BMW tourer info please

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 18:26

ok after riding 4000km round the south island on my 99 blackbird i have come to the conclusion that although i love the blackbird and its a great bike i would not do the trip again on it.
Sore bum, wrists and nervous gravel rides, along with having to clean and oil the chain and worry about stone chips on the bodywork(south island is one big roadwork) I think a large BMW would be the ticket!
Thinking about a r1150gs or r850r or gs if i can find one. not many secondhand 1150gs around. i like the GS over the R or RT, can the R be retro fitted with gs goodies? high front guard and so on?
Would the r805r feel well underpowered after riding a blackbird? any other ideas? I want to be able to ride 600km a day without a numb arse and wrist and hands feeling like they will fall off. not too keen on a transalp or klr, what are the triumph tigers like? now im getting off the subject!

**Colapop** · 19th February 2007, 18:28

Thought about a Triumph Tiger? (just adding a bike to consider - I've got nothing else useful)

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 18:49

yeah tiger looks good, do they put out much grunt for the long highway trips? nothing worse than being behind a line of camper vans and not enough go to get past them.

Originally Posted by Colapop

Thought about a Triumph Tiger? (just adding a bike to consider - I've got nothing else useful)

**Colapop** · 19th February 2007, 18:51

Apparently - yeah. Sels1 is the Triumph Tiger trumpeter around here. I tried one at TSS. Very nice bike, good for taller people, had a bit of go about it and was very comfortable.

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 18:59

have not seen many secondhand, was one in nelson a while ago on tardme but non in wellington.

**Hitcher** · 19th February 2007, 19:01

Forget about BMWs. Move up the Honda food-chain and get an ST1300. Or, you could be truly enlightened and get an FJR1300.

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 19:07

god no! as much as the st is a fine and very well made machine its just too big, i want to be able to do gravel without the worry of stone chips and droping it doing a u turn in some farmers driveway. same with the fj, but i must say i like the look of the fj.

Originally Posted by Hitcher

Forget about BMWs. Move up the Honda food-chain and get an ST1300. Or, you could be truly enlightened and get an FJR1300.

**Hitcher** · 19th February 2007, 19:09

In that case, how about a CB1300? Plenty of room and plenty of vroom.

The BMW 1150 ain't exactly sylphlike and, after a 'Bird, the R850R would be gutless and not that roomy for touring.

**Blackbird** · 19th February 2007, 19:10

You big girl

If I can do the Southern Cross on a Blackbird, you can tour on one! Seriously, if you love the grunt of a 'bird, most other sports tourers will feel tame by comparison. A Rider custom seat fixed my arse ache completely and although my wrists aren't too bad on a long haul, a lot of people fit bar risers to get over the problem. You can even lower the pegs by fitting ones from a Buell. Clear adhesive films eliminates stone chips in critical places. Those mods are cheaper than replacing your Blackbird, but if you just fancy a change, then go for it!

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 19:18

Id have to say the worst is the wrists! my brother has an old yamaha xv1000 and he can go all day no problem. Me i have to stop after 200k as my wrists and knees hurt too much. I get about 500k a day and im over it! no fun after that.
I have heard you can fit the vfr800 bars to the bird, i duno about the buel pegs! (send me more info if you have it) I scrape my toe on the ground as it is on the sharp twisty corners! (size 13 boots dont help)
You have to wonder why the seat on the bird is so low? its lower than my rf900 im sure.
Problem is finding a bike with the power, fuel economy, and good on any surface. hence the BMW idea.

Originally Posted by Blackbird

You big girl

If I can do the Southern Cross on a Blackbird, you can tour on one! Seriously, if you love the grunt of a 'bird, most other sports tourers will feel tame by comparison. A Rider custom seat fixed my arse ache completely and although my wrists aren't too bad on a long haul, a lot of people fit bar risers to get over the problem. You can even lower the pegs by fitting ones from a Buell. Clear adhesive films eliminates stone chips in critical places. Those mods are cheaper than replacing your Blackbird, but if you just fancy a change, then go for it!

**Blackbird** · 19th February 2007, 19:26

Originally Posted by crazybigal

Id have to say the worst is the wrists! my brother has an old yamaha xv1000 and he can go all day no problem. Me i have to stop after 200k as my wrists and knees hurt too much. I get about 500k a day and im over it! no fun after that.
I have heard you can fit the vfr800 bars to the bird, i duno about the buel pegs! (send me more info if you have it) I scrape my toe on the ground as it is on the sharp twisty corners! (size 13 boots dont help)
You have to wonder why the seat on the bird is so low? its lower than my rf900 im sure.
Problem is finding a bike with the power, fuel economy, and good on any surface. hence the BMW idea.

Yep, finding the perfect "fitness for purpose" bike is hard all right. I have a photo of the peg mod at work somewhere and will post it tomorrow. It drops the peg by 25 mm and apparently makes a huge difference. Have a look at the bar risers (and other stuff) here: http://www.jaws-motorcycles.co.uk/bird.htm

**miSTa** · 19th February 2007, 19:35

The R1150GS is a great bike however:
- they are not vibration free. There is some vibration in the handlebars, seat, footpegs, tank (yeah all right the whole bike) at anything over 120. Not helped by having dual purpose tyres of course
- cruising all day at 120 and higher is a tiring affair, not what it was designed for. I could manage all day on my ZZR1100 just fine at the same speeds.
- lack of acceleration (coming of a ZZR the GS is somewhat underwhelming)
- lack of horsepower, losing 60 takes some getting use to
- fuel economy isn't as good as the ZZR
- they take a lot of getting use to. Took me ages to get right. The gearbox is somewhat tractor like, slow and firm is the way.

Some good points though:
- handles gravel roads (and more) just fine
- handles just fine on the sealed roads, I'm probably more confident on the GS than I was on the ZZR
- don't need cleaning
- great fun in the rain
- 10,000km service intervals
- great for the taller people
- two up there's plenty of room

I guess you could convert a R1150R to a GS but the cost would prohibitive and you'd not really gain anything.

Forget about a R850 - I'm sure you'd find it absolutely gutless.

**Detroitdiesel** · 19th February 2007, 19:50

I have just returned from a day ride from CHC to Tekapo, I went with a work mate I was on my R1100S and he was on a GSXR1100.We swaped bikes at Rakaia and rode all the way to Tekapo and back to highway 72 intersection at Thompsons Track about 350 KMs where we stopped and swapped bikes, he went on to Rangiora and I went to Leeston,His words were " I could own one of these" and he is a serious Suzuki rider!! And I used to own Suzukis and loved them and I loved riding his rocketship, but one day unfortunatly I took a BMW boxer oil head for a ride to Queenstown with my wife and found it very hard to give it back. So now I own one,
They are not a high performance bike but they are awesome on a long trip, if you are going to test ride one make sure you get on the open road

**crazybigal** · 19th February 2007, 20:04

so it sounds like the 1150 is just a heavy adventure bike?
i want to be able to cruise at 120 no problem then upto 150 to pass if i need to. thats were the blackbird comes into its own, so smooth and quiet before you know it your doing 170k but its not a great fit, im 6'3 and i find the ergos about the same as my rf900.
I hear everyone say the BMW box is like a tractor, shit i shift up from 2nd and down without the clutch, feels like an auto its so good. just harsh into first like alot of bikes.
So the 850 is a slug? looks small for gear too, i had 30kg of gear on the bird and most of the time i didnt know it was there

Originally Posted by Detroitdiesel

I have just returned from a day ride from CHC to Tekapo, I went with a work mate I was on my R1100S and he was on a GSXR1100.We swaped bikes at Rakaia and rode all the way to Tekapo and back to highway 72 intersection at Thompsons Track about 350 KMs where we stopped and swapped bikes, he went on to Rangiora and I went to Leeston,His words were " I could own one of these" and he is a serious Suzuki rider!! And I used to own Suzukis and loved them and I loved riding his rocketship, but one day unfortunatly I took a BMW boxer oil head for a ride to Queenstown with my wife and found it very hard to give it back. So now I own one,
They are not a high performance bike but they are awesome on a long trip, if you are going to test ride one make sure you get on the open road

**miSTa** · 19th February 2007, 20:24

Originally Posted by crazybigal

so it sounds like the 1150 is just a heavy adventure bike?

An adventure bike - yes. Heavy, depends - its lighter than what my ZZR was. As a off road machine then yes its heavy.

Originally Posted by crazybigal

i want to be able to cruise at 120 no problem then upto 150 to pass if i need to. thats were the blackbird comes into its own, so smooth and quiet before you know it your doing 170k but its not a great fit, im 6'3 and i find the ergos about the same as my rf900.

The GS's ergos might work for you, depend on long you legs are. I'm 6'2 with longish legs and could do with a fraction more leg room on the longer runs.

The cruising speed and the passing speeds yoru're after are possible but expect to work harder than you would normally do.

Originally Posted by crazybigal

I hear everyone say the BMW box is like a tractor, shit i shift up from 2nd and down without the clutch, feels like an auto its so good. just harsh into first like alot of bikes.

Once you get use to the tractor gearbox its just fine and relatively smooth clutchless shifts are possible...eventually

Originally Posted by crazybigal

So the 850 is a slug? looks small for gear too, i had 30kg of gear on the bird and most of the time i didnt know it was there

Shit that's a load and a half!

Depending on your budget a 1200GS could be worth looking at - a lot lighter than the 1150 and with more power.