Ethel or Mavis - that is the question

Today took Ethel, K75C, for a chilly run to the National Motorcycle
Museum for a trade show. Not having ridden her for a while I had
forgotten what a joy she is to ride. Everything worked, toasty heated
grips + new Goretex suit ( e bay police 1 piece riot suit for £30 ! )
was brilliant.
By comparison to Mavis, K1100LT, Ethel is a real lightweight. Easy to
trundle about and none of the stubborn, ponderous oversteer that Mavis
has when pressing on in corners. Ethel is like riding a 250 by
comparison.She has plenty of grunt if not the whumph that Mavis has.
I suppose the biggest thing is that you feel involved in what is going
on with Ethel whilst Mavis is all silky getting the job done.
Let's face it. Ethel and i have shared 20000 enjoyable miles together
and all the bits and pieces I have done to her have made her my bike.
Mavis is a package in her own right - you gets what you sees. She is a
really nice bike but is just not growing on me as what she does is not
WOW like the K1300GT with its monster 164 bhp. Yup she will hum along
at 100 mph everywhere but just does everyrthing in a thorough BMW car
type of way.
Ethel is a quirky oddball
Anyway, decision time, Mavis is going to go and Ethel is the keeper of the two.
At least today..............

Modest Mavis 1997 K1100LT

Here is Ethel's big sister Mavis. Just put injector cleaner in a full tank and zipped out for a ride - she looks to be running clean when warm now. Also set mixture screw to correct base setting midweek and this was 1st chance to try her out. Runs very nicely. If the smoky running can be fixed then its just down to some electrical finishing, heated grips, hazards, radio ! and some cosmetics and she will be a fully sorted stunner.
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The little Bros 400 I had

Great little bike - chipped it and it revved to the moon
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My mate Patch - the nutty boy

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Grandad doing something very silly in front of Grandson

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Leon Haslam's fan club at Silverstone WSB 2010

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Ethel loaded up with ridiculous humunga bag full of camping gear waiting for the Heysham ferry to load

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Home at the Manx GP in the Khyam Biker Tent - great, loved it !

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Stunning view out over Douglas bay from Windy Corner
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Fellow Gabfester Lynton holds the red flag as Junior MGP race stopped
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TT hero Nick Jefferies at Windy Corner Manx GP 2010 after Junior race red flagged telling previously happy rider that his suspension settings are crap !
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Anthea marshalling at Ballagaray Manx GP 2010 just before the start of the first race
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Ethel's new big sister

Today was the first ride on the recently acquired K1100LT " Modest Mavis ". She is a 1997 SE model on 59k miles with colour matched BMW luggage and has had a recent ground up rebuild. Starting her up a couple of times has produced belching smoke from the exhaust and a garden full of smoke. Investigation showed oil level ok but coolant expansion tank all but empty at cold.The addition of 3/4 litre of 40/60 antifreeze/boiled water followed by an oil change gave a smokeless start with just a whisper of moisture from the exhaust. Pumped up the tyres, gave the bike a once over for anything loose - ready to rock ! Immediate first impression is that the bike is easier to put on/off the centre stand than Ethel and the big bars help when moving it about to park.The motor revs up really quickly but also pulls strongly when short shifting. Leaving the 30 limit the bike jumps straight up to 80 in the time I am used to Ethel getting to 60. Mindful of the previous smoky exhaust a stop to check and rev showed all clear. On the twisties the bike is a heavy lump to realign mid corner - normal BMW rules apply, make your mind up and stick to it. On to dual carriageway and let it rev out in first 3 gears then short shift to top for effortless 100mph cruising. The advantage I was looking for was roll on acceleration from 85-90 to nip past gaggles of traffic joining a motorway so dropped back and then wound it full on in 5th. Great, instant 3 figure speed. This ride was in blustery drizzle so I was pleased to find myself sitting in a dry bubble behind the giant fairing and able to look over the screen but with the windblast going over my head. The very slab sided fairing is a sail in cross winds so care needed. Not so impressed with the view from the car type mirrors but noticed tapped mirror stanchion holes on the levers so may fit these - one mirror has a cracked glass needing an expensive replacent anyway so a pair of stalk mirrors would not cost much more. Next up is working out how to fit the top box plus wiring in the Tom Tom.Also the heated grip wires exit the handlebars but disappear down below somewhere, there is no switch so it could be a case of checking the wiring and fitting the switch to get them working. Would also like hazards but no switch for this either. So far so good then. A nice quick bike but it somehow misses the smooth oddball charm of Ethel.
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