"Rider" magazine on the 2019 BMW boxers

Article below:

2019 bmw gs & rt

More TQ & HP is always welcome as long as it doesn't come with more weight. I really like the TFT instrument display on a new GS I saw at my dealers as well.

Do I detect a new, third RT in Mr. Dean's future?

RUMOR has it the RT will get a total revamp in 20 or 21, 19 is engine upgrade only

I think the market for large touring bikes like this in the US is fading. Harley is already experiencing the pain, it will be interesting to see how BMW fares.

Are those top loading saddlebags?

This kind of sounds like complexity just for the sake of it as in what is the big deal? I guess if you're in the motorcycle building business you need to come up with a reason why somebody should want your product. I'll take a pass.

jammess said:

This kind of sounds like complexity just for the sake of it as in what is the big deal? I guess if you're in the motorcycle building business you need to come up with a reason why somebody should want your product. I'll take a pass.

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I tend to agree with this ... if they don't at least make some sort of compelling argument, why would anyone move up from something that has served them well, especially if that something is only a few years old. I will admit though that a nicer display would at least get me motivated to want to have a closer look. The few extra horses on this model alone won't do that for me. I know there are a few other "improvements" but for now they simply aren't enough. My 2016 has way more power than I'll ever make good use of on the street.

More power will eat tires up even faster than wetheads do now. I can hear the complaining coming.
But... should be a sweet ride, wish I could justify a need at my age.

lirider said:

I tend to agree with this ... if they don't at least make some sort of compelling argument, why would anyone move up from something that has served them well, especially if that something is only a few years old. I will admit though that a nicer display would at least get me motivated to want to have a closer look. The few extra horses on this model alone won't do that for me. I know there are a few other "improvements" but for now they simply aren't enough. My 2016 has way more power than I'll ever make good use of on the street.

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Agree. There is not enough change to justify another purchase even if my current RT was a 2014 and not a 2018.

I think for myself there might be enough here... I have often moved up to a new or newer model after ten years, both on cars and bikes. The real question posed here is the larger long distance tourer what I want to ride for the next ten years. After watching the Glaves' experience this year I am thinking there are much cheaper and more utilitarian options open to me.

I look at the new bikes every year, at the dealer, even stand by them, look at them, incredulously. Then go home look at my old bikes, and scratch my head. For me life is too short to enjoy all that new technology beyond where the old bikes git on down the road. Wind in the face is wind in the face. The ubiquitous march of progress sometimes is redundant. If you got the scratch, buy a new one. At the end of the day there'll be a thirty five year old K bike coming up at yer six. Zoom. And it's not a Luddite swinging a buggy whip. It's possible that a manufacturer can make a so accomplished product that it puts itself out of business. Enter planned obsolescence. Two scents over coffee, FWIW.

OldCamper said:

I think the market for large touring bikes like this in the US is fading. Harley is already experiencing the pain, it will be interesting to see how BMW fares.

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100% agree. BMW could have taken the aging rider crowd and given then something really unique and desirable by producing a world class Sport Tourer SACRIFICING NOTHING for comfort, tech, performance, handling, styling....all in a 520lb package fully fueled, and sure why not--with top loading side cases. Electric windscreen is a must and right now you won't get than until you hit 604lbs on up. No brand makes the model described, and yet tell me how many aging riders are really after more curb weight. Instead they take RTW and add more horsepower and probably a few more pounds or not. Aging boomers are the folks w/ some spare change and time to tour, and aging boomers uniformly get weaker and less capable of managing weight. Done really well I can see this concept would easily garner enough market to make a significant splash--if done really well, thru and including styling and paint. Wake up BMW!

PGlaves said:

Do I detect a new, third RT in Mr. Dean's future?

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I doubt it. The "2019 Spezial Option 719 Blue Planet Metallic R1250RT" is tempting, but not enough now to cause me to trade a perfectly fine existing wet-head R1200RT in for one.

BMW has gone the way of so many vehicle manufacturers today. They load their product with gizmos of every conceivable kind just to make people think they can't live without this or that. BMW has completely capitulated and is no longer simple by choice.

This morning we get up and begin the ritual of changing all our digital clocks back to standard time. What a royal pain in the proverbial ass! I can't even set my pos wrist watch without getting out the owners manual and a magnifying glass to read the fine print when all I used to do was simply pull out the winder and rotate the stem to move the hands. And guess what? That simple time piece did just as good a job of telling time as my ultra modern piece of digital crap does.

Gizmos....I just hate 'em. Kind of as useless as electronic suspension on a road motorcycle. Oh heavens I just can't live without it or heaven forbid my precious little bum might get jostled if I go over a nasty little road irregularity.

jammess said:

This morning we get up and begin the ritual of changing all our digital clocks back to standard time. What a royal pain in the proverbial ass! I can't even set my pos wrist watch without getting out the owners manual and a magnifying glass to read the fine print when all I used to do was simply pull out the winder and rotate the stem to move the hands.

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As I went to bed last night all I did was simply pull out the winder and rotate the stem to move the hands. There are virtues to $40 Timex watches that last about 10 years before I need a new one.

As an aside, I once read that soon we will be able to use cursive handwriting as secret crypto-code because the youngsters can't write it or read it. But back to the point, many kids can't tell time from a clock with hands because they don't teach it much in schools any longer and the clocks on the classroom walls are digital.

Now back to the thread about vehicle technology.

Went out to set the digital clock on my antique R1100RSL and all I had to do was depress the one little button to advance the hour display, simple and still digital. What will they think of next?

Yup, lucky you living in a state of mind (AZ) where there is no DST. We have none other than Adolph Hitler and the emperor to thank for this DST fiasco. I have always wondered why they (whoever they is) can't just split the difference and call it good. Too simple I guess.

And now back to motorcycles. Oh, one other thing. Yamaha replaced the analog coolant temp display to digital in 2013 and now the digital temp display is not damped so when your ripping down the road the display is all over the map and pretty much useless. My neighbor with his 2015 FJR thought he had a problem and called the dealer to complain. The dealer said he'd look into it. Then he called me and I just laughed and told him welcome to the digital world. What a joke!

Kids that can't read an analog clock?? Take me right out and shoot me!

OK, now back to BMW motorcycles high tech wonders that they are.