Hi Guys and Gals
I've been off bikes for a fair few years and decided to take an early retirement and get a bike as part of that. I've had some of the classics from the past - who has not had an RD350LC
or a CBR1000 
and I just had to spend a decade with the big boy from the era that was all about the legendary ZZR1100 
There are loads dotted in between those, but it gets boring listing bikes, so I bought another one to ride rather than talk about the ones I'd had, life's not over yet.
So this took my fancy, (picture below) as everyone will know it's an R1200GS (TE I think?) 2015 with sat. nav. and full luggage.
I have never ridden one of these, and didn't even try this out, I pick it up in a couple of weeks when it's been serviced and gone through the workshop for anything that needs done. My rational is:
a: I don't have any bike gear yet!
b: I can ride pretty much anything
c: After a 170mph rocket with a tuned engine and almost 150bhp I know it's going to take some getting used to, but I'm determined to "downsize" (read that as I just know I'm getting older
)
So not being a total idiot I thought it wise to join this forum to pick the brains of those who have made mistakes before me and learned from those, becoming all the wiser for it. I've still got to sort clothing - going to J&S near Chester on Thursday to kit out both myself and the wife - so brands you respect or avoid would be a good pointer both for helmets and clothing. I also need to sort out insurance - again advice readily received. All the rest of the things can wait till after I've put a couple of thousand miles on her and got to know what I like and dislike before I go changing anything.
I expect to use this for light touring in the UK, odd days out etc. I'll even try and find a local club around the Wigan/St Helens area - GS or otherwise, but TBH I used to do a lot of Rally's and have kind of grown out of them - probably 100+ with bad toilets does that to you, or at least it did to me! A B&B sounds far more civilised now
I don't see me going back through Europe any time soon, been there, done that, albeit a good few years back, but who knows where it will all lead
I'll contribute where I can and look forward to meeting some of you over the next year or so, in the mean time - ride safely.
James
I've been off bikes for a fair few years and decided to take an early retirement and get a bike as part of that. I've had some of the classics from the past - who has not had an RD350LC
or a CBR1000 and I just had to spend a decade with the big boy from the era that was all about the legendary ZZR1100 There are loads dotted in between those, but it gets boring listing bikes, so I bought another one to ride rather than talk about the ones I'd had, life's not over yet.So this took my fancy, (picture below) as everyone will know it's an R1200GS (TE I think?) 2015 with sat. nav. and full luggage.
I have never ridden one of these, and didn't even try this out, I pick it up in a couple of weeks when it's been serviced and gone through the workshop for anything that needs done. My rational is:
a: I don't have any bike gear yet!
b: I can ride pretty much anything
c: After a 170mph rocket with a tuned engine and almost 150bhp I know it's going to take some getting used to, but I'm determined to "downsize" (read that as I just know I'm getting older
)So not being a total idiot I thought it wise to join this forum to pick the brains of those who have made mistakes before me and learned from those, becoming all the wiser for it. I've still got to sort clothing - going to J&S near Chester on Thursday to kit out both myself and the wife - so brands you respect or avoid would be a good pointer both for helmets and clothing. I also need to sort out insurance - again advice readily received. All the rest of the things can wait till after I've put a couple of thousand miles on her and got to know what I like and dislike before I go changing anything.
I expect to use this for light touring in the UK, odd days out etc. I'll even try and find a local club around the Wigan/St Helens area - GS or otherwise, but TBH I used to do a lot of Rally's and have kind of grown out of them - probably 100+ with bad toilets does that to you, or at least it did to me! A B&B sounds far more civilised now
I don't see me going back through Europe any time soon, been there, done that, albeit a good few years back, but who knows where it will all lead I'll contribute where I can and look forward to meeting some of you over the next year or so, in the mean time - ride safely.
James
Nice introduction. 
