Boy, have I been waiting for a ride on this bike! I've seen them come and go as 'lucky' new owners picked them up when the bikes arrived at the dealership, and rode them away all smiles. They look pretty sleek, although I'm not a huge fan of the School of Folded & Creased Origami-look so prevalent lately. They are about the same weight as the bike they replace, the Hexhead R1200RT, but certainly heaps lighter than my 10 year old R1150RT.

I managed to get a borrow of a dealer demo to ride home. I threw a leg over and settled in to the shapely, comfy and multi-adjustable seat, the myriad of gauges, knobs and lights before me. There's lotsa bewildering dashboard graphs, charts, settings and modern age digitronics to befuddle my Luddite mind but make happy the youth of the world, or those not afraid of technology. I take mine in small doses as needed. So I put on my big girl pants and became vewwy, vewwy bwave, thumbing the starter button, pulling on my gloves, and engaging first gear. What a typical Beemer thunk, even with a new wet clutch and stacked gearbox! The bike fired to life and settled into a sweet, almost wheat thresher syncopation. A couple of sharp stabs of the right hand go twister and she sounds good too. So I headed out on my typical commute through Seattle's evening traffic, knowing that it'd be a slow go at first, followed by a mad lemming freeway rush, then some easy, bendy backroads to home.

It revs very easily and quickly. The ESA suspension is supple if a little bit too soft on the 'soft' and 'normal' settings. I notched it up to 'hard' with one rider, no baggage, showing on the screen. That'll do me. Sweet.The clutch pull is light. The wind protection stellar. The ergos just right, Goldilocks.

Traffic was the usual slow and heavy slog so the first twenty minutes were stop and go for five miles, as expected. Clutch in. Clutch out. Easy to snick between gears when moving, and upshifts are a dream with BMW's 'Shift Assist Pro' - basically an electronically assisted upshift that also lets you slam down into a lower gear supposedly without upsetting anything. To my mind there's gotta be a trade-off come repair time with all those whirry gears meshing and unmeshing without a clutch disengagement, in hot, thinning engine oil. But I'm not the engineer.

Traffic freed up. I rolled it on, the revs rising and the bike urging forward like nobody's bee's knees. Lane changes are quick with a steering feel so light you feel you could almost rest two fingers across the 'bars and pretend you're flying. Yippy Ky Yay, Mumfuffer, this be too much fun.

Then came reality. I felt the tingles as I settled the bike into a cruise varying between 60 and 80 mph with the I-5 Seattle traffic flow. The thing vibrates worse than a backwoods sawmill from 3700rpm until, I don't know. I managed to gently wring it out to about 6,000rpm (with 360 run-in miles already on the odo) and as the revs rose so did the strained and intense vibration. I backed off and let the cruise control keep me at 4000rpm, about 70 - 72 mph. My hands went to sleep in fifteen miles. I could not locate the 'sweet spot'. To make matters worse, the bike wanders all over the road and won't track a straight line unless you're lightly countersteering near constantly. The R1150 models have always felt planted and stable to me. The R1200 series less so. This newer R12 is worse.I covered fifty miles total. Tomorrow I get to do it again, but this time I'll be dropping the bike off and riding my own K-GT home. I'll be smiling.

What a bucket. And I'll bet they sell every one. I'm going to ride my K100RS, R1150RT, R100RS and K1200GT 'til I'm old. I know what to expect from them and they don't cost 18 to 25 Large.

Hmm, your review proves to be not quite the enthusiastic endorsement that it seems to be at the start.  Like you, I am no fan of the appearance of the new RT, or many other current bikes with their angular looks.  I also doubt whether most of the electronic toys are either necessary, or will prove durable by the time the bike loses enough value for me to contemplate purchasing one.

The vibration sounds nasty; fifteen minutes to make one's hands numb must be some kind of record.  Both of my Ks vibrate, but the amplitude and frequency don't cause me any problems no matter how long I am in the saddle.  Having ridden boxers at work for quite a while, I must admit that I am not a lover of their character.  If I were going to spend a hill of money on a new machine, I'd be searching for something smooth, but that does not suit everybody.  I have a friend who owns a 2006 R1200RT, and he considers most modern bikes too turbine-like for him; he likes to feel that an engine is nearing the red line.  It is a classic case of one man's meat being another's poison, and as you rightly say they will indeed sell all they can produce.

Thanks for your well-written review.

I have never been a fan of the boxers. I did a lot of Ks on the R80 RT but it never lit my fire.  I had one ride on a K100 and loved it.

I was very hopeful and I've ridden the new WB R1200GS, which I liked and which didn't vibe much at all. I've been riding boxers since the mid-'70s. I own two Airheads and have an Oilhead R1150RT. I actually prefer the solid feel and pulse of the earlier Air/Oil-cooled boxers, the 1100 and the 1150 over the 1200s which have always seemed buzzy-busy and 'disconnected'. My R1150 pulses in a natural way. I enjoy it. It never tires me. This WB R1200RT felt so tingly through the seat/pegs/bars that it was an irritant within twenty minutes of getting on the thing. I have to say that all else from the lightweight feel, the riding ergos, the control layout (although too busy for me) was good. Damn those UJM-style indicator switches on the left hand side control, however, and which fail with regularity. Gimme two turn signal indicator paddles, one on each side, and I'm good, but that's not what Bay Em Vay is doing any longer. The masses must be satisfied!

It's morning. I've had a good sleep. Now I have a return ride of 35 miles to work to see how she goes again.

The thing vibrates more than a Pakistani sweatshop sewing machine room at full song!
 

I rode my K1200GT Brick home from work today and was instantly reminded why I like K's so much; it is a fluid velvety liquid nitro ramrod that you don't even havta downshift to squirt round slow-moving traffic.

I fitted a new ZTechnik slightly wider and marginally taller, tinted 'screen to the Mighty K for comfort, and a Clear Alternatives-brand clear tail light full of LEDs for no real reason other than it matches the clear indicator lenses.

Tomorrow's Sunday, a day off, it's gunna be near 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21C) sunny with a light breeze, blossoms and new buds everywhere, rivers are running hard due to snow melt and a Winter's worth of rain. I'm going for a well-deserved burble.

Vibe-free except for my tunes.
 

Get up early.  Go to Neah Bay and Hurricane Ridge.