New To Me... 2007 R12S

trader220 · 09-17-2015, 08:37 AM

I have been peppering the board with questions for the last 2 months so thank you to everyone for their comments and suggestions.

New to me, well on Saturday it will be as long as all goes well. 2007 R1200S with about 12,500 miles. Yellow, black rims, 6 inch rear, Ohlins, full titanium Akrapovic exhaust system.

Owner is trailering the bike down from New Hampshire to my place of work Saturday!

Couple of photos from the listing on Craigs List.

trader220 · 09-17-2015, 08:58 AM

Does BMW still make the seat cowl? My guess is its nasty expensive? What have people done to clean up the tail? Someone must make a cleaner set up for the plate and turn signals? Weather looks pristine for this weekend I hope to put some miles on.

Over the winter I'll go over the bike top to bottom too. I was looking for a candy cane but I thought the deal on this bike was right. I have a buddy that does the wrap on cars for a living, he said he could do anything I wanted for dirt cheap.

sgoodwin · sgoodwin's Garage

There's a candy cane one down by me, no Ohlin's or mention of a wide wheel though, pretty fair price. Maybe he'd change plastic with you......

https://miami.craigslist.org/brw/mcy/5225141866.html

trader220 · 09-17-2015, 11:50 AM

Thanks for the heads up. That bikes been at a dealer for a while. I agree its a nice price but no Ohlins is a deal killer for me and by the time I got it here it would be more than I am buying the yellow one for. The color of any bike or car I have ever owned has never been a big factor for me. It would be nice to have had the candy cane but not that big a deal.

Swapping plastics is an interesting thought if he were close, but PA to FL its not going to happen.

RoLoo · RoLoo's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader220

What have people done to clean up the tail?
Someone must make a cleaner set up for the plate and turn signals ?

...made it myself...

RIQUE · RIQUE's Garage

In spite of all the great work, those giant European license plates suck!

RoLoo · RoLoo's Garage

...well..., it's quite modest actually these days...
...20 x 15 cm (as in : 7.87 x 5.91 inch)...

...over here, and in the past around 21 x 21 cm (8.27 x 8.27 inch)...
...and those older German plates came even bigger...

...many, many summers ago we over here had these nice blue 20x15 cm plates...

...long time ago : my Suzuki GT380...

...much later 'they' changed it to this safer (...) 21x21 cm yellow plates...

...as on my brand-new 1985 Suzuki GSX750ES...

...1985 : my new GSX750ES...

...I swapped that huge plate for a home made (and highly illegal in those days) smaller 20x15 yellow plate...

...and these days those smaller yellow plates are legal, and 20x15 cm is the size we've to deal with...

...edit : still got those old plates, and back in the old days my new 1987 Honda CBR1000F even came with a 24x21 cm ( 9.45 x 8.27 inch) plate...!
...changed that one too for a home made 20x15...

Mitch1100 · Mitch1100's Garage

Like that Ron

hellfishtat · hellfishtat's Garage

we should meet in WV or VA and ride our new (to us) Yellow R1200s'

jrsbike · 09-19-2015, 05:08 PM

I was following this bike as its local to me in Massachusetts. He was a lot higher and recently dropped his price. Congratulations, this was a good buy. I'm jealous! Good luck with this. Hey if it does not work out there are a few very low mileage Ducati ST4S's around!

trader220 · 09-19-2015, 06:49 PM

Quick shot from today. Seller delivered via trailer to me at work today. I'll do some shakedown miles tomorrow.

What size rear are you guys running? The Metzler on the rear is a 180.

RIQUE · RIQUE's Garage

If you have the wide rim you can go 190.

trader220 · 09-21-2015, 11:33 AM

Heli Bars ordered
Puig Dark Screen Ordered

kevlarian · 09-21-2015, 11:38 AM

Great looking ride. Looking forward to your first impressions...

trader220 · 09-21-2015, 01:34 PM

I have only done about 50 miles. Got the bike Saturday but I had plans with my 9 year old son yesterday so things had to wait. I did about 40 miles today just to get my first impressions.

The bike is far from dialed in on some things I would need to correct. I didn’t touch the suspension and I have no idea how the Ohlin’s is set up right now. I weigh a lot more than the PO but the bike felt well planted in the turns, and side to side, even across some crappy roads.

The travel on the clutch lever is ridiculously long, and it doesn’t catch until the end. Rev matching on downshifts was odd. I was getting on the throttle too much because once I brought the revs to match it took longer to let the clutch fly. I am sure it’s adjustable.

Brakes are bipolar. The brakes overall are far superior to my departed Ducati ST4S. In fact the fronts are downright fantastic. I didn’t push it too hard given the traffic, roads and my first time on this bike but they have much better feel and much better stopping power. The rear brake is completely useless. I don’t think it would hold me sitting at a traffic light on a hill.

The torque pull on rev takes a little getting used to but it’s no big deal. The motor pulls a lot like a 911 (for obvious reasons). Once you blast through the 3700 area the torque is fantastic. It’s not nearly as high strung as my Ducati was. It’s downright docile around town, where as the Ducati did NOT want anything to do with stoplight around town stuff. I did a small stint on the freeway, at 65 mph I was in 4th and it was nice and lively, I can’t imagine how dead 6th would be at 65 mph.

Even with the exhaust set up the bike is very quiet. It will bark if you crack the throttle but its like night and day compared to the Ducati sound wise. Also the exhaust exits directly behind so it’s not as easy to hear it compared to the two sides on the Duc.

I ordered a set of helibars and I think I may want to extend the pegs a bit if there is a good solution out there.

My first impression is this bike is much mellower than the Ducati. It’s not nearly as high strung, it’s also not as fast but you don’t need to work nearly as hard with it. It’s clearly set up as much more a touring bike as opposed to the Ducati which leans more towards the sport end of the Sport Touring spectrum.

I’ll need to dial the bike in closer to my liking and then put a whole lot more miles on it. No gas gage is sort of odd too.

Kevin8 · 09-21-2015, 02:22 PM

How far are you from Downingtown? Evan at Solid Performance KTM set up my Ohlins for $80, and it transformed my bike. I am also a bigger guy than the PO of my bike, so it was job 1 for me. The BMW torque wave is beautiful thing to surf, you just need to calibrate yourself to it. This bike will grow on you, I'll wager.

Kevin M.
2010 S1000rr
2007 R1200s

trader220 · 09-21-2015, 02:42 PM

I live in Bala Cynwyd and I work in Conshohocken. Thanks for the heads up. I am going to ride it for a week or two and make a few adjustments to things other than the suspension before I get that done. This clutch lever thing will take some getting used to. Its hydraulic so there really isn't going to be any adjustment to the throw.

Kevin8 · 09-21-2015, 03:27 PM

Well, congrats on the bike. My mechanic took the useless rear brake and made it work as it should. He's in a private shop in West Chester, used to be the lead wrench at Devon when they had the Motorrad franchise. Let me know if you want his contact information. Feel free to ping me for a Sunday ride. We've got all the good roads out in Chester Co.

Are you at RBS in Conshohocken, by chance?

Kevin M.

trader220 · 09-21-2015, 03:28 PM

I have been watching eBay for a rear seat cowl over the last month knowing I was about to buy an R1200S. As luck would have it a yellow one popped up on eBay tonight so I bought it!

hellfishtat · hellfishtat's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader220

I have been watching eBay for a rear seat cowl over the last month knowing I was about to buy an R1200S. As luck would have it a yellow one popped up on eBay tonight so I bought it!

Damn you! Can't believe I missed that