There are many good, clean used bikes on dealers showroom floors all over SA at the moment. If you are not in the market for something new, you are literally spoiled for choice. We called the folks at Fourways Motorrad to see if they had anything on offer.
By Garth Taylor and Glenn Foley
Wandering into the busy BMW Dealership, you are assaulted with a selection of gleaming pre-owned beauties on the floor. They come in all shapes, brands and sizes – and all seem to be in great, showroom condition. Des, the Dealers Sales Manager had selected a pristine BMW F900XR for our lot to sample.
This was a good choice, because Garth had not yet ridden one – and very often, a fresh perspective is exactly what is required.
This bike is a 2022 model with a quickshifter and is in perfect condition.
We took a ride from the shop to recce our Mzansi Gyppo Work Tuesday route. More on that right here.
This bike has a main stand and a quickshifter. Noice!
It was a seriously chilled afternoon ride from the hustle that is Fourways out along some of the Cradle roads, Broederstroom on past the ADA facility onto the satellite road and back again. It’s a lekker 90 odd kilometre head clearer, with some great roads.
It’s quite amazing how we can be out in the countryside from one of our busiest centres in just a few very quick minutes.
The F900XR is just one of those bikes that are made for every day. It’s comfortable, well appointed and more than quick enough for SA’s road networks. When the bike was first launched, we went across and rode the wheels off the entire 900 range, came back and wrote the story. That was met with mixed reactions because, perhaps we talked the bike up just a bit. Often you need to compare apples with apples so to speak. This is another one of those times when you do a story on a bike as it is.
Garth had never ridden one before and he was very impressed.
He says:
You know why I like this bike so much? It’s comfortable, predictable and handles beautifully. In ‘Dynamic Pro’, the smooth power delivery through the quickshifter is absolutely perfect for what I’d need. It’s really comfortable for commuting, and I’d be completely happy to take off for the weekend and go touring. The bike has a quality feel to it, it’s agile and just a pleasure to ride.
Running through the corners out here, it’s really good fun, goes where you point it. The Brembo brakes are excellent and the suspension is more than up to the tasks that we threw at her. I played with the windscreen, that’s a very simple adjustment. I played with the TFT display, it’s like an X-Box, the wonder wheel works wonders and I’m amazed at the amount of info that you get flooded with.
Other features include two riding modes and a colour TFT display that includes phone connectivity. You also get a multifunction switchgear, ASC, ABS, grab handles for the passenger, and LED headlights. This one has a quickshifter, which every modern motorcycle should have…
What more can we say? We know that the bike is economical for a machine in this class. With the F900 XR, BMW built a great all rounder for all kinds of riding.
This BMW F900 XR is Priced at R169000.
It’s a 2022 with just less than 12000 KM’s on the clock.
