The new BMW R 1200 R. The new BMW R 1200 R Classic.

[rickmbmw]

I spoke with Gina from Gina's BMW in Iowa City, Iowa and she indicated that she received confirmation from BMW that this new model WILL be brought into the United States....sign me up. I don't ever plan to get rid of my 2002 R1150R, though.

[tinytrains]

They are tubeless tires with tubes in them...
Unfortunately those rims are not suitable for tubeless tires...
BMW took looks over practicality...or price...

Generally a bad idea. As I understand it, tubeless tires with tubes run hotter and thus don't last as long due to the extra rubber inside. Plus I had no end of flat tires back in the tube days. The slightest pin hole and you were walking home.

Scott

[AncientMariner]

My first bike, a Honda 305 Scrambler had tubes. I got to be really good at laying the bike on its side, spooning the tube out of the tire and patching it.

The bike also had a breather tube pointed at the chain. Because it had wicked blow-by, my chain was constantly lubricated, along with my right boot, leg and shirt.

Thus my preference for bikes with tubeless tires and shaft drive.

Bruce

[Mollygrubber]

The slightest pin hole and you were walking home.
Scott

[tinytrains]

Cute, but my 1980 GS550E did not have anyplace to store all that stuff.

The point is, tubeless tires are much less likely to go flat.

Scott

[ShinySideUp]

Thought I'd share my unique perspective.

As posted elsewhere, a month ago a cager made a left turn from the lane to my right and I ended up doing the asphalt slide about 20 feet. The bike hit a curb and then a light post. Front wheel, forks, telelever and bent frame, instrument cluster, etc. etc. come to about $13,000 in parts and labor, so I'm confident the bike will be totaled.

The driver was in a rental car from a tiny company who is not being very responsive, so I fear I'll have to get a lawyer involved to get any cash out of them: I'm looking at large unknowns in both the amount and time departments.

Since I need a vehicle on the job in San Francisco, I decided to buy something interim and ended up with a used Honda Reflex 250 scooter. (VERY big adjustment: twist that throttle all the way, and wait for the rush... waiting, waiting... "Acceleration is loading, please wait")

So depending on the settlement amount and the time, I may decide to hold out until March and go for the 2011 model, simply because I like the instrument cluster, I like the idea of a bit more torque down low, and I have to buy something anyway, might as well be new, so I can restart the depreciation clock.

What I'm NOT looking forward to is a re-do of all the many farkles I've added over the years. They were fun one at a time, but will be a real chore to do all at once.

Bill

[9Schwein]

Leave it to BMW to select such a conservative shade of red. I've always thought the 12R would look great in red, but I was thinking "Arrest me" red, not "Looks like an upstanding citizen so let 'im slide this time" red.

[AncientMariner]

ShinySideUp said:

What I'm NOT looking forward to is a re-do of all the many farkles I've added over the years. They were fun one at a time, but will be a real chore to do all at once.

Bill, You are soooo right. I started the process today. First up was my NEP throttle lock. Guess what, All I had to do was drill two small holes and screw it all together. It took me all afternoon and it still is not right: doesn't totally disengage. I guess first time I had beginer's luck. Still have lots of reconditioned farkles to apply. Nothing else goes on until we get our first snow. Ooops, oh well.

Bruce

[vroomr]

Same feeble taillight.

[AncientMariner]

There is a BMW Authority auxiliary taillight for that. I has it. It's a PIA to snake the wire back and connect to the existing light. So that will prolly be the last farkle reapplied.

Bruce

[vroomr]

I do wonder why they didn't include the LED taillight as standard. It appears as an R12R option in their European accessory catalog, along with the information that it uses less electricity. Lessee, the reduction in reverse EMF will save.... a thimbleful of gasoline over ten years. Reason enough to buy it.

[websterize]

Here's some BMW video of the R1200R and R1200R Classic at EICMA 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk93BHBCgB4&hd=1. The R12R starts at 1:26.

[angellr]

Interesting Vid. Looked like the classic had a better seat?
Not sure I am a fan of the scooters, however, the new Husky looked interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

[Kieran R1200R]

Did a close-up of the front wheel on the Classic used for photo shoot and the tire mounted on it is a tubless radial.

An interesting discrepancy — nice catch. I guess they used old tires for the shoot?



From the Motorrad release:

Whereas the basic version of the new BMW R 1200 R has cast light alloy wheels of a sporty style, the R 1200 R Classic has embarked on other, much more classical roads. In the traditional roadster manner, it features high quality wire spoke wheels in conjunction with light alloy flat collar rims, cast aluminium hubs, and tubed tyres.

BMW Have a patent out on there wheels, they are tubeless!!!

[dbrick]

There is a BMW Authority auxiliary taillight...

Bruce,

Does this show somewhere in the parts fiche?

[AncientMariner]

You'd have to access the "Authority" parts list - for cops. However, you can see the light and how I intsallled it here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19706&p=173967#p173967

I've listed the part numbers for the light and the harness in among my photos.

Bruce

[deilenberger]

BMW Have a patent out on there wheels, they are tubeless!!!

BMW has a patent on the rims with the spokes going to the outside lip of the rim. These are center-spoke rims - normally not tubeless since it's almost impossible to seal up the spoke hole/nipples. If they've come up with a way to do this with center-spoke rims, I would have expected to see it on something like the GS first - but guess'ya never know.

[Kieran R1200R]

Hi Don, only going on what i've been told from BMW dealer here!
I wouldn't like to put money on it but BMW are very inventive and one would not expect them to release a wheel that needed a tube in 2011 would they?

[gibbo111]

As much as I like spoked rims , having had 2 GS's with the offset spokes with tubeless tyres it would be a backward move to have to use tubes again. And mags are so much quicker to clean = more riding time

[deilenberger]

Hi Don, only going on what i've been told from BMW dealer here!
I wouldn't like to put money on it but BMW are very inventive and one would not expect them to release a wheel that needed a tube in 2011 would they?

Remember this phrase: "Dealer Blather.." This is when a dealer HAS to come up with an answer (right or wrong, but most often WRONG in my experience) because he's the expert and you are the lowly rider. Apparently "I don't know.." isn't in their vocabulary.

It's amazing what they'll tell you.. We should keep a list. How about ALL the dealers who were CERTAIN that BMW was not going to make an 2011 Roadster? Was this one of those dealers? (Strange how I had it right - but then I did talk to someone within BMW Motorad about it.. )