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Anyone here own a Beemer ?

10K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  chli1976 
#1 ·
I've been looking for a new bike. Anyone here have any experience with the BMW lines? The Roadster's look pretty fun - R 1200 R in particular. The closest BMW bike shop to me is Nashville or Birmingham so I can't run out and window shop. What say you all... ?
 
#3 ·
I've ridden the 1200gs and 800gs. A friend let me try his K and that thing was fast!!! After riding a lot of different bikes the BMW's I tried are not in the stable. I own a Buell and KTM.
I suggest you ride as many different bikes you can throw a leg over. So many machines, vastly different in every way!
 
#11 ·
Having owned, BMW, Triumph, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha and Harley, my vote would be 100% Harley. From an engineer stand point it is the most antiquated motorcyle on the market.
Fixed that for you.

I sold my Suzuki last year and am now saving, and looking for the right deal on a R1200 GS. I've been a fan of Beemers since before I considered my first Bimmer. The GS bikes have great, out of the box engineering, and are true go anywhere, do anything bikes. Only problem is I'm not a big guy, the F800 may actually fit me better. But I can't imagine riding Baja to Alaska on anything other than the big GS.
 
#7 ·
Get thts Get that bla bla bla...
TEST RIDE until you find the one that speaks to you and fits!!!! That's the best advice you will ever get.

As far as HD is concerned they can suck it! After HD axed Buell I feel finished with them.
The only HD to get my vote would be the XR1200X Sportster. HD has perfected the air cooled unit construction 1200cc engine/transmission. Plenty of practice since 1957 on that one!!
 
#8 ·
QAFred... That's a beautiful bike!

As for what I'm looking for... I'd like a cruiser style bike that is still pretty quick and agile. The R 1200 R style (just using it as an example since we're familiar with BMW's) is about at the farthest end of the spectrum of "sportbike" as I'd like to go, and a HD Dyna model such as a Street Bob is on the other end of the spectrum of "cruiser" as I'd like to go . Somewhere in between there lies what I'm looking for.. Leaning towards a Sportster 1200 Custom - mainly because there's so many HD resources at my disposal whereas with a BMW I'd have to travel two hours north or south just to have it serviced.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Check out E-bay. Two weeks ago there was one R1200C listed with 492 miles on it. A 2004. This style/model ran from 98 to 2004 and is the only Cruiser BMW has ever made. I have never had it in the shop. I adjust the valves once every two years, change plugs etc. I even change the tires myself. They sold for about 17K new. I got this one in 2003 for $8500 and they still go for about that much with low miles. I see a lot of them with low miles. I bought this one on E-bay- drove south to Ft. Lauderdale, loaded it in the pick-up, gave it a good tune and not much more.
It had 10,500 miles on it and now has just turned 60K. no problems at all. There is a chromehead forum you can check out.
http://www.chromeheads.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi?pg=topics

Like you said, for me too, it is Hattiesburg Miss, or Tallahassee FL, to find an "authoized sevice center" both about 150 miles drive for me...so I bought the manual and do it all myself. Not much to maintain one of these. Biggest gripe was bad chrome job on a lot of the wire wheels...don't know how I missed on that defect but my wheels held up.
Just got back from a ten day 3400 mile run from Tulsa Ok west to Grand Canyon, north thru Utah, west to Colorado back into Kansas and down to Tulsa. Great fun! Very few miles on the Interstate. Most other Cruiser's cannot keep up with one of these in the twisties. Photo of it all packed up- T-bag, cooler and open road.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/i.html?...&_osacat=6024&bkBtn=&_trksid=p4506.m270.l1312
 

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#15 ·
You don't see many BMW bikes here in the rural South. Doing a search on CL for my location returns a big fat 0 number of hits. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against HD, but I've always thought a lot of people (especially here in the South) buy an HD just because that's what you're supposed to buy if you want a bike... Always thought there probably are better bikes out there. As for me, I want something that I like to ride. If it's an HD so be it. I'm a newbie.. Don't even know how to ride yet. So I'll be shopping. I'm in no hurry.

Although the R1200C is most definitely the type of bike I'm looking for. It's a shame BMW discontinued production. That's a beauty.
 
#16 ·
Best advice about bikes I ever got, which I'll pass along, is if it's your first bike, and you have no riding experience, don't get anything over 650cc. My first bike was a Suzuki SV650S and it was the perfect learners bike. Not so powerful that I was in danger of imminent death,but enough to keep it entertaining. The V-twin keeps you from having to wind it out in town, and it has a very nice chassis, so as you get more skilled, you can push it harder and still enjoy.

Or get a Harley. Hard to get in trouble on an overweight, underpowered cruiser.

And if it's available where you live, take the MSF course.

Happy hunting...
 
#18 ·
As a certified Motorcycle Safety Instructor, I agree with the 650CC rule of thumb with one exception. A 600CC sport bike does not make a good first bike. They have 100+ HP with peaky power curves and are very light. The SV650 makes a great first bike but stay away from the in-line 4's in the sport bike category for your first ride.
 
#21 ·
I remember my stepdads one and only rule when I got my first new bike from the dealership. I could have anything I wanted...... If I could pick it up from a lay down.

At 5'10 and 130 lbs my first bike was a 450cc suzuki gts. I wanted a much larger bike but thats the biggest thing I could set right if it fell. I wasnt a happy camper to say the least but I learned later he was right.

Its better to get something your comfortable with and can handle and work your way up.
 
#22 ·
Honestly, I'm on my second Beemer and my girlfriend has one as well. As a first bike don't buy a new one! Seriously; you WILL drop it, and the newer it is the more heartache it will cause (ask me about the day I picked up my K1600GT if you want to cry a little...)

My girlfriend's bike is a 2004 F650CS which is a fun little bike. Hers has a lower seat and lowering links on the suspension because she's short... but even I enjoy getting out on that thing occasionally. It has plenty of power on the highway, but has a smooth power band that doesn't come on too quickly in the throttle. Too easy to bounce off the rev limiter though :) Little single-cylinder keeps maintenance costs down, and the bike's taken a couple of spills with only broken turn signals... hey, it's her first bike! Very similar engine is in the G650GS. I've also heard great things about the twin-cylinder F650GS... obviously smoother than the "thumper"

Going a bit bigger, GS's are seminal in my opinion. I really did love my R1150GS, but in truth it just didn't suit my riding all that well. The engine had plenty of torque, had a smooth throttle control and felt great at low to middling speeds. However, on the highway it was a bit odd to me. The wide handlebars meant the bike was twitchy at speed, and even more annoying was the fact that 6th gear was so incredibly tall that I had to downshift at 60mph when going uphill or the engine detonated horribly. Passing was also something that needed planning to downshift and settle the bike first.

The current "big bike" in the lineup is of course the K1600GT(L). I must admit I've only had the bike a week and I am loving it. BMW of course do inline 6's like nobody else... and to put one in a bike is genius. Smoothest engine I've ever ridden in my life... but there are quirks and it IS expensive.

What are you looking at? Price? Power? New? Used?
 
#23 ·
@thumper: you are correct on the dropping part. I dropped my K1600GT the other day in the middle of an incredible ride north of Stinson beach near San Francisco - sunny, cool day on twisty oceanfront Highway 1.

Pulled into a gas station, pulled a super slow u-turn to get to the opposite side of the pump, wasn't dragging the rear and sure enough tipped it low. Held it for a few seconds on my left leg - but it's 750 pounds (tank was empty) and my leg gave out. Ended up dumping it from about a 45deg angle. I was so angry and embarrassed that I somehow managed to pick the damn thing up by myself. I was lucky not to give myself a hernia or worse.

Damage not too bad, the wife didn't even notice it until I pointed it out, but it looks like a nasty scar to me.

I'm an experienced rider, but any SLIGHT mistake where you're more than 15 degrees tilted at less than 5mph and there is no way you will stop that beast from going over. Body lean ain't going to counter it.

But while she's moving, my oh my. So far it's all stupid grins from ear to ear when in in the twisties.
 
#24 ·
Everyone does it at some point in their riding career. Next time I bet you power walk it around that slow tight turn. There is a technique to righting a dropped motorcycle. There was a lady who would demonstrate the technique at bike rallies. She embarrassed many large biker dudes with her ability to lift a bike.
 
#25 ·
After reading this thread I couldn't help but to feel the urge to test the K1600; wife and I headed out to the dealership yesterday and gave it a try. We rode the GTL.

What an amazing machine!

The bike looks intimidatingly gigantic with full fairing and three cases, but turns out to be very easy to maneuver. Its low center of gravity seems to help with the ease of pushing the bike around with my legs; I can feel the heft of the bike, but it's very manageable. When it gets going, the bike practically glides through the pavement. It's very difficult to describe the feeling, it's almost like we are "riding" a car.

After the test ride, as we head home on my R1200, the joy I had been getting out of riding my R seemed to have just evaporated. Terrible, we shouldn't have gone to the dealership in the first place. Now I can't shake the GTL out of my head! :(
 
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