BMW RT

[raclow]

OrangevaleFJR:

I'm with you on the price of the RT. Too much for what you get v. the FJR.

And once you do one oil change on the RT you will be glad you own an FJR.

Also, Valve Adjustment every 6,000 miles. Expensive.

FJR is MUCH easier on the pocket book when it comes to maintenance.

MHO

 

[DN325Ci]

I demo'ed an R1200RT two or three weeks ago, with intention to possibly buy. The bike feels enormous and top heavy. The vibration from the 2 cylinder boxer was unbelievably bad. I really thought it was not running properly, but the very experienced salesman swore it was typical. In order to control the vibration, the engine appears to be soft mounted, so there is all kinds of engine movement, wind-up and torqueing even when revving at a standstill. All the wind-up made managing the throttle mid-turn a real challenge.

The braking power was strong, but the bike darn near threw me. There is about 1 mm of front lever travel between the start of disc engagement and full-on panic braking. Fortunately the salesman had warned me in advance.

Best part of the bike is the ergos - very comfortable, but tall.

This brand new 2005 model had the radio/CD and ESA options, and stickered at almost $21K. They were closing out the leftover '05s, and were willing to sell it for $17.7K.

The bike felt so clumsy that I couldn't wait to return it. I have NO IDEA how BMW sells bikes such as this for $17K - what a POS. And I'm not brand biased to be sure. My current daily driver is a 2004 BMW 3-series.

Don

 

[Fencer]

Rode the 1200RT
Bought the FJR...

And the LT and 1200s and 05 GT

happy with the FJR