Big up the Beemer!
Good day from South Africa. I am a regular reader of CMM and a long-standing fan of classic and vintage motorcycles. I’ve owned many, especially Japanese bikes of the 1970s. My letter might be a bit late but I only just picked up a copy of the August 2017 edition and felt very proud when I read your article on the BMW R1150RT. Since 1985, I have owned several BMWS: three of which were RTS. I’ve had a red 1981 R100RT and then later a silver 2001 R1150RT. The 1150 was a fantastic bike to say the least. Unfortunately I only owned it for about 18 months and traded it in on a Honda VFR800I. At the time we lived in a mountainous area with loads of great roads and mountain passes and that RT proved just how good a 279kg (wet) bike can be with a well-designed chassis and fairing. I often used Pirelli Diablo SC2S on the front and Bridgestone BT20S on the back of that RT. It cornered so well – unbelievably well! I actually never did any touring on that bike, only scratching. I missed my RT and in 2012, after having moved to Cape Town, I found a 2001, 1150RT with only 25,000km on the clock. My wife and I bought it and this time I decided I would make sure I rode it long and far. We have since done 27,000km on my current one. Since I purchased it, I have test ridden other, newer Beemers but they are so expensive. In terms of value for money the R1150RT is such a solid, comfortable bike that can do so much. I commute with it often, do some scratching (nowadays I use a Diablo SC1 up front and a BT 10 back tyre; for touring I use medium compound Shinko tyres) and the bike is fantastically designed – in my books better than the 1200 that followed. Better looking and with a better cubbyhole. The only drawback is the small BMW top-box. I changed my top box for a 46 litre Givi one. A friend of mine is also on his second R1150RT and he has done 190,000km on number 1 and 152,000km on number two with no problems. He laughs at my paltry 52,000km! The RT is not my only bike but it gets used the most. My other bikes are: Suzuki SB200 (1978), GT185 (1974), K11 (1966), Honda GB400TT (1987), DKW Hummel moped (1959), Royal Enfield Flying Flea (1946) and a 2006 Triumph Tiger 955i.