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

Hey everyone,

My name is John, been lurking for a while and decided to register. So far the site is great with lots of info on the R1200R. I am from south central PA just 30 minutes north of Baltimore. I am getting back into riding after a 2 year hiatus following the birth of my daughter and I am looking at either the R1200R or the RT, but I am leaning towards the R.

I found a bike on Craigslist and set up a test ride for tomorrow afternoon. I owned an LT about 8 years ago, so I am somewhat familiar with BMW's but I was wondering if there is anything else I need to look for or look out for in particular.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time on the forum and learning from you all.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Here is the bike:

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/2976255100.html

Hello John and welcome to the board. My immediate thought when looking at the ad is that it doesn't have ABS which is a great feature to have and which will make it harder to sell without.

My own thoughts when buying used is that I'd rather buy a bike with lots of miles on it that's been ridden regularly and serviced at-least annually than a bike that's spent most of its time in a garage. High mileage bikes are usually bargains and usually ridden by owners that know how to take care of them rather than just polishing them. But that's just my thoughts

Basically, don't be afraid of mileage, bikes don't get worn out, they rot away in garages.

Great advice. I guess you can tell it didn't have ABS by the absence of the gear ring on the wheel, I didn't notice that at first. Good points on the bike not being ridden much, I hadn't thought about that aspect of things.

Thanks for the response.

Looks nice... I like the white. Well you can check with Bob's to verify service. Hopefully he's changed the oil a few times since new based on the age but again he likely had Bob's do that along with the 600 mile service and a few (?) recalls from a few years back.

Hopefully this is a simple case of an owner who has too many toys and this one just didn't rise to the top often enough so he's looking to move it out. These folks tend to take good care of their toys so it should be super-clean.

Good luck checking it out - let us know how it works out.

Well I rode it and wow, what a nice bike. He had the fuel strips replaced twice under warranty and the bike was like new. Unfortunately I cannot pull the trigger until the middle of next month, we are in the process of selling/buying homes. At any rate, I finally got to ride the R and I was amazed at how refined and well planted the bike felt. It also handled very well. Overall just perfect for me.

I was bouncing between the R and RT and now my mind has been made up. I an planning on doing some weekend rides and commuting, with two small kids the long touring rides and camping trips just aren't possible right now, and the RT just seems like too much motorcycle for the riding I want to do. The RT is a great bike, but the R just blew me away.

The R reminds me in a lot of ways of the old school Japanese standards from my youth like the GS1100, CB1000, and the KZ1000 in terms of size and overall riding/moderate sporting ability and looks.

The seller in this case is in his 50's and has knee problems and is reluctantly going back to cruisers as a result.

Looking forward to getting some pics up when I finally get my hands on a new to me bike.

Thanks all.

On the other hand 2,800 miles is better than 28,000. Abs is something else to go wrong, and you can use the lack of it to negotiate a better price.

Keep looking. I would not buy the bike without ABS. I did a track day class couple of weeks ago with Lee Parks. One of the excercises was to accelerate to about 30 mph and then do a maximum stop. My group had five or six bikes; different makes and models. My R1200R with integrated ABS out stopped them all.

Not by a little bit. By a lot. By 20 feet. All I did was cram on the front brake and remember to put my foot down when the bike stopped. The instructors were like WOW. Other bikes were half into stoppies and a Ducati with ABS, ST3 I think; took a while to stop as well and I could hear the ABS clicking on and off.

ABS will save your ass. Don't leave home without it.

SDMAX wrote:Keep looking. I would not buy the bike without ABS. I did a track day class couple of weeks ago with Lee Parks. One of the excercises was to accelerate to about 30 mph and then do a maximum stop. My group had five or six bikes; different makes and models. My R1200R with integrated ABS out stopped them all.

Not by a little bit. By a lot. By 20 feet. All I did was cram on the front brake and remember to put my foot down when the bike stopped. The instructors were like WOW. Other bikes were half into stoppies and a Ducati with ABS, ST3 I think; took a while to stop as well and I could hear the ABS clicking on and off.

ABS will save your ass. Don't leave home without it.

I agree completely, for better or worse I'll be a BMW street bike rider for a long time just because of the ABS system, saved my butt many times over the years and I won't have a bike without it.

I also agree about you might be better off with a BMW that was ridden and higher milage than one that sat for years. No scientific facts to back that up though.
Don't be afraid of miles when buying a used 12R, I'm at 75,000 with no real problems to date.

The Craigslist post is gone so I can't see what color it is..... just so you know though, black is well known to be the best performing color on the 12R, especially with pin stripes.

Thanks for the advice all.

I passed on this bike temporarily and it sold, so on to the next. I have been riding on and off for 20+ years and had an 98 K1200LT, and this was the only bike that I have ever owned that had ABS. I was cut off once by a cager with the wife on the back of the LT and I am pretty confident that if I had a conventional braking system, I would have hit the car by grabbing a full hand full of brake.

Now I am over 40 with two small kids, so I am going to err on the side of caution and go with ABS. I figure why not if it is an available option. I recently saw a GS on Cycletrader with something like 125,000 miles so as long as the bike is in good condition with a documented maintenance record, then I feel O.K. with a motorcycle with up to 15-20,000 miles.

Hi John:

Good luck on the search for an RR. Nice bikes. I just traded in my 07 for a 2011 RT. I would suggest if you are thinking at all of two-up touring the RT is probably a better choice. I actually have no problem blasting around on the RT in the same manner as the RR. The bike is superb in traffic, around town, on the interstates, and about every use I have found, including very easy 400 mile rides two-up. Weather protection is superior on the RT, but the RR can handle it nicely too with proper gear.



If you want a nice one with lots of goodies on it, my old one is available at BMW Motorcycles of Baton Rouge: