Returning rider after 22 years & my first BMW & it's the R1150r HI!

[DonnyRockster]

Hello all!!

 

I'm very surprised to find myself in here.  I've wanted a bike for years and specifically the BMW nakeds, I've always watched them drive by, they catch my eye, the paniers, don't know what it is!  Nevertheless, I find myself surprised to be owning an 04 black R1150r in great shape, got it with brand new tires, 19k miles for $3,400.  The biggest bike (&last) I've ever owned was a Yamaha 650 shaft drive Maxim.  This is almost double, I was shocked how nimble it is but I still feel very VERY rusty rolling at low speeds.  I live just off Benedict Canyon so it's a wonderful drive to practice on and a wonderful bike to do so.  I would love to know everything and anything I can as I would like to dress it up with some crash bars and try taking it in the dirt as that is where I'm really at home on a bike.  Share anything you have and know concerning this model, I'm listeing and each time I ride it it feels like I've discovered a wonderful overlooked gem of a bike in the BMW line.  Originally I was looking at the 800/50 series as I felt I would be better suited for a bike that size.  But this is so nimble I'm quite shocked.  A bit top heavy with a second though... any tips on that? ;-) Thanks so much in advance for sharing any experience you can.  
Warnly,

Don

[BamaJohn]

Congrats on your bike and welcome to the forum!   A friend has an 'o4 R1150R with 190,000 mile on the odometer.  With normal upkeep, yours will take you many, many miles of smiles.

BTW, you might post on "oilheads" in the forum for specific info on your bike.

[TEWKS]

Welcome to the site, Don!  Nice looking bike and the entry fee seems very reasonable.  Now dirt, as in dirt roads I assume? That'd be fine on an R but, anything more technical or rock strewn might get costly. 

[dave_a]

Don, just finished a 4 day ride my '99 R1100R in the mountains around the GA, TN, NC borders. The bike is great on the curvy roads, changing lines mid corner, adding brake mid corner. I really like riding the bike. The front end stays planted and the minimal brake dive is a plus in my mind. I ride with big and small V Stroms and a bunch of HD's & a Indian. The "R" easily hangs with the big Strom, FWIW.

I am real happy with the bike in those riding circumstances. I think you'll like yours in similar conditions. An RT might be better for longer rides. But those extra 100 lbs. over the R models is one of those wonderful compromises that makes us own more than one bike.

It's not much of a dirt bike, too (200#s) heavy.

[DonnyRockster]

@Dave A Thanks so much, I'm trying to get a ride in every day.  I'm a little rusty buy I'm amazed how it's coming back!  This bike!! I'm in LOVE with it!! So nimble with so much torque, just plain fun with great lines!  :-)  Your ride sounds like heaven!!  I live right next to Mullhollland & Benedict canyon, perfect place to wind around.
Any suggestions on how to replace the lights in the instrument panel  Some of mine are burned out.  I want to put in LED's. Also, what kind of mods if any have you done? 

[dave_a]

I put new tires on, changed all the fluids including F&R brake fluid. Beemer Boneyard fuel pump, in tank hoses, and replaced the HES wires.

I bought a used Ohlins front shock on Fleabay and had it rebuilt. Once installed I noticed little difference between the 21 yr old rusty Showa???

Never touched the rear damping or spring preload since I bought it 4 years ago with 47,000 miles on it. It's a well  used and a bit of a beater, (but I'm OK with it). Synthetic trans oil helps shifting (or have I learned to shift it like I have a pair?). I put a used 2  Bro's pipe on it. But its too loud for long rides so I swap the OE pipe on and off. That's really all I've done. Its got a BMW windshield, Laminar lip, and a backrest of unknown origin. Just make it reliable and ride it.

[DonnyRockster]

@dave_a How do you like your shock?   I'm looking at this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-04-BMW-R1150RT-R1150-FRONT-SHOCK-ABSORBER-OHLINS-BM-124-BM124/143007713049?hash=item214bec8719:g:S-AAAOSwDwhdrX3u 

Putting on new rear brakes on Monday. 

[Bullett]

Hi Don!  We!lcome to the Board

[DonnyRockster]

@Bullett Thanks so much!!! Love this bike !!! I

[Bullett]

That's great!  It's a beauty!

 

[dave_a]

As I said, I noticed little difference with the Ohlins. (Plus I paid a lot less for an Ohlins than that). And you still need to have it rebuilt, if it has a scored shaft the "used" equation goes TU. Ride it for a while before you change it would be my advice.

[Balibeemer]

Welcome to the asylum!

[joeb]

Welcome,  love that bike

. As far as top heavy, don't fall. 

[DonnyRockster]

Not top heavy at all, one of the most balanced bikes I've ever ridden. However, full disclosure, I wrecked the other day due to my front brake failing (I would  learn this is a weakness in the 03-05 boxer) during an emergency stop. I was able to almost avoid the car in front of me but as I swerved to go around my boxer head caught the car and high sided me. Miraculously I was totally uninjured. My bike however, head cover cracked, bent the frame, etc, it's going into the shop to get everything replaced. I'll be back!! Never had an accident in 35 years of driving. 

[Selden]

28 minutes ago, DonnyRockster said:

I wrecked the other day due to my front brake failing

 

That sucks. Out of curiosity, how did the brakes fail? Assuming it had the OEM rubber brake lines, even if there had not been a brake failure, they should be replaced with steel lines. 

[DonnyRockster]

Every single day I get on my bike I run a safety check, except this day, I was in a hurry and I had not really used the brake until I had this emergency situation less than 1/10 of a mile from my house, I squeezed and it was only because I was fishtailing from my back brake being locked up I realized I had lost the majority of stopping power in my front. That microsecond of "why mi not stopping!" delayed me long enough that I was unable to completely miss the car. I was so so angry, but, 35 years later I got a new lesson to integrate into my road strategy. NEVER skip your safety check. My experience I feel helped me mitigate what could have been horrible (1/4" to the left and my penis would have been ripped off my body) accident down to some scrapes and the muscle that got torn in my groin from my mirror going between my legs as I flew off. I had full gear in including amor boots. I'm replacing all cables, brakes, pads, levers, master cylinder etc. I have a collectors policy on my bike so they will replace anything I want to to 33k. Still very VERY shook up from it, the car, the mini I hit was my wife, she saw the whole thing, I actually saw her and looked at her as I flew past in the air, the whole thing was like slow motion for me. I remember EVERYTHING like it took 10 mins from brake to laying on the pavement. I flew 15 feet, skidded on Sunset Blvd another 15, rolled twice them jumped to my feet BECAUSE I was on Sunset at noon on Friday, heavy traffic. But everyone saw and stopped then like a genius I went and picked up my 500+ lb bike off the road and found my front brake 85% soft. I told my wife when she ran to me, my brake failed and she squeezed it too and found the same thing. Really sucked because it could have been avoided. But, I'm in one piece!! 😁

[joeb]

Sorry about that...........

One reason I like the boxer engine I always figured the head would shield my leg from that sort of impact. Glad it worked out that way and you are ok.

[DonnyRockster]

You and me both.  God had me all day on that deal.

[Paul De]

Welcome to the board, and suggest that you take an advanced rider course.  I took a decade hiatus from riding and it was helpful for knocking the rust off the brain with situational awareness on the streets.  

 

I will differ with dave_a on the Ohlins.  When my OEM shocks wore out on my R1100RT, I went with a set of Ohlins and they transformed my bike to way better than when the OEM shocks were new.   It does help to be sure you have the right spring rate and play with the damping to reach your version of perfection.  I found I no longer needed to play with damping depending on the road surface I was on and my RT was always rock stable, particularly  when riding frisky stuffing it into and powering out of corners I no long had to deal with the tire chattering over ripples in the pavement causing the bike to want to slip wide off line.  My wife loved it when riding on back for how plush the ride was as well.  YRMV

[DonnyRockster]

Yeah there is not much you can do in the moment about a failed brake. I don't think a course is the solution. It was just an unfortunate train of events. I was looking at replacing my shocks, are these fully adjustable? I ride with a pillion 70% of the time. Thanks for the info. 

[Paul De]

Sorry about that and I wasn't implying operator error.  Just in my case after a long lay off from riding the advanced riding course helped with getting my head back into street riding.

 

The stock shocks are spring preload  and rebound damping adjustable only.  The Ohlins for the R11xx bikes only seem to allow the same two adjustment, but it sure seems that compression damping changes in unison with rebound adjustment and the valving seems more sophisticated having some high speed compression valving as well as the ride is well controlled and yet plush.  You'd have to verify this but maybe Wilburs are fully adjustable and the folks who have gone that way love them as well.

[Mike279]

Sorry to hear about crashing the new to you bike.  I always try to learn about a new ride before having a major issue or surprise.  Seems to me using your back brake as a primary stopper was maybe a contributing factor.  The front brake may have been releasing to avoid locking up too(ABS ?).  Anyways, I had some learning to do with each of my bikes having different brake configurations and anti lock systems that come into play.  Finding a place to practice conditions helped me understand what I was dealing with on each bike.   

[RogerC60]

Your T-CLOCS inspection may not have caught that brake problem. On these oilheads with "whizzy" brakes (servo-assisted integrated ABS, or iABS3) if the control module detects a problem it can, without any warning, switch to what's known as residual braking mode, where the servos don't assist and you have very little brake power. The fact that your back brake was locked up tells me that there was something going wrong with your ABS.

 

If your bike still has the OEM rubber brake hoses you need to replace them with braided stainless steel. Once you've done that, you need to completely flush your brakes once a year.

 

I've read that there are filter screens inside the top of the ABS module where the solid brake lines connect, and these can be cleaned. You might want to look into that, especially if your bike still has the rubber hoses. They deteriorate and small bits of rubber start circulating through the brake fluid.

[AndyS]

In my opinion, the best thing to do with  the iABS system is to take it off and throw it away. revert the system to traditional braking.

[DonnyRockster]

No abs here, I squeezed and squeezed only to find about 15% of my usual front stopping power available. Really sucked, but I'm in one piece! 😊

[dirtrider]

41 minutes ago, DonnyRockster said:

No abs here, I squeezed and squeezed only to find about 15% of my usual front stopping power available. Really sucked, but I'm in one piece! 😊

 

Afternoon Donny

 

Yes, that is pretty evident from your above picture as your front wheel doesn't have a speed sensor ring or a wheel speed sensor (probably why a lot of us didn't comment about I-ABS or ABS system failure possibilities).

 

(If that bike is repairable)-- Definitely put new front and rear brake hoses on that bike, might not have been your issue but it sure could be. A degraded older hose can delaminate inside then form an inflatable blockage (the harder you squeeze the more it can block fluid flow going to the caliper).

 

Cross that bridge when you get to it as it doesn't take much to total an older R bike as parts are super expensive.  

[DonnyRockster]

I'm replacing everything. I insured it as a collector through haggerty and they are GREAT about paying. Will be brand new by the time I'm done. I love that bike! 😁

[DonnyRockster]

I had it insured for the amount it would cost to buy the parts and rebuild everything = $33k

[RogerC60]

18 hours ago, dirtrider said:

Yes, that is pretty evident from your above picture as your front wheel doesn't have a speed sensor ring or a wheel speed sensor (probably why a lot of us didn't comment about I-ABS or ABS system failure possibilities).

I guess I need to step up my observation skills. Pardon the interruption...

[DonnyRockster]

No worries Roger, as I said, 35 years and I've learned something new. I'm just happy to be in one piece. Just goes to show that one small detail can make a huge difference. 😊