New rockster owner with questions and concerns....

[deftone]

Hello, my name is Tony and i recently picked up an 04' R1150R Rockster for some long distance riding this season...i've owned several bikes from different countries and this is the first german(i have had a couple KTMs but that's the closest )...i picked it up from a used bike dealer in WI and of course they told me it has been checked over and everything is great and sea foam was in the tank....got it home (in IL it was pretty cold) and it didn't start....pulled the pugs and they were toasted!!...called the dealer back and apparently the previous owner took the stock exhaust silencer off and was running just an exhaust tip (like a tuner car would have)...so i order new plugs(wow they are costly) and she fires up...it has been getting a little warmer around here so i have been able to get out a little...i've put 50 miles on it so far and here are my concerns...

1-idles very low when it doesn't die
2-back fires a lot especially on decel
3-seems to fall on its face around 3500-5000 rpm
4-is the annoying high pitch whistle noise when braking normal for the ABS
5-is the extra sloppy shifter normal...i actually trimmed the linkage threads a little just to get the lever higher

wondering if maybe it just needs to get through a tank of clean gas or if i need to run some fuel cleaner through the system or take the carb/TB apart and clean them??....I owned a Ducati monster that i took the pipe off and it ran poorly for 80 miles or so while the fuel management system figured out the new air mixture it needed for the new set up then it ran great....wondering if the BMW has a similar system and maybe it is getting used to the stock can back on it??

any help is appreciated....

[Shoggoth]

4-is the annoying high pitch whistle noise when braking normal for the ABS

Hi Tony,

Not sure about your other problems as I am not much of a motorcycle mechanic but the ABS whine is unfortunately normal. I hear tell that you get used to it after a while... I've only had my Rockster for a week so I'm certainly no expert... yet...

Welcome!

[jfslater98]

Welcome aboard, Tony! Did you get a green, orange or white one?

The bike sounds like it needs some attention in the Throttle Body balancing area. If you don't have a twinmax, or something similar, you can build a manometer with not too much of an investment. For sure the idle needs to be raised. Might also be a good idea to check/adjust the valves.

I too ran mine without a "silencer" for a while. It was only $8, and like everything cheap, it fell off after a couple years. So I put the muffler back on. I might go back to the tip, not sure. The muffler now has an exhaust leak, so if I can't fix that, for sure it's coming off.

Anyway, I also remember a flat spot when I took the muffler off. It did seem to rev a bit more quickly though, maybe my imagination.

Not sure what to tell you about the shifter. Don't know if I would describe it as sloppy. Some call it "agricultural". It's definitely not Japanese. A certain technique is required to shift nicely, it's been discussed in the 1150R board here a good bit.

Hope that helped, good luck!

[Roxster]

+1 on jfslater's comments.

A TB sync fixes all sorts of issues. Do a search in the forums for "how-to" help. I would recommend going back to the dealer if you were not so inclined to attempt yourself, but sounds like they missed a few things when you picked it up.

Welcome to the board.