BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

"The front of the bike is off the ground through third gear under full throttle acceleration."
This is from a topic about Remus Exhaust.
how many of you use "Full throttle acceleration" After thinking about it I don't think I (almost ) ever do.
Mark

Not lately ...mine pings too much before reaching wot. lol

celticus wrote:"The front of the bike is off the ground through third gear under full throttle acceleration."
This is from a topic about Remus Exhaust.
how many of you use "Full throttle acceleration" After thinking about it I don't think I (almost ) ever do.
Mark

I hammered it hard in first one time and scared the crap out of myself. The front end came right up without clutching it. I have Old Man's balance so wheelieing at all is pretty much out of the question, and I think you'll see Jesus before you'll see me on a wheelie through 3 gears.

mickyt wrote:Not lately ...mine pings too much before reaching wot. lol

Someone was reporting a software change/recall to fix the knock (detonation) sensor. Have you looked into it? I think I saw it in the Brake Recall post.
http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?f ... 36#p123982

Yes it does come right up @ wot in the lower gears ,isn't the power thingie one of the reasons for buying a 1200r???
That said , knowing the throttle turns in TWO directions is a good life &liscense saving skill to master..
Also when passing a slower vehicle I'm usualy WFO

I can't think of a day or an hour of riding that I didn't hit what you call WOT, at least while riding locally. Then again I have lots of soccer moms, speed bumps, and large pot-holes to dodge or lift the front end over... On out of town trips I actually take it "easy".
My front end is of the ground all the time, in 1st, and 2nd gear. In 3rd it just doesn't feel right... too much work. I'm sure I'm out of "proper BMW" form, but anytime I'm under 50mph the front end can come up on demand... There's this on-ramp I take daily, and I've got it down to just ride it all the way on the rear, until I hit the limiter. Please don't tell me I'm the only one around here who loves the power of the 1200R.
I love it. In first it can get a little out of control, but 2nd.... I've been practicing and I am getting pretty good at it... some of you might scoff at it, but I say you're wasting a great bike by being afraid of what the engineers wanted the 1200R to feel like by trimming all that fat and giving the Roadster 30 more hp... it's exactly what the 1150R was missing... I hope I never get too old to enjoy the front wheel coming up - in a safe environment with no cross-streets and no cages around...
As for pinging... I do my own valves and if I heard any of that nonsense she'd be back apart in no time... mine doesn't tick, except for a few seconds after a cold start... another good reason to DIY!
This bike wants to be ridden... not tooled around on.

All hail ChiTown! Even if I lack the cohones to wheelie around my self I like to hear about it from others. Vicarious wheelies I guess.
Mark

ChiTown wrote:I can't think of a day or an hour of riding that I didn't hit what you call WOT, at least while riding locally. Then again I have lots of soccer moms, speed bumps, and large pot-holes to dodge or lift the front end over... On out of town trips I actually take it "easy".
My front end is of the ground all the time, in 1st, and 2nd gear. In 3rd it just doesn't feel right... too much work. I'm sure I'm out of "proper BMW" form, but anytime I'm under 50mph the front end can come up on demand... There's this on-ramp I take daily, and I've got it down to just ride it all the way on the rear, until I hit the limiter. Please don't tell me I'm the only one around here who loves the power of the 1200R.
I love it. In first it can get a little out of control, but 2nd.... I've been practicing and I am getting pretty good at it... some of you might scoff at it, but I say you're wasting a great bike by being afraid of what the engineers wanted the 1200R to feel like by trimming all that fat and giving the Roadster 30 more hp... it's exactly what the 1150R was missing... I hope I never get too old to enjoy the front wheel coming up - in a safe environment with no cross-streets and no cages around...
As for pinging... I do my own valves and if I heard any of that nonsense she'd be back apart in no time... mine doesn't tick, except for a few seconds after a cold start... another good reason to DIY!
This bike wants to be ridden... not tooled around on.

chitown...can you please elaborate on the ticking part?.....sometimes i feel like i am riding a watch:-).....what causes it?

Mine ticks for a few seconds right when it starts, when it's cold. Not sure why really.
If your bike is ticking loud enough that you can hear it when you hit WOT, I would say that it needs a valve adjustment...
There's always some kind of ticking associated with a boxer engine, but it should be hardly noticeable.
I'm not really any kind of expert on the Boxer, so if you think something isn't right go ask your local dealer to take a listen...

Can anyone recommend where to learn to do the maintenance on this bike? I'm about to take mine in to the dealer for the 6000 mile service. After this though I'd like to start doing it myself, but not sure of tools and procedures for doing it properly.
Thanks!

tobes wrote:Can anyone recommend where to learn to do the maintenance on this bike? I'm about to take mine in to the dealer for the 6000 mile service. After this though I'd like to start doing it myself, but not sure of tools and procedures for doing it properly.
Thanks!

I wouldn't follow my service exactly, but in this thread I list my sources of info. It really isn't that hard... with the right info, and a few tools. You'll need a torque wrench, hex sockets, a metric socket set, a oil filter tool, a few feeler gauges (.15 , .30 ) to get started. Again this is not a comprehensive list, just a start. The money you can save by DIY in labor alone will pay for most of the tools just from 1 service... assuming you don't buy expensive tools, I bought a nice craftsman torque wrench, but the rest of my tools are el cheap o no name stuff...

http://www.r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=12920

Thanks ChiTown!

Where I live it is 2 miles and your out of town, and there are no traffic lights in town so 99% of my riding is at highway speed and up...rarely below 4500rpm and often bouncing off the limiter. My valves are in spec and there is no ticking. I ride it hard but don't try to lift the front wheel. There is some pre detonation noise at times and I am make sure I'm in the right gear too. In fact I probably ride at a gear lower than most. It is not valve noise and there is no download cd11.0 available here yet, but will be in line when they have it at hand.
Regards Mick

ChiTown wrote:Mine ticks for a few seconds right when it starts, when it's cold. Not sure why really.

Ditto, but I know what it is so it doesn't overly concern me.

It's the timing chain slapping a bit. The oilheads really did this - and for much longer than the hexhead. The timing chain tensioners are pressurized by oil pressure. They have a very weak spring in them to keep them in position when there is no oil pressure. The left side one is situated on the top of the cylinder, and when the engine is off - the oil can drain down from it, and the chain slaps for a second on startup until oil pressure gets to the tensioner piston again.

The funny thing is - the fix for this on the oilheads was to install a new design one that the 1200's got in mid 2007.

I did this on my '04 R1150RS shortly before I traded it in. Parts were about $30. I've been thinking of asking the shop to install the latest design on my hexhead since I suspect it has the earlier design in it. Or do it myself.. takes about 5 minutes to install (at least it did on the 1150..) In any case - I've never heard of any problems being caused by it - it's just a noise for a few seconds on cold startup.

Yesterday, 84 degrees, stop and go traffic, temp gauge towards the top, and I am hearing "tick, tick, tick..." 2500 miles on the bike. Should I be worried?

check your valves................. go to synthethic oil --15-50.

WILDPIG wrote: go to synthethic oil --15-50.

But not until you have at least 10,000 miles on your bike...

ChiTown wrote:

WILDPIG wrote: go to synthethic oil --15-50.

But not until you have at least 10,000 miles on your bike...

Actually.. as soon as it stops using oil - synthetic is just fine. I went to it at 6,000 miles (I'd stopped using oil at 3,000). Oil analysis from Blackstone showed the engine to be in outstanding condition. I recently did the 12k tuneup - the valves barely had to be touched, and when I checked throttle-sync - at the highest sensitivity on my TwinMax - it was dead nutz perfect. The engine continues to get smoother and smoother.

Amazingly good bikes. Off in a minute for my new front tire... (another Conti)

That might be true, and if it's working for you, right on... I'm just repeating what every BMW mechanic, Service Manager, Parts Manager, etc has told me.

ChiTown wrote:That might be true, and if it's working for you, right on... I'm just repeating what every BMW mechanic, Service Manager, Parts Manager, etc has told me.

That really dates back to the early oilheads which were notorious for taking a LONG time for the rings to seat. Once the rings are seated (stops using oil) - all the other parts of the engine have worn to their mates a long time ago. Use of regular oil is fine - but synthetic has some temperature and longevity advantages over standard oils that to me makes it worth using.

If the bike is still using oil at 20k miles - something is wrong with it and it probably should be addressed under warranty. New BMW cages (and Porsche and Corvettes) come with full synthetic in them from the factory.. If you listen to mechanics, service managers and parts managers - they are often sources of not very good tech advice. You think that wouldn't be the case since they're in the field, but once they get an idea (like never use synthetic before 20k or 30k or whatever) they never seem to give it up. Out of curiousity - you might ask "why?".. and bet they'll say "the rings will never seat".. in fact - bet'ya a beer on that one.