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So, I rode the new RS today.....

This entire thread has been very imformative, beginning with the OP's man-on-the-street style assessment of his test ride on the RS. Most alarming to me, however, is that he was at the dealership to have his bike undergo a state inspection. The state inspects motorcycles??? Can I assume then that there are no bikes running straight pipes in PA? Sure hope that sort government oversight stays on the coasts.

My apology for the hijack.......

If I could only have you speak with the intellectual gems that populate our state government. No, we have no exhaust noise requirement, like most states. Brakes, tires and lights are the extent of the inspection.

BTW - York, PA is one of the final assembly plants for Harley. It was a plant AMF converted from an old defense product fabrication plant.
 
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...

The suspension, I think, was set to Road with dynamic ESA. It seemed fine, but I could produce some fork dive. If I hadn't upgraded the shocks on my Oilhead last year, I would be very impressed by the wethead suspension. As is, I think the wethead suspension matches a good aftermarket upgrade on a Tele-Lever bike.

I think it does, too, although if you didn't really try the various settings for damping, preload, and riding modes, you only got a small piece of the picture.

...There's a speedometer and a data display showing a lot of nothing. I couldn't find the odometer and the tachometer sideways bar chart with the obscure placement of a numerical value was baffling. Oil and coolant temp would have been nice to see.

I am not sure what info the RS is capable of displaying on the dash. However, the GS-w offers many items. Assuming that the display of the RS-w offers the same as the GS-w (which may be a bad assumption, not sure, sorry) the display is configurable so that you can have some items never show up if you want. Who knows how the one you rode was configured.

...Switching between ride and suspension modes didn't seem to change anything, but then again, I was more involved with driving than fiddling with the playstation controller. I may have just run thru some menus and never changed anything. One or two toggle switches would have handled the job in a fairly direct manner. As is, I was fiddling with a video screen display while driving. I probably could have sent a text or two while I was at it.

It is likely that you merely cycled through menus without making changes, because you have to interrupt power to the drivetrain for a change to be made - like clutch in for a moment. The damping and engine modes can be changed on the move, but the preload cannot; you must be stationary for that. You would have felt real differences had you made actual changes. This includes the engine (and abs and traction control) changes in each mode. The most noticeable change is how the throttle responds. You may or may not have been on the one that would be your favorite. Hard to tell until you have tried them all in a variety of conditions and situation.

...What the heck is that spinning wheel thing on the inboard side of the left handle bar grip?

Although there may be additional uses on the RS-w, on the GS-w, it is used to control the BMW Navigator V GPS. It controls various (not all) functions, but the best thing is zooming in and out. I use that all the time, yet had you asked me before getting it, I would not have thought I would use it much.

...The handlebar switches are all nice, small and quite stylish. That's just what I want in motorcycle switch gear that I will operate wearing gloves. Returning to a small turn signal toggle switch is wonderfully retro in style and functionality.

To cancel the turn signal, one can either wait and let the auto-cancel do its thing, or simply press the switch in to cancel. There is no need to manually return the turn signal switch to any position.

... The ride modes, ESA, shift assist and hill holder clutch / brake aren't intuitively functional to me.

Me either. These new systems really require that one spend some time RTFM.
 
Apparently, salesman indicated that was the case..... It resulted in a rather unique stumble at a stop sign. Engine reviving, no movement, something or the other happened, then movement after clutch and brake grabbed.......

Better find yourself a more informed salesperson if they told you that the new RS has hill-hold.
So what exactly happened at the stop sign then? :scratch

Rod

P.S. I have almost 6k miles on mine and I'm really enjoying it, it's breaking in nicely
 
Better find yourself a more informed salesperson if they told you that the new RS has hill-hold.
So what exactly happened at the stop sign then? :scratch

Rod

P.S. I have almost 6k miles on mine and I'm really enjoying it, it's breaking in nicely

The salesman might not have been Mr. Information, but he was sure happy to get me on my way with the demo ride. That's a lot better some a-hole that wont get of his butt and engage a perspective customer. While the bike didn't overwhelm me, the attitude of the salesman impressed me.

Relative to what happened, it must have been operator error between the throttle, brake and clutch. Having been doing this for 44-yrs, 30-yrs on BMW's, I guess I'm getting sloppy and need to learn how to do it in the proper way.

Have a good day.
 
Salesman was confused about hill assist feature and the models it was applied to . Not a big deal if he is new to the BMW sales role. A big deal if he is a certified BMW sales person.
 
Some folks need to live in shabbier neighborhoods and frequent better motorcycle dealerships. :)

I'm just fine with my Trashman and congenial, but possibly, uninformed salesman. No trashman and a Rhodes-scholar salesman seems like a really poor choice to me. It's similar to choosing to have no plumbing, while buying Perrier.
 
Only thing I use the wonder wheel for on my RT is changing radio stations or volume. Everything else requires viewing the screen and that's not happening when riding.

I hear new RT requires menu manipulation to turn on/off heated handgrips--a deal killer for me. Having to search the computer screen for a nearly invisible icon to tell whether on or off is bad enough. It isn't all intelligent progress.

4 clicks of the menu button for heated grips, one more to get to the seat (no NAV on line), rotate the wheel 1-5 clicks to preferred level (3 of which are actually tolerable temperatures...), thumb wheel left to return to speedo, never looked down doing it. On the RT I believe you will need to add one click to the above if you have the NAV V installed, it's the 4th click.
Or, even easier, make the grip menu your "favorite" and it's one click of the menu button away, one more for the seat.
If you were provided a more comprehensive, professional demonstration of how the menus work, I'm pretty sure you might find it quite intelligent progress - not a deal killer. I can use almost all of the 'rolling' functionality of the menus with no more than a quick glance, if at all, to confirm what I've done. I'm a huge eyes up, safety geek... wouldn't have a GPS until I had the option to use it audibly, eyes up. The menu designs on the RT are quite good, and every bit as safe as the user choses them to be IMO.
 
There was a bit of a back-up at the dealership shop and I arrived early for my state inspection appointment, so I decided to take the demo wethead RS out for a spin. Relative to ergonomics, the bike is good fit for me. I'm 6'-1" and ride an oilhead RS with a Sargent saddle in the middle or top position, the standard wethead seat is a hair low for me, but not overly cramped. However, I do like that the front of the wethead seat is narrower than the "spread eagle"pose of the Oilhead seat. I'm not sure I like the no-slip/high traction surface of the seat. The handlebars seem definitely wider than my standard issue Oilhead bars, but there's no adjustment for angle or fore-aft position. The driver foot pegs are well placed but the shift lever seems to be too far forward. I ride with the ball of my foot on the peg, so the tip of my shoe doesn't reach the wethead shift level unless I move my foot forward. Also, when shifting, my foot hits the side stand tab located between the foot peg and the shift lever. There's no vibration transmitted thru the grips or anywhere else. The stock windscreen provides decent protection, but a larger aftermarket screen would likely occur in the future.

In my world, the engine provides warp factor performance while being glass smooth relative to an oilhead. The chrome exhaust is definitely louder than my venerable oilhead. The transmission is completely different than any Airhead/Brick or oilhead I've ever ridden. My shifts weren't quiet, but they seemed smooth........within the confines of the rapid throttle response. Did I mention that I ride "Old School" with a throttle return screw for "Cruise control".

The suspension, I think, was set to Road with dynamic ESA. It seemed fine, but I could produce some fork dive. If I hadn't upgraded the shocks on my Oilhead last year, I would be very impressed by the wethead suspension. As is, I think the wethead suspension matches a good aftermarket upgrade on a Tele-Lever bike.

I'm not sure what the shift assist was supposed to do for me and the hill holding clutch/brake only serves to make you look like a fool at inconvenient times.

There's a speedometer and a data display showing a lot of nothing. I couldn't find the odometer and the tachometer sideways bar chart with the obscure placement of a numerical value was baffling. Oil and coolant temp would have been nice to see.

Switching between ride and suspension modes didn't seem to change anything, but then again, I was more involved with driving than fiddling with the playstation controller. I may have just run thru some menus and never changed anything. One or two toggle switches would have handled the job in a fairly direct manner. As is, I was fiddling with a video screen display while driving. I probably could have sent a text or two while I was at it.

What the heck is that spinning wheel thing on the inboard side of the left handle bar grip?

The handlebar switches are all nice, small and quite stylish. That's just what I want in motorcycle switch gear that I will operate wearing gloves. Returning to a small turn signal toggle switch is wonderfully retro in style and functionality.

In short, the wethead RS engine and seat/handlebar ergonomics are winners in my book. The switch gear and "data cluster" are a disappointment. The ride modes, ESA, shift assist and hill holder clutch / brake aren't intuitively functional to me.

But, I'm glad I had a chance to take the demo ride.....

I'm sorry you had such a lousy sales demonstration... it sounds like little to none of the functionality of the RS was explained and shown to you... I hate hearing this. If you're ever in Charlotte, stop in and I'll show you how it really works.
 
So, lets say some owners decide, after a few years, to replace the forks and shock with Ohlin or Wilber components.

Do any of the electronics gurus here have an idea of how difficult it would be to flash out the applicable warning components in the ECU?
 
So, lets say some owners decide, after a few years, to replace the forks and shock with Ohlin or Wilber components.

Do any of the electronics gurus here have an idea of how difficult it would be to flash out the applicable warning components in the ECU?

This does not answer your question, but...

Replacement electronic suspension parts are becoming available for various bikes, from good name brands. My past bikes have had only non-electronic suspension, and I have typically replaced those with good aftermarket shocks like Ohlins and Wilbers. However, my 2013 GS-W has ESA on it, and I am liking it so much that when it finally goes south, I will want to keep it. Whether that means rebuilding the stock units or buying aftermarket, I will want to keep the convenience of damping adjustments on the fly, and pushbutton preload adjustment.
 
So, lets say some owners decide, after a few years, to replace the forks and shock with Ohlin or Wilber components.

Do any of the electronics gurus here have an idea of how difficult it would be to flash out the applicable warning components in the ECU?

I have read where people replaced the ESA with Ohlin and Weber non ESA shocks and there was no problems with a triangle showing on the dash.
A fault code will show when connected to the shop computer or gs911, but that's not a big deal, just ignore the fault code.
 
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A couple of comments

Although I have a 2015 RT, I think the comments are applicable to this thread.

  1. ESA
There are settings for Rain, Road, & Dyna. In each of these, select Soft, Normal, or Hard. [I think these are the lables; haven't been on it for a few weeks and manual is not handy.] In Rain, the throttle response is mild and I think the engine is detuned. Supposedly, the ABS and Traction functions are at high alert. It seems to work really well and the bike feels very stable. Very confidence inspiring for us old guys. In Dyna, throttle response is cranked up, really sporty, ABS and Traction are reportedly eased off. A very different feel. Full engine power available and right now on demand.

Damping is noticeably different in Soft, Normal, & Hard settings. Much better than on my 2011 RT.

Preload for solo, solo w/ luggage, or 2-up. Total of 27 settings. Some should work for you!

  • Scrolling Info Display
It took me some time to figure out the display and how it works. After a while, you get to know that from the [selectable] home position, it is x or y jabs of the switch to get to seat heat or other favourite. And, this sure can cause you to take your eyes off the road ahead! Be careful.

  • Hill Start
This is a scary feature for the first few times, especially the very first time. I now find it ok, but one does have to apply more throttle than expected and there is a delay and then a kind of grabby takeoff. A bit of practice, and then you like it, but not maybe love it. I would not pay money for it. [Oh, right, I guess I did...!!!]

Nothing is perfect, but overall this is an improvement for me.
 
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Although I have a 2015 RT, I think the comments are applicable to this thread.

  1. ESA
There are settings for Rain, Road, & Dyna. In each of these, select Soft, Normal, or Hard. [I think these are the lables; haven't been on it for a few weeks and manual is not handy.] In Rain, the throttle response is mild and I think the engine is detuned. Supposedly, the ABS and Traction functions are at high alert. It seems to work really well and the bike feels very stable. Very confidence inspiring for us old guys. In Dyna, throttle response is cranked up, really sporty, ABS and Traction are reportedly eased off. A very different feel. Full engine power available and right now on demand.

Damping is noticeably different in Soft, Normal, & Hard settings. Much better than on my 2011 RT.

Preload for solo, solo w/ luggage, or 2-up. Total of 27 settings. Some should work for you!

  • Scrolling Info Display
It took me some time to figure out the display and how it works. After a while, you get to know that from the [selectable] home position, it is x or y jabs of the switch to get to seat heat or other favourite. And, this sure can cause you to take your eyes off the road ahead! Be careful.

  • Hill Start
This is a scary feature for the first few times, especially the very first time. I now find it ok, but one does have to apply more throttle than expected and there is a delay and then a kind of grabby takeoff. A bit of practice, and then you like it, but not maybe love it. I would not pay money for it. [Oh, right, I guess I did...!!!]

Nothing is perfect, but overall this is an improvement for me.

Just to be clear for anyone who is not familiar with all this stuff, the modes that BMW Triumphant is speaking of are NOT part of ESA. They are a separate item on the options list. How BMW offers/packages the modes seems to change from year to year, so one year they might be in a package called X and another year one called Y. Typically, the standard bike comes with one or more modes, then additional ones are offered in abn options package. The modes alter engine, stability control, and abs behavior. I have the full set of modes on my GS and like the flexibility that they provide. Some (all?) of the modes do also employ ESA - for example "enduro pro" mode also sets the ESA to "soft".

ESA is only about suspension. ESA offers soft, normal, and hard settings for the damping, and offers preload adjustment for solo, solo with luggage, and 2-up. ESA does not interact with ASC or ABS, meaning that setting the ESA does not cause any changes in ASC or ABS.
 
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