Arizona & Utah Trip Pro / Con of the 2023 RT

[Motor32]

My trip in September 2023 on my 2023 BMW R1250RT to Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki, Vermilion Cliffs, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Goblin Valley, Grand Staircase Escalante, Bears Ears, Natural Bridges, Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley. All of these are national monuments, national parks, or state parks in Arizona and Utah.

The Pros : Overall the bike runs great with plenty of power (except in E-Co, not good for passing).

I averaged around 50 MPG.

The handling was great, even with a heavy load. The suspension soaks up the bumps like a pro.

I'm using a Werks Quite-Ride windscreen, and liked being able to hear the bikes speakers at highway speeds, the stock screen had too much buffeting for me.

The lighting was great for seeing down the road, (the road lights didn't seem to make much of a difference in lighting up the road, but are good for people to see you).

The brakes always felt strong and powerful.

The Cons : The navigation is a bust, (I used a Garmin Zumo XT instead, ease of use, and it always works) when you scroll the RT's navigation to make it bigger, the roads get bigger, but not the print, (not helpful for my 58 year old eyes), it also looses the WiFi signal, and is just is too much trouble. This was something I was most excited for, but has turned into my biggest disappointment with the bike, sadly.

Not having stand alone gauges, (if you listen to the audio system, to change a station you have to be on that screen, and you lose the tachometer. I do miss the analog gauges of my old 2020 RT.

The Adaptive Cruise Control works fine, but at its farthest setting you're just too close (not bad at slow speeds, but a different story above 50 MPH, way too close for comfort). It also misses other riders if staggered in front of you. Another thing I noticed was, if it picks up a vehicle and slows you down, if it's very curvy it can lose the vehicle in front and accelerate back to speed, but the vehicle is still there, dangerous!!!

The Bluetooth that always steals the signal from my Cardo unit, (I listen to the bikes audio on the speakers, and my music on my phone to the Cardo, forcing me to play around with the phone to get it play on the Cardo, just ridiculous.

The quick shifter DOESN'T disengage the cruise control, (My 2020 RT did and you would start slowing down in the lower gear) not the case with the redesign.

Riding in the dark WITHOUT illuminated switches sucks, for the money you pay this bike it's unacceptable.

I forgot to add that the "original" XM antenna didn't work at all, then I posted some videos showing it dropping the signal, and sent them to BMW in Berlin. Amazingly the next day the dealer (who had my bike for three weeks) told me they would replace the stock one with a Sirrus branded one, it hasn't lost the signal since.

Here's a video of the trip.

Steve

 

[Daveyator]

Couldn’t agree more about the Nav and that’s after a simple 3 day trip for me. Additionally, the Nav won’t re route around road closures. In fact, it kept trying to go back to the closure even when trying to “force” it  to route elsewhere. The radio antenna is useless for Sat radio. My 2015RT had no issues with any of this. As good as bike as this is, the tech took a total nosedive. I won’t steal the thread by complaining about not charging iPhones due to mag safe issues. 

[Motor32]

2 hours ago, Daveyator said:

Couldn’t agree more about the Nav and that’s after a simple 3 day trip for me. Additionally, the Nav won’t re route around road closures. In fact, it kept trying to go back to the closure even when trying to “force” it  to route elsewhere. The radio antenna is useless for Sat radio. My 2015RT had no issues with any of this. As good as bike as this is, the tech took a total nosedive. I won’t steal the thread by complaining about not charging iPhones due to mag safe issues. 

 

I've given up on the BMW navigation, and don't even bother connecting to the app anymore. The engineers who came up with it need to be put in a circle and get SLAPPED like the Three Stooges, 360 style.

 

I forgot to add that the "original" XM antenna did't work at all, then I posted some videos showing it dropping the signal, and sent them to BMW in Berlin. Amazingly the next day the dealer (who had my bike for three weeks) told me they would replace the stock one with a Sirrus branded one, it hasn't lost the signal since.

 

Steve 

 

 

[Rinkydink]

The only good thing about the BMW Connected app for me is when I take pics with my IPhone it adds them to the app and labels where pics were taken. For an old fart like me that is a big deal.