Newbie questions
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 12:39 am
Hi everyone.
This is my first post. Just bought a 2007 R1200RTP with 57K miles. Former cop bike. I have owned it a week now and put a few hundred miles on it, mostly in light traffic, no superhighways. I’m not a kid anymore, and I am just starting to get comfortable on it, but I’m still a ways from being as smooth as I’d like to be (or used to be). But that’s because I haven’t ridden any motorcycle in over 40 years. So, it’s like starting all over again. In college I owned a small Honda, then a Suzuki, then for a brief time, I rode a Triumph Bonneville 650 (bored out to 750). The Beemer is a handful for me but I love it so far. Going really SLOW with it – driving like a wimp until I get my smoothness and confidence back.
The bike came without an owner’s manual and the police version is different from the standard two-seat 2008 RT model for which I found a pdf file rider’s manual on the Internet. The two versions have almost everything in common (none of the optional goodies) but they are different enough that I have some questions. Figured I’d ask the experts. So please don’t mock/laugh at the simplicity of this newbie’s questions:
1) There is only one seat on the police version. How do I open and get at the stuff under the seat? Where is the release? The 2008 manual says to use the key in back, but on my bike, that pops the lock on the TOP STORAGE BOX behind the seat, and doesn’t release/open the seat.
2) How do I check the oil?
3) Help me avoid some embarrassment. I must be doing something wrong with the turn signals while riding because I am somehow activating the hazard flashers instead of a left or right turn signal. Twice now, car drivers have rolled down their windows at a red light to tell me that my rear hazard flashers were blinking instead of a left turn indication. I can’t confirm that visually while riding in the day time. When I looked down at the annunciator panel, all I saw was a flashing left turn signal indication, not both indicators (that I would expect to see if hazard was activated). The left turn panel indicator went out after I manually cancelled it after the turn. Is there some trick to this I don’t know about? The 2008 manual said something odd about the hazard lamps coming back on once you release the turn signal button? Can anyone clarify this for me? :-[
4) Here’s another one I’d like some confirmation on. I have surmised from riding it that when I downshift through the gears, the transmission bypasses neutral and the last downshift goes direct from 2nd to first with a good solid audible “thunk.“ That’s good. I like the feel and sound confirmation that I am not sitting in neutral at a red light and get that embarrassing high rev useless whine I used to get on my old rice burner sometimes when I tried to leave a stop light in neutral instead of first. (darn Suzukis!) Happily, it seems this bike won’t go into neutral unless it’s completely stopped. And if I am stopped and pull it up into neutral at a light (which I might want to do at a really LONG light and if I need to take my left hand off the clutch for something), this bike won’t drop down into 1st unless I push with my feet a bit and get the bike rolling (1 mph). Is this a BMW feature or just a quirk of my particular bike?
5) I am sharing this one, even though I figured it out myself, but it might give you seasoned Beemer riders a chuckle. It was a hot day and my bike had been parked in the sun. I only had a slow speed and short ride home (< a mile) so I didn’t bother with my gloves. At a light, I started to notice the handgrip was hot as hell. I figured it was because it had been sitting in the sun, but it was really HOT. I finally realized I must have somehow clicked on the handgrip heater button. Duh! Neither my Suzuki or my Bonny had such “amenities,” so who knew? Found the answer in the 2008 rider’s manual. But that rocker switch was centered, so it shouldn’t have been “on”, right? I rocked it up into “low heat” then back down, centered, and the grip cooled. So, all I can think was I must have moved it just enough to turn it on even though the rocker switch looked centered.
I’m sure I’ll have more questions, but thanks in advance for any advice and answers on these.
Joe
This is my first post. Just bought a 2007 R1200RTP with 57K miles. Former cop bike. I have owned it a week now and put a few hundred miles on it, mostly in light traffic, no superhighways. I’m not a kid anymore, and I am just starting to get comfortable on it, but I’m still a ways from being as smooth as I’d like to be (or used to be). But that’s because I haven’t ridden any motorcycle in over 40 years. So, it’s like starting all over again. In college I owned a small Honda, then a Suzuki, then for a brief time, I rode a Triumph Bonneville 650 (bored out to 750). The Beemer is a handful for me but I love it so far. Going really SLOW with it – driving like a wimp until I get my smoothness and confidence back.
The bike came without an owner’s manual and the police version is different from the standard two-seat 2008 RT model for which I found a pdf file rider’s manual on the Internet. The two versions have almost everything in common (none of the optional goodies) but they are different enough that I have some questions. Figured I’d ask the experts. So please don’t mock/laugh at the simplicity of this newbie’s questions:
1) There is only one seat on the police version. How do I open and get at the stuff under the seat? Where is the release? The 2008 manual says to use the key in back, but on my bike, that pops the lock on the TOP STORAGE BOX behind the seat, and doesn’t release/open the seat.
2) How do I check the oil?
3) Help me avoid some embarrassment. I must be doing something wrong with the turn signals while riding because I am somehow activating the hazard flashers instead of a left or right turn signal. Twice now, car drivers have rolled down their windows at a red light to tell me that my rear hazard flashers were blinking instead of a left turn indication. I can’t confirm that visually while riding in the day time. When I looked down at the annunciator panel, all I saw was a flashing left turn signal indication, not both indicators (that I would expect to see if hazard was activated). The left turn panel indicator went out after I manually cancelled it after the turn. Is there some trick to this I don’t know about? The 2008 manual said something odd about the hazard lamps coming back on once you release the turn signal button? Can anyone clarify this for me? :-[
4) Here’s another one I’d like some confirmation on. I have surmised from riding it that when I downshift through the gears, the transmission bypasses neutral and the last downshift goes direct from 2nd to first with a good solid audible “thunk.“ That’s good. I like the feel and sound confirmation that I am not sitting in neutral at a red light and get that embarrassing high rev useless whine I used to get on my old rice burner sometimes when I tried to leave a stop light in neutral instead of first. (darn Suzukis!) Happily, it seems this bike won’t go into neutral unless it’s completely stopped. And if I am stopped and pull it up into neutral at a light (which I might want to do at a really LONG light and if I need to take my left hand off the clutch for something), this bike won’t drop down into 1st unless I push with my feet a bit and get the bike rolling (1 mph). Is this a BMW feature or just a quirk of my particular bike?
5) I am sharing this one, even though I figured it out myself, but it might give you seasoned Beemer riders a chuckle. It was a hot day and my bike had been parked in the sun. I only had a slow speed and short ride home (< a mile) so I didn’t bother with my gloves. At a light, I started to notice the handgrip was hot as hell. I figured it was because it had been sitting in the sun, but it was really HOT. I finally realized I must have somehow clicked on the handgrip heater button. Duh! Neither my Suzuki or my Bonny had such “amenities,” so who knew? Found the answer in the 2008 rider’s manual. But that rocker switch was centered, so it shouldn’t have been “on”, right? I rocked it up into “low heat” then back down, centered, and the grip cooled. So, all I can think was I must have moved it just enough to turn it on even though the rocker switch looked centered.
I’m sure I’ll have more questions, but thanks in advance for any advice and answers on these.
Joe