R1200RTBlog

Update March 2012

Its been a while since I posted on the RT Blog and a sllight accident - well a topple over this morning - prompted me to update the blog. This weekend has seen me havethe bike in bits - yet again - to fit a new high level GPS mount to take the GPS off the handlebars and move it to on top ofthe dash. 

This is a relatively easy job after you have taken off the plastics it fits with just a couple of screws to where the top of the dash fits. I ran the cable down the side between the speaker and the clocks and then powered it using one of Nippy Norman's GPS power cables. This made it so easy rather than having to run the cable to the back of the bike where I have a fuse panel.

Whilst I had the plastics off I decided to fit a USB connecter so I can plug my phone in - I know its all very

USB socket fitted on right hand side behind radio controls

sad but I am planning a trip up to Scotland in the next couple of weeks and I want to stay in touch whilst on the road. I purchased a waterproof USB plug from Powerlink which was very easy to install, although drilling the hole in the right place did cause a few scary moments - is it in the right place, will it fit etc. etc.

Anyway all fitted OK and I also ordered a waterproof Iphone case from ebay as well as an adapter to fit

High Level GSP mount and iPhone waterproof case

this on to the yolk where the GPS used to be. One problem I came up against was that the waterproof iPhone cable I bought from Powerlink was too bulky at the iPhone end to fit into the Waterproof case. So a soldering iron and a cheap iPhone charger cable was needed and I replaced the cable to one that fits.

The last mod this weekend was to fit a Magnum Steibel horn - again from Nippy Normans. A simple job if you have the wiring kit as it is a simple replacement for the existing horn - what a difference!

Back to this mornings embarassment! I was just walking the bike out from a parking bay in St Albans and for whatever reason the bike started to keel over. I think it was the camber of the road or something and once it started to go there is nothing you can do - especially as I had just filled up with fuel! Anyway after a few goes at lifting it and failing, I managed to get a guy walking past to help - how embarassing :(- I now have gravel rash on the pannier and have ordered a can of spray paint and a roll of paint protector - so that's next weeks job!

OUCH!

BMW1200RT Update

Life with the RT has been great - few real problems once I managed to get the bike registered in the UK. I havent done a huge amount of miles as I built a Caterham 7 last year and its a toss up which one I go out and play on.

One problem I have had is wigth the fuel gauge - a known problem apparently on RT's. Last year the fuel guage was stuck on zero no matter how much fuel I put in it. I took it along to Sawbridgeworth BMW who fixed it, but as it was an imported bike it wasnt covered by the BMW manufacturers warrenty apparently. So I ended up with a bill for just over £200 (£80 parts and the rest labour) which was annoying.

Anyway last week I was heading back from a trip to Northampton to pick some leather up and the bike died on the motorway. I hadnt used the bike for a couple of weeks but the fuel guage was showing 3/4 full so I thought everything was OK. Well apparently not. The nice RAC man happened to have some fuel on board whjich was enough to get me to the next service station - what a fool I felt!!!

The bike is going back into Sawbridgeworth to have the fuel sender tape replaced under warrenty this time - apparently BMW parts have a 2 year warrenty - so we will see how long this lasts!!

Update on the problems with Autocom and the J&M Elite headset

Well I don't seem to be any closer to a resolution to this problem. I have emailed both J&M and Autocom and they both blame the other. I rode in to the office this morning and at exactly 50 miles per hour I get an incessant hissing through the headset - obviously the vox cuts in and I am getting road noise through the headset.

So I am going to take the J&M Headset out of the helmet tonight and install the Autocom unit with the axillary mic and see if that makes a difference - according to Autocom that should solve all my problems. I have also been reading a few blog entries about using different ear pieces with the Autocom headset as the supplied ones appear to be less than great - I have used them before and was disappointed. So if the Autocom headset does take the problem away I am considering using the J&M earpieces with and just wire them in instead of the Autocom units.

I will let you know how I get on.

An update on the PIAA driving lamps - I am just waiting for some PosiLock connectors so I can wire the lights in and make the wiring look tidy. Hopefully they should be here in the next few days so I will post about the installation and put some pictures on the Blog.

Hypelites and R1200RT

Well I got back on Saturday from two weeks of conference and vacation in California and Utah to a box from CycleGadgets with some new toys for my R1200RT - so Sunday afternoon saw me in the garage starting to install them

Firstly was 16 LED Hyperlites which are specifically for the BMW Canbus system. I was concerned that with the 49 litre top box installed the brake light was not visible to traffic and I 'needed' some more visibility - especially on the US Interstates.

Installation was pretty simple as I had already a power source available from the Canbus fuse panel I installed a couple of weeks ago. The lights themselves stick with double sided tape onto the red reflectors on the sides of the rear number plate and two small holes are then drilled in the real light mounting for the wires to pass through to connect to the flasher unit which mounts under the rear seat.

The kit comes with some amazing connectors called PosiTap and PosiTwist which made tapping into the existing wiring a dream. Basically you tap into two wires on the rear brake light using the posiTap connectors and then a single wire feeds into your switched power supply from the flaser unit and then it is just a matter of connecting the Hyper-lite units themselves to the flasher unit. the whole install took less than 30 minutes and the impact is great.

UPDATE: I have posted some pictures the Hyper-Lites installed on my bike in the Photo Album on this blog.

Highly recommended units!

Next up is installation of PIAA 1100x lights and an Autoswitch - I will post later this week when I get round to doing the install 

BMW R1200RT resources

I decided to pull together a whole load of links to do with the BMW R1200RT i hope you find it useful. if you have any that aren't on the list let me know and I will add them

Information

BMW Motorcycles US website

BMW Motorrad Website

Wikipedia entry

Jeff Deans BMW R1200RT Homepage

Calsci BMW R1200RT information and accessories page

BMW Motorcycle Owners of America

South African R1200RT Fan website\

How to change the oil filter website

BMW Luxury Touring Forum

BMW Sport Touring Forum

Marks R1200RT webpage

Iron Butt Association

Suppliers

A & S BMW Motorcycle US parts and accessories

Cyclegadets - US part and accessories

Nippy Normans UK parts and accessories

Twisted Throttle US parts and accessories

US RKA Luggage website

Suburban Machinery website - footpeg lowering kits

K&N Filters Wesbite

Reflective Decals for R1200RT saddlebags

Aeroflow windscreens

Touratech USA

BMR Products - US BMW parts and accessories

Max BMW Motorcycles parts fiche

Connecticut Motorcycle Test

Today after the bike being away at the dealers for week the bike is back from its first service. It ended up being a little more traumatic than I anticipated and a little more costly too at $420. I am now looking forward to getting serious miles on the clock as I passed my US motorbike test last week in Norwalk.
The US motorcycle test is, I feel, actually a bit of a joke in that it is all done on a car park and involves no road work at all. When I first decided to get the bike I went along to the DMV in Norwalk and did the 16 multiple choice questions on the computers (not sure why two of the questions involved seat belts though - I guess it must be a common test for cars and bikes). I walked out with my Motorcycle Permit and went along to the dealers and ordered my new bike and arranged insurance. A week later I picked the bike up - what was interesting was that no-one actually asked if I could ride a bike!

So the day of the test you have to arrive at 8:00 am and have all your paperwork and a helmet. I of course took the wrong piece of  paper and had to go back to the bike to fetch the right bit and then had to go to the back of the queue. So by 8:20 am I had been 'processed' and we had to ride to a car park 2 miles further up the road where we then had to hang around with no shade until the examiner turned up.
At 9:00 am the examiner arrived and started to lay the course out with orange cones. We then had to walk the course with him and he told us that he didn't ride a bike and never wanted to and that we shouldn't run into him as that would be a failure!

The course involved a left hand turn, a slalom through 4 cones, a right hand U turn between two lines and then an emergency stop and a swerve and that was it.

As I had been sent to the back of the queue I had to wait to nearly the end - boy was that a hot day. Anyway I managed to get round the course OK and got my piece of paper and then had to go back to the DMV to be processed again. After an further hour I finally got my new license - it was now 11:45. So the whole process took three and three quarter hours and I was actually riding the bike for less than 6 minutes.

I think this was more about testing my patience than my riding abilities.

What was interesting was that one guy turned up to do the test without a bike or a helmet. He managed to borrow them from someone else who was there and he passed. Secondly there was a guy who turned up with his bike on a trailor - did his bike test in the car park and then put the bike back on the trailor - apparently he had never ridden on the road yet.

The whole experience is very different to that of the UK where you are not allowed out on the road without taking a Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) course and then the test itself is all road based and lasts 30 - 40 minutes and is a mix of theory and practice. I must admit I do worry about biking in the US as certainly in Connecticut there is no helmet law so theoretically you can buy a powerful bike never ride on the road take your test and then launch yourself ion the road with no helmet or other protection.

Taking delivery of my R1200RT

Well the day finally came when I went to pick up my new BMW R1200RT motorcycle on Saturday morning from Cliffs of Danbury. We drove up for a 10am pick up and the sun was shining - everything in the world was good!

At the dealers the bike was warming up outside and looked stunning and ready to go. A few bits of paperwork and I would be away. BMW dealers seem to have a different view of what a dealership is - friendly, unhurried and almost relaxing. All the dealerships I have been in around the world have coffee and donuts or muffins and no pressure to buy - which in the US is a great attribute!

I signed the papers for the insurance and the registration and then Joanne the sales person came into the office and said it was snowing and can we hurry up - snowing it was bright sunshine a few moments ago. One look outside confirmed that it was in fact almost blizzard conditions - well a slight exaggeration maybe but big flakes and lots of them.

The bike handover was very quick as it had turned very cold and we were getting wet. So with some trepidation I set off to ride the 40 miles back to Greenwich. The roads were relatively clear, however as I hadn 't taken my formal test yet I am not allowed to travel on interstate highways etc. so we were consigned to back roads - you know the ones with little traffic where the snow gathers!

The ride back was slow to say the least as it had been 6 months since i had left my bike back in the UK and I hadn't got round to hiring one over here in the US. The BMW was very well behaved and the heated seat and grips were a very useful addition. My only problem was that there was so much snow gathering on the front of the bike I couldn't see through the screen!

We finally managed to get back 60 minutes later with only a few tense minutes with slippery snow patches.

So why buy a bike in the middle of winter I hear you say? Well it is cheaper for one and I got a great deal but the main reason is that if we go back to the UK in September as planned I can take the bike with me and I don't have to pay tax on it. The rules seem to be that you have to live in the US for 12 months and own the vehicle for 6 months and then it is a change of registration, however if you own it for less than 6 months you have to put VAT, import duty etc. which seems to add up to around 30% of purchase price.

I will post some pictures etc. in the next few weeks as the weather gets brighter and hopefully warmer so I can get out and explore Connecticut.

Another new toy - BMW R1200RT

After living in the USA for 6 months I have succumbed and bought myself a motorbike. When we moved out here I left my BMW 1200GS in the UK in storage as the cost of transfer and alterations would probably have been prohibitive - illegal HID Headlights, exhaust etc in the USA.

I must admit I have been missing just getting on my bike an ride - getting away from work and thinking about nothing but staying alive. So on Friday I went along to the local DMV office in Norwalk and got my Motorcycle Permit which allows me to ride and buy a bike - although I can't take a pillion or ride at night!

We went and had a look at the local BMW dealer in Danbury - Cliffs of Danbury a couple of weeks ago and had a look at R1200RT, K1200GT and they were going to get the new R1200GS in on the 1st of February. So off we went this weekend and did the deed.

I am picking up my brand new silver 2008 R1200RT with all the bits on Saturday the 9th, hopefully, and then I will have freedom of the roads again.

To go with the new 'stead' I have ordered a 49l top box and a Garmin Zumo GPS which will allow me to play MP3, XM Digital Radio and phone through my BMW WCS-1 Bluetooth Helmet. I am still a gadget freak if you haven't guessed!

I will update you more next week when I get the new toy!

For further information please see my new blog dedicated to the R1200RT at www.r1200rtblog.com