BMW Motorrad - 2018 New Colors and Model Updates

FYI. I was hoping the RT would get the Connectivity option for 2018, but as has been BMW's tradition for many years now, the newest technology is introduced on the GS and get to the RT the following year. North America still doesn't get the brake warning feature available in Europe, unfortunately. Time will tell when that comes around.

I like the RT in Red, and IIRC, there are a few others here that will be pleased with that as well.

AlanColes said:

FYI. I was hoping the RT would get the Connectivity option for 2018, but as has been BMW's tradition for many years now, the newest technology is introduced on the GS and get to the RT the following year. North America still doesn't get the brake warning feature available in Europe, unfortunately. Time will tell when that comes around.

I like the RT in Red, and IIRC, there are a few others here that will be pleased with that as well.

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I would love to see the Connectivity option (and TFT display) on the RT. Saw the video for the Nav function coupled with the smart phone app and that sort of integration is impressive. Too bad the red available in NA isn't that same red the UK RT got last year...

It would appear that we may have to wait until 2019 or perhaps even 2020 for that.

As far as colours go, I'm really not sure what BMW is thinking with the tiny selection of colours and almost non-existent variety.

AlanColes said:

I'm really not sure what BMW is thinking with the tiny selection of colours and almost non-existent variety.

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We have been riding BMWs since 1984. Seems like we only had 2 or 3 choices of color on the bikes we purchased.
The limited selection of color is nothing new for us.

I know, but my 1973 Norton 850 Commando could be had in four choices of colour. My Ducati ST3s was available in three colours and they were very low volume bikes (1,011 worldwide in 2007).

With the volume BMW does they really should offer at least four choices.

My 2004 R1150RT was available in 4 choices, my 2014 only had 2 choices.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

Advcanuck:
You are correct, that red model was the almost the same one they had in England a year or so ago. The NA version is not offering the custom seat that Great Britain was offered.
That TFT display looks nice, though not sure how that would work with an RT. I am fairly new to the BMW world (7 years), but the RT display has always seemed much larger than the GS.

Mike

Mike the RT cluster is bigger, but that just means it will be / could be even better. The big thing for the TFT will be an improvement in legibility during periods of direct sunlight and the ability to display just about anything due to it's technology and the Connectivity feature.

As far as the red for 2018 goes, if you have a look at Jeff Dean's page on it (http://bmwdean.com/r1200rtw.htm), you'll see that they don't appear to be nearly as similar as we'd hoped, but I'm hoping the pictures are not completely accurate (unlikely) and the real thing will be much closer to the UK Special Edition colour. The 2018 colour is identified as being a red-orange hue which is definitely not what the stunning UK version was.

--------------------UK Special Addition--------------------------------------------------2018 version

On the Motorrad UK site's configurator, we can see what I think are 2018 colors and the interesting tan seats.

Alan:
Thank you for correcting me...and also for posting that beautiful RT again. I was off on the color scheme and I am jealous again for what the UK got that year. I do not have a LC RT, so I am probably wrong on this or misguided. It would be nice to be able to configure my cluster to the info I want to see. There seems to be a lot of wasted space on the LCD on 2011 that I wish I could add to. The LC's may offer that with the Wonder Wheel.

Mike

mikesved said:

... I am jealous again for what the UK got that year...

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Me too, although, I couldn't swing a new bike last year, or right now for that matter, it was very disheartening to see what we were missing out on.

mikesved said:

... It would be nice to be able to configure my cluster to the info I want to see...

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That is the "potential" beauty of TFT, that it has that ability. How much of that is going to be incorporated into the BMW design is hard to say. BMW, like most large corporations, can be fairly rigid in their thinking at times, so all we can do is cross our fingers.

mikesved said:

... There seems to be a lot of wasted space on the LCD on 2011 that I wish I could add to. The LC's may offer that with the Wonder Wheel...

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Here's a photo of the RTW dash. I have put a green box around the areas that can have their output adjusted via the Wonder Wheel. There is also some control for screen desplay on the GPS (Navigator) through the WW which I find very useful.
The TFT has the potential to offer so much more within that real estate space with the ability for it to be not only user configurable but also to change/adjust dependent on specific situations. It


Hre is a BMW clip on the TFT. As you can see it doesn't appear to be very customizable, but does allow for significant depth of menu structure, input, etc. My big concern here is that I would like to see much of that being voice-activated rather than controlled via the Wonder Wheel. That would be a far safer solution. The possibilities are very interesting. I believe Yamaha has a touch-screen TFT on at least one of their bikes already, so things will definitely move along very quickly as the technology explodes into this space.


Here's a good overview from Motorcycle News: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2017/july/bmw-tft-dash-explained/

Alan:
I never really spent much time looking at the RTW because I cannot sell my children into indentured servitude. I did not realize how much different the cluster is on the RTW compared to the RT. The TFT makes a lot more sense since you added the pics, maybe by the time I can afford a brand new bike this will become a reality.
Thanks again
Mike

I know the feeling Mike. I wasn't planning on moving up from my 2004 R1150RT to the 2014 R1200RTW, but ran across a situation where a fellow had to sell his 1-year old bike with just 517 miles on it at a price that I couldn't say no to - I paid him his asking price as he had others coming to see the bike and it would have been gone quickly, his misfortune, my gain.

My kids are too old now to sell "into indentured servitude" so I'm just spending their inheritance on them. They can sell the bikes when I'm gone and recoup some of it from my folly. ;-)

I've been thinking I may have one more brand-new bike in me, my only other brand-new bike was a 1977 Suzuki GS750. When the RTW finally has everything sorted our with the display and then the new 1250cc engine, etc., are introduced, it might be 2020 or 2021, which might allow me to swing that last hoorah.

Alan:
That is about the same time frame I was going to buy my first new bike...this may work...