A short RR and my review of the R1200RT LE LC.

patzx12

Registered user
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
4,706
Reaction score
0
Location
Galway Ireland
Not a hugely interesting RR just a quick hop over to the UK to pick up an R1200RT.
WARNING: this RR contains scenes of retail therapy so if this is upsetting look away now.

Background:
Sold my 16 GSA a couple of months ago and was completely at a loose end as to what bike to get or not bother and just use what I have in my little fleet.
MTS interested me but its a Ducati and I just don't want the hassle.
KTM S is a possibility but I haven't gotten a ride on one yet.
HD RK is on the radar but not enough of an all rounder for Ireland but a possible future ride.
Bought the RT on a whim 5 minute decision.
I had never ridden an RT, its the BMW I walk past in the showroom but it is something different and the deal was right.
The bike was bought on here:

The collection day started a 2:30am Taxi, coach and Ryanair to Leeds. the early start is not a problem but can we heck sleep before a trip. 2:30 am is my normal bed time.
We had a few hours in Leeds a wonderful city. I think the last time I used left luggage in Leeds station it was a shilling now: try 24 quid.
A few pictures of Leeds, they had a 3000 year old mummy in the museum, scary.
I love the old British architecture, just look at the wonderful Leeds market building and the famous arches where I used to run through as a child. Art Deco Queens hotel and the old part of the station. The canal is a great walk but didn't do it this trip.
 

Attachments

  • 20170712_124901.jpg
    20170712_124901.jpg
    242.8 KB · Views: 687
  • 20170712_124918.jpg
    20170712_124918.jpg
    245.6 KB · Views: 693
  • 20170712_133214.jpg
    20170712_133214.jpg
    247.1 KB · Views: 708
  • 20170712_124152.jpg
    20170712_124152.jpg
    183.8 KB · Views: 674
  • 20170712_134016.jpg
    20170712_134016.jpg
    210.7 KB · Views: 720
...................................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170712_141734.jpg
    20170712_141734.jpg
    249.2 KB · Views: 708
  • 20170712_141308.jpg
    20170712_141308.jpg
    250.8 KB · Views: 707
  • 20170712_141238.jpg
    20170712_141238.jpg
    242.2 KB · Views: 694
  • 20170712_141019.jpg
    20170712_141019.jpg
    209.4 KB · Views: 633
  • 20170712_141930.jpg
    20170712_141930.jpg
    243 KB · Views: 692
.....................................................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170712_142108.jpg
    20170712_142108.jpg
    253.1 KB · Views: 710
  • 20170712_142138.jpg
    20170712_142138.jpg
    240 KB · Views: 677
  • 20170712_142243.jpg
    20170712_142243.jpg
    250.7 KB · Views: 677
  • 20170712_142522.jpg
    20170712_142522.jpg
    199 KB · Views: 665
  • 20170712_151924.jpg
    20170712_151924.jpg
    242.7 KB · Views: 686
...........................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170712_152612.jpg
    20170712_152612.jpg
    202.9 KB · Views: 710
  • 20170712_160736.jpg
    20170712_160736.jpg
    227.6 KB · Views: 606
  • 20170712_154429.jpg
    20170712_154429.jpg
    235.8 KB · Views: 677
On to York in the late afternoon and there she was sitting in the station car park. my new bike. Always a great feeling.
A few pleasantries with the affable John, he was doing me the courtesy of showing me what all the buttons did but I was't listening. I wanted to do that journey of discovery myself.
Change into riding gear in the car park and wobble away on an unfamiliar bike.
We were knackered tired at this stage running on adrenaline.
First stop was Squires for an hour, chip butty, coffee and meet up with friends. It is a hassle when my best buddy lives in another country.
Next stop was our hotel in Newcastle, we were going great guns until we hit the road works on the A1. Droning along a low speed was tough.
Settled Mary into the hotel and took a midnight solo blast around Newcastle looking for supper. Some Asian taxi drivers directed me to the best of the takeaways. The bike felt like a sports bike, It was my first solo ride without luggage.
 

Attachments

  • 20170712_203422.jpg
    20170712_203422.jpg
    216.3 KB · Views: 657
  • 20170712_232543.jpg
    20170712_232543.jpg
    242.2 KB · Views: 696
  • 20170712_203801.jpg
    20170712_203801.jpg
    244.3 KB · Views: 683
A great day in another great city..........................
 

Attachments

  • 20170713_125752.jpg
    20170713_125752.jpg
    243.4 KB · Views: 703
  • 20170713_133354.jpg
    20170713_133354.jpg
    252.4 KB · Views: 662
  • 20170713_134729.jpg
    20170713_134729.jpg
    270.9 KB · Views: 667
  • 20170713_134740.jpg
    20170713_134740.jpg
    263.2 KB · Views: 670
  • 20170713_135059.jpg
    20170713_135059.jpg
    249.1 KB · Views: 648
...................................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170713_135531.jpg
    20170713_135531.jpg
    265.1 KB · Views: 656
  • 20170713_143535.jpg
    20170713_143535.jpg
    250.4 KB · Views: 668
  • 20170713_145318.jpg
    20170713_145318.jpg
    225.1 KB · Views: 688
Angel of the North and Hadrian's wall.
 

Attachments

  • 20170714_101259.jpg
    20170714_101259.jpg
    221.1 KB · Views: 676
  • 20170714_100953.jpg
    20170714_100953.jpg
    250.6 KB · Views: 697
  • 20170714_084047.jpg
    20170714_084047.jpg
    203.6 KB · Views: 654
  • 20170714_084944.jpg
    20170714_084944.jpg
    232.7 KB · Views: 661
  • 20170714_101305.jpg
    20170714_101305.jpg
    241.3 KB · Views: 589
After our day in Newcastle, refreshed we had an early start and shot across to Fort William. We have never toured Scotland always opting to keep heading South when doing motorcycle tours.
Some great roads around, weather mostly rain with some clear spells.
Great B&B in FW.
on the road we spotted the sign for Lockerbie and visited the Flight 103 memorial we were there quite a while.
 

Attachments

  • 20170714_121535.jpg
    20170714_121535.jpg
    260.2 KB · Views: 691
  • 20170714_121701.jpg
    20170714_121701.jpg
    258.4 KB · Views: 657
  • 20170714_121924.jpg
    20170714_121924.jpg
    261.9 KB · Views: 648
  • 20170714_122523.jpg
    20170714_122523.jpg
    248.2 KB · Views: 608
...............................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170714_155145.jpg
    20170714_155145.jpg
    249.6 KB · Views: 653
  • 20170714_161924.jpg
    20170714_161924.jpg
    250.6 KB · Views: 684
  • 20170714_161954.jpg
    20170714_161954.jpg
    245.7 KB · Views: 669
  • 20170715_094958.jpg
    20170715_094958.jpg
    219.5 KB · Views: 578
Next morning on to The Skye ferry, we didn't mooch about Skye the rain was pounding down opting to head for Ullapool. from there we were doing B roads NE for a couple of hours and with the weather not great we cut across to the east coast.
Now the rain had stopped and the road was quiet and what a road, loads of curves all the way to John O Groats.
We gave the RT it's head and it motored, The bike handles good but fully loaded it's a big girl and needed some pulling in to the high-ish speed sweepers. The bike is so tremendously stable I guess it's at the cost of flick-ability.
 

Attachments

  • 20170715_115410.jpg
    20170715_115410.jpg
    242.9 KB · Views: 674
  • 20170715_152725.jpg
    20170715_152725.jpg
    244.3 KB · Views: 674
  • 20170715_152949.jpg
    20170715_152949.jpg
    244.5 KB · Views: 662
  • 20170715_161319.jpg
    20170715_161319.jpg
    247.6 KB · Views: 652
John O Groats was fantastic, the Sea View hotel was full but she gave us a bunk house for 50 quid. Just the job and a fan heater to dry out the gear. This hotel is great, the food was proper home cooked type meals delicious, the best food of the trip. A good bar, massive range of Whisky, nice locals who speak with an accent that sound more Donegal than Scot.
Their Gaelic sounds a lot like ours.
 

Attachments

  • 20170716_101911.jpg
    20170716_101911.jpg
    238.9 KB · Views: 643
  • 20170715_221059.jpg
    20170715_221059.jpg
    216 KB · Views: 661
  • 20170715_221120.jpg
    20170715_221120.jpg
    192.8 KB · Views: 681
  • 20170715_214548.jpg
    20170715_214548.jpg
    237.6 KB · Views: 638
  • 20170716_103037.jpg
    20170716_103037.jpg
    252.5 KB · Views: 645
........................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 20170716_105404.jpg
    20170716_105404.jpg
    218 KB · Views: 676
  • 20170716_105803.jpg
    20170716_105803.jpg
    151.2 KB · Views: 648
  • 20170716_110902.jpg
    20170716_110902.jpg
    230 KB · Views: 650
We wanted a big trip next morning, I was thinking why not Lands end but we got stuck on that A9 with average speed cameras. Droning along at 60 was knackering me + there was that horrible blustery winds.
We did make a brief visit to the Cathedral in Dunblane.
Somewhere on the road we opted for Galway. Booked a ferry at a coffee stop and wellied it the Holyhead.
2:45am ferry perfect we have done it a hundred times. Grab an over priced cabin and get a blissful 3 hour solid sleep. We were fresh as daisies at 6:00am ready for the motorway run to Galway.
Tip, If you are heading West always stop a J16 for a great breakfast at the Galway Plaza.
 

Attachments

  • 20170716_165936.jpg
    20170716_165936.jpg
    174.5 KB · Views: 648
  • 20170716_222504.jpg
    20170716_222504.jpg
    239.1 KB · Views: 585
  • 20170717_020310.jpg
    20170717_020310.jpg
    194.3 KB · Views: 668
So what about the bike? how does it compare to the LC GS and GSA. They are the same bike in different clothes.
For me the RT is a change and that is what I was looking for.
We love it a perfect 2 up bike.
The LC engine really sits well in the RT, it does not sound so rattly for some reason, it's fast when you open the taps it leaps forward quite aggressively , great for the fast overtakes.
The riding position is perfect for me, sitting snug in the bike with the handlebars just right.
This is a clever bike, the gadgets are great.
Key-less makes sense when you have the natty central locking. The heated seats are a boon as is the electric screen.
The heated grips will cook your gloves, they are really hot on full.

Like all BMW's handling is great but I have not adapted to it yet, I will have to develop my techniques. A track day will be great to allow me to find the best cornering dynamics. As stated the bike is completely stable in all conditions there has to be a trade off, we will see with more miles. I did a few laps on track with a 1600 once and it was sublime.

The big + with the RT is the ride and suspension, absolutely spot on a beautiful ride, controlled and never harsh.
I am used to the big fairing now and filtering is just like the GSA.

Bad points:
The mirrors, useless they are out of the line of sight I have to look away from the road and down to use them. the distance view is terrible. I will be making up handlebar mirror mounts and fitting an extra set of mirrors.
The slow speed gear change is clunky more so than my GSA, I think if I let it rev more before changing it works better.
There are no other bad points, the bike is spot on and fun to ride.
 
As a footnote yesterday was VRT tax day A Ritual our UK brothers may not be aware of, I had the good sense to avoid the chaos of the Galway office and book an appointment at a regional office. In and out in no time.
The weather was close to monsoon, we were tucked up on the RT totally oblivious to it. I think this is the strength of the RT. Floating along I was thinking that nearly every North Europe trip is 25% to 75% rain so why not pick the best tool for the job, the RT.
We had a nice late lunch in Kinvarra and a short break in the weather, life is good.

Now one of my bikes has to go, I will keep the 05 GS for knocking around and Ukgser events.
The beloved Varadero is in direct completion with the RT, so sadly my have to go to a new custodian.
A great pity, it would have made easy work of the Scotland run.
 

Attachments

  • 20170721_160637.jpg
    20170721_160637.jpg
    161.4 KB · Views: 649
  • 20170721_160952.jpg
    20170721_160952.jpg
    241.5 KB · Views: 632
  • 20170721_161359.jpg
    20170721_161359.jpg
    247.8 KB · Views: 669
  • 20170721_161745.jpg
    20170721_161745.jpg
    221.2 KB · Views: 656
  • 20170721_170426.jpg
    20170721_170426.jpg
    223 KB · Views: 639
What is planned:
Make an adaptor plate and use my Honda topbox.
Make mirror mounts and fit primary mirrors, the co-pilot has a great rear view from the fairing mirrors.
Fit bright LED driving light and plenty of them.
BTW
The driving standard in Galway and Clare yesterday was appalling, what is it about car drivers and a wet Friday afternoons?
We witnessed 2 multiple pile ups and both were on straight stretches of road.
 

Attachments

  • 20170721_161123.jpg
    20170721_161123.jpg
    254.8 KB · Views: 410
  • 20170721_175729.jpg
    20170721_175729.jpg
    262.7 KB · Views: 401
That passed an early monring 15 minutes with my first cuppa of the day.

Happy new (ish) bike Pat.
 
Nice way to collect a new bike :thumb

Makes a mockery of the ' if only you were closer I'd have it' mentality :cool:

I've flown up to Edinburgh twice now to pick up bikes I've bought... makes the process an adventure in itself . Thanks for posting :beerjug:
 


Back
Top Bottom