My first year with an RT!

[2015 Blue RT]

It occurred to me I just had my first year with the RT as of last month, and it also just rolled over 100K (about 12K this year) so I thought I'd write a short piece about the experience.

 

First off, this forum has been invaluable not only in selecting the best model for my needs, but also helping me with the problems I encountered- one of which was self-inflicted. Thanks so much for the advice & help. Some of the stuff I mention below has been documented here in my posts, so I'm not uploading any pictures.

 

My background is in mainly inline air-cooled 4 Japanese bikes, nearly all of the recent ones (and the two I still have) are shaft drives. It was a big leap for me to go to a liquid cooled bike, but as of now I don't have any regrets (unlike the ST1100 I bought used that sprayed me with coolant).

 

I bought the bike across the country in Oregon and had it shipped to Florida. It arrived undamaged, and I made some mods for my daily commute:

• Large tail trunk (Amazon).
• Added LED light strips in trunk lid (2 strips vs 1 strip).
• Added brake flasher (forget the brand name, but it's the one made for the BMW).
• LED bulbs (bulbfact.com recommendations) for low & high beam.
• New Italian (Puig) windshield.
• Added in a Google Nexus 7" tablet for audio via helmet Bluetooth and navigation (more miss than hit- known GPS issue with these). Tablet adapted to bracket that snaps into OEM GPS location & it wireless charges.

 

Repaired the side windshield wing after hitting a buzzard in mid-flight in a curve- interrupted his lunch.

 

The self-inflicted injury was trying to run an octane booster. Bad idea.

 

New plugs and probably related, new fuel pump and regulator (I think that was the other part I bought).

 

Replaced the front tire with a Metzler, replaced the pressure sensor and wheel bearings "while I was at it". The light due to the back sensor is on, but the tire is not worn out yet.

 

Upgraded to the larger YTX20CH-BS battery this past week.

 

Changed the color from dark maroon (looks black) to bright blue, fairly close to the OEM blue for the year. IMO, the best money I spent on it.

 

Regular maintenance as well, it has not been difficult to work on once I got the hang of the Tupperware.

 

The bike is a joy to ride, and I've really gotten comfortable with it. Surprisingly, it is like 70 pounds lighter than my GSX1100G. I really like the cruise control and adjustable windshield, and the heated grips have spoiled me. Yesterday I had a busy day- I rode through 2 states, 5 different counties, and put 150 miles on it after my work day was over. The RT handled it with ease.

 

All of this doesn't come w/o a con or two though...

 

Filling up is a pain. I should have drilled out the filler neck when I did the pump. It takes a long time to get it close to being full. I have a minimum 17 mile ride from the gas station, so overfilling & parking is not an issue.

Also fuel related, my gauge has gone from bad to worse. It used to take a day to register full, now it never goes much above halfway. I use the trip odometer method for when to refuel, although the gauge does seem to work once it goes below half full. This isn't irritating enough to make me look into a repair, since tank removal was pretty involved.

[Geekmaster]

@2015 Blue RT Thanks for sharing and taking the time to write up your 1st year experience.  Last month I also celebrated my first year with my 2014 RT.  I had smaller Yamahas before the BMW, and had considered an FJR during my selection process.  However, this forum was invaluable during my evaluation and I'm very glad I got the RT.  I've said many times that I wished I had bought one years ago.  Anyway, here's my list of things done to the RT during my first year (not as long as yours):

• 12k service done by @Boxflyer - thank you very much!  I learned a ton.
• Front wheel had damage discovered during 12k service, so I removed it, removed the rotors, and sent it out for repair.
• Repaired the gas cap leak around the seal.
• Installed Iliumworks front and rear protection bars.
• Installed Beemer buddies
• Got the Motoscan app, OBDLink LX, a cable and a cheap Android phone for maintenance.
• Installed new TPS sensors and programmed them (using the above and a cheap activation tool from Amazon)
• Purchased a BMW 49L top case
• Performed the yearly service this past month

Oh, and I rode it more this summer than any other motorcycle I've owned. I hope to ride it even more again next year (or this year if we get some good days).