Beautiful bike, the front end design is really a piece of art.
The back design including the saddlebags is maybe more questionable for my taste.
I am still amazed by the fact that BMW was able to produce 134 HP from a flat twin engine.
I am also wondering about the feeling of shifting from a 4 cylinders to a twin...
Can you share your experience about it?
I live in a kind of remote area and what I love about the ST is that you can maintain it pretty easily and encounter very few flaws with the build quality.
I would be curious to know how reliable is this jewel...
Well both my VFR and my Wing are DCT so the shifting on the RT is completely different. I have only run a couple of tanks of gas through it so I am still getting the feel of it but the shifting is precise and predictable. This bike has the “shift assist” so after second gear no clutch or throttle roll off is necessary. It works as advertised.
There is definitely a difference between a multi cylinder bike and a twin, but these new boxers are pretty smooth as twins go and this bike only gets a little buzzy over 80 or 85 mph. No issue for me. I like it, but I have had a bunch of beemers over the years so I knew what I was getting.
As far as power…. , like you, I am amazed at the 1250 motor. A couple of weeks ago at NatSTOC, I was chasing Mellow across a straight in Wyoming with my VFR pegged, wide open (130 claimed hp) and he was pulling away from me, and two other ST’s. We were in triple digits a lot that day. This engine is the real deal, and at about 4K rpm’s, it enters a power band that feels like a turbo.
Once rolling, the bike feels weightless and rolls into corners like it is on rails just like my prior beemers. Still getting used to the ESA suspension which has two options, road and dynamic which can be changed on the fly by rotation of the wonder wheel. Dynamic is stiff and predictable but “road“ seems soft to me with a little bit of pogo. Unless I can figure that out, I will likely run in dynamic all the time unless I am on the slab.
The bike has all the gizmos my 2018 DCT wing has: Adjustable suspension at the touch of a button, TPMS, Bluetooth, satellite radio, cruise, USB, FM, Aux, heated seat, front and back, heated grips, keyless ignition, central locking, elec windshield, etc, etc. All of the above is intuitive and well designed and easy to grasp.
I will review further after I get some more seat time but so far, ….two thumbs up!