Pondboy's BMW F650GS News

First Fortnight with Mellow Yellow     Thursday 11th March I finally got my hands on it. We were down at Coopers at 10.00am and they had not even got the bike starting to be prepped. After a couple of hours, they managed to bolt everything together even fitted the Touratech mudguard. A fill up with petrol, a final clean and Tim Angus handed over the keys with a handshake. 12.30pm Just one hour to go and I'll be riding off on her. The Touratech front mudguard is next to the front wheel waiting to be fitted.   1:30pm 1.3 miles on the clock and I have got my bike!! The freezing weather meant that my knees were complaining after 30 miles, so I nipped back for some late lunch and a cup of hot coffee. First impressions. Big Grin. This is what I needed. More to come later this evening. 5.30pm 62.8 miles on the clock. Took Pondgirl for a ride up to school so Pondson could see the bike. The bike felt good two up. Don't know who was more impressed when we turned up at school, Pondson or his house master. Big envy being radiated from both parties. Snow flurries meant a quick blast home running the engine up to 6000rpm in the mid gears (Well you need to two up and what's the point of running in when you have a BMW warranty). Pondgirl likes the pillion position. Everyone likes her neat new jacket. A quick run to drop off a DVD at Henley Blockbuster and show the bike off to another friend and here I am warming up with a cup of tea and my new Kink's ultimate collection CD rocking the walls of the house. The bike feels great. It is definately the right choice for me. Carves curves well and has all the power I want (although I cannot wait to cane the redline). Time to lie in a bath and read the riders handbook and plan for my party on Sunday. Life is good. :)
		PS I never leave the house without putting on my Rayban ambermatics. (Something to do with my vampyric sensitivity to sunlight.) These are my third set and are a Pondboy trademark.

Friday 12th March

6.00am Arse!

Overnight thoughts on new bike. Its great. Love the looks, handling, available power, heated grips. It even sounds better than I expected although I still fancy a Remus or Arrow can. The seat is a good shape but on the hard side. Another possibility for replacement. I think I need to soften up the rear shock for my svelte 12 stone, so that should require ooh at least a half days riding to get the best setting. Other than that I could not be happier. My mum even liked it when I rode it down to show her yesterday afternoon. (Someone must have slipped her some happy pills.) Now its time to tidy the house and cook for Sundays party.

Monday 15th March
Cleverly booked to look at a couple of pond cleaning enquiries this morning and I was able to use the bike to get to them. Ended up having to ride past our house on the way back just so I could put 3 more miles on it and break the 200 milestone. Filled the tank to brimming point and reset the mileometer. I am not sure how Coopers filled it before they gave it to me, but the fill up cost £9.68.

At the start of the ride, I slackened off the rear shock preload to the low setting and the bike felt better. I might try reducing the damping stiffness next and see how it feels. The bike is feeling great and I am already thinking of her as my "Mellow Yellow " motor, thanks to Pondgirl giving me The Kinks compilation for my birthday. (Yes, I know its a Donovan song, but its Kinks derivated)

"Mellow Yellow " is a bit naughty about wanting to rev higher than she should at the moment. Those mid gears seem to invite building the revs. :) .

I managed to spend a short time at the Cooper Reading launch on Saturday and got a few pictures of a privateer Paris/Dakar bike. Have a look and play spot the original bits!!

Chris Emerson's privateer Paris/Dakar Dakar. See his amazing story at:- www.dakardiary.com		(Neat trick with the windows Trevor G. :)

PS Just checked all the levels etc. and found the front pressure was 38psi and the rear 40psi. Could explain the harsh ride I was having. I see what it is like next time out.

Tuesday 16th March
Managed to get in a couple of rides today. One to pick up a piece of butyl and another to just enjoy just before the sun set. 70 miles in all and they were great. I managed to get the rear brakes making that happy crunching noise that tells you its not going to spit you off. Well. A double decker bus coming round a tall hedge in a narrow road is enough to make anyone nervous. I stopped with a chuckle and miles of room to spare and wondered just how well the front brakes would really work. Luckily a steepish downhill with a good surface appeared and no cars in sight. I gave the front brake a strong pull at about 35mph and realised there was lot more power than I thought. A couple more goes and I realize a bit more practise is needed before I get the best out of them.

Just after that, I spooked a Red Kite out of an overhanging tree and it swooped down the road about 15 ft in front of me before barrel rolling out over the fields. Now that is a trick to learn.

The ride is much better now the tyres have sensible pressures in them. For the next ride I will have the rear damping backed right off to match the springing. Sounds like another good reason to go out for a ride.

I checked with Cooper Reading who the Dakar bike rider was and they told me all about Chris Emerson. I did not have time to speak to him at the launch, but spent some time looking at his website about his adventure. www.dakardiary.com Serious respect. :)

Wednesday 17th March
I finished a pond clean early enough to use up the last hour of good sun riding round the slower lanes. Another 35 miles of fun. Lots of mid gear work and 2nd gear corners. I still need to get more comfortable with the slow speed work. The ride way a great improvement with the damping back right off. I could feel a lot of rear wheel travel without it feeling floaty or bottoming. I'll keep like this for a while and see if I need to stiffen things up when I can go a bit faster. At the moment I feel like I am always on the overrun trying to keep the revs down. Sigh.

Friday 19th March

Ok, so this entry is stretching it a bit. Still, I managed to clean a medium sized pond in 4 hours between showers and felt I deserved a few more miles on "Mel", as I desperately want to get some mileage on the clock so I can get my first service in. A quick run up to Oxford then back via Nettlebed, Stockenchurch, Stonor (One of my favourites)Henley and home again. Until Nettlebed, it was all 60mph and try not to overtake anyone. Nearly succeeded. After Nettlebed, B roads rule and it was all playing with the gears and power through the corners."Mel" definately wants to be given a few more revs through those corners. The ride felt great again. Just what I had been looking for. Even the seat felt OK after nearly 1 1/2 hours. Another 64 miles today. 378 miles total. (177 since last fill up and still no light.) Lets see if we can crack a few more miles tomorrow.

Saturday & Sunday 20th-21st. March

The weather was pretty awful today with high gusting winds that made stability more of an issue than speed. Twice I got stopped by fallen trees and once had a near miss after the car in front made an emergency swerve round a tree trunk sticking half way into the left lane. Missed it. :) Just...

A sleeting rain swept in occassionally, although I seemed to miss the worst of it. I managed a round delivery trip for Mothers Day cards that totalled about 34 miles due to the slightly circuitous route that was taken. In the afternoon, I went on another run up to Oxford. Stopping at M&P to pick up a Scottoiler before riding on up to show the bike to my sister, her husband (who runs Ercol Furniture) and their youngest (who is a dab hand with the bagpipes). Much admiration of "Mel", a present to courier to my mum and I'm off down the B roads to Watlington and then Stonor and Henley. My first full top up to top tankful ran to 11.06 litres in 186 miles. Not bad, but you know it won't last. Had to overtake a superbike on Saturday cos it couldn't even do 50mph. 530 total miles and counting.

Monday 22nd March

Woke up expecting another rainstorm and found a bright and sunny morning. Ohhh. A cuppa and I was off. Another 46 sunny if cold miles.

576 total mileage and counting.

Tuesday 23rd March

Managed to put a few more early morning miles to check the nursery. A 20 mile round trip that took about 40 minutes including the time at the nursery.

596 miles and counting.

Wednesday 24th March

Took her down to Cooper Reading for the 600 mile service. Arrived on the forcourt with 600 miles showing. :)

Thursday 25th March

Had to leave Mellow Yellow at the dealers overnight as I had to take our son back to school. He is in a play that I will be watching this evening, so no riding today. Anyway Mel' seemed fine on her return. Nice and clean, running sweetly. Just need to get a few more miles onboard and keep on working on my riding technique. Maybe tomorrow. 605 miles & counting.