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Got my new 90th Edition RT! (big photos included)

natrab

New member
Today was a spectacular day for me. It was my first time purchasing a new bike and San Jose BMW took great care of me (especially finding me the bike in the first place as they are scarce now on the west coast). BMW had great incentives as well for the end of the year so I got out of there with a great price out the door (added a 5 year warranty and 49L topcase as well).

Put my first 280 miles on the bike today starting with a bunch of twisties and somehow finding snow here in the silicon valley at the top of Mt. Hamilton. Had plenty of pucker factor taking my brand new bike over some completely iced roads with tight turns. I went with the ride-the-piss-out-of-it (after it warms up) method of breaking the bike in as was recommended by my sales guy. The bike feels so great. After starting with an 06' RT that had already had 60k on it, this new bike feels extremely tight and precise. The clutch and gearbox are the most noticeable differences for me along with the suspension which eats up the road much better than my old RT.

I made my appointment for the 600 mile service for Tuesday since I'm pretty sure I'll have at least that many miles by then. Happy with my camhead!

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VERY NICE....i have the Fluid Gray version.....5 months 13500 miles....and another ~1000 on Wednesday and Thursday....

i agree, GREAT touring bike...

nice pics too...

wyman
 
Congratulations on scoring a great deal on that beautiful machine!

As has been said numerous times in regard to the RT, it only gets better with miles. You have yet to experience the machine at it's best, though every day on the RT is a great one.

Btw, you may want to remove fluid from the front brake master cylinder since it is likely overfilled from the factory. Many have experienced a fluid leak that has deteriorated the paint on the reservoir cover resulting in a warranty replacement.

Safe riding and happy holidays!

Aloha.

Scot
 
Nice. I picked my 90th Anniversary up in September but can't ride now because we are in the middle of a snow storm:( Are you having your top case painted (presuming it's not already paint matched) ? My top case is Silver and I'm thinking about having it painted this winter? If the top case is color matched, please post a photo??

Ed
Southeast Michigan
 
I ordered a matching black top case for the bike. The 49L is available in both silver and black. It can be had on ebay for $850 (http://tinyurl.com/mdl2moc) plus you'd have to buy a lock cylinder which is about $50. From my dealer it was $950 including the lock cylinder and keying and they had to order it as they didn't have it on hand. They said there were two in stock on the west coast so it should be here Tuesday. For now I have my 28L I'm re-keying from my old RT.

Thanks for the note about the brake fluid. I did think when I got it that it looked awfully full. I'll take a look at it later today.
 
Its a great bike,your going to love it. I bought my 90th anniversary in mid June at that time they offered a free tank bag and the large top box free as a promotion. I enjoyed every one of the 5000 miles I rode until winter set in. The cam head is a big improvement over the 98R1100RS I was riding.Enjoy and ride safe. Jeff MOA33702
 
Regarding the Topcase, be careful of adding too much black. I found drivers left a bit more room behind me when I started using the Topcase, and I believe the added silver made me a little more visible to them.

Your helmet helps some, but your pic shows you could be more visible/ noticed from behind. It might save you from a distracted motorist. ( JMHO ).
 
Nate:

Congratulations! A question:

I don't see a license plate. Is there a registration certificate taped on somewhere?

Interesting that you'd get snow there, but I see that Mt. Hamilton's summit is 4,200'. Ah, I just read that Northern California's having a cold snap.
 
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I don't see a license plate. Is there a registration certificate taped on somewhere?
A registration cert is taped to cars, but not bikes. I stored the copy received from the dealer with the riders manual when I get a new bike.

Interesting that you'd get snow there, but I see that Mt. Hamilton's summit is 4,200'. Ah, I just read that Northern California's having a cold snap.

The temps on the ride to breakfast this morning around sun-up varied between 29?F and almost 50?F. That's in the 25 mile stretch of i280 between San Mateo and San Jose. Cold, but quite dry so not many worries about ice or snow this day. Last week it was just wet enough to provide a dusting of snow above about 2500 feet. If any place in the bay area is likely to get a dusting it will be Mt Hamilton.
 
Regarding the Topcase, be careful of adding too much black. I found drivers left a bit more room behind me when I started using the Topcase, and I believe the added silver made me a little more visible to them.

Your helmet helps some, but your pic shows you could be more visible/ noticed from behind. It might save you from a distracted motorist. ( JMHO ).

I tend to not be the type that is having cars come up behind him. :laugh

I agree black is not the best color for visibility, especially since about half my riding is done at night. I got the reflective tape for the back of the side bags and will probably be adding some sort of LED light bar to the back somewhere (my last bike had a Givi top case with lights on it).

Part of my cheaper price was mine was not a fully loaded model. I'm curious how many options the 90th editions typically came with. Mine has no ASC, TPMS or the security system with the remote fob (I'm not sure if RTs ever come with that). For that the base price was less (I'm guessing $19,500) before they took off the incentives. I do think tire pressure monitoring is very useful and can be a lifesaver in the event of a quickly deflating tire. I may look into an aftermarket system.

Oh, and the stock seat is horrendous. I can't believe BMW sells the bike with that. My last RT came with a Sargent seat the previous owner had purchased. I think I'm going to do a ride in to Rick Mayer and get a custom leather seat for my new bike. Since I'm doing my 1000 mile trek this week, I'm going to be an airhawk for the time being so I can survive.
 
I think those reflector tape strips would be good. I usually stay ahead of the pack while rolling but here in NY they will push right up on you at lights, stop signs or traffic. These texting Bastiches are the worst.

I like the TPM and usually have the computer set to that while riding, good to know if you picked up a nail. It also toggles over to the oil OK check when you come to a stop. The rest of the info is just a quick glimpse kind of thing for me.

The seats are what they are, some guys like them, some hate them. I'm pretty happy with the comfort seat on mine. I get the squirms after a couple of hundred miles, but I usually stop and walk around every hundred or so anyway to stretch out the kinks, and move around a bit anyway.

Good luck with your new RT, it looks like a real beauty.
 
Sweet!

Beautiful machine you have their Natrab. It is an incredibly fun and competent machine to ride and own. Your smile says it all. I see you are on your tip toes in the picture. Which one of the seats did you buy (standard/low)? A new seat will be like night and day for you. It takes a bit ($) to get the bike dialed in to yourself but is well worth it. Due to my 29" inseam I changed out my seats, peg height, added Yacugar shocks lowered 25mm and PR3's. I can either flatfoot it or half foot it. My RT felt 100% better and is much more comfortable. LED's are a good idea. I cannot believe how hard to see these Camheads are from the rear. Not enough red electrons emitted for me.

Enjoy.
 
I have a 29" inseam as well. I can get the balls of my feet down on both sides or I can flat foot one footed while at lights when I put my left foot down (and right on the brake). I haven't had any difficulty handling the bike this way and don't want to lower it. I already dragged peg from time to time on my old RT so I want all the clearance I can get. The ergos do need some work though. I have a stock saddle for now that's actually in the higher position since it's easier on my knees while riding. My idea for the custom seat is something in between the low and high settings on my bike and that has good leg cutouts to help me get my feet down. For added comfort I'd like to find some highway pegs that don't reduce ground clearance, but for now I have spent all my alotted farklemoney on lights and risers.

Since I only have 4 days before doing my 1000 mile/24 hour ride, I did some ordering today. I will have a set of suburban machinery riser blocks here in a couple days as well as my airhawk r tomorrow thanks to amazon's quick shipping. On Thursday I have an appointment to get two Clearwater Ericas installed under my mirrors so my bike can melt any deer that try to jump out in front of me (6000 lumens each!). I will add some pics when it's all ready to go.
 
It's beautiful. IMHO the only thing that could make it better would be the classic BMW pin stripes.
 
seat

I also have a Rick Mayer seat on my F700GS. A great investment. I rode from southern oregon to Anderson, a torture on the stock seat 188 miles. The ride home was great with my new seat, not even aware of the seat and that was on a 100 degree day this last summer. Enjoy
 
I wouldn't obsess over a tpms- it can only give you warning of slow leaks. A leak that is fast enough to be possibly dangerous (eg a blowout or other catastrophic failure) ought to be noticed by a competent rider at the same time a tpms registers anything and wasting time looking at the tpms rather than making an immediate controlled stop is only adding to the potential hazard.
IMO about 98% of the folks with tpms use it to avoid regular tire checks, trusting an e widgie with their safety. Not a great habit.

Aftermarket alarms are cheaper and as good as BMWs if you want one.

I suppose one could manage to do something stupid and wish for asc on snow or ice but it is also one of those things not really needed by a competent rider. Not big believr in relying on e-widgies to keep my butt out of trouble in street riding and the RT does not have the kind of power that makes accidental wheelspin easy. Prevention is simple- watch where you wheels are headed. There are enough road obstacles for which asc is no answer that this ought to be habit anyway.
 
Beautiful ! I would really like to trade my 05 RT for a 90th, I think they look great. Congrats !!! RT's Rule



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