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achy knees

olfool

New member
ok, old salty BMW riders- This one is driving me to distraction. I have had my used 2004 R1150RT for about 2 years. I have been riding Japanese bics for about 35 years and have never had this problem. After +200 miles, on a road trip, my knees ache something fierce. I have an after-market seat to allow my feet to reach the ground. I love the bic, but this is taking all the fun out of motorcycling . Could it be the seat? Has anyone else had the "achy knee syndrome"?
 
I had the same problem with my ride. I bought some highway pegs from Iliumworks... take a look here....
http://www.iliumworks.com/R_1200_RT.cfm
It's really nice to be able to reposition your legs from time to time and this thing works great. Also, when its not in use, it folds up under the cylinder head.
 
It's not the seat, don't waste your money there. Unless hiway pegs make enough of a difference, I don't see anything else that would.
I have two weak and painful knees myself. Some days I can ride all day painlessly, some days I have to make more frequent stops, and some days I need to back off and rest.

Sometimes there's only so much you can do once you get to a certain age and/or injury level.
 
Getting old is not for sissies !

Achey knees / Got same achey knees about 2 hours into a road trip. Blamed it on getting 63, could not possibly be my K100 RT with factory seat......... Then next year road 500 miles / roadtrip to camping at the EAA Oshkosk event / R 80 RT with Corbin seat................ not a problem,,,,,from Columbus, Ohio to Oshkosk, Wisc. about 10 hours ( no achy knees).............................................

now I am 66 and the K100 now has a Corbin seat. Still need to do the road trip for this year,,,,,,, I expect not to have achy knees this year.

got a R 1100 RT recently, and the stock seat seems to be ok ...... do about 60 miles about every day=== commuting coldest trip has be 18 degrees....

R 100, 100T, 80RT, 1100RT, and K100LT..........................Grandpa Strunk gave my R75 to oldest son. I miss it already
 
Achy knees

My knees are both shot, have been for years, Osteoartritis, several surgeries, advil by the case, bad DNA, too many ladders in the Navy, etc, etc...

I have an '05 1150RT. Came over from HD Cruiser bikes. I'm 6'1", 225, 35" inseam

Russell seat solved the tush issues. (I will never own another bike without one!)
Lowered floorboards solved the knee issues. They relax the knee angle just enough and give me room to move around a little during long rides.
Moved the bars up and back helped the wrist issues a little. Posture is correct but the angle between my wrists and the grips just seems wrong.
Highway pegs are worthless for me, used them once, never again. But even on the previous cruiser bikes I didn't use the highway pegs.

Get the bike's ergonomics set right and add in a few little exercises as you ride. It makes all the difference.

My wish would be for a pair of risers that also turned the bars out just a little to correct that wrist angle. In the interim, Grip Wraps seem to help a little.
Years ago I had a pair of gloves with a little padded wedge sewn into the palm, best ever, can't find them anymore but I'm still looking...
 
Years ago I had a pair of gloves with a little padded wedge sewn into the palm, best ever, can't find them anymore but I'm still looking...

Try a pair of padded mountain bike gloves, I tried a pair of Fox fingerless gel gloves shortly after we moved to Phoenix from PA. and haven't used regular motorcycle gloves since. The padding seams to help with my arthritic hands. I also use Grip Puppies and found they help as well.
 
Vitamin A (also known a aleve) helps me tremendously.

Also, lowering the passenger pegs and placing the top of my feet on them gives knees a break as well as your butt on a long ride.
I have also been known to ride with my ankles resting on top of the cylinders/heads.
Dangling your feet near the ground also helps, but if you relax too much you wear the soles off your boots.

Ken
 
Achy knees

Achy knees

Other then Achy knees, there's not much detail to work with. It's hard to say that any one items will help you, so bear with me as I offer some of the factors you need to review.

There are numerous reasons which cause painful knees. Riding is just one of many ways the knees take on stress and/or pressure. I've had bad knees since I was a kid and riding created pain even than. It only makes sense to find someone who can understand all the factors of not just what causes Pain, but can also help reduce the cause of the Pain. Due to my size and physical issues, stock settings just don't work. At 6'5" and 310 I'm sure the bike was ready to end the test drive as well. Now, after test riding various bikes I fianlly got to the BMW dealer to ride the K1600GTL I was excited to find a stock bike which was comfortable. After a few trips and a couple hours on the slab I realized that some work was needed to make it more comfortable. After a number of months I ended up with 2" lower foot boards from Ilium, Customized Ilium Highway pegs--as the stock ones did not offer enough distance forward for the extension I needed, and some custom work to the saddle to make it 2" higher and built up enough to fit the Widebody Seat. There are many saddle makers out there who will ship you a very well made saddle. But, is it going to meet your needs. Just like the Ilium Hwy pegs. They fit the bike perfectly, but they did not provide the solution i needed.

It's all about Ergonomics of how you and the bike fit one another. Look for a Shop and a Saddle maker who will give you suggestions, for Free ! Anyone worth their salt will give solid information and suggestions so you can enjoy your bike. Regardless of where you live there are numerous Shops and/or Professional saddle makers who can help you find resolutions. If your Knees still hurt and you're up in years, call your Doc and pray a pill can fix it.

All the Best,
GF
 
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