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I've met an oilhead I like!


Dennis Andress

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Dennis Andress

After moving to Washington (the one on the left) a couple of years ago Laney and I found the roads to be slow and crowded. Not a fun place to ride a K1300 S. So, We sold ours and bought an F800 GT and GS. I found the GS's sit up and beg riding position uncomfortable and started looking around. At first I was looking for a R1100S. Then I found a '05 R1200 ST just 20 miles from home.

 

And here I am, riding a boxer again after decades of K Bikes. 45K, Ohlins, and lots of bags. It runs pretty good, certainly better than a lot of oilheads I've rode in the past. But, my long gone airhead was never this buzzy.

 

st-left.jpg

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Ummmm Dennis, I know you have been away from Boxer twins for a bit so I will cut you some slack. :) That's a Hexhead.... not an Oilhead. :)

 

I know.... Potato...Potato.... wait, that's another brand. ;)

 

:rofl::jaw::burnout:

 

Shawn

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...It runs pretty good, certainly better than a lot of oilheads I've rode in the past. But, my long gone airhead was never this buzzy.

 

A careful valve adjustment and throttle balance can often help with that.

 

And we don't call that "buzzy". Try Throbbing Power Pulses.

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Dennis Andress

I've sync'd the throttles. Valves will wait until after the riding season. There's a decent list of things to do over the winter.

 

The buzziness happens around 4500-5000 RPM. The airhead never did that.

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They all look the same when you are flying by...

 

Bring that thing to the Carolina's. You'll understand why they sell most K bikes out west. :)

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Dennis Andress

The Olympic Peninsula is a beautiful place, if you don't mind riding a trail bike up a forest road until you get above the trees. Most of the paved roads are overgrown and congested. The K bikes were sputtering along in 3rd gear.

 

Shawn, the Carolina's are on our list. Don't know how or when, but we've five years to figure out where we want to retire.

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Shawn, the Carolina's are on our list. Don't know how or when, but we've five years to figure out where we want to retire.

 

When you get that trip arranged, let me know. I may be in Wisconsin now, but I will make a point of heading that way and rallying Chris K, Ken and some other troops to show you around. Just be careful of Ken's routes. He loves to send you up over hills at warp speed into gravel. :jaw:

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See now you were supposed to post it on the Craigslist thread in hopes it would disappear before you went to the bank. That's my strategy anyway. :grin:

 

Looks nice, enjoy! :thumbsup:

 

 

Pat

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The buzziness happens around 4500-5000 RPM. The airhead never did that.

Yep, my '05 ST does that and has since new. At 33K now I rarely notice anymore, but it's pity it has to go and blur your mirrors in exactly the part of the band where you're likely to spend a lot of your riding time. I wonder why we don't hear the equivalent RT guys complaining about it? Guess those big steer-horn bars must absorb most of it and of course their mirrors are on the fairing.

 

The only thing I changed from stock on mine apart from a recently acquired Ermax windshield is I had the seat rebuilt. That slightly domed shape and thin padding meant the pressure points on my bony ass never shifted no matter how I moved around. Which meant I needed a walking around break after 90 minutes, and then every hour after that. All better after the rebuild, I can ride forever now.

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I was thinking that buzz was around 3,300?? I attribute it to the counter balancers as it reminds me of an inline 4 cylinder. One note I'd recommend upshifting when available out of that RPM's not only to avoid the vibration, but to get back into the mid-range torque band which is stronger between 3,100 & 4,500 revs anyway. :thumbsup:

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Dennis Andress

After a couple tanks of gas and some Seafoam (and a spirited 300 miles to see Mt. St. Helens) the buzziness has gotten better.

 

The seat sucks.

st-mt-st-helens-XL.jpg

 

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The seat doesn't need much, just to be built up a little with some dense foam so as to be flatter or slightly dished in the wide part -- dished roughly as much as it is domed now. I went to too much trouble and expense with mine and now it's actually plushier than I like, and it also spoils the lines a little. As long as you're not always perched on the same two points of your buttbone and small shifts of your weight move the pressure to different areas it's good to go.

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I was thinking that buzz was around 3,300??

Oooops! I guess I haven't really paid much attention to the vibes lately. That's the smooth rpm's. I do work around the flat upper mid-range as a matter of habit because it pulls so good in any gear between 3100-4600 revs. Mine runs ok at 2700 to 3k but does vibe some and pulls much better just above that.

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Dennis Andress

I think mine needs new plugs. It's not happy pulling hard and seemed to stumble in 6th the one time I got above 90 mph yesterday.

 

I tend to keep the revs up on twisty roads. Above 4K most of the time. 5K seems to be the sweet spot.

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Hi Dennis,

Not sure on your service history etc. Proper valve adjustment, throttle body sync, fuel condition & injectors performance (clean?) and plugs I guess could be at fault. I have iridium plugs in mine and the throttle response is seamless within the power bands of this somewhat highly tuned engine. You're missing one of the endearing strengths of the hexhead by staying that high of revs IMHO. Get on a curvy road it should pull pretty strong in any gear and with great control between 3100 & 4500 while achieving near go to jail speeds. ;) I only need the 6-8k rpm band for a fast high speed pass.

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I've sync'd the throttles. Valves will wait until after the riding season. There's a decent list of things to do over the winter.

 

The buzziness happens around 4500-5000 RPM. The airhead never did that.

 

It's wasted effort to try to sync the throttles before checking/adjusting the valves.

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Dennis Andress
I've sync'd the throttles. Valves will wait until after the riding season. There's a decent list of things to do over the winter.

 

The buzziness happens around 4500-5000 RPM. The airhead never did that.

 

It's wasted effort to try to sync the throttles before checking/adjusting the valves.

 

Yeah, that is true. Autumn rains start tomorrow, like a switch. Where Friday was 75 and sunny next week will be 60 and wet. There might be 3 or 4 riding days left between now and November when it gets really wet. I had a good ride Friday, got to enjoy my new bike. I've all winter to learn how to make it run nice.

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Dennis Andress
Hi Dennis,

Not sure on your service history etc. Proper valve adjustment, throttle body sync, fuel condition & injectors performance (clean?) and plugs I guess could be at fault. I have iridium plugs in mine and the throttle response is seamless within the power bands of this somewhat highly tuned engine. You're missing one of the endearing strengths of the hexhead by staying that high of revs IMHO. Get on a curvy road it should pull pretty strong in any gear and with great control between 3100 & 4500 while achieving near go to jail speeds. ;) I only need the 6-8k rpm band for a fast high speed pass.

 

I've got service records going back to the original owner. Most of it is just receipts for oil and filters. Airheads love to rev which is probably why I was riding at a high RPM. I noticed on the way home Friday that I had started riding with the tach around 3500.

 

 

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Dennis Andress

Laney turned me on to Grip Puppies. They are a big help.

 

I wish I didn't have to wait to adjust the valves, clean the stepper motors, replace the plugs, flush the brakes and rebuild the calipers. But, there is still work for this thing, and I have yet to make a place to store it for winter.

tractor-trail-L.jpg

Edited by Dennis Andress
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  • 1 month later...

Well, I think in they only sold 11 ST's so there's a couple more accounted for.

We had 1 on the floor forever that we HAD to take and it sat and sat and sat.

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Dennis Andress

The Seattle area seems to be a nest of motorcycle hoarders...

 

This bike gets more close looks and grins, and starts more gas station conversations than anything I've ridden in 20 years. Maybe the styling was just ahead of its time.

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It had the same BMW caused malady as the R1150RS. It didn't come with saddlebags . identical mechanically as the RT so when you added the price of new bags to it, the price was the same if not more than the RT.

A person had to really want or "need" the more Euro riding position for a back problem or just would fall in love with the looks.

The two tone graphite/red I think was the nicest color combination .

The seats on the 1200 GS/RT/ST were all a step backwards in the evolution of things.

We were 2 hr from Corbin so doing the custom seat ride in program sold us a lot of seats.

 

Verholen sold a handlebar riser kit that if I recall correctly wasn't cheap but gave the bike a nice riding posistion .

 

Congrats on the new bikes.

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Dennis & Laney,

 

Yes.

Beautiful.

Enjoy.

Time to RLAG.

:wave:

 

Tri,

Yes, the RS/ST pricing was a problem.

Never understood that.

But, riders loved it.

 

The ergos are better than an RT, IMO, like a K 1200/1300 S, just works.

Considering the history of BMW RS/S/ST bikes, the mothership wasted an opportunity, again IMO.

The original R 100 RS was a groundbreaker, the first to do what it did for a stock production bike.

My '96 RSL fit me

and a pillion.

Weather protection was very good, not an RT, but with proper gear excellent in hot/cold/wet/snow.

I looked forward to the ST.

It was different than my RSL, actually felt smallerm not a good fit, for me.

Priced at MSRP just under $15k, before bags etc, many interested customers opted for the RT because of

"more".

If they had just included bags, and thrown in some service incentive, I coulda sold a ton of them.

.02

 

 

 

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