issues with putting a smartphone on your handlebars, so the Beeline is great as your phone stays in your pocket, dry too. Just don't expect too much from Beeline, use it to support your road sign reading and and you'll be very happy.

That's one of the things with "full on" sat navs. You drive A -> B and when you arrive, you haven't got a clue how, or what roads you used. With a Beeline, you stay alert to road signage, which can only be a good thing.

Adventure Bike Festival 2021

I like to polish my bikes and not get them muddy, but accompanied friends to the Adventure Bike Festival in 2021...



Nothing like getting woken up with a hangover, by a field of bikes, all wanting early starts on the offroad course!

Mates enjoyed it, I was only there for the beer and camaraderie. Did get a nice picture of the bike outside Ragley Hall though...





Llanidloes 2021

Long weekend with friends' and their GS's. Damn them with their padded seats and comfy riding positions...



Views over Clywedog Reservoir...







Hayling Island 2021

A trip to see a used car meant a "lap" around Hayling Island and a lovely hotel...





2022 Issues

SORN took a disliking to the battery the bike came with. No surprise as it was an unrecognised brand of dubious quality. April 2022 saw a new Exide AGM from Tayna Batteries...



I am sick to death of removing the fairings now.

Strangely, a month later, cranking started to get much much longer before she would eventually fire. Then, outside a pub in Bedford, she wouldn't crank at all, with the starter motor just doing a stressed groan. It sounded exactly like a flat battery, but the battery was new, all connections cleaned and tight, plus the headlight was still powerful. Try the button a minute later and eventually she'd start.

On the basis of having a new battery of known good strength, and being shocked at the price of a new starter motor, I took a punt on a second-hand starter from James Sherlock as I wasn't 100% convinced it was the cause...



Anyway, all fitted, and she's been good as gold ever since. Something was breaking down in the old starter...



I took it to pieces but I couldn't find anything wrong. Perhaps the windings were breaking down internally? I think it was drawing too much current, which in turn has two bad side effects :

1) Less battery voltage for the Engine ECU to function
2) A very slight drop in RPM cranking speed, therefore increasing cranking time

I must admit, there's a lot of hatred for this Valeo starter online...

It still has the second hand starter on it right now. Thankfully the corroded second-hand nature of the unit is shielded by a plastic cover which hides the shame.

Perfect opportunity to replace the jump start cap which decided to break...



Much better...



New rear tyre for 2022...



Binned the awful Michelin and went for a billy basic sport touring Bridgestone... fine for my needs.



Harry's Garage Route 2022

Using the "windy bike mode" on the Beeline I stumbled accross Clarkson's Farm by fluke, which was cool as i'm a fan of the show...



There I saw Jeremy's Hot Sausage which was nice...



I also did some of the roads around Harry's Farm. Anyone who watches "Harry's Garage" on the Youtubes will know what I mean.



Wales 2022

Sorry to bore those who live in wonderful Wales already, but for an East Anglian lad like myself, anything there is an adventure. Long weekend in the Brecon Beacons and Llandeilo, riding on "mini-ball bearings" called hail stones...



Great trip, bike performed faultlessly...





3+ Years Ownership Review

Been three years of ownership now. First and foremost, I never get tired of how it looks. It still wows me.

For example, on a late night ride home one night, I stopped at McDonalds St. Ives (Cambs) for a coffee. Even in the most mundane of situations, it still stops me in my tracks and I go "wow"...



For some reason, the McDonalds lighting made the yellow pop and I love that.

The old BMW boxes are great.

I like it's restrained yet purposeful exhaust note.

Downsides....

Well, the seat could be a bit more comfortable, but that's only for long stints with the GS rider's who can go for hours.

It does like a drink of fuel.... and oil too.

A few age related gremlins & repairs for what hasn't been that many road miles covered.

I'd also love a gear indicator... my K1 has one and that's much older! I'm forever going for a top gear that isn't there!

I think my biggest hate is driveline shunt. Lets say you have a long sweeping bend, even the smallest adjustment of throttle is an unsmooth "jolt". I guess that's the sum of very slight play in gearbox, prop UJs and final drive. No one component is screwed, but add them all up and cumulatively its noticeable. One of those things that you just have to live with and i'm still learning to be less clumsy on the throttle.

Oh yeah, did I say, I hate removing the fairing over and over!

Anyway, after all that, conclusion being, this bike isn't going anywhere!

SORN now for 2022, just a few more pics and i'll leave you all in peace...





Looking forward to 2023 already.

Best Regards,

Jay.

[Paul]

Great write up again Jay. If you enjoyed South Wales, why not join us for our North Wales weekend on May 12 & 13 of 2023 in Llangollen? We see very few R1100S's turn up at these events so you would be most warmly welcomed. Take a look in "Days out" for more info about that.

All the best from another recently migrated to East Anglia. Any suggestions for good motorcycling routes in these parts would be most welcome, for someone just north of Thetford.

Cheers,

Paul

[R1100S]

Thanks Paul, i'll keep that in mind.

All the best from another recently migrated to East Anglia. Any suggestions for good motorcycling routes in these parts would be most welcome, for someone just north of Thetford.

I've been Cambridgeshire now for 20 years, but was originally a Suffolk lad. All the roads I blasted down 20 years ago, like the excellent Sudbury -> Bures -> Colchester road are all completely restricted with 30mph nowadays.

Very rare you can actually find a route where you can really stretch your legs. However, I did a journey this year; Hadleigh -> Bildeston -> Buxhall -> Woolpit -> Ixworth which was quite fun. I'd recommend that.

If you're Hadleigh way, I recommend a beautiful village called Polstead. Spent many childhood years there and the church is very special.

All the best,

Jay.

[slparry]

Great write ups Jay, now get booked for next years Welsh Weekend

[andy griff]

Without doubt the best ever paint scheme. The Bumblebee was a good warm up but this was the 1100S pinnacle . Loved mine just as much ( also had to replace the starter motor )