Last year, I parted with my beloved ST1300A9. 75,000 miles on the clock, well maintained. I bought a Spyder RTL - a trike, and gave my ST1300 to my brother. The reason for this drastic course of action was because it bit me. Putting it up on its centre stand at the end of an excellent day of riding, it gave two loud cracks and a shudder. I thought that the centre stand bracket casting had snapped. Until I got the jolt of pain. My calf muscle had snapped. That was 15 months ago.
6 months later, it was MOT time. The first ride since that incident. It was OK - until I came to lift my foot off the pegs when I came to a stop. I couldn't do it - not easily anyway. The problem was that my other muscles had not had a great deal to do and had lost all of their strength. It passed the MOT, and rode it back - but this time before needing to stop, I had my foot on the very edge of the footrest. Supporting the bike was not a problem. Lifting my leg off the pegs was.
The trike was an experiment. I got to learn how to ride it - thought it would be easy having ridden sidecar combinations for the first 6 years of my motorcyling life. Not so. It tilts right and left at every slight change in camber. It feels as though it is about to tip over, and the natural countersteer reaction kicks and that is exactly the wrong thing to do. So it is a learning process. It took me 800 miles to get to terms with it. We took it on tour for 7 days around the north of England and Scottish Borders. That was good. It rained, but the weather protection is superb - much better than the Pan (Pan Europen = ST1300). But I was on motorways at 70mph, overtaking large truck and braving the bow wave blowing off the front of the cab, overtaking on the other side of the road where the road camber tilts you to the right rath than the left. I was no lnger a complete novice. It was fun.
But the sensation from the back was not so good. When going round bends, there is a bit of leeway - like sailing a yacht - the rudder, relies on the centre board, but there is still a fair amount of sideways drift. The Spyder relies on the rear tyre to make the bike turn, and the rear tyre isn't a fixed point - so each turn has a kind of weird drift to it which makes the bike skew slightly. I could feel it and got used to it. My pillion could feel it and was getting sea sick, having to hold on to the grab rails and being thrown left and right as I took each bend. This isn't manic bravado on my part. I was taking corners much slower than I would in a car. She was missing the leaning around bends and the ability to gain extra view by riding the outside of the bends. So did we want to keep it for more such holidays ? No we were not keen. So we sold it, and decided to find a low mileage ST1300 - A8, A9 or AE - I didn't mind (those are the only three models released after the A6 in the UK - the ones with the modified front brakes and different ECU). The AE's are like hens teeth.
You can see that old story here.
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This is a first for me. A second Hand ST1300. My first two ST1100s were 2nd hand, but my two ST1300s - an A6 (2007) and an A9 (2013) were both brand new and I put over 70,000 miles on each. But - my rule of thumb was to buy 2nd hand model - clean, low mileage - from a show room.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well - I know what I am getting into. I know that there are going to be issues with a low mileage ST1300. At the very least, it is going to be 12 years old, and I factored in such things as brake components, forks, tyres, corrosion etc.
But this looked pristine. Here it is in the showroom.
6,400 miles on the clock.
ST1300 A8.
I could have bought three of these for what I got for the Spyder.
I checked the obvious - they would fit a new rear tyre. I wanted two T33s - I'd pay for the front, if they would do the rear. Ok.
I checked the forks - the exposed shiny part of the stanchion for oil and pock marks. It was clear. Tyres were a bit worn, rear in particular.
Everything else looked and felt Ok. HISS worked, FI light went out. I checked the light after holding it at 4,000 for 12 secs. I did the SMC check.
I couldn't check that the ABS light went out after it had started moving. But I bought it anyway. The trike was collected last week. The ST1300 was delivered the following day.
--- And now the fun begins, and I'll relay each part of the progress as it happens (or shortly after).
6 months later, it was MOT time. The first ride since that incident. It was OK - until I came to lift my foot off the pegs when I came to a stop. I couldn't do it - not easily anyway. The problem was that my other muscles had not had a great deal to do and had lost all of their strength. It passed the MOT, and rode it back - but this time before needing to stop, I had my foot on the very edge of the footrest. Supporting the bike was not a problem. Lifting my leg off the pegs was.
But the sensation from the back was not so good. When going round bends, there is a bit of leeway - like sailing a yacht - the rudder, relies on the centre board, but there is still a fair amount of sideways drift. The Spyder relies on the rear tyre to make the bike turn, and the rear tyre isn't a fixed point - so each turn has a kind of weird drift to it which makes the bike skew slightly. I could feel it and got used to it. My pillion could feel it and was getting sea sick, having to hold on to the grab rails and being thrown left and right as I took each bend. This isn't manic bravado on my part. I was taking corners much slower than I would in a car. She was missing the leaning around bends and the ability to gain extra view by riding the outside of the bends. So did we want to keep it for more such holidays ? No we were not keen. So we sold it, and decided to find a low mileage ST1300 - A8, A9 or AE - I didn't mind (those are the only three models released after the A6 in the UK - the ones with the modified front brakes and different ECU). The AE's are like hens teeth.
You can see that old story here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a first for me. A second Hand ST1300. My first two ST1100s were 2nd hand, but my two ST1300s - an A6 (2007) and an A9 (2013) were both brand new and I put over 70,000 miles on each. But - my rule of thumb was to buy 2nd hand model - clean, low mileage - from a show room. What could possibly go wrong?
Well - I know what I am getting into. I know that there are going to be issues with a low mileage ST1300. At the very least, it is going to be 12 years old, and I factored in such things as brake components, forks, tyres, corrosion etc.
But this looked pristine. Here it is in the showroom.
6,400 miles on the clock.
ST1300 A8.
I could have bought three of these for what I got for the Spyder.
I checked the obvious - they would fit a new rear tyre. I wanted two T33s - I'd pay for the front, if they would do the rear. Ok.
I checked the forks - the exposed shiny part of the stanchion for oil and pock marks. It was clear. Tyres were a bit worn, rear in particular.
Everything else looked and felt Ok. HISS worked, FI light went out. I checked the light after holding it at 4,000 for 12 secs. I did the SMC check.
I couldn't check that the ABS light went out after it had started moving. But I bought it anyway. The trike was collected last week. The ST1300 was delivered the following day.
--- And now the fun begins, and I'll relay each part of the progress as it happens (or shortly after).
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