The Edinburgh Festival ‘Fringe’ is on at the moment, so in an attempt to escape this very busy city, somewhere between seeing Hardeep Singh Kohli’s ‘Nearly Naked Chef’ & Frank Skinner’s ‘Credit Crunch Caberet’ I left home before dawn yesterday heading west with all speed in order to catch the first ferry of the day from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

I made it with minutes to spare and so began my day’s ‘proper’ riding through Argyll & Bute.

Bute is a very small island to the west of the mainland, nestled between North Ayrshire & the Kintyre peninsular.

The  CalMac ferry arrived in the principal town, Rothesay a little over thirty minutes after setting off from the Wemyss Bay terminal and minutes later I was heading south along the coast road intending to explore the extremities of Bute before heading to the north and the much smaller ferry linking Rhubodach and Colintraive back on the mainland.

These are roads I’ve never travelled before and making the most of the experience I headed south east from Colintraive until I ran out of road at Coustonn on the western shore of Loch Striven.

It doesn’t seem to matter how remote one travels, there always seems to be evidence if the current global economic downturn and Loch Striven is no different where shipping giant Maersk have rafted four of their huge container ships because there is no work for them, much to the annoyance of local residents.

Retracing my steps, I continue north past Colintraive along the shores of Loch Riddon until I stop at the viewpoint at Tighnabruaich where the views across the Kyles of Bute are nothing short of breath-taking.

I’d never ridden the coast road north from Millhouse via Otter Ferry & Strachur, on the east side of Loch Fyne, to Glen Kinglas and although this is a stunning area with great biking roads an hour or so of low cloud and drizzle reduced visibility enough to make photograph’s useless.

Once back on better roads Inveraray, Crianlarich, Crieff & Glen Devon pass quickly as I head homewards reflecting on the outstanding beauty of this area of Scotland and how fortunate I am to have it all so close to home.

With over 300 miles covered today this was a truly great trip around Argyll & Bute with a healthy slice of Perthshire thrown in for good measure.

Today’s images may be found here.

Since installing Wunderlich bar risers when the RT was new I’ve noticed that a significant area of the original equipment rear-view mirrors on the fairing are occupied by my forearms, rear panniers and the edge of the topcase.

Hitherto a less obstructed rear mirror view has been obtained by moving my head  a little more which is not always practical or indeed safe.

I recently fitted a pair of auxiliary mirrors, originally fitted as original equipment on the 2002 BMW K1200RS.

Made of high impact plastic these mirrors fit into the vacant holes in the RT switchgear and are moulded to accommodate the shape of the switch casing perfectly. They certainly look as if they were made for the ‘bike!

Although a little expensive, they are easy to fit and provide an uninterrupted rear view slightly outboard of the OE mirrors. A downside may be that the twin mounting arm slightly obstructs the OE mirror which is thus relegated to a secondary rear view mirror.

The degree of obstruction will vary according to rider height & the fitting/omission of bar risers but for me  they are a much welcome addition to the ‘bikes safety equipment, especially as bar mounted mirrors provide useful views at oblique junctions etc, which fairing mounted ones cannot match.

The addition of these mirrors does not foul the edge of the OE screen in any postion while handlebars turned to either lock.

Images of my installation may be found here.

BMW parts required:

1 x 51.16.7.653.773 (Left Mirror)

1 x 51.16.7.653.774 (Right Mirror)

2 x 51.16.2.328.287 (Nut)

2 x 51.16.2.309.607 (Wave Washer)

Total cost from UK BMW Motorrad dealers:£107.53 inc VAT

SOLD!

Somebody once said, ‘If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it…..’

Never has that saying been more true than in the case of my recent experiment with a low seat on my 16 month old R1200RT.

Given that it’s predecessor was a R1200GS (with standard height seat) the lower standard seat of the RT was a most welcome change and in it’s lowest position enabled me to ALMOST plant my feet flat on the ground therefore giving me much better control maneuvering.

Over a year passed with the new RT without a hint of  a problem with the standard seat so illogically I decided to acquire a low seat to try out.

My local dealer didn’t have one for me to borrow so I quickly found a brand new one on a well known auction website.

It arrived quickly but nearly three months went by before I had a chance to try it out.

Less than 100 miles later it was clear to me that although very comfortable in the seating area I was TOO close to the ground and my knees were bent just that extra bit to make riding any distance not as comfortable.

I’m 5′9″ tall with a 29″ inside leg measurement and after all this it’s now proven that the standard seat suits me just fine!

Therefore the barely used heated low seat acquired for this evaluation is now for sale on eBay.

BMW motorcycle owners are about to have a new BMW-customized navigator at their fingertips. Garmin have joined with BMW to announce the next generation BMW Motorrad Navigator, the Navigator IV. This portable GPS device is based on Garmin’s zumo 660, but it has customized features specific to the BMW such as a customized four-button mount, unique Bluetooth capabilities and preloaded BMW dealers. This is the fourth generation BMW Motorrad Navigator product, and the previous version, the Navigator III, was based on the StreetPilot 2820.

The BMW Motorrad Navigator IV is a top-of-the-line Garmin navigator designed exclusively for BMW motorcycles. Ready to go right out of the box, it has everything a rider could need. The portable, 4.3-inch navigator has a bright touchscreen display that is glove-friendly and comes preloaded with detailed street maps with millions of points of interest that include locations like restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, hotels and specific street addresses.

After the rider selects a destination, the system calculates the best route and gives turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions to the final destination. This feature can also work with a compatible Bluetooth enabled helmet or headset. The BMW Motorrad Navigator IV’s stereo (A2DP) Bluetooth wireless technology makes it possible for riders to pair their phone to a Bluetooth enabled helmet or handset so that they can safely talk on the phone or listen to MP3’s without having to remove their gloves or helmet.

More images may be found here.

PDF manual for BMW Motorrad Navigator IV may be found here.