What's with the R 1200C Series?

[kinchy]

I have always liked the unique look of a few models in this line. Are these cruisers decent motorcycles? Are they being discontinued?

[Paul Mihalka]

Are these cruisers decent motorcycles? Are they being discontinued?

Yes and yes. They are very nice CRUISERS. I would say it happened when BMW decided to build a better Harley, which in some ways they did. They were not a great sales success. Non-Harley riders complained that they are under-powered. Which they were, having about the same performance as a average non-modified Harley. Then apparently BMW decided to push more into the direction of high performance bikes a la K1200S/R/GT. That is the current trend.

[kinchy]

Wasn't aware of the horesepower issue. Simply assumed they were in the 90HP family. Interesting.......

[BruceWA]

My wife rides a 98 and she loves it. Every place we stop, no matter what I'm riding, they always check out ride.

have ridden it myself and it is a fun sweet ride.

[tom collins]

there are some killer deals to be had on these now. often see low miles (under 5,000) 98s and 99s for $6000 or less. these look like brand new and have the same performance as the model was never changed in any significant way (except the Montauk).

jump in.

 

tom collins

[baggerchris]

The first ones were considered very homely by a lot of people. It is generally agreed that some of the later versions were better. The power issue was never made better. Given the fact that they put such a detuned engine in the line makes one wonder if they weren't made to fail. I am one of the few that believe that if they had put the 90 hp version in them, they would have sold a lot better. I might have bought one myself.

[Rider1200RT]

Like it was said before; yes and yes. The lack of HP was the big issue with them. I believe it stood at 61 HP for these bikes. The chrome parts were high maintenance also. Some of the bikes looked cool with the eexception of the 4 headlighted 'bug' looking one .

I recently met a guy and his wife whom have a matching pair,one with a sidecar, and they love riding them. They are neat but underpowered.

[Gordon R]

On the road the R1200C is a pretty nice riding machine. I purchased mine back in 98 and have put some serious riding time on it. It will top out at around 105 mph and gets 40 mpg. I got rid of the ape hanger handle bars and installed the Euro wide bar which really made a difference in comfort and handling. I ride my RT daily to work but for real fun, I like taking the 'C' out to let the wind blow on me and to listen to the soft rumble of the exhaust. One thing for sure is that the R1200C will draw a crowd when parked amongst other cruisers. Check out the R1200C web site at www.chromeheads.org Lots of pictures and comments by cruiser owners.

[TMH]

I have to disagree with some of the comments above, but once again this is an issue strictly relating to personal preference. I had a low mileage '98 for a while, and really disliked the ride. Ended up selling it within a month of purchase.

 

Maybe I am just not the "cruiser type", but I never liked the handling of the R12C. Perhaps I was riding it in a manner that it was not meant to be ridden (too fast?), but it DOES NOT have the on-road stability of other BMW's I have ridden (R11RT, K12GT, R11GS, and even the F650). I thought that it might be the tires, so I had a new set of Avons installed (highly rated, per the Chromeheads site). No difference. So I sold the bike.

 

Make sure that you get a good long test ride on an R12C so that you can make sure it is the bike you are looking for. Having it for a whole weekend to test would be minimally appropriate. I never felt the issues with it being underpowered, and I am no lightweight. Also it has loads of low end torque. I almost felt that the leather-clad handgrips were unsafe, as they were a little slick (got better when I sprayed some Belt Dressing on them), and the position of the stock bars was awful in my opinion (see above comment about replacing them with the Euro bars - a very good idea). Also there are some comments above regarding chrome issues, which most bikes have. For (at least) one of several reasons, the chrome on many R12C's is in pretty bad shape. Some say that it is due to the difficulty of chroming aluminum (aluminum substrate has to be PERFECTLY clean and prepped for the chrome plating to hold reliably), others say that BMW and its chroming vendor had to use special environmentally safe chroming methods to comply with German laws. Whatever the case, the wheels, rear brake and gear shift lever, and many other parts had serious issues holding onto their chrome plating, even in many dry (non-marine) locations.

 

Some folks hate the styling, others love it. I thought that it was a pretty good looking bike (and I understand that they sold pretty well initially), but it was the ride which lost it for me.

 

Tom

[Gordon R]

Kinchy,

Going back to your original post: The R1200C cruiser line has been discontinued. The CLC models were the last ending in 2005. In the cruiser market, engine displacement has become a big seller. A good example of this is the latest offerings by Triumph, Honda etc. BMW didn't want to play this game. In it's life span, the R1200C did have some issues that were eventually worked out,chrome plating on early models and the wind screen design are some that come to mind. The plating issue was eventually worked out and BMW did a lot of warranty work. The wind screen design was answered by a lot of aftermarket offerings and a lot of owners solved the problem by simply modifying the rake angle of the wind screen by adjusting the mounting stalks. Other than that, there have been relatively few problems with the design.

One thing to keep in mind about the R1200C is that it is a cruiser and cruisers traditionally are for a laid back "cool" style of riding, moderate speed for local rides. Myself and others have proven that the R1200C is a capable touring machine able to do the long distances with the reliability we come to expect from our machines.

[scatterbrain]

I test rode a CLC at my LD once, and really liked the bike except for the engine, which at 5300' altitude couldn't get out of its own way one-up with empty bags. Absolutely gutless, which was a shame as I really liked the bike on many other fronts. My LD told me that there had been experiences of frame cracking / failure on bikes that had been modified to have more "typical" boxer power, so apparently simply modding the engine, etc. is not an option. If you find one and like it the way it is, more power (you know what I mean ;-) to ya!

[woodscrew]

I owned a Stilletto(2000) for two years.I loved that bike.It's look,it's sound, and even the way it smelled.It was a very comfortable ride.I did some 300 mile /day, six day tours on it and loved it even more. Having come from a Sportster I thought it handled great.I rode it pretty damned hard through the twisties in Vt. and the Adirondacs.The lack of power was only a problem above 80mph or so and I loved the low end torque.Then I got my RT1100 and rode it 3500 miles on a tour.When I got back on my beloved cruiser I was shocked at how unstable it felt in turns, not holding lines, punky suspension, no top end etc.In short, I was spoiled.The R1200c is a great cruiser,but a cruiser none the less.The biggest problem is the lack of paralever on the rear drive,which makes the bike very unforgiving of throttle inputs in turns.Low ground clearance can be overcome by agressive hanging off, but this ain't no sport bike.It seems that BMW left the paralever off to keep seat height low and kept the power down because the suspension wouldn't handle it.Better suspension and 90hp would have made this bike a keeper as a naked blast to ride...still I do miss the damned thing.

[kinchy]

Thanks gentlemen..

I sense that the Road King will soon be for sale. Certainly want to replace it and that's where the confusion starts. Although an FJR or ST would be a delightful addition they seem similar to the 1150 (except for the horsepower). I thought about a Duc, but who needs two scooters requiring high maintenance? Considered a VROD, but everyone seems down on them and the Aprila Futura seems similar to the RT. I'm not into Asian cruisers or Buells so what's left? Those of you that have an RT plus an FJR or ST..are you happy having two sports touring machines? Maybe the RK will be around longer than I think?

Always appreciate learning from the boys (and girls naturally) on the board.

Kinchy

[TMH]

I don't see a GS in the stable yet...

 

And you don't even need to take it off road. Just think of it as a naked bike with potential.

 

Tom

[baggerchris]

Go ride a V rod. Go ride everything. Who cares what anyone else thinks? Please yourself. Ride em all and come back and tell us what you found. We ARE interested.

[mountainred]

I put gs cams in the 98 r12c that I owned. It handled pretty damn good in the foot hills. I seen it for sale at the local gas station. right gear at the right time, lean til you scrape.

[baggerchris]

If that's the one Jerry has next to his Harley, yes I have seen it. I believe Jovial Henry from this site owned it after you. Seems like a very nice bike. Wow, it's gettin crowded with Beemers in Mountain Ranch.

[mountainred]

I sold that to henry. I was a great bike and really handled good. I rode a 2004 boxer cup replika aorund there for a while but I must slow down now. ( besides, that large chp is always got his radar on me. pasport 8500)

[Eschelon1]

Among what's already been said, the main reason BMW has discontinued the R1200C series is because it felt it couldn't keep up with the Cruiser segment ala Valkrie, the Road Star from Yamaha, all 1800cc and up, not to mention the 2300cc Beast from Triumph. Cruisers keep getting bigger in engine size and it just wasn't in the plans at BMW.

[Ino]

Hello to All.

I'm new to this site and found this thread on the Cruiser.

The lack of power in the Cruiser can easily be fixed by anyone who can lube his-her own clutch splines. The Cruiser has a clutch pressure plate that weighs 4.5lbs more than the plates found in the RT, GS etc.

 

If you install the RT clutch pressure plates and RT cams the Cruiser becomes a 1200RT, 90 horse power. NICE huh! The 6 speed transmission parts fit in the Cruisers tranny cases also.

The Cruisers 5 speed is the same trans. with 5th gear removed from the countershaft, tho the cases differ between the RT, the S and the Cruiser.

 

All of this conversion can be done at home for about $1000.

Now about that low milage Cruiser for $6000.....

Ino

[Rob L]

Hello to All.

I'm new to this site and found this thread on the Cruiser.

The lack of power in the Cruiser can easily be fixed by anyone who can lube his-her own clutch splines. The Cruiser has a clutch pressure plate that weighs 4.5lbs more than the plates found in the RT, GS etc.

 

If you install the RT clutch pressure plates and RT cams the Cruiser becomes a 1200RT, 90 horse power. NICE huh! The 6 speed transmission parts fit in the Cruisers tranny cases also.

The Cruisers 5 speed is the same trans. with 5th gear removed from the countershaft, tho the cases differ between the RT, the S and the Cruiser.

 

All of this conversion can be done at home for about $1000.

Now about that low milage Cruiser for $6000.....

Ino

Actually, the biggest power robber in the C motors is the intake. There is only one throttle body as opposed to 2 on the other R models.

[Paul Mihalka]

Ino, welcome to bmwst.com. The changes you describe to the to the R1200C, have you done and experienced yourself? A pressure plate/flywheel change does not affect top horsepoer at all. Different camshafts change, but by themselfs I don't know what they will do. I don't know what the respective valve sizes are. I'm sure the valve springs in the R1200C are tuned for it's 5000rpm top hp, and not for the 7000+ of the RT. All other oil/hexhead bikes have two throttle bodies, the C bikes have only one. I don't think you can find 30 horsepower as simple as that.

[Ino]

I beg to differ.

The intake is not a restriction. The injectors and valve springs are the same part # for Cruiser and RT.

 

I've done this to my Cruiser and it IS that easy. Think about what is involved, you are removing the weight of a small bag of potatoes(all dead weight) from the rotating mass of the crankshaft.

 

I bought a bike that would hardly do 100mph and turned it into a bike that will do 100mph in 4th, 5th and 6th gear, a 1200RT if you will. Highway milage has increased to 56 miles per gallon cruising at 80mph and I still get 50mpg running at 100mph. I did a 1200 mile tour of PA. last October and have all fuel recpts.

 

A cruiser is not a bad thing, it just needs love and a pressure plate.

?Ino

[mountainred]

I think what RobL ment is that the longer intake tubes are designed to develope torque, not horsepower. that is why all the higher horsepower models have the thottle bodies close to the heads,alot higher compression pistons and hotter grind cams. Not just a lighter flywheel.

[Ino]

Hi guys

Torque is a factor of stroke length and connecting rod angle, thats why the Cruiser makes as much torque as the R1150's with no horse power.

 

I've put R1150 RT cams in the Cruiser and the flywheel weight savings provided a greater horsepower gain. Changing the cams without the pressure plate change has provided little horsepower gain. The one point of compression gain will make the bike crankier on junk fuel than the added power.( the S motor 11 to 1 compression, the Cruiser has 10 to 1)

 

If these bikes had carbs mabe you could make some kind of case. The throttle body or bodies meter dry air so it's about air volume. the valves and ports in the head castings are the same dia. in the Cruiser and the RT. The finnish is different.

 

When I bought my Cruiser my dealer told me that my valves are smaller and that the induction is smaller. But I've had my bike all apart and it just aint so.

 

Cruisin at a ton up all day

?Ino