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2013 RT Farkles Opinions/Input

jlevee

Geek
I will (finally) be receiving my 2013 R1200RT 90 years special model, in a couple weeks. It will be arriving w/ a navigator IV & a color matching 49 liter topcase. Other than possibly changing out the seat to a RDL, what are the items that in the years of experience of the forum are 'must haves' right from the start? Bike will be used both for sort distance commuting & longer weekend/overnight rides.
 
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Good riding gear is always a place to start. A decent helmet, boots, gloves not to mention the jacket and pants. After covering that you really should ride the bike for a couple thousand miles before farkeling. Mirrors, conspicuity lighting, peg lowering are very common. Upgraded shocks if you still have any cash burning a hole in your pocket. Tools (air pump/flat kit, GS-911, harmonizer, good torx set.

I hear Phoenix is hitting 100 degrees this week! A good cool vest would be on my list.

Congrats on the new ride!
 
I do already have gear having ridden my R1150R since 2004, although I may get some warmer stuff as I think I will be doing more trips to colder climates. As well as air pump flat tire kit.
 
RT Farkles - Oil Cooler screen and other stuff

Wunderlich makes an oil cooler screen that keeps out most bugs and stones (and even a small bird, on one occasion). It is much easier to install than the Touratech version and looks good. You can also see Wunderlich engine bars and pannier bars and Denali D2 lights mounted with Techmount light mounts. The light mounts have been replaced twice.
 

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I think each owner's priorities will be a bit different so there is not like one "must have farkle list". Having just gone through this there were three things I needed to spend money on right away...

Seat - The stock seat was just awful, the worst of any new bike I've ever purchased. I bought a BMW Comfort seat and it was different but didn't seem enough better to justify the cost. I just received a Sargent and only have an hour on it but it I think this will be the solution
Tools - In order to perform your own maintenance, if you're interested, just bite the bullet and buy a GS-911 and some sort of sync device such as a TwinMax or a Harmonizer. The stock tool kit will need supplementing also but that isn't expensive.
Windscreen - The stock windscreen isn't working for me so I have a CeeBaileys on order, we'll see.

Those were the priorities for me.
 
The oil cooler screen sounds like a good idea, and I was considering some additional lighting, as Im not sure how effective the lights are on darker highways.

As for seats, I have seen many posts where people hate the stock seat on the bike. I use stock on my r1150ra and never had any issues, but I do admit I generally am only on it for an hour at most at a time. Seems another brand people like is the Russell Day Long, which I may consider once I have an idea how the stock works out for me.

I have already ordered the Haynes manual, and will be stocking up on tools as necessary.
 
Cylinder protection seems to be prevalent among R12 riders. More so than say Airhead riders. You may be interested in shielding or preserving those precious magnesium valve covers. There are simple covers and then protection bar systems. YMMV.
 
Why not just ride it for a while, then see what you want to add. Many go for a new seat, for instance, but lots of folks like the OE just fine. Only a bunch of miles will give you the information.

pete
 
My theory was that in all the years of wisdom/ riding that exist in the forum certain options/ideas may have been discovered & implemented by more riders than not, so posting here would give me an idea of what thoughts the community had. That way when time comes to add the items, I would already have some of that knowledge in my back pocket. As opposed to searching the forums (a feature I dont think works very well) or placing several more posts about companies that sell X, or Y or Z.
 
Does the seat fit you or do you fit the seat?

Coming from a Gold Wing to the R1200RT, my first dozen or so rides caused great posterior pain. Rather than buy an aftermarket seat to fit my butt, I tried to make my butt fit the bike. According to the doctor, I am fifty pounds overweight so there is no doubt that my behind is wider than the BMW stock seat. Wondering why the seat looked more like a horse's saddle than a recliner, I asked a horse person how to sit on one. She said that you cannot lean back and put the weight on the tailbone. You have to rotate your hips forward and sit up with a forward curve in your spine. By that I mean your back should curve as if you were sitting on the edge of stool and leaning forward a little. This position will also put a good bit of your weight on your inner thighs, reducing the pressure on your butt cheeks.

Surprisingly, the stock saddle is acceptable if you sit this way. There is an additional benefit that you grip the motorcycle with your inner thighs so you are more securely attached to the motorcycle. I strapped a Beadrider to the seat and rode from Northern Virginia to Cheyenne, Wyoming in two days. I was only sore, not in pain.

That is my log-winded way of saying that you should adjust yourself to sit on the bike the way the designers intended and give it an honest trial for a couple of months. There is no hurry to spend money. Perhaps, like me, you will decide you don't need to give hundreds of dollars to messieurs Russel, Corbin and Sargent.
 
The oil cooler screen sounds like a good idea, and I was considering some additional lighting, as Im not sure how effective the lights are on darker highways.
QUOTE]

I work second shift and I was very pleased on how efficient my light are on the 2013 R1200RT. I drive through two state games lands so I have a very serious concern about bambi and friends. I bought Clearwater "Darla" lights for the bike even before I did any night driving because I would rather have too much light if that is possible.

I have also added Hyperlites break/turn signal lights for the rear. I want to make sure people know what my intentions are. Both systems work as advertised. A great investment.
 
FWIW, those oil cooler screens might help appearance but are basically a waste of money.

First, it is extremely rare for anyone to damage an RT cooler- its way too high off the ground and there just isn't road debris out in the country that can hole a cooler readily (takes a lot more than most folks realize- they're pretty tough)
Second, cleaning bugs out requires only a good shot with a hose or what works even better is riding about 10 miles in the rain.
Third, folks who put these on either failed aerodynamics or don't care. There are table in texts on race car aerodynamicscs that show exactly how much air is blocked by the resistance of a screen and its on the order of 20-25%. However, the bike has excess cooling capacity so this will likely only impact operating temps when pushing at highest speeds and rpm for sustained periods- wouldn't expect it to have much impact while idling.

The best reason to install one is that you prefer the appearance. Same category as coatings for the exhaust. BMW equivalent of Harley chrome :)
 
I suppose I could be used as the poster child for darkling an RT... Here is my current list:

1. Lowered pegs (helped with knee pain on longer rides)
2. Extra-low seat (about to be replace with a Rick Mayer saddle that will arrive via UPS tomorrow!)
3. BMW Cylinder covers
4. Wunderlich Engine guards (I think I would go for the Touratech after having extreme challenges with mounting hwy pegs on these with the cylinder covers)
5. Wunderlich rear luggage protection bars (they look like big elephant ears when the bags are removed.)
6. Cee-Baileys windshield (this made a dramatic improvement in the buffeting and wind noise of the OEM shield)
7. Aeroflow headlight cover
8. Clearwater "Darla" aux lighting (Installed yesterday and what a major upgrade to nighttime lighting, whoa!!!)
9. ZUMO 665 with XM
10. RAM mount for iPhone
11. Brake lever extender
12. Illium works hwy pegs (really for the GS, but the only ones that I have found that work with the wunderlich bars and head covers)
13. Shark skin grip covers (helped reduce the numb finger sensation on hours of pounding out hwy miles.)
14. Wunderlich oil cooler guard. (this was a cosmetic choice... it just looks better to me. YMMV)
15. Paint protection film for side cases and body panels
16. 3M reflective panels for rear cases
17. OEM audio system (I have been disappointed in this as a practical matter. If is unusable on the highway, and the bluetooth audio quality is abysmal.)
18. iPod/iPhone adaptor (this worked great with the iPhone 4, practically useless with the iPhone 5. $49 lightning to 30pin adaptor allows for charging, but not much else unfortunately.)
19. OEM Anti-theft system
20. BMR Products Zumo sun visor

I think that is everything, with the exception of a few odds and ends like the OEM cover and powerlet to cigarette lighter adapters. I hope you have as much fun augmenting your Rt...I have had a blast "farkling up" mine. Most of my accessories were added at the first 600 mile service, others were done incrementally over the past 5 months. I have just under 7K miles on my bike and by the end of May, that will be well over 13K as I leave in a few weeks for a trip up to Canada. Woo whooooo.....:D
 
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