Thinking of a sports bike.

[Alfaguy]

Yes all motorway or dual carrigeway. Bike is just effortless and quite comfortable on long trips but of course extensive use of the cruise control is needed to keep the speed at 120 otherwise you would not notice it creeping up to 140 or 150. It likes its juice compared to the other bikes though. To be honest all my bikes are excellent long distance cruisers except perhaps for the Monster which because of its lightness gets a little giddy in the back draught of trucks but copes with sidewinds well. Hopefully my steering damper will tame the bike a bit.

The S1000 also is unaffected by trucks or sidewinds. The biggest advantage the BMW has over the other bikes is its excellent sat nav which is displayed on the screen as well as very good audio. One of the best sat navs I have used - pity it can't be used with the other bikes. The heated grips on max setting would start to burn your hands if you left it at that setting too long and the relatively short screen does protect from the wind so no neck strain which I get on the naked bikes if I stay at 120 too long. I never felt the M sport saddle as uncomfortable like a lot of the reviews do - but then I am well padded with rain gear on these trips.

All future trips to the dealer for any of the bikes though will be on the back of a trailer as I am too old for doing over 600km on a bike in one very long day. The lads in the dealerships were amazed that I would even contemplate such a journey. Even for a younger guy I am sure this would be a bit of an ordeal - especially if you throw in bad weather and darkness.

[Johnny_Limerick]

I wouldn't even contemplate Dublin to Limerick on my bandit.

[pedrosixfour]

I wouldn't even contemplate Dublin to Limerick on my bandit.

It's a perfectly acceptable round trip if you were just out for a spin for the day and avoiding the motorway.

And I always try to come back, from where I've ended up, by a completely different route.

[Johnny_Limerick]

It's a perfectly acceptable round trip if you were just out for a spin for the day and avoiding the motorway.

And I always try to come back, from where I've ended up, by a completely different route.

If I was to do it, it would like this. Time is of the essence usually with jaunts up and down. Plus carrying a load of tools/gear.

[Alfaguy]

I wouldn't even contemplate Dublin to Limerick on my bandit.

I did Tralee - London and back on my Bandit 600 in 2001 working from a map on my tank bag. No sat nav or even mobiles back then of course and no rider modes or electronic assistance. That was a hard trip. The saddle on the bandit even though soft proved very uncomfortable and biking gear back then was primitive compared to what is available now but the bike itself performed brilliantly.

[Johnny_Limerick]

Ya it would be me suffering rather than the bike id be worried about haha.

[Alfaguy]

[Alfaguy]

So I am kinda glad I did not buy this exact model of bike if he finds all the electronics so useless. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a brand new model 2019 SP that was still in its crate at the distributor which I could have had for €19k.
Also it really annoyed me the way the clutch cable cuts right across the TFT dash. Careless design especially for a Honda.

[Alfaguy]

Online manual

[Alfaguy]

[Alfaguy]