test ride and review of BMW S1000XR and R1200RS compared to FZS 600 Foxeye :-)

[Val]

Did you try the quickshifters on either bike ! The XR shifter is the business up n down shifts with auto blipper, the RS shifter is not as good and takes some time to dial in.

The esa suspension on the XR is shite it only has 2 setting road and dynamic,  road is to harsh and kicks off every bump and dynamic is even stiffer. The Rs has several esa settings, so your able to find a setting that suits plus it has a soft option.

Vibes ! You don't mention the vibes in the bars on the XR in someways it follows the gen1 trait with engine vibes.

However it wasn't for me, vibes-harsh suspension-lots of cheap looking black plastics, it's fast really really fast and the engine loves to rev but it's only when it's 7k upwards you understand this bike and it wants to rev like that all the time. I realised I wouldn't be able to live easily with this bike for touring etc @ 70 mph it's @ 6500rpm, like you pointed out it pulls in any gear from standstill, it's geared all wrong in my opinion, so what did I do ! i sold it privately after 80 miles.

I brought this instead.

Your Ducati looks stunning  :thumbup

How do you compare the steering with the XR? What about the seat and the position again compared to the XR?

The sales guy has asked about the quickshifters after the ride so I did not tried them. Actually I kind of liked the stiff suspension and the lack of diving and stability of it. I can live with that and the bumps. The same with the vibes and the fact that XR is happy to stay in high revs. In fact I was more happy to stay in 5th on the dual gariageway over 7k than to shift up in 6th. The fact is I am not a touring guy so for commuting and ocasional blast XR suits me perfect.

What I am not sure I like is too high seating position. 

Next on my test list is GSX-S1000FA and MT-09 Tracer.

I may try Multistrada and Caponord as well, and Tiger 800 with MV Agusta Veloce 800 maybe?