Is the Bmw 1 Series your only car?

[1N4ttro]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Here are the roommates to the cars above. Ducati 848 and Kawasaki ZX-10R

Nice. How do you like the 848? I hear handling is excellent on it. I am in talks to get my friend's friend 848 hopefully the deal goes trough.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by 1N4ttro

Nice. How do you like the 848? I hear handling is excellent on it. I am in talks to get my friend's friend 848 hopefully it deal goes trough.

Take what I say with a grain of salt. I started riding metrics, inline 4s. So I got really used to the parameters around riding an inline 4.

With the bike bone stock, it was for the most part fine. One thing that really bugged me was the front brakes. They're two piece Brembo brakes. I didn't like the amount of initial bite and lever travel. Compared to the brakes on my ZX-10R, I liked the 10R more. To fix this, I swapped out the two piece calipers and installed the monoblocks that come with the 1098/1198. After this mod, I stopped thinking about the brakes.

The riding position is a bit awkward for me. I'm 6'5", so that has a lot to do with things. But I have difficulties maintaining a set position on the bike. The narrow tank makes it difficult to lock in when leaned over in a corner or braking hard. I constantly struggle from sliding forward when I brake hard even with Stomp tank grip pads. With the width of the gas tanks used on inline 4s, I just feel more planted.

The suspension stock is sprung pretty hard with what many say is appropriate for someone weighing about 230lbs. You should definitely give the bike a test ride to make your own determinations. Many people just respring the Showa forks and shock for their body weight and then invest in a better valving. I decided to go a bit overboard with Ohlins 25mm cartridges for the front forks and the TTX rear shock both sprung for my weight. I also had Dan Kyle Racing (where I bought the suspension bits from and they did the spring installs along with the forks) to polish the fork tubes. The bike really corners well now and I really don't have many complaints. I haven't taken it on the track just some spirited riding around the streets. I'm able to make confident line changes while leaned over in corners; usually passing a slower car in a multi lane ramp. Some of the guys with 848 complain the bike doesn't turn in well. I haven't noticed this. The fix is to change the triple tree to have a 30mm offset from the stock 36mm offset. But it's an expensive and labor intensive operation to swap things out.

You'll also have roasted nuts with the undertail exhaust. I added a stick on thermo heat shield in the tail section which helped with the heat. But the biggest change was swapping out the rear cans with slip ons that don't have the catalytic converters. This reduced the heat and weight as well. I went with Akras for my bikes.

The stock rearsets suck. They're pretty slippery and have no grip on them. I went with Acculigns which are no longer produced. The Acculigns have a lot of adjustability but the pegs still don't have the grip I'd like compared to the Attacks I have on my 10R.

The engine power delivery is a bit different from what I expected out of a V-twin. I expected a lot more low end grunt but you still have to rev the engine to get it into the torque band. My 10R seems to have torque anywhere in the rev range.

Overall, it's a fun bike. If you like attention, this bike will give it in spades. It's definitely a different ride. I like the differences it has over an inline 4. Changing out the exhaust makes this bike LOUD. I have Harley guys turning their heads as I roll past them. I can't imagine what a 1098/1198 would sound like with the same exhaust as mine. I do tend to ride my 848 more than my 10R these days.

But for full disclosure, had I ridden an S1000RR prior to buying my 848, I'd have an S1000RR in my garage instead of the 848. I know they're different bikes and different class of superbikes. But the S1000RR just does a lot of things right with factory parts. Would I trade or sell my 848 to get a S1000RR? No. Unless the 848 suffers a catastrophic failure or I really get tired of the bike. I've been lucky to run an S1000RR at the track for a few years. The bike is just amazing. A really balanced package. Rides like a 600 but crank the throttle and you're reminded it's a liter bike that'll put down around 170-180 HP to the wheel. And that power delivery isn't out of control. The traction control works very well. I've had the pleasure of spinning up the rear tire at the track and didn't get freaked out at all. My rear tire of the S1000RR I was using at the track a few weeks ago:

[1N4ttro]

Thanks for taking the time to write your experiences and all the advises. Definitely I want to go try it regardless but you hit some good points I would have never consider or look for. I have always somewhat like bikes but never been crazy about them until I seen the 848. I guess my inexperience with bikes might be the culprit for my 848 lust and disregard for all other bikes. Considering everything you said it seems like the 848 needs a lot of attention/teaks to make it right and for a bike with this name it is a shame that it left the factory like this. Well, I will give it a try and see how it goes but many thanks for your full and complete pointers.

[infinitekidM2C]

It's my only 1 (GET IT?? ONE!?) I had a 4 door merc semi-beater but sold it as i was afraid to have to pay more upkeep costs.

[nachob]

I have a 330i ZHP and Honda CR-V also.

ZHP for carrying kids. CR-V for carrying dog.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by 1N4ttro

Thanks for taking the time to write your experiences and all the advises. Definitely I want to go try it regardless but you hit some good points I would have never consider or look for. I have always somewhat like bikes but never been crazy about them until I seen the 848. I guess my inexperience with bikes might be the culprit for my 848 lust and disregard for all other bikes. Considering everything you said it seems like the 848 needs a lot of attention/teaks to make it right and for a bike with this name it is a shame that it left the factory like this. Well, I will give it a try and see how it goes but many thanks for your full and complete pointers.

I agree the 848/1098/1198 bikes are gorgeous. Had some chick in a car next to me sitting at a light take pictures of my bike and a couple of guys wait for me to pull away from another stoplight so they can hear and see the bike in motion. But these bikes have their quirks. I bought mine new and had a few issues addressed under warranty. The major one was a head gasket failure with the horizontal cylinder. It was tough to catch as it was a small leak. I kept smelling coolant but couldn't figure out from where. I left the bike at the dealer and they were able to finally find the leak. They ran the bike for a while at idle and were about to declare they couldn't find the leak until one of the techs happened to look at the bottom of the engine at the right time. He saw a drop of coolant fall and hit the exhaust which is why I was smelling the coolant as strongly as I was. Extremely small leak. Since then, I've had no issues.

You need to carefully look over the gas tank. The tanks on the superbikes of this vintage used plastic tanks which were susceptible to the Ethanol in US gas. You'll see deformations in the plastic. Ask if the current owner has had the tank replaced under the specific class action lawsuit warranty. The fix by Ducati was to issue new tanks that are a bit shorter to allow for the expansion of the tank. Yep. Same crap material. I had mine Caswell epoxy coated before installing it on the bike.

I have some other pointers which will be more relevant if you actually buy the bike.

[Gregoriovv]

My 135 is a low mileage garage queen. The only time I really drive it is on the track but I do occasionally make a freeway blast every couple weeks or so. In 2015 I landed a killer $150 per month lease on a Scion XB. Yes it's a bit dorky but I love it. It's small on the outside so I can pretty much put it anywhere but the inside has all the room I need for both bikes, gear and whatever else. I just hit 13k miles so it's still basically new. I will probably just buy it out since I know I wouldn't be able to find a 3 year old car with 15k or less on it for what I will owe. I want a Subaru but damn they don't go down in value so the used ones are within $1-2k of a new one .

[YearOneOne]

Originally Posted by lecaf

Do it! You'll appreciate the hydraulic steering!

M2 Both are DDs !

How does one drive both daily? Asking for a friend

[YearOneOne]

14 f150
13 135i
08 aveo so good on gas!

[nacaruh]

Originally Posted by YearOneOne

How does one drive both daily? Asking for a friend

Easy, I drive one to work. When I come back, I'll take the other car to go do my errands

[YearOneOne]

Originally Posted by lecaf

Easy, I drive one to work. When I come back, I'll take the other car to go do my errands

Oh nice so simple!

[BoosTonian]

My two babies

[1N4ttro]

Originally Posted by BoosTonian

My two babies

Nice combo. You too keep the fun going Sun or Snow. Is the S4 tuned?

[BoosTonian]

Originally Posted by 1N4ttro

Nice combo. You too keep the fun going Sun or Snow. Is the S4 tuned?

Rain, snow, sun, got them all covered lol

Keeping the S4 stock. 135 is my project haha

[chrisneitzel]

135is 6 speed is my DD

[Dthltm]

Only motorized vehicle.

[Bama335]

Originally Posted by 1smokehouse

Two in the family... Sold everything else...

Sigh, makes me wish (again) that we didn't turn in the 2012 E88 and still had both!

Maybe next year I'll find another one to replace the Z4

[suspenceful]

Snapped another photo of both of my cars yesterday.

[bmw1racer]

My only car... Daily driver.

[doublevanosrc]

My 135i is my dd, the girlfriend has a E92 328i which I drive from time to time. I thought about leasing something cheap as a daily but the truth is that keeping the mileage low won't stop the depreciation.

[chadillac2000]

Originally Posted by suspenceful

Snapped another photo of both of my cars yesterday.

Can't get enough of that E90. Fun combo of cars.

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While I wouldn't be opposed to the 135i being my only vehicle, I'm glad it isn't.

My DD was a E60 535i (also with an N54) for a good long while, but now the 135i is the DD and added a pig to the driveway.

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by Dthltm

Only motorized vehicle.

What you have a sailboat or something?