FJR vs R1200RT vs ?

[Al st1100]

I tried a 2015 Trophy and was shocked by how top heavy it was. I’m 5’9” and was not comfortable with its weight.

Wait till you take a trip. When packed the rt get's top heavy. With the bike being tall the saddlebags should have been mounted lower and if you load up the top case, strap a bag on the seat it gets top heavy. At speed it's fine but be careful and slow maneuvers.

 

[Mophead]

Didn‘t I read, you sold the wing and got an RT? Is the FJ, in addition to the RT, or did you sell it?

Swapped the Wing for the RT and still have the FJR. I still enjoy them both. Similar yet different from each other. The FJR is less tech savvy but has just enough. Cruise, electric windshield, suspension.
Getting a seat build for the RT this coming week for a little more bum comfort, hopefully.

 

[Donk]

Swapped the Wing for the RT and still have the FJR. I still enjoy them both. Similar yet different from each other. The FJR is less tech savvy but has just enough. Cruise, electric windshield, suspension.
Getting a seat build for the RT this coming week for a little more bum comfort, hopefully.

What year RT? You hit the nail on the head about the FJR.

As for the Trophy as Willie says, "them that don't know em don't like em". Like a lot of other bikes, including RTs most of the negative comes from people who have not owned one repeating something they heard somewhere on the internet.

 

[Moto-Charlie]

I have a friend who loves his 2014 Trophy. He has ridden it over a fair bit of the US and Canada. He also owned a 2014 RT for a year and split his time between each bike to give them a fair comparison. He likes the Trophy more for long distance riding - so he sold the BMW.

 

[Mophead]

What year RT? You hit the nail on the head about the FJR.

As for the Trophy as Willie says, "them that don't know em don't like em". Like a lot of other bikes, including RTs most of the negative comes from people who have not owned one repeating something they heard somewhere on the internet.

2022 RT. Had the seat reworked yesterday. MUCH better!

 

[MattSTlouis]

I had an FJR and an r1100rt. Both were great bikes, I liked the handling and balance of the BMW and the power of the FJR. I think a lot of what you are paying for with the BMW is the name but I would still buy one, I own a Harley after all!!

 

[Donk]

I had a '13 RT some years back and sold it to my one of my closest friends. It was the only way to get him off his Harley. I ended up with another friend's '13 FJR. We spent a lot of time swapping the bikes back and forth trying to decide which was better. Don't think we ever really decided. A condition of the sale was I get the RT back when he was done with it. Think he kept it 8 or 9 years. Last month he traded it in on a new Harley. He has the beginnings of Alzheimer's and before anyone says anything he's still one of my closest friends. Think that was the only '10-'13 RT I would have considered because it didn't have a radio or ESA and because of it's history between us.

A friend suggested a van and a motorcycle chock for the 890. It's not a great ride no matter how you do it and like he said be enough room for an air mattress if I wanted to stop. Not an entirely bad idea.

 

[sirbike]

For wind management and noise I found the 2020 RT much better than the 2008 FJR.
I theoretical land decided that if pressed to choose, I would get the RT and take the potential bad with the good.
If the sound and wind management didn’t matter to me I would get an FJR for the reliability and lesser cost.
In reality I have a lifetime supply of ST1300s.

 

[Donk]

For wind management and noise I found the 2020 RT much better than the 2008 FJR.
I theoretical land decided that if pressed to choose, I would get the RT and take the potential bad with the good.
If the sound and wind management didn’t matter to me I would get an FJR for the reliability and lesser cost.
In reality I have a lifetime supply of ST1300s.

BMW's new service bulletin is to inspect drive shaft every 12,000 miles and REPLACE it every 36,000. No thank you. I can get 30,000 out of a chain!

 

[dduelin]

BMW's new service bulletin is to inspect drive shaft every 12,000 miles and REPLACE it every 36,000. No thank you. I can get 30,000 out of a chain!

What models and years does that apply to?

 

[Mellow]

What models and years does that apply to?

I believe this was the result of some law suit where someone may have been injured or worse and they accountants probably calculated the cost of replacing them at some nominal mileage vs another high dollar settlement.

I think the drive shafts, for RTs are less likely to be an issue as those riders are less likely to go off road or through rivers that may cause advanced corrosion.

I had an ST1300 w/bad u-joint at 50k so if the RT at least gets that far without needing replacement I'm good lol - I'll just do it myself as I don't care to take my bikes to dealers. I'm still unsure what the 'testing procedure' is but on my ST I could spin the rear wheel and hear and see some odd behavior so I'll do the same here as I believe it's also the u-joint portion that's welded to each end of the driveshaft that has an issue whereas the ST has an individual u-joint at the transmission output shaft.

 

[Donk]

Thanks for posting that. I was hoping I got it right.

 

[Mellow]

Thanks for posting that. I was hoping I got it right.

Sure, of course it's caused a 'scare' over the internet thinking all the drive shafts are bound to fail but I've only heard of one bad shaft just recently at 77k.. I'm certain there are others but I'm also certain there are bikes w/100k+ out there with no failures and probably a lot of them.

 

[dduelin]

Sure, of course it's caused a 'scare' over the internet thinking all the drive shafts are bound to fail but I've only heard of one bad shaft just recently at 77k.. I'm certain there are others but I'm also certain there are bikes w/100k+ out there with no failures and probably a lot of them.

My posed Q was really rhetoric and aimed at a scattershot statement that was not true. The thread nominally is about choices between certain bikes and the RT isn’t even included in this service campaign. I’m plugged into the BMW community and knew the details of the service campaign but it is good to post the details.

 

[Mellow]

the RT isn’t even included in this service campaign.

Ah... yes it is...

 

[Moto-Charlie]

What models and years does that apply to?

This video from Just the Way It Is talks about the free driveshaft replacement and which bikes are included.

 

[Al st1100]

Sure, of course it's caused a 'scare' over the internet thinking all the drive shafts are bound to fail but I've only heard of one bad shaft just recently at 77k.. I'm certain there are others but I'm also certain there are bikes w/100k+ out there with no failures and probably a lot of them.

I can't find a single drive shaft replacement for a ST1300 on utube, not saying they don't go bad but there are lots of bmw drive shaft replacements on the tube. The recall lists vin numbers. I'd like to know what has changed with the shafts that those are not on recall and why do they still, to my understanding consider the replaced drive shaft still under a recall? Can't they make a better shaft? How confident are you if your drive shaft is only a few digets away from the recall?

 

[Mellow]

I can't find a single drive shaft replacement for a ST1300 on utube, not saying they don't go bad but there are lots of bmw drive shaft replacements on the tube. The recall lists vin numbers. I'd like to know what has changed with the shafts that those are not on recall and why do they still, to my understanding consider the replaced drive shaft still under a recall? Can't they make a better shaft? How confident are you if your drive shaft is only a few digets away from the recall?

It's really the same failure in most cases.

The ST has a single u-joint and attaches to the trans output shaft and then the other end to the drive shaft.

The RT/GS have a driveshaft with a u-joint welded to each end so a u-joint failure requires the entire drive shaft to be replaced whereas on the ST you just replace the u-joint itself unless the failure resulted in more damage or you caught it early enough.

Also, the ST's u-joint is at the transmission output shaft which is pretty far away from environmental affects..

The BMW approach puts part of the u-joint in the same position as the ST but the other end is near the rear wheel final drive / splines so it's more likely to be affected by the environment. 2 ways of dong the same thing... I think Honda did a better job in my opinion but I also have a u-joint fail at 50k... so if the RT doesn't, it's actually more reliable given my experience.

 

[Mellow]

BMW Drive shaft



ST1300 u-joint - drive shaft

 

[Al st1100]

It's really the same failure in most cases.

Also, the ST's u-joint is at the transmission output shaft which is pretty far away from environmental affects..

Every tuck out there has U joints exposed to the enviorment and failures are rare. I would think it might have to do with drive shaft angles. If your building a car a incorrrect drive shaft angle can cause all kinds of problems. I really BMW would identify the fault.