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The rest of the good kit is very good. Mirrors distinguish Skoda from squad car at all revs; the headlight melts Shellgrip (but needs adjusting with even the most undernourished of passengers); the console is a bit placcy but ergonomically pure; the panniers only leak a tiny trickle; and the toolkit, bulb kit, puncture kit...everyone knows about that stuff. Tragically, though, road salt rubbished the alloys almost overnight. At 900 miles, a bike that hadn't even been launched to the public it was so new, looked a hard year old. And it wouldn't tickover anymore. Nor would it start in the mornings, not since Bruntingthorpe's test strip where an [[BMW R80GS|R80GS]] also went rough and dozens of [[:Category:Japanese motorcycles|japanese bikes]] in between didn't. | The rest of the good kit is very good. Mirrors distinguish Skoda from squad car at all revs; the headlight melts Shellgrip (but needs adjusting with even the most undernourished of passengers); the console is a bit placcy but ergonomically pure; the panniers only leak a tiny trickle; and the toolkit, bulb kit, puncture kit...everyone knows about that stuff. Tragically, though, road salt rubbished the alloys almost overnight. At 900 miles, a bike that hadn't even been launched to the public it was so new, looked a hard year old. And it wouldn't tickover anymore. Nor would it start in the mornings, not since Bruntingthorpe's test strip where an [[BMW R80GS|R80GS]] also went rough and dozens of [[:Category:Japanese motorcycles|japanese bikes]] in between didn't. | ||
So there's a bundle of unanswered question marks there, but the fundamentals I'm sure of. Best boxer? Yes. Prefer it to a Kl? Yes. Good value? Yes, relatively speaking. Would I swap it for two packs of something more normal? Yes, but ask me the same question this time next decade when I'm older and wiser and BMW has had a rethink about its keys, switchgear, controls, side-stand and finish. When BMWs are a little less different.<ref>''Bike Magazine'' | So there's a bundle of unanswered question marks there, but the fundamentals I'm sure of. Best boxer? Yes. Prefer it to a Kl? Yes. Good value? Yes, relatively speaking. Would I swap it for two packs of something more normal? Yes, but ask me the same question this time next decade when I'm older and wiser and BMW has had a rethink about its keys, switchgear, controls, side-stand and finish. When BMWs are a little less different.<ref>''Bike Magazine'' 1992</ref> | ||