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Deeper Into The BMW World

snag12R

Is it nap time yet?
Hello,

I bought a 2008 R1200R last June and have put about 7,000 miles on it in the last 14 months. I live in Northern Alberta where we have six months winter, 3 months of spring/fall and 3 months of good riding weather. I ordered the bike in the dead of winter, without a test ride, and have been absolutely thrilled with it since. I came off a '99 Hayabusa as my daily ride and while I loved the "pick a gear, any gear" riding, it's no tourer and I found I was going for rides, but really going nowhere. The 12R has allowed me to play in the city and then strap on the cases and windshield and head for the twisties (I'm a good 200 miles from a good bike road). It's really expanded my riding horizons. And I have to say that I love that motor!

I've been on the R1200R board since I bought the bike and have found the forum very useful. I also have a 1974 CB750 and a 1979 CBX, both fully restored; the Bride has a CBR125R. The Bride drives a Z4 in the summer and an X3 in the winter; me, I'm still driving the '97 Suburban. There IS a price to pay for marital harmony!

I've joined tonight because I've got the 12R in for its 6K check and I don't really trust the one and only BMW Motorrad dealer in town. They started out as Argo dealers (6 wheel hunting wagons) and have wound up selling Suzukis, Yamahas, Ducatis and BMWs. I don't know how they managed that, but I worry that my BMW mechanic will show up for work in camos. I have a wonderful mechanic that works on my Hondas and he has a soft spot for BMWs, but I have a leaky rear seal and he can't do warranty work. So here I am and I suspect that I will be better off for it!

In any event, I look forward to getting into this site. I'm an accountant, not a mechanic, so I need all the help I can get. I want the dealer to adjust the rocker arm end play on the 12R and I suspect that they will need all the help that they can get as well, so I'm off to the Hexhead thread straight away.

Cheers.

Doug
 
Welcome Aboard Doug - great write up and excellent bike.

Please post a picture of it, also if you can snag a picture of the restored CBX it would be awesome.

Regarding your maintanance, the Hexhead Forum, in The Garage section has a very detailed collection of almost every single maintanance action needed to do on the hex head bike.

Most are based on the RT, but once the plastic is off they are all essentially the same. There are some based specifically on the engine design (Throttle Body Synch for example) that is trully model independent

Here is the link Hexhead DIY/Technical Fourm

Even if you do not want to do them, they will take the mystery out of what is involved.

Welcome aboard and check in often.

Luis
 
Welcome Aboard Snag12r :wave

Just about any technical question you might have about your rides
and
where to take them touring is available here either via the search button
or
by just starting a new thread.

As Semper_Fi said, come back often and post a few pictures.

Paul
 
Excellent first post. :thumb

Sounds like you love to ride and you have a great Beemer on which to do it.

Welcome to the family.

Good luck in getting the rear seal fixed.
 
welcome here, and yeah, great first post.

the 1200R is a great bike for just the reasons you state.

one other reason is that it is also a stealth GS. depending on your attitudes toward dirty bikes, as long as you're rather gentle in your offroading (say... staying on graded forest service roads) you've got a great multi-surface tourer in disguise.

try *that* on your hayabusa! :ha

ian
 
Welcome.

I'm a good 200 miles from a good bike road...

That's the irony of living in most parts of Alberta; we're in one of the most beautiful environments in the world, but there's no twisties nearby. I have to go all the way south to St. Mary in Montana to get to them.

I've been checking the Glacier Park web cams daily to see if the leaves have turned, and take a mid week sneak photo session.
 
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Thanks for the welcome. As I said in the last post, I really look forward to getting into the site this fall/winter. Fall arrived today with gusto so hopefully I'll have some time to explore the site in the days ahead.

I dropped off the 12R at the dealer yesterday. After the service manager confirmed that, indeed I did have a leaky seal, he stated that parts could be three weeks out, so I should have some spare time on my hands to bone up on what he should do once the parts arrive. The rocker arm end play thread (the reason I joined) was worth the annual membership in and of itself!

As for pictures, I don't seem to take very many, so you'll have to put up with two from the R1200R forum and a neat one from the Kootenay Lake ferry two weeks ago:

65.jpg


76.jpg


R12R807.jpg


rinty, the Kootenay Lake ferry picture was taken just after three laps of Highway 31A from New Denver to Kaslo. If you have not done that road, you should. We did the Going To The Sun road on that trip also. It was a real treat, especially since it was closed a week later for snow; we had 90F and not a lot of traffic. Timing is everything!

Doug
 
...31A...snag12R

Ah the Glory Road; my favourite.:thumb

I ride the Kootenays every year; this is just west of Monashee Pass:

214828070_b3XmS-M-2.jpg


This year I also did a driving trip out there with my wife. Summit Lake at the top of 31A:

662382563_6dDBe-M-1.jpg


Is that your B in the picture?
 
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Rinty,

Ya gotta love BC roads if you live east of the Rockies; I wish I could convince the Bride to move.

The B was bought new in Holland by my dearly departed uncle. I've had it about 5 years and 35634, although I've done a ton of work on it, I have not yet conquered it's lack of weathertightness. That's supposed to be part of the charm ... So I'm told.

Doug
 
My wife had a '73 B and it was pretty weather tight. At one point it had a slow leak in the windshield base but it fixed itself. She drove it year round.
 
Sayeth the transplanted Albertan!

Rinty, mine leaks there too, it's not fixing itself.

Doug
 
When I read your sentence about Alberta weather, it brought to mind an Air Force acquaintance stationed in far northern Maine. He used to say, "We have 4 seasons just like you guys... June, July, August, and Winter." Nice looking R12!
 
Sorry for the piecemeal replies; busy @ work, busy @ home.

Rinty,

I've got the same picture of me and my bud at Summit Lake taken 2 weeks ago; he's nowhere near as pretty as your SO unfortunately.

Ian,

The fellow who bought my Hayabusa took it back to Yellowknife NWT. Have a look on Google Earth; the one road out of town is paved for about 10 miles. It's so cold up there that they sand the roads with pea gravel in winter and it basically stays on the road all summer. I asked him several times if he knew what he was buying and then gave up. Hope he GS'd it before he took it out for the first ride.

Jobee58,

Here's July in Alberta:

Bow%20Summit.jpg


This picture was taken at Peyto Lake, Bow Summit on the aptly named Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper, Alberta on July 12, 2008. The temp was 30F.

Two months later, same locale, same weather, a little grip heat assist:

Nordegg2.jpg


Re.: rocker arm endplay, I had to direct the BMW tech at my dealer to the Hexhead thread today. He said that in his 4 years as a BMW tech, he had never heard of such a thing. Oh oh!

Doug
 
Got the 12R back from its 6,000 mile service and seal repair. After the tech read the rocker arm end play thread in the Hexhead DIY forum, he said he wouldn't do it. I suspected that was going to be his response. But, after adjusting the valves and sincing the throttle bodies, the bike is almost jet smooth, just a hint of vibration to remind me that this isn't an inline 4. I unequivocally recant my camo comment. They did a great job and will get an attaboy when I talk to them tomorrow. 6K service was CAD240, USD216 if you're interested.

Doug
 
Got the 12R back from its 6,000 mile service and seal repair. After the tech read the rocker arm end play thread in the Hexhead DIY forum, he said he wouldn't do it. I suspected that was going to be his response. But, after adjusting the valves and sincing the throttle bodies, the bike is almost jet smooth, just a hint of vibration to remind me that this isn't an inline 4. I unequivocally recant my camo comment. They did a great job and will get an attaboy when I talk to them tomorrow. 6K service was CAD240, USD216 if you're interested.

Doug
216.00 USD seems a fair price. Nice bike, always loved that retro paint job. In trolling through this thread saw a lot of references to MGBs. I've owned a few. Don't see too many on the roads these days. But do not glimpse so many BMW motorcycles either! The most I have counted in any one day was five, this on a 250 mile trip. On the same day I probably saw 20 or 30 Harleys. I live in Iowa.
 
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