Took delivery tonight of a silver 2007 R1200RT

[Switz]

After nearly another week of delays, the bike was ready after closing for delivery.

 

The dealer had gone over most items to discuss and I went out to solo the bike. I merged into Phoenix rush hour and in about twenty minutes was on a highway headed to Payson in the mountains Northeast of Phoenix. The friendly break-in instructions were keep it under 4,000 rpm for at least 200 miles.... Then occasional short bursts to 5,000 for two hundred miles and give her the power with occasional redline bumps for the next 200 miles.

 

So I went between 4th, 5th, and 6th depending on gradient in the road and would roll on the power until the engine spooled up to 4,000rpm and let off until the rpm dropped to 3,000rpm and repeated. I did that for 150 miles tonight. I did stop in Payson (about 85 miles on the odometer) for coffee and some chili as my gear lacked insulation and the temperature dropped to 63 degrees. I had thought the bike would be ready at 2PM instead of 6:30PM.

 

Anyway, a few times the engine dropped below 3,000 and it was telling me it was not happy. What is the real world experience with this engine in terms of rpm range from low to high? I remember that Porsche's in the 70s wanted to be above 3,000 rpm for the 912 VW engine and upto 4,000 for the more energetic 911 T, E, and S models.

 

At different times and loads, the exhaust tone and vibration would vary for the same rpm range. Nothing serious, just aware of changes over time.

 

This link shows the new ride. The first photo was purchase date in August and the others were this afternoon.

 

www.azbiker.us/page3/page3.html

 

I would appreciate any feed back from those who have gone through this phase and anything I should be made aware off. This Saturday the dealer will do the 600 mile service.

[Highway41]

Treat it like the 70s Porsche and it will be a happy camper.

Bill

[motorbob]

This engine doen't like to go below 3300 rpm in a high gear. Its the nature of the beast. So you have a choice of adapting or do as I did, sell the RT and buy a GT !

I must tell you that I should of adapted because the RT is a very nice machine. The comfort is unbeatable and better than the new GT (also would have saved a bundle) It has more than enough power but the combination of tall gearing and slightly peaky nature of the boxer means you have to work harder to extract its power. Proper "gear namagement" is important but keep the engine above 3000 rpm and you will enjoy the RT.

[Bullett]

I agree with the other responses regarding rpm's. My engine felt tight up to about 3000 miles, then seemed to loosen up a bit. It's running nice now at approximately 7300 miles and gets better and better every day.

 

You have a beautiful bike there. Enjoy!

[Bud]

Nice looking bike.

 

Have a question about the mug.

 

 

Can you really drink from that while riding?

[Twisties]

You can run it between 2000 - 4000 rpm during break-in, and as you noted, realistically that's more like about 2600 to 4000 under any sort of load. It's just getting into it's torque range at about 2600 - 3000. The bike should be pretty happy in the low 3000 range for cruising around. According to your owners manual, you are not to break the 4000 limit until 600 miles IIRC, but the dealer told me just about the same as you, and that's how I did mine, except I didn't start blipping until 400 miles.

 

Once you are through the run-in, you'll prolly want to cruise in the 3000 to 4000 range and hit it up to the red line for the fun stuff. It'll still be pulling hard and sounding happy at the red line. I worked my way up to that point gradually increasing rpms on blips over about 200 miles. After run-in, try to give yourself some sustained riding at about 5000 rpms. On twisty roads you may want to stay in 4th gear or even lower to maintain more like 4000 - 5000 rpm as base... depends on your riding style and how much oomph you want coming out of curves.

 

Watch it the first few times you nail that baby in low gear. You can run 0 to redline (53 mph - actual) in something less than 3 seconds. It is amazing how fast you can come up on a vehicle way ahead of you on an on ramp and how much brake you might need to avoid plowing in. Similarly, I've heard the bike described as "flickable" in 2nd gear. For most passing situations you'll want to use 3rd or 4th. You won't run out of top end in those gears and you'll complete your passes rather snappily. Still using 2nd for a low speed pass on a twisty is a thrill.

 

And yeah we had all the delays too.

 

Enjoy.

[Membler]

I like the back rest. What brand is it?

[SageRider]

Others have answered your questions, So I'll just say......

 

 

Congratulations!

[LarryM]

Recently I was on the autobahn outside of Nuremburg. A couple of polizei blew past me on their new silver and blue RT-P's. Great looking bikes.

[motoguy128]

Congrats on the new bike and welcome to the BMW community.

 

The engine defintiely doesn't like full throttle unless it's over 3000RPM. It runs smooth enough in lower gears below 3000, but only at small throttle positions. I've never really heard it knocking I don't think... the valves just seem to get noisy and the engine vibrates more.

 

Yup 3000-4000 is the sweet spot for crusing. 5000+ for power. It's a litlte buzzy in the 4000 range, but I think that will go away with some more break in. I only have 2500 miles on mine.

[UberXY]

After nearly another week of delays, the bike was ready after closing for delivery.

 

The dealer had gone over most items to discuss and I went out to solo the bike. I merged into Phoenix rush hour and in about twenty minutes was on a highway headed to Payson in the mountains Northeast of Phoenix. The friendly break-in instructions were keep it under 4,000 rpm for at least 200 miles.... Then occasional short bursts to 5,000 for two hundred miles and give her the power with occasional redline bumps for the next 200 miles.

 

So I went between 4th, 5th, and 6th depending on gradient in the road and would roll on the power until the engine spooled up to 4,000rpm and let off until the rpm dropped to 3,000rpm and repeated. I did that for 150 miles tonight. I did stop in Payson (about 85 miles on the odometer) for coffee and some chili as my gear lacked insulation and the temperature dropped to 63 degrees. I had thought the bike would be ready at 2PM instead of 6:30PM.

 

Anyway, a few times the engine dropped below 3,000 and it was telling me it was not happy. What is the real world experience with this engine in terms of rpm range from low to high? I remember that Porsche's in the 70s wanted to be above 3,000 rpm for the 912 VW engine and upto 4,000 for the more energetic 911 T, E, and S models.

 

At different times and loads, the exhaust tone and vibration would vary for the same rpm range. Nothing serious, just aware of changes over time.

 

This link shows the new ride. The first photo was purchase date in August and the others were this afternoon.

 

www.azbiker.us/page3/page3.html

 

I would appreciate any feed back from those who have gone through this phase and anything I should be made aware off. This Saturday the dealer will do the 600 mile service.

 

Dude: you are way OCD'ing on this. Ride easy until the first service, ride harder after that. Your cylinder walls are infinitely better than a 70's 911.

[azkaisr]

Aye no need to be overly stressed on these things. Looking forward to meeting and maybe riding with ya in the future.

 

Kaisr

[Switz]

Saturday (29 Sep) the initial service was completed along with balancing the throttle bodies. Anyway, the ride home was wonderful and smooth. Very pleased with this new bike. I am looking forward to the ride to Rick Mayer seats starting this Tuesday. I still have an electrical audio issue to be resolved when I return from this trip. Also, they will have to calibrate the fuel sensor.