Four stroke, two cylinder
horizontally opposed Boxer, 4 valves per cylinder
Capacity
1130 cc / 69 cu in
Bore x Stroke
101 x 70.5 mm
Cooling System
Air/Oil cooled
Compression Ratio
10.3:1
Lubrication
Wet sump
Induction
Bosch Motronic MA 2.4 Fuel
injection
Ignition
Electronic ignition MA 2.2
Bosch Motronic
Starting
Electric
Max Power
70 kW / 95 hp @ 7250 rpm
Max Torque
98 Nm / 10.0 kgf-m / 72.3 ft-lb @ 5500 rpm
Clutch
Dry, single plate, hydraulic operated
Transmission
6 Speed
Final Drive
Shaft
Frame
Three section composite frame consisting of front & rear
section, load bearing engine
Front Suspension
Telelever with central
spring strut & linear-rate coil spring. Twin-tube gas-filled shock
Font Wheel Travel
135 mm / 5.3 in
Rear Suspension
Patented BMW Paralever
swingarm & shaft drive,
single tube gas filled shock, variable rebound setting
Rear Wheel Travel
135 mm / 5.3 in
Front Brakes
2 x 320 mm Discs, 4 piston
calipers
Rear Brakes
Single 276 mm disc
2 piston caliper
Front Tyre
120/70 ZR17 tubeless
steel-belted radial
Rear Tyre
180/60 ZR17 tubeless
steel-belted radial
Dimensions
Length 2170 mm / 85.4 in
Width 940 mm / 37.0 in
Height 1220 mm / 48.0 in
Wheelbase
1487mm /
59.4 in
Seat Height
845 mm / 33.2 in
Dry Weigh
255.1 kg / 562.2 lbs
Wet Weight
279 kg / 615 lbs
Fuel Capacity
25.2 Liters
/ 6.6 US gal
Consumption Average
5.3 L/100 km / 19 km/l / 44.7 US mpg
Standing
¼ Mile
12.5 sec
Top Speed
205 km/h / 127 mph
.
The RT is the luxury touring option from BMW's
'R' series of flat-twin powered machines. Sitting between the Rl 150RS and the
K1200LT, it provides almost as much comfort and equipment as the LT in a
smaller, more manageable package. Based, like the R1150RS, around a 1130cc Boxer
engine, the RT boasts extensive weather-cheating bodywork, with a large
headlight that incorporates twin integral foglights. An electrically operated
windscreen allows on-the-move adjustment, and optional luggage and stereo sound
systems enhance long-distance pleasures. Pillion accomodation is spacious and
comfortable. The RT features BMW's integral ABS Evo brakes, mating advanced ABS
with electrohydraulic servo-assistance.
It had been six years since I
last rode around the northern and central parts of Western Australia so when
the opportunity arose to explore the area again I jumped at the chance.
My mount for this sojourn was BMW’s R 1150 RT. Introduced in 2001 as the
successor to the R 1100 RT, the R 1150 RT is the German company’s most
highly appointed twin cylinder model. I was certainly going to be
accommodated with more comfort this time around as the last time I was in
these parts was onboard a 1997 DR650SEV Suzuki. A great bike for sure, but
far from the perfect mount for covering huge distances.
I flew into Broome on a pleasant but slightly brisk Wednesday morning at
around 10:30am. Here I was met by an associate who had ridden the BMW up
from Adelaide. After donning my leathers and exchanging pleasantries I was
keen to take the bike off his hands, fill the tank and hit the highway.
With that in mind I thumbed the start button and experienced the traditional
boxer lurch sideways as the two big slugs sparked in to life. With a bit of
a clunk into first gear followed by a good slip of the dry clutch to prevent
a stall, I was off and running.
Quickly I was in my element. Riding long deserted stretches of highway is a
liberating experience, and I quickly realised that I really have to try and
find the time to get out for some more long distance touring once again.
Nothing is more relaxing than getting out in the middle of nowhere astride a
modern motorcycle.
Broome has just experienced one of its coldest winters so I quickly came to
appreciate the heated handgrips on the BMW as I got up to a comfortable
cruising speed and started to familiarise myself with my cockpit. The layout
is traditional BMW with a large easy to read speedo and tacho combined with
a vertical LCD to display oil pressure and fuel level. The separate buttons
for each indicator take a while to get accustomed to, but work well enough.
However, it would be nice if they had the excellent self cancelling function
found on similar equipped Harleys. The screen is electrically adjustable and
provides good protection. I would have preferred for it to be a little
taller when fully erect, another inch would make all the difference…
Review
As you walk up to to the RT for the
first time, there’s no getting away from the fact that this is
one big machine. Fully kitted-out as the test bike was with
panniers, optional top-box, cylinder covers, heated grips and
radio cassette unit, this is a motorbike for travelling serious
distances. The size doesn’t diminish as you clamber on board,
and on the far side of the tank, framed by the substantial
handlebars, you’re faced with a display inside the fairing that
should give you all the information you need to get Alpha
Centauri, let alone the south coast of France!
The seat is wide, well padded, and adjustable
for height (805-845mm), but unless you go for the low-seat
option (780-820mm), you’d need to be a retired basketball player
if you want to be able to get your feet firmly on the ground.
How tall is the average German rider? Unfortunately our test
bike had the standard seat, and although it was set at the
lowest height, my 31-inch inside leg measurement led to some
significant moments of uncertainty when bringing its 280-odd
kilos of mass to rest.
The R1150RT was launched in 2001 to replace
the 1100 model that first saw light of day back in 1995, and
soon became the yardstick for comfort, agility, and general
practicality in a class dominated by capable but heavy machines.
The new model gets the uprated boxer engine with an extra 45cc
and some more bhp and torque, new wheels, bodywork revisions
that include a new headlight, BMW’s latest EVO brakes, and in
spite of all this manages to lose 5kg in the process. A short
jab of the starter button and the big boxer engine rumbled into
life and settled into a steady tick-over. There’s a fast idle
lever to aid with those cold early-morning starts, but as this
was Summer(!) it was rarely needed during the test.
Moving off from BMW’s car park in Thorne, the
last thing I wanted to do was to wobble and drop the bike, but I
needn’t have worried for as soon as the wheels began to turn,
the bulk of the RT magically vanished. After an initial fumble
with BMW’s “unique” indicator switches, I was away and up the
road to the roundabout and the first surprise. For such a big
bike, it changes direction with amazing ease, and tracks true on
the chosen line.This could be fun.
As I began to get accustomed to the ways of
the RT, I started to press on just to see how far it could go.
My original plan was to take the motorway to an overnight stop
at a friend’s house just north of Sheffield, but I was soon off
the dual-carriageway in search of more interesting tarmac. The
combination of the Telelever front end and the rear Paralever
swing arm gives a superb ride-quality which smooths out nearly
all the road irregularities, but at the same time remains firm
enough so that you never lose the feel for what those two
essential contact patches on the tyres are doing. And you really
could throw this thing around. So much so, that on a couple of
occasions I got slightly carried away with enthusiasm, and had
to make some last minute corrections when I miss-read a corner;
but the big RT just tightened the line and settled in with very
little effort and no signs of protest. This was seriously good.
While all this was going on, the big boxer
engine just rumbles on beneath you, using its mountains of
torque to pull everything along effortlessly in whatever gear
you select. Although it will run right up to the red line at
7,500 rpm, once you get past 6,000 it begins to start sounding a
bit frantic but never really stressed. Let’s face it, this isn’t
an engine that you bounce off the rev-limiter at each gear
change, so relax a bit, short-shift, and watch the horizon being
pulled relentlessly towards you.
The R1150RT has a new six-speed gearbox,
although BMW describe top as an “economy” gear. This is born out
by the gear display showing ‘E’ when it’s selected, and the need
to change down to fifth, or even fourth, if you want to do some
serious overtaking. The gear selection is clunky by Japanese
standards but positive, and I never found any false neutrals,
although I had problems occasionally getting out of neutral once
or twice on the first start of the day. Slightly more
disconcerting was the knock from the driveline when rolling on
or off the throttle. It never caused any problems, so I put it
down to the fact that this was a test bike and had probably had
a hard life in it’s first 5,000 miles, if the chips on the front
of the fairing were anything to go by!
The fuel injection performed well, giving a
positive throttle response and showing no signs of hesitation
when opened up. It did however exhibit a slight tendency to
‘hunt’ on small throttle openings, something which is not
uncommon on many bike manufacturers systems at this point in
their development. They’ll crack it eventually I have no doubt,
but at the moment it’s still difficult to beat a well-designed
and set-up bank of carburettors. Mind you, with carbs it would
be impossible to run the 3-way, closed loop catalytic converter
that’s fitted to the RT, so with the environmental pressures
that surround us today, injection is most definitely the way
we’re all heading
It wasn’t all good though, as by the time I
got to my overnight stop, my legs were beginning to feel the
strain of straddling the width of the bike, something that
didn’t bode well in the comfort stakes. However, let me say that
I think this might be more down to something strange with my
anatomy rather than a problem with the bike. As I’ve clocked up
the miles on the RT since those first few miles, the problem has
gone away, so I think it’s more down to my getting old and
creaky rather than a flaw with the riding position, although a
lower seat height might have helped this old fogey!On the
subject of the riding position, everything falls naturally to
hand, so BMW have obviously got their ergonomics right. Even
those bars, that look impossibly wide and high at first glance,
are in just the right place for a relaxed ride, and at the same
time provide just the right levels of leverage when you want to
up the pace though the twisty bits.There’s a couple of low-slung
car-type driving mirrors that provide excellent rearward vision
underneath the bars, and a glimpse of the panniers so you can
check that your dirty laundry isn’t scattered over the autoroute.
They also deflect the airflow away from the bars and make a neat
housing for the front indicators.
Back on the motorway and in “cruising-mode”,
it was time to play with the electrically adjustable windscreen.
Now maybe it’s just me again, but try as I may, I just couldn’t
find a position that kept the wind off my helmet and stopped it
battering my arms. The problem seemed to be down to air flowing
round the side of the screen and creating turbulence in the
cockpit area, but it never really became so bad that I couldn’t
live with it. And when I tried riding two-up, the screen
improved dramatically and created a turbulence-free cocoon that
received glowing praise from my passenger, as did the
well-padded seat, the position of the pillion pegs, and the
excellent hand-holds on the carrier rack.
The R1150RT has BMW’s latest EVO braking
system with twin 320mm front discs, four piston front callipers,
sintered pads, electro-hydraulic servo-assistance and integral
ABS. This is the most complex system yet fitted to a bike, and
it certainly works well, but lacks the feel that I’d like on a
bike of this size and weight. They’re also linked front-to-rear,
so whether you pull the front lever, stamp on the back pedal, or
both, the effect is just the same. BMW claim that it’s 20% more
efficient than the old system, which wasn’t bad to begin with,
as well as 4.5kg lighter. The ABS constantly monitors the load
on each wheel, so you’ll always get the best braking balance
between the front and rear wheels, whether you’re riding solo,
or with a 20-stone mate on the back and the panniers stuffed
full of pasties. And if a wheel does the lock then the ABS will
trigger within 80msecs.Another feature is that the ABS also
monitors the condition of the tail light bulb. If it blows, then
a warning light shows on the instrument console, and the stop
light is used at reduced intensity, going to full power when you
use the brakes.
The R1150RT comes with panniers fitted as
standard, but if that’s not enough space for you, then you can
fit a top box and a tank bag to bring the total capacity to over
130 liters
. This is more than enough for most people to do some
serious distance touring, even with a pillion along for the
ride. There are some nice touches on the bike, like the vents
that direct warm air from the oil cooler onto the rider’s hands.
And if your hands are still not warm enough, you can switch on
the two-position heated grips that were an option fitted to our
bike. Even more useful is the knob that adjusts the rear
suspension pre-load so that you can set the bike’s attitude
correctly, whether you’re riding solo or two up with the luggage
loaded to bursting point. And it’s so easy to do. Just a twist
of the quarter-turn fastener on the right body panel, pull off
the panel and there’s the adjuster. Turn the knob to the
appropriate setting, replace the panel and that’s it. Two
minutes. And if your headlight still points at low-flying
aircraft or illuminates the front mudguard, there’s another knob
next to the main instruments that moves the beam up and down.
Mind you, it would be better if this was placed on the left, so
that you could get to it without stretching across or taking
your right hand off the throttle. One point on the headlight, it
really is first class. Dip beam will easily illuminate all three
lanes of the motorway for safe 80mph riding, and when you add
main beam then 110mph-plus is no problem. There’s also a couple
of 12V DC accessory sockets that can be used to power an
intercom system, recharge your mobile phone, or run anything
else that you need while touring.
Our test bike came with the radio cassette
option fitted, but at a cost of £575, its value is questionable.
It’s mounted in a small compartment in the left of the front
fairing, which could be better used for storing toll tickets,
loose change and the like. You need to use the ignition key to
unlock the lid and switch it on and off, which is out of the
question when on the move. You get twin speakers mounted inside
the front fairing and volume, channel seek and mute controls
mounted on the left bar, but nothing to control the tape player
or switch between the cassette and the radio. Using the speakers
when riding is a bit anti-social and useless over about 80 mph.
A better way to use the money would be to fit something like an
Autocom intercom and plug a Walkman into it. And it would be
around £100 cheaper.
If the standard RT is not enough for you, BMW can factory-fit
heated grips, dual-tone horns and a radio/cassette. And if you
want more, then your dealer can supply topboxes, including one
with twin brake lights, innerbags for the cases, a Thatcham
alarm, intercom, a carbon rear hugger and Komfi seats. The bike
comes a full 2 year unlimited mileage warranty which includes
Europe-wide breakdown cover with transportation, hotel
accommodation, replacement vehicle and taxi services.
Verdict
The great thing about the RT is that it’s
such a neutral and easy bike to ride. The handling will surprise
most people who normally associate big tourers with barge-like
characteristics, and it’s versatility means that there’s not a
lot it can’t do – although I’d think twice about commuting! This
is a bike that can be most things for most people, but it’s
forte is most certainly clocking up big mileages. And you have
the reassurance of BMW’s legendary support and service backup.
On the R1150RT, you (and your pillion) will not only get there
in style and comfort, but at the same time you’ll have a bike
that can give you some serious fun on the twisties. This is a
BMW that doesn’t come with a pipe and slippers! Pay a visit to
the BMW website at www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk for more information
on the R1150RT.