My Motorcycles

Since June 2005, I have owned a 1989 BMW K75. This replaced a 2002 Piaggio X9 500SL scooter which in turn replaced my 1993 BMW R1100RS. In my opinion these most recent three bikes have been the best compromise for my needs at the time. Overall, I believe the BMW R1100RS is probably the best all-round motorcycle ever made. Sadly as the miles piled up on mine it became more and more expensive to maintain.


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In its day, the X9 was without doubt the best scooter on the planet. It's perfectly good in its 125 guise and as a 500 it can easily match much bigger bikes. Again maintenance is expensive as it has short service intervals but the storage capacity is enormous (especially with the Piaggio topbox) , it can hit 110 mph (where the law and conditions permit) and fuel consumption is a creditable 50+ mpg. Handling is better than you'd think for a scooter with small wheels and the engine hanging of the swinging arm (as it were) although ride is not great on poor surfaces (which is most of the UKs roads). Its descendants, the Evo, the X8 and the Xevo improved on it in many ways.

The K75 is the first BMW "brick" I have owned. It was almost an impulse buy - I had agreed a sale on the Piaggio X9 and was intending to use the money as a deposit on a newer X9 (the Evo version) or even a Gilera Nexus 500 (the only really sporty megascooter). I was idly trawling the net to see what kind of BMW I could get for the money when I found my K75 literally 2 miles away. Of course it seemd silly not to go and have a look. When I saw it I was hooked on the spot. It's a credit to its previous owner (cheers SImon) and has been fastidiously maintained. It's had only two owners before me and I bought it with only 35,000 miles on the clock despite its 16 year life. Fabulously smooth and comfortable despite the lack of a fairing it's not too unwieldy in town and powerful enough for the open road.

The R1100RS was preceded by a BMW F650 GS which was excellent in central London, but less fun on my regular trips to Ashford Kent (the bottom of the M20 gets a little windy). Before that, I owned a Harley Davidson XL1200S Sportster Sport (great motorcycle - poor daily transport device). Go back a bit further and you would have found a BMW R100S on the drive preceded by a selection of unmemorable steeds from the land of the rising sun (CB750 "four", CX500, Z650, CB250 etc).


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I also spent a number of years riding a bright yellow BMW R80RT. Although I was supposed to repair broken down cars, much of the time was spent posing up and down the Finchley Road in North West London. If you've ever seen a film called "Ask For Diamond" (Childrens Film Foundation early 1980's) which is the film version of Anthony Horowitz's "The Falcons Malteser", one of the AA motorcyclists in it is me (approximately 5 seconds on screen !!).


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One of the reasons I wanted my own website was to share my experiences with the R1100RS and various accessories. For example, I conducted a great deal of research on the relative merits of various aftermarket screens for the RS but the best thing I found was the experience of owners of each type. Although we are all different, this type of (often highly) opinionated review is like gold dust as an alternative to advertising hype or even "official" magazine reviews. I've continued the trend and now I've posted pages for some of my other bikes.

The R1100RS, the X9 and the K75 get their own pages detailing modifications together with some pictures and my thoughts on the advantages (or otherwise) of the bike and the mod.

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.



My Gilera GP800 Page
My BMW R1100RS Modifications Page
The R1100RS In Daily Use
My Piaggio X9 500SL Page
My BMW K75 Page
Links To Other Sites
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