Must haves on new RT

markymark

markymark

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As title really, thinking about going for a new 2021/22 RT in blue with top box, quick-shifter & tyre pressure monitoring what else is a must need for high speed European touring ? I was thinking of adding ESA but at over £800 is it really worth it if I always ride solo ?


I have ESA & keyless on my current bike & it's something I think I could live with out :mad:

Any comments, positive or negative greatly appreciated :blast
 
I have used adaptive cruise control on a couple of cars (VW) and would love to have it on my bike. Is it an absolute necessity? No, it isn't but I find it very useful, and I think it offers a measure of safety over the 'traditional' cruise control which can speed you towards danger in the event of a movements inattention

For high speed Euro touring I'm guessing that will include many motorway miles at times and ACC will come into it's own under those circumstances

Depends on the budget of course
 
I'd not bother with the quick-shifter and if the radio is an option, I'd pass on that too.
Think about lower rider pegs.
As far as navigation - make sure your phone will fit in the wireless compartment.

I was bounced into the ESA which I wasn't too impressed with initially but for whatever reason it's improved greatly. Bikes having it's 6k service today and hopefully it'll be better still after it's been fettled.

All told it's stunning bike.
 
I will probably not even bother pairing my phone up to the bike & just use my BMW Street Nav fitted to a Ram mount, read too many horror stories regarding connection issues :mad:

Have adaptive cruise on my car & can see the use of having it on a bike, thinking about the higher seat instead of lowering the pegs as I don't want the grinding away on the twisty corners :D
 
The quick shifter is good if you get a lick on now and then

Heated grips are very nice to have, the seats don’t do much to be honest

ESA - didn’t know you could still get an RT without it, either way I’d get it

Normal cruise control is great if you use motorways but I personally hate adaptive 99% of the time in cars and would want it even less on a bike
 
Got ESA on my 1250RT and think it is brilliant, not having to bother setting it up for different loads is a bonus. The SOS function has become a pain in the arse, my bike has been in the dealer for a 5 week period with no fix and next week I will be making my second visit for a special software update (that isn't due for general release until November) so a bit more beta testing for BMW. I like the quick shifter, only have standard cruise though.
 
I didn't know you could get an RT without keyless and ESA :D Both are great in my view.

I'd have had Active Cruise (that's BMW speak for what many are calling "adaptive cruise") but none of the available bikes had it when I was buying. Not having it did mean that I could fit an Innovv camera under the front fairing, so there was a silver lining.

Quick shifter is great for downshifts but I'm still clunky on the upshifts - neither the 2021 nor the 2019 RT has been as good as my 2015 RS in this respect, I have no idea if it's just me or.....

Even if BMW iron out the problems with the TFT navigation it still won't have the functionality of a Zumo XT so I've wired one of those in as well - having sold my Nav 6 in the naïve belief that I wouldn't need it and even bought a dedicated phone for the bike because my iPhone 11 Pro would not fit in the charging cubby unless I removed its sleeve. :barf

If you want to have any space at all under the pillion seat don't get the radio - I made that mistake with my 2019 model.

Casbar has been unlucky with his SOS button; no problems with mine on this or previous 2019 model.
 
I was thinking of buying an extra phone, just for the bike but with all connectivity problems I'd just stick with either my nav 6 or street navigator.

Thanks for all the replies, going to see the dealer on Thursday with my 1200 rs and see what sort of deal he can do!
 
markymark said:
I was thinking of buying an extra phone, just for the bike but with all connectivity problems I'd just stick with either my nav 6 or street navigator.

Thanks for all the replies, going to see the dealer on Thursday with my 1200 rs and see what sort of deal he can do!
Click to expand...
Hi

I have got a separate phone and so far have had no issues.

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk
 
Heated grips and seat
Top case
Luggage liners

The quick shifter is a luxury IMO
 
Sos thingy. For some reason i didn't have a choice.
 
Sos thingy. For some reason i didn't have a choice. Otherwise it came with it all.
 
Put a deposit down on a new RT LE in sport blue with all the must haves :okay Pick it up on Monday ;)

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated
 
If you're intending to keep the bike after the warranty has expired then I would get the most simple model available.

The ESA shocks fail far more regularly than non-ESA. I spend a lot of time removing these and sending them off for repair.

The quick shifters are also a very expensive fix when they go wrong. But at least you can ride without it. That dash light is annoying though.

RDC sensors are really great if you like enjoying your bike trip from the inside of a recovery truck when the pathetic thin aluminium stalks snap off. You don't need them.


FOr £800, you could give your bike to a suspension specialist who can set it up PERFECTLY for YOU with the correct springs, valves and settings. It will do far more for your bike than unreliable gimmicks.
 
That was my intention, buy a basic spec one but they had a really good offer for a fully spec'd one for a very reasonable price so a deal was done, sad to see my RS go, no warranty issues in 3 years :okay
 
General rule is even if you think you may not need an option, not having it will seriously limit your market to sell the bike in the future in a marketplace full of higher spec bikes.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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