March 18, 2004

First impression BMW Rockster

At first I was in love with the ergos but afraid of the wind. The lack of any wind screen had me concerned. I was not concerned at all about the ride. Boy was I mistaken. I still like the ergos. The wide flat bar is nice, the seat fine and the peg to seat length OK. The front lack of fairing works really well. The shape of the little pod works well to keep the wind at a manageable level even on the freeway. I even like the way the Rockster looks, especially in green, which is what I was issued as a loaner.

I am surprised and shocked that I don't like the way it handles. The tires seem to grip really really well but the front end is WAY to fast. It seemed to be twitchy in such a way the leaning it over was not fun. The bike really like to stay upright and be steered with the bars. I'm not sure if either less wide bars would help or if a steering dampener would be better. I suspect both combined would make the bike a really wicked ride. One thought I had was to lower the rear preload to get more squat out of it to increase front end rake. This might be the cheapest fix. It turned out to work OK. The bike was still twitchy in a lean.

In general, I still like the bike, though not quite as much as my new R1150GS or my Daytona 955i. If the handling was a little more sorted it would be an amazing bike.

Posted by pqbon at March 18, 2004 3:24 PM | TrackBack