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newbie from SF bay area


jeffyjeff

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Hello. Just acquired a 2002 R1150R. Of the owner forums I've seen so far, this one looks best to me, even though it does not target the R1150R specifically.

 

I've been riding since motorcycles came with drum brakes, and although I did have an R60/2 in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I've logged most of my riding miles on Honda. My favorite is the '98-'01 VFR800 (5th gen) with the gear driven cams. I've had pretty good luck so far buying older garage queens, restoring them to roadworthy condition, and riding the crap out of them. My '98 VFR had 117,000 miles on the odometer when I sold it to get a low mileage 2000 model. Last July, my dear son wrapped it around a power pole. I promised my wife to downsize (power wise) and my next bike would have ABS. I was looking for a Suzuki or Kawi 650 twin, but only late model bikes have ABS. I was drawn to one Craigslist post, an R1150R, but it sold. I suffered a strange attraction to that series, and before long, that's all I was looking for. My search lasted from November to February, but I finally came across a pristine 2002 R1150R, 20,000 miles, rides like new. sweet.

 

So I'm not really into sport-touring, although I like to take an annual ride up to my native Oregon (go ducks!), and when I ride I like to ride. I've hit Nevada for lunch several times on CA108, CA4, and CA88 with the local VFR misfits, logging 500 miles or more in a day. Most I ever rode in one day was 739 miles; Newport Oregon to Fremont CA via the Santiam Pass, Sisters, Bend, and Klamath Falls, OR.

 

So I hope that my R1150R lives up to BMW's reputation for durability. New fluid changes before any serious riding happens, along with new tires. BTW, I'm thinking Bridgestone T30EVO or Pirelli Angel GT's. Anyone here have a strong opinion about that? Anyone here recommend other sites that might target the R1150R directly?

 

Wish me luck. Happy to be on board. Jeff J.

 

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There are all kinds of bolt on fairing options to make the R into a sportier sport touring ride. It is a fairly popular bike around here so pull up a chair and stay a while. :grin:

 

I love the Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires for street use! :thumbsup:

 

Welcome to the club! :wave:

 

Pat

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Lone_RT_rider
I love the Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires for street use! :thumbsup:

 

Welcome to the board Jeff!

 

I came into BMW's way back in 1999 from a 1987 FZR1000 and I thought that I would never do many long distance rides. 19 years and 200K miles later, I'm still hanging out on this site and miss the days where I rode cross country. :) Be open to wherever this bike takes you. You'd be amazed how much fun it can be.

 

As for tires, Pat has just mentioned one of this sites favorites because it gives you 80% of what a sport tire would give you with one of the longest tread lives you can hope for in sport touring. Yes, tire wear varies with so many factors (Bike and rider weight, throttle use, road surface), but as a person that also loves the Angel GT's, I will tell you that I have experienced 25% longer tire life with the Pilot road 4's. I have a couple of BMW's. I put the Pilot road 4's on the bike I use for long distance and will have the Angel GT's on the bike I use locally. Just my thoughts on them. :)

 

Shawn

 

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Welcome Jeff,

 

Folks who love riding are always welcome and folks who ride one with a rondel on the tank will find this forum full of supportive posters.

Honda VFR800 is a great bike and the R1150 has a lot of expectation to satisfy., but should be up to the job of brining lots of smile miles your way.

 

But did you have to kick off your life on line here with a tire question? Get the popcorn it could turn into a long chain. I think the 1150 series has slightly different wheel sizes so the choices could be better than for the R1100 series. My tire of choice on my R1100 was Metzler, and the MEZ8 really helped with crisp responsive steering for 80% of the tire's life. Not sure if the Telelver geometry on the 1150 is at all similar to the R1100's but handling can get a bit heavy feeling as the profile wears down to the last of the usable tread life. Lots of folks run Michelin or Bridgestones on this vintage with good results as well.

Edited by Paul De
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Welcome Jeff,

But did you have to kick off your life on line here with a tire question?

 

Well, better a tire question than an oil question! ha ha. Actually, the reason I haven't considered the PR4 is that they did not meet expectations on my VFR.

Pilot Road 2 21437 miles

Pilot Road 3 22895 miles

Pilot Road 4 13681 miles

As you can surmise, I am not a very ham fisted rider, except when I get out with my hooligan friends. I found the dual compound in the center to be too hard on the PR4. The front tire tread wore the corners of the tread faster than the center strip; into a V profile that eventually became annoying on the more technical rides. I customarily replace my tires in sets, so the premature wear on the front tire spelled the end of my experience with PR4. However, the mileage I got out of the PR4 is pretty much in line with what I expect out of the Bridgestone or Pirelli, so the point is probably moot. Still, the PR4 is the only tire in my experience where the front wore out faster than the rear.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. Some BMW riders have the reputation of being, uh, "eccentric", so I really did not know what to expect.

Ride on, Jeff J.

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Welcome Jeff - Lots of great folks who warm up easy around these parts. Nice choice of bikes - bonus points if you can figure out how to post a picture of your new baby. :read:

Edited by workin' them angels
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Danny caddyshack Noonan
I've hit Nevada for lunch several times on CA108, CA4, and CA88 with the local VFR misfits, logging 500 miles or more in a day. .

 

Three of my favorite roads before moving to the land of dust and snow 2 years ago.

Welcome!

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Nice choice of bikes - bonus points if you can figure out how to post a picture of your new baby. :read:

 

Hey workin' them angels. Is this some kind of test you put all the newbies through? What an ordeal! Like a frat house hazing ritual that newbies must pass to prove their worth. It would be easier to pick up the red hot hibachi with my forearms to open the temple gate; to have BMWST tattoos burned into my arms before I pass out in the snow. Thanks for the challenge, I'm not sure that this worked. JJ

 

 

AF1QipN1tBlf207Hb7IOD9GQ98ArHxxtkXJEKLl38hUS

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Hello JJ,

 

Congrats on your choice of Beemers. I currently ride a 03 R 1150 R and think it is a lot of fun. Have a small faring, kind of a RT Lite as a former member here called this setup.

 

 

151929987966.jpg

 

I'm no help on tires as your tire life exceeds mine by 2X. I do tend to have a heavy right wrist.

 

Glad to have you here. AFAIK, there isn't a forum that targets the 1150 R

 

BTW you failed the test. Photo link doesn't work.

 

 

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Francois_Dumas

Well, that photo didn't work.... but don't fret, it's Googles fault! I've posted hundreds of photos here in the past and am at a loss too with my Google Photo. Crap service .... LOL !!

 

But welcome from another of these eccentric guys who loves PR3's AND 4's..... I HATE Dunlops and Metzelers are 'okay'.

 

There you go..... greetings from Europe.

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Hey Jeff - Welcome to the 'club'! Love PR3's on my 06 RT.

 

email me a picture(s) of you bike and I'll post it.

 

startfarting@gmail.com

 

(Yes, that IS a real address. We have a couple of ride centered gatherings in the Appalachian area. The Spring gathering is called START (Spring Tune up Appalachian Riding Tour) and the Fall event FART (Fall Appalachian Riding Tour). It's a bit of a haul for you, but we'd love to have you join us! :bike:

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Hi Jeff, Welcome to the board. Living by one of my favorite quotes from Gen. George S. Patton "when everyone is thinking alike, somebody isn't thinking". So..........I liked PR 2's & 3's, hated the PR4's and I like my Dunlop Roadsmart III's. :grin:

 

And yes this site is getting a bit contrary on injecting the photos into posts of late. My Outlook OneDrive links used to work, but now don't. The same links work fine on my emails so I don't have an answer yet.

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dateposted-public

dateposted-public

 

So far I can't seem to get the images to show up on the preview screen. Maybe this link will work better than the Google. Jeff J.

 

Jeff,

 

With Flickr, there is a arrow-shaped icon to the bottom right of the photo. Click on that arrow, and sharing options show up. I selected BBCode, medium size, then copied the link.

 

Voila!

26558036378_d5367cbdf3_c.jpgP2210307 by Jeff Johnson, on Flickr

 

I wrote a how-to for posting from Flickr located here: http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=895677#Post895677

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39718262584_6faf49ce39_z.jpgP2210293 by Jeff Johnson, on Flickr

 

YAY! Thanks, mnTwin!

 

Patience definitely paid off for me this time. I bet I saw two dozen bikes during my search, including 5 in one marathon day. Rode a Moto Guzzi Norge and an R1100S. Almost bought a sweet, sweet 2004 R1150R Rockster with only 8773 miles on the odo. Except for a little blue around the exhaust headers, that bike was showroom perfect. My eyes watered as I drove away; no ABS was the deal breaker.

 

My '02 is a pretty bike, but previous owners have let it sit idle too long. I don't think it will take much to bring out the hooligan in me. These roadster models kinda look like hooligan bikes, don't you think?

 

Thanks again for the Flickr tip. JJ

 

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Lone_RT_rider
While I maintain the Boston Green is the fastest color, that sure is a purty rusty red. Fun to ride and nice to look at, can't do better than that!

 

I love that color! Though, my wife wouldn't let it in the yard. It's way too close the University of South Carolina Gamecock Garnet. If she had her way, all my bikes would be Clemson Orange and Purple! UHG!

 

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So I took the old girl out for a shakedown ride today. 241 miles down to Monterey and back via Half Moon Bay on the Pacific Coast Hwy....had to heat up the oil before draining it, right? Here is a picture I took at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. I was disappointed to see that they erected a barricade blocking access to my favorite picture taking spot, so this one has to do.

 

I was impressed by the torque output of the 1150 boxer. That R1150R charges out of the curves like nobody's business. Fun. No burst of power from midrange to redline like the VFR had, but not really missed much. I always had fun riding my VFR fast enough to make the suspension squat in hard cornering. Don't know if the telelever/paralever set up will behave in similar fashion; too tentative to find out right now, given the condition of the 8 year old Bridgestone BT023 tires. I'm sure the ride will get interesting once new rubber is mounted. A respected friend recommends Metzler 01 Roadtec's. Expensive tires, but if looks equate to performance, might be worth it.

 

Range. I topped off the tank at the start of the trip, and went 181 miles before the fuel light came on. By my calculation, I'm getting right around 40 MPG, regardless of how heavy handed I ride. My VFR could get 50 MPG with a light throttle hand, and 250 mile range was easily doable. Don't think the BMW will do anything near that, but 200 miles on a tank seems attainable to me. JJ

 

 

25598424927_237634bf8a_z.jpgP2240311 by Jeff Johnson, on Flickr

 

 

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Yes...joy. I got 3 seats with the bike, OE tall, OE standard, and the Corbin. I was just testing out the tall seat and the pillion plate with my tool bag and a cargo net. Works well, but without the pillion seat back there to shore me up, I tend to slide toward the back. Not off the seat, but can definitely feel it. The taller seat can give my knees a break on longer rides, but my daily ride will be on the Corbin.

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Looks more like a R1100S "Lite", methinks. And almost as gorgeous!!

 

_0Aeh-UvjfLDP3hSz_K4TrXvseolrt_pI_GwI7Bbvd1XUTVwSf3hMRlf201IxgEGZkaKPmVRoictTa6tBANF7ExAk1zPcImb3-j0E3ivMhQx6ck2qGNlssJGaA_DgJF1Vb-G9HkFJonXPHSlb7eN4C7cmUwzSR1fzx6oU8LSW4248U7b8K2aETwiP7qdhbmby4UZ3Rgq47N6amtvhBIZXomExRNsNEYbgNYwqHgUw-yQKKuJqJIO51tNivbIgnwTlYqHCqBZsiCg6spZywUDeNK3Y9Kds6fj1CWnM-ENzhClJMJGwxHFt4iYKRtCbWEdit4UrQ437sHm-X8Sao_ySJZf9m64CkrKWQJ94HZ7Fz4qB0Wt0ZEq3jw50AG3_I6rnz29y0c7U2-48Um1i-nDLZi9PeYD5G6OFXLJC6_JI78axdVEXzgWpIjj6Os9tvfkguON2MvTzRBXBzJr1KgZd6Jq9H7qGrL2jCM-Dm7UUD0BGB9YXsCPrpAkQSG6PlQxV7x2_WFY3XYp_ryuIx26ug0_pQ2j8V59tRwUURwHTF6cZXPHUKjyr4eYqalPS0a40jPRoJ3m3KEjPfT8SCzbngJD0467gBkyKrBR8jvKMzfstp9-AlwnIRBTbkxj1Hnj3kqJn1VZXFNra1P04oDi-6Okn6XdS9d-=w1689-h951-no?.jpg

That R1100S is a sweet looking bike for sure; it looks more comfortable for long distance than the R1200S.

 

It's definitely more stylish than the roadster model. I made an offer on one during my search, but the guy turned me down...actually, he said "I'll call you back.", and never called. Some guys ask the KBB dealer price for their bikes, and then price the bags and accessories at a cost equal to brand new. no thanks.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks, stubble! If you don't mind hangin' out with a bunch of VFR misfits, I'll PM you next time we're up your way. State route 128 from just north of Elk down to Cloverdale is one of our favorite roads, and we're about due for a group ride. Usually we meet up in San Rafael, hit hwy 1 up to Elk for lunch, and then on out to Cloverdale or on to Fairfield.

 

Right now I got the tank off my bike; tomorrow I'm gonna try my hand at bleeding the servo-assist ABS system. I found some good instructions on advrider, and between that and some YouTube videos, I think I got a pretty good handle on the process. I changed out the gear oil, upgraded the cam chain tensioner and fuel line quick connects, and put some tires on the bike. On the advice of a trusted mechanic, I got Metzler Roadtec 01 tires. They are awesome, confidence inspiring tires. I've not touched down yet, but dragged my boot on both sides. Each ride I find the confidence to lean it over a little farther. I may not ride this bike as fast as my VFR, but it sure feels like it and is really a lot of fun. Sadly, last Tuesday I was up on Skyline Blvd (CA35). I picked up two nails (!?) in my rear tire between Alice's and CA92. I've read internet testimonials where people say you can ride on a flat if you go fast enough. Baloney! . I heard the puncture before I felt its effect, but at about 55 mph, the bike got real squirrely in a hurry. Luckily, I had a tire plug kit on board (with the CO2 cartridge inflator). Fixed the flat, but all 4 CO2 cartridges only got the tire up to about 20 psi. When I got home and pressurized the tire to 40, one of the plugs failed. Long story short, now I got a new rear tire after less than 1000 miles on the first. Expensive ride, that one. Don't know if I'll be heading up Skyline any time soon.

 

Anyway, thanks for bringing the post back to life, and maybe we'll meet up later this month. Jeff J.

 

 

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