Welcome New Members (and old) - Introduce Yourself!

[PV]

Hello, all you bikers.

I am proud owner of a r1150r since 2003. I had a honda VFR before this one but high maintenance expences and thirsty caracter made me decide to look for something else, I think becaus of my age I like naked bikes most and since I saw the introduction pics of the roadster I fell in love.
The first ride made me decide to change the smooth idle from the V4 for the boxer.
So far no regrets, however I had to get used to;
-oil consumption, which decreases at this moment
-noise, of valves?
But in return I love the high torque, bike control, cornering.

My age is 42, I live in Vlaardingen a town nearby Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
I am married to Esther for almost 20 years and have a daugther Anouk of 18 years old and a son (who doesn't like bikes at all) Dennis age 14.

My occupation is Quality Assurance Manager for 4 years and therfor also pretty critical about everything I buy.

I visit this message board because I want to know everything about my beemer your beemers in order to make it more personal.

Hope to communicate with all of you

[danopgh]

Hi everyone! I, too have been 'lurking' for a few months. I finally joined last week, but i have to see if Doug got my payment.

I bought my (silver) '04 R in jan, and took the MSF in march (in snow!). Still learning; have about 3500mi on it.
I am a physician (pulm/crit care) with one child and a demented ex-wife
I play guitar when i can. ('83 les paul custom; '97 strat).
i'll apologize in advance for the many questions i'll ask in the future--def. not a 'tech-head' unfortunately.

[Guest]

Howdy,
I'm Lee and bought my R1150R six days ago. It's an 02 and it has 1,300 total miles on it (soon to increase). I've been riding since 1970 and have owned a quite a few bikes, both European and Japanese. I bought my first BMW ( 85 K100RS) about 5 years ago and was immediately impressed by the quality and handling of the beemer. Since buying that first K100RS, I have added an 81 R100RS, a 92 R100GS and the 02 R1150R to the stable. I also have a 88 Kawasaki ZX10 project bike underway. I am rebuilding it after a friend T-Boned a deer with it.
The R1150R appears to be, in the stort time I've been able to ride it, the most well balanced bike I have ever owned. I'm looking forward to putting many miles on it. Its first tour will be to southern Utah to the canyon lands and Highway 12 in September. Your R1150R discussion forum is terrific and I learn more about my new roadster each time I log in. Many thanks to all who contribute.
Lee...

[dumby]

Hi everybody, I'm Gary and I just joined up (yet another Quality Engineer riding a Beemer). This is the best site I've found so far on R1150 and Rocksters. I've been reading and following the threads for a couple of days now and I'm happy to've found this group.
-Picked up some good pointers about the bike + it's a good crowd-
Currently I have an '04 Rockster and a 1978 R100/7 (I met her in '83 and we'll never part!). I got the modern bike when the Rocksters came out They were offering free swiss army knives if you took a test ride. Naturally, I ended up with a $10,000 pocketknife - naturally! But, so far the Rock's proved to be the perfect tool for munching up canyons along the Colorado front range where I live.
Thinking about canyon riding, does anybody know why gravel patches ALWAYS follow the perfect line through the curves? Is it asphalt devils again?
"It's only weather, let's ride."

[tor1150r]

Hey all,
My name is Lorne and I'm from Toronto. Married to a great woman who loves riding pillion with me (man am I lucky!). I have a son who lives in Europe and rides with me on his summer visits to Toronto. I'm 43 and in my 3rd season of riding. First bike was an 02 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 (purchased new in April 03). Loved the bike and after discovering how much I enjoy riding and touring I decided to move up to an 04 RR in July 04. Used this board as a guest for months. Found the members to be great. Helpful and entertaining. I've learned a great deal here, so joined as a member last month. Well worth it!

[Blaster229]

Hi gang. ( no pun intended )

Just bought my '04 R in July. Man, what can I say, these things are just like tattoos, once you get the first, you want another.
Im 38 from Glen Burnie, Md and of course got it from Bob's, right down the road from me. Im a Federal type employee and have used this rascal for the 64 mile commute to Northern Va. The site has been very informative for this novice and I hope to learn something new everytime I read the years of experience on here.
Oh, mine is the fastest color of course...... b.. bl....blaaackkkkkkkkk. lol

[RonBomb]

My handle is RonBomb. It was given to me by a girl’s father in 1970 after I pulled up to her house on a Honda 150, my first bike. The girl and the family have remained life-long friends. I took her father for a ride that day and he eventually went out and got his own motorcycle.

From there I went to a Honda 350, and then a new Honda 450. In 1972 I took off and traveled across country on the 450, spending the summer near Laguna Beach, CA and returning home after 6 months with 19,000 miles on the bike and experiences that have lasted a lifetime, one highlight being working on a ranch in Chambers, Nebraska as a cowboy for several weeks.

The following spring I took the engine out, tore it apart, and replaced just about every moving part in it: cams, cam chain, cam followers, valves, piston rings, crankshaft, wrist pins, etc. Out of that experience was born the desire to get a bike with a lot more longevity and reliability, and BMW was the ticket.

When I graduated from college 2 years later, I had a romantic notion of making my avocation my vocation, and selling motorcycles for a living. I thought that if I could get a job with BMW, I might be able to get one. I had just read the book, What Color Is Your Parachute, and set up an informational interview with the head of Butler & Smith, the importers at that time. I arrived on time and was escorted into the office of an elderly-looking German man. He was tall and lanky with a bald head and a pot belly. I gave him my spiel for about 5 minutes. When I was done, he looked me in the eye and said in a thick German accent, “Vee daunt knormaly hi-ah kollij-trained peopul for zees posishhuns.” I didn’t have enough savvy at the time to counter him, so I didn’t end up in the motorcycle industry or getting a BMW until many years later.

I sold my last bike, a mid-70’s Yamaha 500 with a Vetter fairing, in 1981 after falling in love with a doctor’s daughter and needing cash to keep the relationship going. The relationship failed, but I finished graduate school with an MBA from Rutgers and went to work for Campbells Soup Co. I eventually married the girl of my dreams and had five kids, who currently range in age from 10 –16.

I remained bikeless until June of 2002, when I purchased my black R (had to be black – I’m a traditionalist!) from Cherry Hill BMW. Got the system cases and put on a Parabellum touring windshield, 650 handguards (they fit a lot easier than the GS’s), GS mirrors, and tall seat. Also got the backrest and top bag from Pirates Lair. Last year I installed the Techlusion device to smooth out the low end. Its not a perfect solution and there is still some roughness from 2000-3500 rpm. My next improvement will be a Sargent seat, or a custom modification of the tall seat.

I’ve enjoyed the bike and rejoining the camaraderie of the motorcycle community. Like many of you, I was initially enthralled with the R, but over time have been disappointed by its longstanding quirks and expensive maintenance. I currently have 19,500 miles on it.

My other pursuits are Kitchen gardening, Cajun/Creole cooking (for which I grow my own ingredients), ocean kayacking, fresh and salt water fishing, guns, and of course, my wife and kids.

RonBomb

[L E E]

Hello Board, I'm L E E (as someone took Lee and then decided to not post every ) and I am presently betweeeen bikes right now, having low-sided my '02 VFR800Fi and cosmetically caused a write-off.

I am going to test an R1150R and then buy a Rockster, most likely. It's the colours and the lack of chain that's selling it to me

I know Taipan and Riceburner from visordown.com; they'll know me as Swiss Toni .... what a crap name

I might have a few questions before and after my purchase; I do hope that's OK.

PS: My wife wants an F650 CS. Should I allow this?

[shelion]

Since I've already posted a few times on the board, might as well introduce myself. Name is Cheree (the handle is she_lion, as in female lion- I'm a Leo and damn proud of it!) and I currently work in an independent motorcycle shop. We work on American V-Twins and build customs. I handle all the parts. I've been riding for close to two years and have an '04 Rockster in lime green, and an '03 Honda Shadow Ace, which is my first bike. I loved riding until I bought my Rockster. Now I really, really love riding. Matter of fact, I get downright cranky if I go too many days on four wheels instead of two.

I s'pose that takes care of most of it.

[Variance]

After a year of reading, learning and enjoying everything this community has to offer, I'm finally signing up.

After hearing my whining for a year, my wife finally broke down and I bought a new 04 Blackster in July 04. My very first bike. I'd ridden a little before but never had a license. Buying my bike was one of the most satisfying experiences ever.

I've recently joined a new employer and thusly changed the length on my commute. From 3min to 55min, one way. A definite increase in riding pleasure.

I look forward to contributing my (albeit thin, but) self gained knowledge and some witty banter.

[PhillyScott]

I joined this message board about a month ago, when I first became interested in the R1150R. I have posted a couple of times, but have mostly been reading the posts and learning about the bike. Anyway, this is my "formal" introduction to the list, as I am now an official owner of a 2004 BMW R1150 Rockster. I purchased it this Monday past at Hermy's BMW in Port Clinton, PA. In addition to the Rockster, I own a Moto Guzzi 1000 S and a Triumph Bonneville Thruxton.

http://philadelphiariders.com/gallery/v ... &id=1000_S

http://philadelphiariders.com/gallery/v ... uxtonBlack

My name is Scott, age 43 and I live in Philadelphia, PA. I am married and have 4 children (Scott-22, Bryan-21, Breanna-14, Sasha-13). I'm really looking forward to putting some miles on my new BMW and doing some "two-up" touring with my wife Alicia.

A couple of my friends and me founded Philadelphia Riders, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts and riders of European motorcycles.

http://www.philadelphiariders.com

I really enjoy the people and information on this message board and hope to run in to some of you on the road or at some Rallies in the near future!

[owenbe]

I am new to BMW Motorcycling and just wanted to say hello. The sad thing is that I worked for BMW NA and BMW MC for 7 years and never took advantage of the Motorcycle lease program...even sadder is that for 2.5 of those years I was over the Company vehicle program at BMW MC in SC.

I purchased an R1150R last week and am absolutely thrilled with the ride experience. I looked at BMW, the Ducati Multistrada, and the V-Strom. After sitting on the R1150R, I knew there was no way I would be able to purchase anything else. I also felt a strong degree of loyalty to a company that had been so great to work for.

I am 44, married and have 2 daughters. I now work as a Region Manager for Airstream (the silver trailers), live in Cookeville, TN and will look for every possible reason to ride my R1150R. My wife is already amazed at how many times I volunteer to run down to the grocery store for an item or two. What she does not realize is everytime I go, I "forget" one or two items just so I can ride again.

I look forward to many miles on this most excellent motorcycle.

I also wanted to say that I really appreciate all of the open and honest posts on this board. You are definitely a wealth of information. I always knew the BMW car owners were a fantastic group; I only wish I would have spent more time getting to know the BMW Motorcycle owners as well....better late than never.

Ben

[Doug]

Welcome everyone!

[captainK]

Hi everybody …

Guess it’s my turn to do an intro, given that I’ve been checking out this board since I bought a new Rockster about a month back.

My name’s Mark, although depending on which part of the world we meet in and the circumstances in which we meet, I could also be Captain K, Dave or Chuck Wao. Nothing sinister in all these aliases, it’s just that I’ve spent most of my adult life living, working and riding in Southeast Asia, mainly Thailand – and I’ve earned a few nicknames along the way!

I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 16, which makes it 38 years of riding now. Owned all kinds of bikes over the years … still have the owner’s manual for the first new bike I ever bought, a Yamaha YAS-1 125cc ($400 new!). Went through a bunch of Nortons, Triumphs and Yammie 650 twins, before getting into big Jap bikes – Honda 750, the first of the Yamaha XS1100’s, the original 1100cc Suzuki Katana. Had some dirt bikes too.

Moved to Thailand at the beginning of the 80’s, and bugger me if one of the things I didn’t trip over almost immediately was a little shop that sold all the British bikes in Thailand post-WWII. Khun Sujin and his dad knew the history of every British bike in the country, and still had new parts wrapped up in greasepaper for long forgotten models of AJS, Matchless, BSA, etc. I rebuilt three Triumphs over the years with Sujin’s help – a late 50’s T100, a ’69 Daytona, and a ’72 Bonnie (sadly the shop’s gone now, the site was redeveloped and Sujin took off to his durian farm down south). The Triumphs were well known around all of Bangkok’s bars – as is the very black 1990 R80 Beemer that I’ve been riding for the last decade or so. Bought it off a (very) rich Thai buddy whose wife got pissed off because he owned about thirty exotic cars (Maseratis, Alfas, BMW coupes and the like), she spat the dummy and told him to start unloading his collection. As far as I know the only thing he managed to unload was the bike which he’d bought but never really used (no air-conditioning or stereo!), I got it for virtually nothing and in basically new condition (it’s still mint and original now).

Won’t go into it in any detail now but riding in Thailand is great – a lot of you have probably visited Bangkok or Pattaya or Phuket and thought riding there looked chaotic, but what you probably didn’t know is that because Thailand is one of the world’s largest motorcycle markets and the bike is the foundation of the entire transport system, the law is heavily in favour of the motorcyclist – if you’re driving a car and you’re involved in an accident with a bike, you’re in deep poo and chances are you'll be doing your explaining from behind bars! I actually feel safer riding a bike there than driving a car, and I’ve ridden from one end of the region to the other over more than two decades – if anybody wants to know more about riding bikes in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, etc.) just ask.

Now I live between Australia and Thailand (folks getting older, kids needing higher education, etc … don’t ask), so I have the R80 in Bangkok and now my nice new Rockster in Sydney – Australia may not be as exciting as Asia, but it sure has some nice roads and great riding weather! Pity everybody rides so slow, the big tough (!) Aussie guys tremble in fear at the sight of the law so there's no 100+ mph crusing here -- but the Rockster's perfect for gliding along sedately at legal speeds.

Sorry to take up so much space, but anyone who has been riding four decades has a few stories to tell! See you around the Rockster and 1150R boards …

[beemerphile]

Hi. I am a soon-to-be R1150R owner from NE Georgia. I have 38 years on bikes with 28 of those on BMW's. There was a five year trip to the dark side in 1991 with an ST1100 Honda. I have been aching for a new technology ride to replace my 120K mile R100RT, but nothing currently made suits me. Despite many warnings on this site, this newbie will probably attempt to create a long-distance touring mount from a 2004 R1150R that I found for sale on this site. I have done difficult transformations before and I think I can swing this one. My '92 RT has some interesting farkles on it including 4-piston Oilhead front brakes and a Heinrich tank. I envision the R1150R with a Hannigan ST fairing, Russell seat, Jesse bags, some kind of fuel cell, and seriously relocated footpegs. Of these, the least clear is the footpeg relo. I have looked at the Suburban Machinery offering, but wonder if anyone has looked at a complete swap of the R1150GS footpegs, control linkages, and mounting brackets? Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do with this thing. The Lord looks out for children and fools and I am certainly no child. best - Lee

[rockster.ch]

Hello Board, I'm L E E<snip>
I know Taipan and Riceburner from visordown.com; <snip>

ok, I've reregistered because I'm fickle and I am collecting my late '05 or early '06 Rockster tomorrow. The silvery colour.

And then I'm collecting the Carver later in the week for wifey.

And I've changed my VD name to Lob Rockster. Effectively having Lobbed the VFR down the road, I now Rock. Get on.

[Kevin]

Hi, all!

I just bought a used '02 R (black) this weekend and have put over 200 miles on it in less than 3 days. Not a record, I'm sure, but I loved every inch of the trip (despite the less than warm temps [hurray for heated hand grips!!]), and hope to at least improve on that number ten fold before the year ends. I have been riding a '98 Kaw Vulcan 500 for 1.5 yrs - my first introduction to motorcycling- and had been looking to upgrade all summer. (I took a short hiatus from riding after dumping my Kaw late at night on a twisty that it just wasn't built to take, try as I did to make it, but couldn't wait any longer to find a replacement handlebar, so I put the bent one back on and have been riding as is.) I have had my heart set on the R's since the new BMW shop opened up a few miles from me this summer and I saw it sitting on the showroom floor. When I came across this deal, I knew it was meant for me. The bike had less than 6K miles on it, and many extras, for a very resonable price. Now, after riding it all weekend, I find it was an insanely reasonable price.

I have a question that the seller was unable to confidently answer: there is a black canister on the right side of the bike underneath the luggage rack with tubes running under the seat and an overflow tube pointing down to the ground. What is it? He thought it was a part of the emissions control system, but I don't see it on any pics of bikes without the luggage rack. Someone please help the newbie!!

Peace,
Kevin

[BobFV1]

Kevin - Welcome.

Search function works well - take a look at this thread for a cannister overview.

http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?t ... =cannister

Ride safe.

[Kevin]

Ahhhh...


Thanks, Bob. Very helpful.



Kevin

[silvertitan]

Been looking for a site like this for a while. I bought My Titan Silver '04 R1150R, in August of '03. I love this machine with all my being. I graduated from a R65, '79 model. It was a good bike but I was ready for something a little bigger. I ride as much as I can, usually back and forth to KAXE, I am a volunteer DJ on a community radio station KAXE 91.7 fm in No. Minnesota. KAXE.org for the web listeners,check it out. Today was a cold day but with diesel prices at $3.30 per gallon,it's still a no brainer to ride the bike, it's 90 miles one way to the station from My driveway. My other vehicle is a diesel and as long as there is no snow or ice on the road I'll ride. I tried some ATV handlebar gauntlets today and they worked very well,the max temp today was 38 degrees f, 26 when I left this morning. I have 2, 100 watt lights mounted on My Hepco-Becker engine gaurds and I'm wondering if anyone has experienced any electrical problems when loading the system this much? The specs say 700 watt 3 phase alternator that works out to 58.3 amps @12 vdc. Thanks for the cool web site.