Reader Simon Gargun rates his year-old BMW S1000RR
I’m a technical manager for a gas company, so I do over 40,000 miles a year in my company car travelling all over the UK as well as abroad with very irregular hours, so for me the bike is a pressure release,” explains MCN reader Simon Gargun.
“I don’t do as many miles as I’d like, but the times I do get out I make the most of it. When I get home from work in the evening, or I get a spare weekend, my first thoughts are to fire up the BMW and clear my head of work-related matters.” Having only covered just over 1500 miles on his BMW since he bought it last year, you may think that Simon’s riding has been limited. However. if you are talking quality, he has far from missed out on two-wheeled pleasures.
“Living in Derby I have the Peak District right on my doorstep,” he smiles. “I have a circuit that takes about an hour and I know the roads well, it’s peaceful and you go past Matlock, Ashbourne, all the fantastic roads that make the Peak District such a wonderful place to ride a bike. I don’t do huge miles, but they are such good ones and I get to enjoy my bike.” And what better bike to discover the Peak District on than a BMW S1000RR. But did he consider anything else? “Before the BMW I had a Ducati Hypermotard 1100S and a BMW R1200GS Adventure, but a divorce, change of work circumstance and house move saw me get rid of the BMW. I kept the Ducati, which sounded amazing and handled brilliantly, but it had such a narrow band of usability and the clutch really annoyed me.
“I fancied a sportsbike, but I’m a big lad and after two miles of test riding a Panigale 959 I returned it to the shop,” said Simon. “I had a test ride booked on the S1000RR for that afternoon and I nearly cancelled it as I didn’t think there was any point trying another sportsbike. But I gave it a go and as soon as the clutch started to bite I knew I would buy it. The BMW is a sportsbike, but it is also an incredible all-rounder. The S1000RR is insanely fast, but it is also very happy riding around at slow speeds and doesn’t demand to be ridden over 100mph everywhere. I can do 30mph in a 30mph limit with no effort, it’s comfortable, has loads of electronic assists and then, when you open it up, the whole world goes backwards. It’s just incredible.”
0 miles
“I didn’t actually want the Sport package with all the bells and whistles. For my riding ability those extras aren’t really that necessary, but the dealer said it would take longer for a stock bike to arrive and the Sport would hold its value better. “The Sport comes either with a pillion seat cover and no pillion pegs or with the pegs and a pillion seat, so I opted for the pegs. I signed up to a PCP offer, which costs me £160 a month and is an amazing deal. Signing up to a PCP contract was a worry, but I am confident I can afford £160 a month even if anything goes wrong with work.”
‘It accelerates like nothing I’ve experienced before’
50 miles
“The dealer ran me through a few of the electronic assists, but it was just a basic overview and you really need to read the manual to work out what everything does. To be honest I’m not that interested in altering them that much. Some guy in Germany took years developing the systems, I’m happy sticking with his settings. For my initial run I stuck it in Sport mode and couldn’t stop smiling all the way home.”
500 miles
“Running in a BMW is fool-proof as the electronics automatically limit the bike’s performance so you can’t over-rev it. You physically can’t take it past 9000rpm as a limiter kicks in, but that’s still 120mph so it’s not exactly a hardship!”
1000 miles
“I opened it up at the first opportunity and held it through first, second and third gear; the acceleration was incredible. The rev limit warning lights were flashing faster than I could feed it gears, it was acceleration like I had never experienced before. But also so controlled and easy.”
miles 1200
“On a wet day I tried Rain mode, which damped the power slightly, and I tried Race to see what it was like, but I’ve just left the bike in Sport as I don’t need the extra responsiveness that Race gives. I’m so impressed by the electronic suspension, it’s sublime. I’ve paid a fortune to set up my enduro bike’s suspension, but the RR’s semi-active system always seems to be work perfectly. Even on some of the Peak District’s bumpier roads it just glides over the undulations.” “I have been planning a touring holiday to Germany, which I was going to do on the GS but never got around to. I have all the routes and maps ready to go and I’m hoping to leave in August on the S1000RR. You don’t need a dedicated tourer or even a sports tourer to cover big miles, you can easily do it on a sportsbike as practical as the BMW S1000RR. I’ve already asked my dealer to put my name down for the new RR, however if it is sportier and smaller I’ll cancel the order. I love the fact this model is so roomy and such a brilliant road bike that is not too extreme.”