I rode mine to a weekend BMW rally. It seems competent.
Those six-cylinder K-bikes are exceptional. Great choice. Congratulations.
Mike in Dayton
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I got mine serviced a couple weeks back and rode it around some. My legs aren’t as strong as they were so I have to be a LOT more cautious moving it around, but once I get going, it’s just like the old days.
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I’m seriously late posting this follow up. I finally got around to having new tires installed on my RS. I thought for sure I’d go the Metzeler Roadtec01 route but instead opted to have Michelin Road 5s put on it. The biggest reason for the choice was talking to a fellow forum member at the RS site. He had ridden both tires on his bike. He agreed the Metzeler was a little better sport tire but noted they were terrible on tar snakes. They use those things for repair all over the place here. If you hit one when leaned over it’s going to get your attention. Mr. sfincter is going to be pulling big pieces of seat out. My local dealer also buys pallets of the Road5 tires at the beginning of every season. They were within a couple dollars of mail order, so I went for them.
My impressions so far. For the first couple days I road like Grandma, scuffing them in. I never felt them slip but I’d have felt pretty stupid to low side the bike when I know better. Take it easy, Scuff them in. You have plenty of miles to really go out and enjoy them. Yesterday I had a bunch of errands to run that included collecting small, light weight items so I took the bike. Let’s just say I was a little more spirited, now that the tires were scuffed in. They inspire a lot more confidence than the Pilot Road 4s that came on the bike. They are completely unfazed by tar snakes. They also don’t track road imperfections and seams the way the road 4s did.
While I still have no first hand knowledge of the Roadtec01, the Road 5 is a good tire choice for the R1200RS. They are plenty sporty enough for me. If they wear like the Road 4s did, I got 11,000 miles out of them, I will probably stay with them. My understanding is the GT version of the tire mates really well with heavier bikes like the RTs.
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Nice report and good information.
Tar snakes can be terrifying. I found they are made of different materials in different states, or at least react differently to being ridden on. Some are scary bad; others, barely noticed.
That’s good to know. There is a circle on a road I use to get to Point of Rocks just outside Virginia that is particularly bad. It’ll be interesting to see how the bike behaves the next time I’m on that road.
Been around that same circle a number of times with Roadtech 01s. Never slid. Enjoy your Road 5s David!
One of my ‘genie in a bottle’ wishes would be to have new scuffs for every ride! I always chose premium sticky tires be they track, road, supermoto or dirt destined. The vast majority of my riding was leaving black stripes through corners though and thus tires didn’t last long. One big advantage is that I got to try lots of different new tires!
I also changed all my own tires on all of my bikes over the years, all maintenance save for complete motor rebuilds. Street tires being the most ‘difficult’. They are not difficult once you learn a few key techniques.
Here’s a silly overhead video I made while changing tires on my 2012 Triumph Street Triple. Some of my riding buddies didn’t believe I changed tires myself thinking it was not possible without a machine: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/35859673
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New shocks for the RT on the way in about two weeks. The stockers seem “tired” already at 20k miles. Used Wilbers front “strut” on my 1999 BMW K1200RS and loved it so should be a marked improvement in ride and handling. Getting that front shock out was rather involved. The RT has never looked so “naked”!
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If you want to really take your suspension to the next level or 3 find a tuner that specializes with that bike or class of bike. The proper springs and valving for your weight and riding style makes a significant difference in feel and control. Local is best of course so they can help dial it in but it’s not a big deal to ship either.
I never regretted pulling suspension, shipping to a trusted tuner, and reinstalling. It was one of my first upgrades after I decided I was going to keep the bike.
This is gospel truth. Anyone spending any significant time on a bike, especially in any sort of performance oriented riding should be doing this. Riding on an un-tuned stock suspension is worse than getting all you HiFi cables from Wal Mart. It can amount to actual unsafe handling characteristics.
Once you’ve had it properly built and installed, you must also go through the process of setting your sag, critical to proper handling.
My better setups were all done by LE Suspension. They always provided me with the best baseline.
Getting the right springs and valving makes a tremendous improvement, as does a solid engine tune.
The other option is to get a bike with an electronically calibrated suspension for both weight and dampening.
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I rode some of my Dad’s bikes when I was young, including a Cushman scooter. First bike I owned was a Kawasaki 350 triple 2-stroke. It was a lot of fun. Neighbors hated it. YangYangYang… I bought a Yamaha 850 full dress, Vernturer or Voyager. 3 cylinder, when I was in the Navy in San Diego. My next duty station was in Conneticut, so I rode it coast to coast. Didn’t have much time for sight seeing, but it was still a ball. When I got out of the Navy, I bought a 1980 Goldwing from a guy I worked with. Trunk but no bags. It was pretty light for a 4 cylinder, and handled nice. My latest bike is a 2003 Honda Valkyrie. Black with side bags. Gorgeous bike. When my Dad saw it, he told me I’d never sell that one. So far, he’s right. Only have 39k miles on it.
Windinmyfacely,
Mongo
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I belong to the R1200RS forum. Someone posted about buying a brake light for their helmet from BrakeFree. I did a little research an bought one. It has an accelerometer in it so you don’t need to wire it to your bike. When you slow down, it goes from 20% illumination to 100%. If you decelerate rapidly, it flashes and then goes solid. Very easy to install and it’ll get your attention. I should get the soccer mom, who’s on her cell phones attention before she rear ends you. I’m real glad one of the members posted it because I’d never heard of such a thing.
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It is a pretty area.
Given she is wearing gloves I am afraid this is how she is dresses to ride. Having seen the aftermath of a good number of dreadful bloody Harley incidents (almost always single vehicle) which would be minor if they were wearing gear, I wish we could get them to gear up.
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The chaps and jacket were taken off for a walk. We did travel 5 miles to the next stop in shorts.
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Helmet?
As I mentioned, I have seen too many single-bike Harley accidents where the rider failed to negotiate a curve - head split open, legs, arms and hands torn up, from a 40 MPH crash which should have never happened in the first place. If they would only wear gear at least they typically would not get seriously hurt.
I do not understand style over performance when good protection is so easy.
[/soapbox]
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