v8chevyman
New member
So I've owned my latest R1200RT (2014) for a little over two years and have added about forty-thousand kilometers to her. What a great machine!
There are very few times I don't arrive home and smile slightly as I remind myself what a fantastic job the "enginerds" in Bavaria have pulled off.
There are so many plusses I don't know where to start.
*Effortless torque / acceleration (especially with the gear assist)
*Weather protection / comfort (living on the "Wet coast" of Canada, year-round riding is completely doable.)
*On-street presence. Whether cagers think I'm a cop or what I'm not sure, but I definitely garner more respect on the RT than other bikes I ride.
On the negative side, I'd struggle to think of any. If I were to nitpick I'd say the following could be improved:-
*Side stand position. I still haven't got used to this. It's so easy to click down into gear at the same time the size 10 searches for the stand. My "muscle memory" mitigation is that I now always pull in the clutch at the same time. As I said - nit-picking…
*GPS / Wonderwheel integration. It seems that our "dirty" colleagues on the GS side of things, get rather more functionality (cellphone integration etc) than we get on the touring side. I can live with this though.
*Gear change from neutral to 1st is exceptionally loud / clunky. It's a bit embarrassing when people look round (I suspect they think I've only pulled the clutch half-way in…)
I'd rather ride my bike than wash it, but when I occasionally throw a bucket of water over her, I struggle cleaning the wheels. The front is particularly tricky, given the discs and the fact that the weight is biased to the front wheel whilst on the centre stand.
The solution?
Well I'm hoping that better craftspeople than me chime in here with a much better version than my "pre-prototype ghetto version".
It's a start though and it seems to work well...
The clamp "pump effort" is reasonable and sure beats trying to lift the bike one handed whilst trying to fit something under it.
Clearly it's a little dangerous propping up the bike using the exhaust but the forces seem reasonable as far as I'm concerned. If your significant other is more useful than mine, perhaps you can have her push down on the top box while you pop the prop underneath - your choice...
After "pumping up" the bar-clamp, the prop is added to secure in the up position. I've then taken the weight off the bar-clamp to be sure the clamp doesn't "let go".
Feel free to offer (constructive) criticism and suggestions on how it can be improved. This is my first "proper post" so be gentle with me!!
Rubber side down!
Alasdair
1st Pic
Bar-clamp riser (modified to add a 45mm diameter "yoke" for the exhaust pipe)
Stand from some 4x4" post material, necked down for better access to bottom of engine
2nd Pic
As applied - both front and back wheels are slightly off the ground
Materials required:-
*Cheapo bar-clamp (Harbor Freight or Princess Auto for those of us north of the border)
*Short length of 2 x 4 (left over from the fencing job that's been neglected in favour of riding)
*Short length of 4 x 4 (as above)
*3"x 8 decking screws (it's getting repetitive now)
*Bandsaw (to cut yoke profile for exhaust)
*Beer
There are very few times I don't arrive home and smile slightly as I remind myself what a fantastic job the "enginerds" in Bavaria have pulled off.
There are so many plusses I don't know where to start.
*Effortless torque / acceleration (especially with the gear assist)
*Weather protection / comfort (living on the "Wet coast" of Canada, year-round riding is completely doable.)
*On-street presence. Whether cagers think I'm a cop or what I'm not sure, but I definitely garner more respect on the RT than other bikes I ride.
On the negative side, I'd struggle to think of any. If I were to nitpick I'd say the following could be improved:-
*Side stand position. I still haven't got used to this. It's so easy to click down into gear at the same time the size 10 searches for the stand. My "muscle memory" mitigation is that I now always pull in the clutch at the same time. As I said - nit-picking…
*GPS / Wonderwheel integration. It seems that our "dirty" colleagues on the GS side of things, get rather more functionality (cellphone integration etc) than we get on the touring side. I can live with this though.
*Gear change from neutral to 1st is exceptionally loud / clunky. It's a bit embarrassing when people look round (I suspect they think I've only pulled the clutch half-way in…)
I'd rather ride my bike than wash it, but when I occasionally throw a bucket of water over her, I struggle cleaning the wheels. The front is particularly tricky, given the discs and the fact that the weight is biased to the front wheel whilst on the centre stand.
The solution?
Well I'm hoping that better craftspeople than me chime in here with a much better version than my "pre-prototype ghetto version".
It's a start though and it seems to work well...
The clamp "pump effort" is reasonable and sure beats trying to lift the bike one handed whilst trying to fit something under it.
Clearly it's a little dangerous propping up the bike using the exhaust but the forces seem reasonable as far as I'm concerned. If your significant other is more useful than mine, perhaps you can have her push down on the top box while you pop the prop underneath - your choice...
After "pumping up" the bar-clamp, the prop is added to secure in the up position. I've then taken the weight off the bar-clamp to be sure the clamp doesn't "let go".
Feel free to offer (constructive) criticism and suggestions on how it can be improved. This is my first "proper post" so be gentle with me!!
Rubber side down!
Alasdair
1st Pic
Bar-clamp riser (modified to add a 45mm diameter "yoke" for the exhaust pipe)
Stand from some 4x4" post material, necked down for better access to bottom of engine
2nd Pic
As applied - both front and back wheels are slightly off the ground
Materials required:-
*Cheapo bar-clamp (Harbor Freight or Princess Auto for those of us north of the border)
*Short length of 2 x 4 (left over from the fencing job that's been neglected in favour of riding)
*Short length of 4 x 4 (as above)
*3"x 8 decking screws (it's getting repetitive now)
*Bandsaw (to cut yoke profile for exhaust)
*Beer