BMW S 1000 XR TE
Even before we’d set off on our epic road trip, I knew I had the right bike for the job. Carl’s KTM looked that bit too aggressive for a long-haul road trip, and Bruce’s Kawasaki looked, if I’m being brutally honest, a bit too wet. First things first, those panniers have a serious amount of stowage space; in fact there was so much that I let young Frodo fill one of mine with his pants, socks and Gameboy, or whatever it is that kids take on holiday these days. Removing them from the bike was a bit of a mystery, but I wasn’t too worried about that, as they’re all lockable anyway.
Once I’d scaled the side of Mount BMW and got myself perched on top of the thing, I noted the keyless ignition system. This would normally have pissed me off but there is a little cubbyhole where the ignition barrel should be, in which the key nicely fits, so I was slightly less offended than I would have been should I have been forced to slot the key inside my leathers. The dash, which 2019-onwards S 1000 RR owners will recognise, is plenty big and bright, and the BMW multi-controller is dead easy to use to navigate round the bike’s settings and systems. You can scroll through all of the rider mode menus and even check tyre pressures, electronically. Nice. The sat nav was a nice touch too, fairly easy to use as long as you only wanted to key one destination in; it started to get a bit pissy with me when I attempted to plan a more convoluted route.
The riding position is about as comfy as anything I’ve had the pleasure of riding (only really trumped by the likes of BMW’s R 1250 RT and Honda’s GL 1800 Gold Wing; that type of thing) and even after a week of riding, there were no aches and pains of any description, and with the screen in its highest setting, it was actually nice and quiet too. I could easily drain a tank of fuel before I needed a leg stretch. That leads me nicely on to the fuel tank range. You could do about 180 miles, which was by far the least out of the three bikes on our trip, so it was a bit annoying always being the one that needed to put a stop to proceedings to fill up with juice. Especially as up there in the Scottish
I COULD EASILY DRAIN A TANK OF FUEL BEFORE I NEEDED A LEG STRETCH.
Highlands, fuel stations are few and far between, and usually off the beaten path. Stopping for fuel (or stopping anywhere, for that matter) did cause somewhat of a difficulty on the big XR, because of the angle of the sidestand. It probably didn’t help that, loaded up with all my and Frodo’s gear, the thing was a bit top heavy, but lowering the bike on to the sidestand felt mega precarious, even on a flat, even surface. Luckily, you get a centre stand on the TE which might be slightly more effort to pull the bike on to, but it seemed a million times safer on it, so I tended to opt for the latter on most occasions – or just stayed sat on it while Bruce went in to pay for the fuel and Mars bars.
If the fuel tank and the sidestand lost the Beemer a few points, the engine won them all back, and then some. It has to be my favourite thing about the bike. There’s strong power wherever the revs are, which is all good and well, but it’s just how smoothly it dishes it out that put a smile on my face – and made the bike so easy to ride. There is 162bhp at the top of the rev range which, with all that weight over the back end, proved more than enough to stand the thing on its back wheel and the shifter (that the TE version comes with) made keeping it up there a doddle. In fact, the shifter and blipper definitely helped make the Beemer feel like a proper premium road bike but the big bars and the tall stature also made you feel like you could do a bit of light off-roading with a fair amount of ease too. We didn’t take the bikes off-road, but I did find myself on the beach at one stage, and there were more than a few gravelly paths and lay-bys that we had to negotiate, which the XR’s chassis and suspension took in its stride.
I did most of the trip in Dynamic Pro mode which sometimes felt a little bit bumpy on the really bad roads, but it was a small price to pay for having a bike that held itself up so well (for such a tall, heavy bike) when cornering.
I’d had a good idea that the BMW S 1000 XR would be the best bike for our NC500 trip before we started, and after 1500 or so miles, I’m pleased to report that I wasn’t disappointed. It might have had one or two foibles, but hey, who’s perfect. If you are into big miles and big fun, (and you don’t mind stopping regularly for fuel), get yourself one of these bad boys.