Here she is... BEAUTIFUL..!!

congrats i got my 1299s on tuesday put a couple hundred miles on it she's everything i wanted and more!

Pictures damnit! Pictures!! I can't pick mine up til 4 this afternoon!

Congrats!! Looks Great!!

Just took my first ride. I am AMAZED at the quality of the quickshifter, coming from my old 1000RR

80shilling said:

They did all that work for free. Best dealership I have ever dealt with, they try hard to satisfy their customers and are a part of the community.

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I was afraid that you would say that. My dealer wanted significantly more than "free."

Yea that dealership was (is) the best bike, any of any brand, dealership I have ever dealt with. It was called Hattar Motosports when I bought my Monster and subsequent Triumph Daytona 675 from them. They even delivered the bike to my house in San Francisco (SoMA). Ask them to open a place in San Diego lol!!!

She is all mine. First ride 70 miles Home.

Well.... I am not a Man who has trouble expressing himself usually, but this is difficult.

This is the best bike I have ever ridden and by a LONG way.

I put 387 miles on the 1299 today and I would have done more, but I ran into a wall of rain just north of Mendocino.

First, the quickshifter. Its flawless in my opinion. Beautifully light action, completely positive both up and down.. All day, I tried to make it hiccup, but it didn't miss a beat. I freaking love that thing and quite frankly don't know how I lived without it all these years. Its brilliant and is the best gearbox I have ever experienced.. ( you're going to hear that a LOT today ). The downshifts are perfect every time and you can bang them down pretty quickly. I have spent my whole life perfecting my clutchless upshifts and my perfectly timed "blip" downshifts and I'm quite sad that both on the up and the down, this gearbox/computer is better than I am.

The brakes are extremely good; I will wait until I get to the track before final judgement, but close to perfection again. Not too powerful, progressive, plenty of feel at the lever and immense stopping power.

Suspension. I ran it in track mode just to get a baseline. The dealership set the sag and it felt pretty much right there. Again, I will tune it at the track and see if I can make it better, but it's hard to know how that can happen, given how good this suspension is. A caveat; I am coming from a BMW S1000RR with Sachs suspension with stock springs, but I also have a Daytona 675R with the exact same suspension hardware or close to it.

I have never had more confidence in the corners on any bike, even with just one day of riding under my belt, the 1299 just RAILS through everything. Mid corner speed is outrageous and I was riding roads I have ridden over 70 times and carrying more speed with ease than I ever have before and the bike didn't seem to be even trying hard yet.

The engine... Utterly preposterous! My dealer said to run one tank of gas through the bike before riding it like I usually would, so that's what I did. HOLY CR@P!! The low end and midrange are berserk. I was running with traction control set at 2 and DWC set at 2 also and BLOODY HELL that thing is quick... A dyno could reveal the 1299 might nor be the power King, but the on the road performance through the entire rev range is utterly stunning... The bike is a total animal when you give it full throttle and for the first 50 miles it kinda intimidated me (the first time that's happened to me with a bike), until I realized that the bike had it all under control. This thing wheelies at will anywhere from 4,000 rpm on up. Seriously, it's like getting smacked in the behind by Thor's hammer or something..

So... After a long day getting to know her, it's been an unqualified success. I will think more about the experience overnight and post a few more thoughts. If any of you have questions, fire away and I'll try to answer them.

Sexy !!!

I'm drooling. I seriously can't wait. Especially reading a review like that, coming from a serious competitor bike. Of course to each their own, but I have this sneaking suspicion I'll be on the same page. Either way, the journey is what it's all about.

I've been considering ordering those same CF levers for mine. They look great.

Great review, but come on are you serious you can get it to lift at 4k rpm?... only bike that has done it for me was my 1098 streetfighter s. That's awesome to hear if it's true that they got so much bottom end out of it.

Whoopazz said:

Great review, but come on are you serious you can get it to lift at 4k rpm?... only bike that has done it for me was my 1098 streetfighter s. That's awesome to hear if it's true that they got so much bottom end out of it.

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in the 4-5 range in second and third, it hits pretty ferociously in race mode, with DWC at 2.

That pic with the 1299 by the ocean is stunning!

Handling/chassis

Turn-in is really quick and easy; the BMW required muscling it down, even when I ran the rear eccentric adjuster in the high position and it wasn't as eager to turn. It goes exactly where you point it, no understeer or oversteer. It goes down at exactly the rate you want it to.. It doesn't fall into the corner too fast like some bikes do.

As I said previously, mid-corner is fabulous.. Stable, stays on line, doesn't get upset by mid corner bumps, just generally carves.

On corner exit, you can get on the gas pretty early and it doesn't stand the bike up and so you don't really have to wrestle it back down to finish the corner.. It also means that it doesn't run wide on corner exit.

The bike transitions side to side really well... Flickable, stable, doesn't need to be muscled.. It reminds me a lot of the 675R in its feeling of lightness and "chuckability"

FUELING:
It's spot-on. I was planning on a rapid bike module, or a custom tune.. No need.. It really is good. Not one time during the whole ride did I ever feel like the fueling was anything other than right... No lurching, bucking, no flat spots.

TRACTION CONTROL/ABS:
I ran it in DTC 2 and 3 all day and when the DTC came on it was smooth and unobtrusive. Again, compared to my 2011 BMW S100RR, the traction control is far smoother, less abrupt and generally does what it should do very well. I never got the ABS to come on, despite braking HARD into some corners and also hauling the bike down from 150 plus on a couple of occasions.

HEAT:
The underseat heat was pretty damn good. I barely noticed it all day and only when I was stopped in traffic for a few minutes. Even then, about on par with my Daytona 675R with its under tail exhaust. The bike seems to run nice and cool.. It tended to be in the 165 - 180 degree range at anything above walking speeds, it hit 214 when I had to sit at a roadworks for 5 minutes with the engine running.

COMFORT:
I have done this exact same trip 8 or 9 times on my BMW, so I have a reference point. The seat on the 1299 is pretty neutral.. On the BMW it shoved big Jim and the twins hard into the tank, because it was so sloped forwards. At the end of the day, I was sore, as usual for that long a ride (with only a 20 minute break before turning around at Mendocino) but less sore than I have been in the past.
So, not exactly a cushy cruiser, but more than comfortable enough for a long day on the roads if you are in remotely good shape

ERGONOMICS:
Seems very similar to the BMW, a bit better than the 675R. Maybe less of a reach to the bars? The tank is less obtrusive.. On the BMW the tank got in the way of leaning forward, on the 1299, it doesn't.

McLaren12C said:

Just took my first ride. I am AMAZED at the quality of the quickshifter, coming from my old 1000RR

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Me too.. It's so light, positive and fast ..

Great review. What are you getting to a take of gas for miles? Can you get 120 out of it?

80shilling said:

COMFORT:
I have done this exact same trip 8 or 9 times on my BMW, so I have a reference point. The seat on the 1299 is pretty neutral.. On the BMW it shoved big Jim and the twins hard into the tank, because it was so sloped forwards. At the end of the day, I was sore, as usual for that long a ride (with only a 20 minute break before turning around at Mendocino) but less sore than I have been in the past.
So, not exactly a cushy cruiser, but more than comfortable enough for a long day on the roads if you are in remotely good shape

ERGONOMICS:
Seems very similar to the BMW, a bit better than the 675R. Maybe less of a reach to the bars? The tank is less obtrusive.. On the BMW the tank got in the way of leaning forward, on the 1299, it doesn't.

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Really appreciate the detailed feedback.

Well, kind of......you are making me wish mine was here even worse.



Question on comfort/ergos, how tall are you (im 6'2")?

The BMW was built using the 2005 GSX-R1000 as a platform...and those ergos are very similar, if not identical. I had a 2006 Gix 1k (same as the '05) and loved it.

In other words, if you are saying the ergos on the 1299 are better than the BMW, then from that I can ascertain it will be just fine for me.

Whoopazz said:

Great review. What are you getting to a take of gas for miles? Can you get 120 out of it?

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My mileage on the first tank was abysmal.. I was worried and I almost ran out of gas, but as I put the miles on it, it got far better and by the time I came home, I was averaging 34 mpg and I wasn't taking it easy. I suspect 120 miles on a tank is eminently doable with a bit of restraint.

Chaotic said:

Really appreciate the detailed feedback.

Well, kind of......you are making me wish mine was here even worse.



Question on comfort/ergos, how tall are you (im 6'2")?

The BMW was built using the 2005 GSX-R1000 as a platform...and those ergos are very similar, if not identical. I had a 2006 Gix 1k (same as the '05) and loved it.

In other words, if you are saying the ergos on the 1299 are better than the BMW, then from that I can ascertain it will be just fine for me.

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i am 5'11, so you're taller, but I think the Ergos are a tad better on the 1299 and by that I mean marginally.