A call in the week from @Towner92, occasionally of this parish, and a complete failure to arrange a test ride for myself meant I spent a pleasant few hours trekking around Yorkshire with my Sprint GT on Saturday while he tried on a BMW F 900 XR for size.
Mr T, as absolutely no one calls him, had organised a test ride from Vertu (formerly Allan Jeffries) Motorrad in Shipley. Unlike most of our planned days out, this time we were blessed with dry weather and acceptable temperatures. Could this be the start of Spring?! Probably not.
Had I been a bit quicker off the mark Iād quite like to have tried a S1000R (Iāve ridden the S1000RR - itās brilliant) or even a GS, just to see if I could work out why theyāre so popular. By Friday, when I called, it was too late. Not that I was particularly bothered because it meant I could take the Sprint for only its second run since I got it home. Winter and work have been cruel mistresses.
A fairly cool start to the day was pacified courtesy of a thermal and a couple of thin layers beneath the Alpinestars textiles plus my favourite summer gloves. Heated grips only became necessary on the way home.
Yorkshire is, as many here know, a beautiful part of the world for the riding of motorcycles. Bradford however is not. The cityās name derives from a combination of āfordā, meaning a watery hazard, and āBradā, which is a pit.
Weād set off a bit later than planned (my fault) so there was no time to find a more pleasant, circuitous route to Shipley. At least motorcycles are exempt from the clean air zone tax.
It was my first visit to this particular BMW emporium. Itās a large place, bigger than the one in Rotherham, and packed with a wide variety of desirable motorcycles, And some GSās.
I mooched about while Paul sorted out the paperwork. āNo, sir. Thatās the horn. This is the button to summon your valet.ā
Over at the trade-in section there was a rather fine looking Street Triple in silver. It was so shiny it took me a minute to realise how old it must be with the round headlights. A quick peek around the back revealed a 2010 plate. My own 2008 edition suddenly seemed rather tatty.
With everything signed, inspected, and the crash course in BMWās controls complete, we struck out towards Keighley and onward to the Route 59 biker cafe. First time there for me this year; first time ever for my co-rider. Predictably, the reasonable weather had brought a decent crowd in search of tea and bacon rolls.
As a side note, I was using Apple Maps as the satnav and it has the wrong location for the cafe. Itās a few miles further down the A59 and not up a side road.
Sipping coffee from mugs (mugs - thatās how you know itās a bikerās cafe) and mulling over the merits of the Bee-Em, it soon became clear that it was no Tiger 900 or Multistrada, both of which heās already tried. Hardly surprising - the XR is not really competing with those stallions. But is a damn sight cheaper. This is how prolonged motorcycle coversations beginā¦
ā¦but I wonāt bore you with it. Assuming youāve made it even this far. Suffice to say, the German is a decent bike; easy to like but not necessarily one you would love.
Not one but two Sprints rocked up separately in front of us at Route 59. One was an ST version, the other the blue twin of my own. I prefer the red. Neither rider arrived with any friends. I hope this is not an omen.
With a deadline of one-of-the-clock to have the XR back we took off over Ilkley for the return legā¦ One of these days Iāll stop with my camera and try to do justice to the scenery up there.
So, was the test ride a success for BMW? Almost. The jury is still out.
. That Street Triple looks like itās in great condition.
