I’m thoroughly enjoying riding my new to me, R1250RT. However the forward pegs are really annoying! I’m not short at 5’10” but when paddling the bike backwards those pegs make it difficult. Who’s idea was it to put a spring on them! On inspection the rear pegs look like they might fit on the front or can I just remove the springs on the front pegs? Will the front peg stay in place without the spring as the rear peg does? On my Harley I can just kick the pegs up out of the way, not possible on the BMW.
Surely I’m not the only person who has issue with the b...... springs Any solution would be welcome.
I am pretty sure you will find all bikes have springs on their front footpegs, they are there to make sure the peg is down. Without the springs you can accidentally lift the pegs when you are lifting your feet up, which means you end up stamping on the floor. The exception to this is racing pegs, which are fixed (so they dont solve your problem), and if they touch the floor they break off instead of lifting.
I popped out the return spring on my 2005 no problem, a bit more difficult on the 2009 for some reason. I had exactly your same peeve. They seemed designed to smack into your shins while backing up. Painful, and may cause a misstep that could spill the bike. On the 2005 they folded back and stayed out of the way, and never presented any problems since the pegs aren't totally flush with the bike, so your foot will hit it and you won't be stepping into thin air without warning. This has the added benefit of allowing you to put your legs straight down, letting you use every inch of inseam. You don't have to spread your legs to avoid the lower pegs, and when your legs are angled outward it was easier for you foot slip to the side on sand, etc. If you want a little more lowering, I pulled out ALL of the seat adjustment hardware, including the frame where the rubber adjusters are seated. Gives you at least another half inch of lowering. Stay upright.
The issue is worse with those of us sporting limited inseam. At 5' 7", I am basically on my toes when trying to push the bike back. If there's any kind of incline, I have to get off the bike to move it. It's the one big thing about the 1200RT that I don't like, having come from Honda PC800 and NT700 for the last 150K miles. It's even worse when I have a passenger. And, yes, I have adjusted the seat to the lower setting.
Cameron '17 BMW R1200 RT; '10 Honda NT700; '89 Yamaha FJ1200 with Comanche Sidebike sidecar
I`m 5`7 with the same problem, but I like the bike for touring, so I had to make some changes. I bought the BMW lower seat and I had the bike lowered by replacing the shocker springs with ones with a very slightly different temper. This lowers the bike by around 30-40mm and makes it completely manageable.
Any solution would be welcome.
