After it's first service (£27 including fitting Sat Nav) I set off for Ireland from where I write this post. I have done the journey twice before - both times on an R1150GS. Now the GS is a great bike so the new wee had a lot to live up to - did it disappoint? Heck no - it was just fantastic. Slightly outperformed by the Beemer in the handling (only very slightly) but in every other way every bit as good and so much more economical (about 30% better mpg).
Anyway 500 miles in a day isn't a bad first outing and I was delighted with the performance. The engine is amazing for it's capacity with plenty of go for fast overtaking and cruising at 90mph (I'm guessing here of course because that is much faster than I ever go of course - legal waiver). I had previously read reports about engine vibration -
- load of tosh. For a twin it's beautifully smooth and sounds just great in the upper register.
My comments about the handling are not a criticism - it's just that the GS is just about unbeatable on fast bumpy mountain roads such as you find on the west coast here. On normal roads the Wee is as good as me any day and I accidentally (Sat Nav syndrome) found one very nice little deserted roundabout leading to an industrial estate where I happily did multiple laps gradually grinding bits off the side of my boots - great fun.
If anyone is thinking about a trip over here then just do it - well worth the £90 ferry fare with brilliant roads and loads of nice B&Bs - oh and petrol about £1 / litre.
