What did you do to your Blackwing today?

[strohw]

Finally decided to move into an actual touring bike. After some test rides I narrowed it down to the Versys se lt+. Should have one by the end of the week.

 

[CaddyTrack]

I'm trading my 4BW in for my wife to get a 2024 Cadillac XT4 and in the next 18 months I will either get another 4BW or a Porsche Macan GTS as a daily.... For now I will be stuck driving my old trusty Honda Civic..

Or you could make the garage queen happy. . . It's already got a chipped tooth. Quit staring at the 5 and Let 'er Fucking Ride! Best advice you'll ever be given in your life. You bought a car to ........DRIVE IT! DO IT, Steve.

 

[668LT4]

I'm trading my 4BW in for my wife to get a 2024 Cadillac XT4 and in the next 18 months I will either get another 4BW or a Porsche Macan GTS as a daily.... For now I will be stuck driving my old trusty Honda Civic..

If you like your 4 more than your 5, why not sell the latter? You don't drive it much, are you keeping only for collectibility? No judgement here, just curious as to the answer.

Also thinking of a 2024 XT4 for my wife.

 

[668LT4]

I may be out too but we'll see. This has been the worst car I've owned in regards to issues. I have a rattle/clunk in the front end that started around 21k miles and I'm about to hit 26k. They had it for 14 days total trying to diagnose it. They replaced one of the struts which didn't fix it but are out of ideas. Went over everything with the service manager and they are suppose to get in touch with GM today to start the process to have an engineer come out.

Maybe everything will work out or maybe I'll be moving into a manual M3 sooner than I thought. I got rid of my motorcycle and plan on getting something newer this week. So the new bike fun is keeping the annoyance of this at bay a bit.

Sorry your 4 is not proving reliable :-(

As someone who briefly owned a loaded 2022 M4 Comp xD, and thoroughly test drove a manual 21 M3, you will be giving up a ton of driving character going from a Blackwing to a BMW. Those cars are beyond sterile. But you do gain a nicer interior (so long as it is not a new model with the widescreen TV, those are so bad I can't believe "enthusiast" drivers buy them). Just depends on your preference. My M4 felt incredibly solid, but had a headliner rattle at about 800 miles. I left it alone as I knew I was selling it, but it was a real pisser.

 

[Tall Steve]

If you like your 4 more than your 5, why not sell the latter? You don't drive it much, are you keeping only for collectibility? No judgement here, just curious as to the answer.

Also thinking of a 2024 XT4 for my wife.

I really love my 5BW and plan on keeping it for a long time... I don't drive it much because I don't want some idiot hitting it... Dallas roads and drivers are bad!

My wife really likes the refresh XT4 so she gets what's she wants... I told her she could have a Macan but she did not want to spend that much money for a work vehicle for her...She said I could just get it for myself if I wanted...

 

[Tall Steve]

Or you could make the garage queen happy. . . It's already got a chipped tooth. Quit staring at the 5 and Let 'er Fucking Ride! Best advice you'll ever be given in your life. You bought a car to ........DRIVE IT! DO IT, Steve.

I do drive her....... I like to savor my time with her!

 

[rubberduck]

I really love my 5BW and plan on keeping it for a long time... I don't drive it much because I don't want some idiot hitting it... Dallas roads and drivers are bad!

My wife really likes the refresh XT4 so she gets what's she wants... I told her she could have a Macan but she did not want to spend that much money for a work vehicle for her...She said I could just get it for myself if I wanted...

But with the amount of time it’s in the garage you’re more likely to lose it by a house fire than an accident. I sure hope you have a fire suppression system at your house.

 

[dribs15]

Or you could make the garage queen happy. . . It's already got a chipped tooth. Quit staring at the 5 and Let 'er Fucking Ride! Best advice you'll ever be given in your life. You bought a car to ........DRIVE IT! DO IT, Steve.

 

[Tall Steve]

But with the amount of time it’s in the garage you’re more likely to lose it by a house fire than an accident. I sure hope you have a fire suppression system at your house.

Oh lord, please don't say that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[668LT4]

I really love my 5BW and plan on keeping it for a long time... I don't drive it much because I don't want some idiot hitting it... Dallas roads and drivers are bad!

My wife really likes the refresh XT4 so she gets what's she wants... I told her she could have a Macan but she did not want to spend that much money for a work vehicle for her...She said I could just get it for myself if I wanted...

Driving these days is a disaster everywhere. I feel road rage has decreased some as everyone is distracted on their phones. But everyone is distracted on their phones and fender benders are always in abundance.

Gotta be vigilant while driving. At least the Blackwings offer an incredible amount of accident avoidance

And I hope you keep that magic red numbered edition 5 forever. That is destined to be an all timer!

 

[Barstoolman1127]

M

I'm trading my 4BW in for my wife to get a 2024 Cadillac XT4 and in the next 18 months I will either get another 4BW or a Porsche Macan GTS as a daily.... For now I will be stuck driving my old trusty Honda Civic..

Macan GTS…… an extremely impressive vehicle. For an SUV/crossover drives as close to a sports car as possible. Amazing!

 

[strohw]

M

Macan GTS…… an extremely impressive vehicle. For an SUV/crossover drives as close to a sports car as possible. Amazing!

I won't disagree with you on the handling even but the line up doesn't make sense anymore. They dumped the Turbo and put the GTS in its place. Instead of being $70-72k, it's now $88.5k starting. The S that use to be $60-61k is now $73k and it does not come with any of the features the old GTS use to get. The entire line up got a $10k price hike in the last 2 years.

The GTS was great because for $80k you got all the handling options standard , nicer interior/exterior standard and were able to pick a few options you wanted. Now if you want that same car you're looking at $95k which was old Turbo prices. But the kicker is that you can't even option the new S like the old GTS. They limit choices now on certain exterior and interior items to force you up. If you option just the 3 performance packages that the old GTS got standard on the new S it's a $78k vehicles with nothing else optioned.

This car was already expensive for what it offered and now they erased the value that the old GTS use to have.

 

[bloominguez]

Finally decided to move into an actual touring bike. After some test rides I narrowed it down to the Versys se lt+. Should have one by the end of the week.

Got it, looks good! Appears that Kawi is following the trend, taking the old Ninja 1000 and adding a lot of stuff from the factory that people were adding on their own (personal friend modified her Ninja similarly, with Givi bags, etc.). Suzuki did a similar thing with their GSX-S1000, as I'm sure you know (I happen to be more of a Honda & Suzuki guy than a Kawi guy).

Kawasaki Versys® 1000 LT | Touring Motorcycle | Capable & Ready

The Versys® 1000 LT delivers thrilling adventure with a 1,043cc engine, nimble chassis, and comes equipped with hard saddlebags featuring KQR™ mounts.

www.kawasaki.com

Suzuki Cycles - 2023 GSX-S1000GT+

The GSX-S1000GT+ is a Grand Tourer with sportbike level functionality.

suzukicycles.com

 

[savethemanual]

Finally (after 2k miles) tried no lift shift. It was a bit of hit or miss for me and I am not sure what I did to get it right but when I got it right 2-3 gear was so satisfying along with that unique sound.

I am thinking it’s full throttle shift at 4.5k rpm for 2-3 shift but I could be wrong. In other instances I kept banging against the rev limiter.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Finally (after 2k miles) tried no lift shift. It was a bit of hit or miss for me and I am not sure what I did to get it right but when I got it right 2-3 gear was so satisfying along with that unique sound.

I am thinking it’s full throttle shift at 4.5k rpm for 2-3 shift but I could be wrong. In other instances I kept banging against the rev limiter.

I think it's easier to NLS higher in the RPM band. Try it closer to redline and make sure to keep your foot all the way to the floor. If you back off even a slight amount, it won't do it.

 

[JTugwell]

Finally (after 2k miles) tried no lift shift. It was a bit of hit or miss for me and I am not sure what I did to get it right but when I got it right 2-3 gear was so satisfying along with that unique sound.

I am thinking it’s full throttle shift at 4.5k rpm for 2-3 shift but I could be wrong. In other instances I kept banging against the rev limiter.

I gave up using NLS based on the same experience. Mine was primarily the 1-2 shift, but the risk vs reward is not there for me if the feature is that particular.

 

[BlueBird]

I gave up using NLS based on the same experience. Mine was primarily the 1-2 shift, but the risk vs reward is not there for me if the feature is that particular.

I agree. I think the parameters are foot fully to the floor on the accelerator and over 5K rpm for NLS to be active. I've wound up bouncing off the rev limiter if I'm even a little bit off from full throttle, and even when it did work it I was suspicious of how everything felt. I'll leave the drag racing to the auto Blackwings and stick to enjoying twisties and rowing through the gears I guess. Kind of a shame though because I really enjoy blasting off from stoplights.

 

[savethemanual]

I gave up using NLS based on the same experience. Mine was primarily the 1-2 shift, but the risk vs reward is not there for me if the feature is that particular.

Wait. What’s the risk here?

 

[JTugwell]

Wait. What’s the risk here?

For me, when NLS doesn't activate, I slam against the rev limiter and then dump the clutch into the next gear. It feels terrible, and I would imagine it's not the greatest for the life of the transmission.

 

[668LT4]

For me, when NLS doesn't activate, I slam against the rev limiter and then dump the clutch into the next gear. It feels terrible, and I would imagine it's not the greatest for the life of the transmission.

I have had 0 trouble on my 5. I have really come to enjoy the feature.

I utilized NLS at Spring Mountain every time on the straight away in the 4 I drove. Going back for the 5 later this year and will do the same.