BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hi,at the moment I have a 03 R1150R,thinking of changing to the R1200R,
I like my bike but,the main problem is the surging in traffic it really annoys me
I have had the valves and thottle bodies done at my BMW dealer,it was ok for a while but it now seems to be getting worse.(only done 3,000 miles)

Anyway my question is does the R1200R suffer from the same problem?
I find the R1150R very comfortable and it handles well,but its not the quickest bike out there.
With 30 more BHP and a lot lighter the 1200 should be a lot more powerful and smoother.
Is it?

Cheers Bob

Anyway my question is does the R1200R suffer from the [surging in traffic]?

To a small extent, mine does ... but then, this is generally true of most bikes built in the last decade or so, as EPA requirements have forced manufacturers to leaner and leaner burns.

At this point, I generally don't notice it on a regular basis, however.

I find the R1150R very comfortable and it handles well,but its not the quickest bike out there.
With 30 more BHP and a lot lighter the 1200 should be a lot more powerful and smoother.
Is it?

Oh, yeah.

My smiling local friendly dealer uses R1150Rs as loaners, so I get to ride one of them back-to-back with the R1200R.

Really, you need to test-ride the 1200 to appreciate the difference. They feel completely different. In a blind test, I don't think I'd have even said they were in the same series of machines. The 1200's handling is *much* quicker, as is the acceleration. On the downside, it feels buzzier to me at highway speeds - not much, but a little more, as if the 1150R leans a little more towards a touring role, and the 1200 more towards a canyon-carver role. As I said, though, it's not enough of a difference to make the R12 unsuitable for touring; it's just my perception.

Good roads,

- Lewellen

finsally wrote:Hi,at the moment I have a 03 R1150R,thinking of changing to the R1200R,
I like my bike but,the main problem is the surging in traffic it really annoys me
I have had the valves and thottle bodies done at my BMW dealer,it was ok for a while but it now seems to be getting worse.(only done 3,000 miles)

Anyway my question is does the R1200R suffer from the same problem?

Nothing like the R1150R did.. I've never really noticed any "surge" on the 1200 engine. It's very easy to creep along in traffic at < 10MPH with this bike. Not so with my '04 R1150RS..

I find the R1150R very comfortable and it handles well,but its not the quickest bike out there.
With 30 more BHP and a lot lighter the 1200 should be a lot more powerful and smoother.
Is it?

Cheers Bob

It's quicker and lighter and smoother. Just take one for a test ride..

Where I live in North-east England its difficult to get a test ride locally the bmw dealer never has had the R1200R in his showroom as far as I know.

The bike does not have I big following over here.unlike the 1200gs, they are ten a penny in the U.K

thanks for your help

Cheers Bob

If you don't want a whole new bike and it's just the surging that annoys you, try the techlusion. It worked for me. I think I noticed one surge in my 4 days of owning the R1200R, that's one surge. Not bad.

I've put 35K miles on a a 2007 R12R and drive it every day on the job in San Francisco traffic. Zero surging. Ever. End of story.

It took me about a week to get used to the throttle response which was much more sensitive to wrist movement than my previous Honda ST1100. After that, no problems.

ShinySideUp wrote:Zero surging. Ever. End of story.

+1
The rider's emotions can frequently surge though, but we like that...

Two thumbs up for my R12R!! I almost purchased a very low mileage R1150R, my friend told me it would surge and it did. I believe there is a fix for it but I really enjoy my 1200, great bike I can't say enough about it..

deilenberger wrote:...It's quicker and lighter and smoother. Just take one for a test ride..

By all means go take a test ride. Ignore my signature line. I'm a lawyer. Trust me on this...


CoolAid ?


Oh... one other thing Bob: The RR can carry the same luggage as the RT, so touring is very easy to accomplish. Think of it as an "RT-Lite".

finsally wrote: The bike does not have I big following over here.unlike the 1200gs, they are ten a penny in the U.K

That's strange since the R would seem to be more optimal for that environment than the GS. The power of "Long Way 'Round/Down" I guess.

I only did a short demo ride on a GS and found it the most comfortable bike I'd ever been on but--and I realize this is entirely subjective--I also found it fugly. And all that fuel up high takes away the wonderful balance of the R.

Bob,
BMW finally has the efi dialed in on the R12000R. I had an '02 RT, and it's surge was very annoying to me at low speed. It was ok on the open road in 5th and 6th. My '07 R does not surge at all. So nice. The throttle is sensitive and some may mistake that for surge, I like the precision of the throttle myself. Good luck.

Back when Max BMW was giving service loaners they gave me a brand new, as in 11 miles on it, R1200GS for the day the service took. I live about 50 miles away, 40 or so highway and the rest back roads. I didn't ride it around at all, just home and back. I didn't care for it. Handlebars are wider than I like, center of gravity higher than I'd like, heavier than I'd prefer. Probably other factors that I can't articulate. I test rode the Roadster around the same time and liked it a lot better. Still do at 12000 miles since January. Plus the Roadster seems to be a bit less prone to some of the problems the R1200's have, possibly due to the steeper angle of the driveshaft on the GS and the location/orientation of the fuel pump assembly. And the Roadster's lighter weight and taller gearing.

Dave

This is probably a question I should already know the answer to: Can the R1200R be dyno-tuned?

peckhammer wrote:This is probably a question I should already know the answer to: Can the R1200R be dyno-tuned?

Sure!
Pretty much any bike can be put on a dyno, as an aid toward better tuning.
I just had mine done...

TT RDHS wrote:

peckhammer wrote:This is probably a question I should already know the answer to: Can the R1200R be dyno-tuned?

Sure!
Pretty much any bike can be put on a dyno, as an aid toward better tuning.
I just had mine done...

What was adjusted? (AFAIK, it pretty much requires either aftermarket software, or something like a Techlusion to make any real changes..)

deilenberger wrote:

TT RDHS wrote:

peckhammer wrote:This is probably a question I should already know the answer to: Can the R1200R be dyno-tuned?

Sure!
Pretty much any bike can be put on a dyno, as an aid toward better tuning.
I just had mine done...

What was adjusted? (AFAIK, it pretty much requires either aftermarket software, or something like a Techlusion to make any real changes..)

The base run (before any changes) showed 98.66 hp & 74.94 ft-lbs.
After the installing a Staintune (full system) , PC III (Power Commander), and tuning (using the stock air-filter & w/o the db killer)...
The final run showed 106.57 hp & 81.26 ft-lbs.
The run conditions were - 110.54 F, 28.31in-Hg, Humidity: 9%, SAE: 1.09
Done on a DYNOJET RESEARCH dyno at GO AZ Motorcycles, in Scottsdale Az.
The tuning was done by Mark Ladesma.

I wish you could have added these upgrades in steps so that we could be what caused the most HP gain.
I do appriciate your report though.

Mark

celticus wrote:I wish you could have added these upgrades in steps so that we could be what caused the most HP gain.
I do appriciate your report though.

Mark

There are not too many steps here.
You need the PC III to do the tuning...
The only additional item is the exhaust system. The same results could probably be had with just a "slip on". But I just wanted to be rid of the extra weight of the "cat".
I chose the Staintune because of it's somewhat stock appearance. Also, It's not very loud, even without the db killer installed.

P.S. I suppose the only step I left out would have been putting the bike on the dyno with the new exhaust system and NO tuning...
But dyno time cost money$$$, and I knew I wanted to have it re-mapped.
There certainly will be some gains to be had with just an exhaust (and no re mapping).
But having a re-map (getting it tuned) will realize the most gains.

What color do the Staintune pipes turn? Prettier than the stock brown?

Mark