New BMW owner

[jrr626]

I'm a retiree (61) living in SE Michigan. Hobby mechanic/machinist, I was a programmer in my career.
My first bike was a CB350 back in the 80s. I took a long hiatus after that engine exploded, then got back into riding in my 50s (7 years ago). After a succession of new and used bikes, I've honed in on what I like. After this summer's long road trips, my backside let me know it was time to get a comfortable long distance bike.
I started looking for FJRs on Marketplace, but then found an R1200RT at a good deal. I did some fast research and decided it was an excellent choice.
So now I have a 2007 R1200RT with 11,000 miles on it, always serviced at the BMW dealership. With me that will not continue - I'm not going to the dealer but the maintenance will if anything get better as I'll do it myself.
I've only been riding it for 2 days, but I'm very much liking it and I'm glad I went this way rather than the FJR. It has only two issues I've found so far; a leaking fork seal and the standard dead fuel level sensor (replaced by BMW twice and still dead). I have an aftermarket sensor coming from FuelSensorTech which should fix it for good.
The other bikes in my garage are a 2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 and a 1980 Honda CX500. They all scratch different itches.

[Doctor T]

Welcome to our site. Best colour and years for a RT

[White Knight]

Been to the U.P. a few times, seems like it would be great riding although I hear lots of crashworthy animals abound.

[Randyjaco]

Welcome from Friendswood, Texas

[jrr626]

Been to the U.P. a few times, seems like it would be great riding although I hear lots of crashworthy animals abound.

I lived in the Keweenaw for 10 years, and in the lower peninsula the other 50. I have had WAY more animal close calls per year in the lower peninsula than the upper. My theory is that in the UP there's so much land per mile of road that the deer just really don't have to cross roads as much as they do in the lower.
I go back up to the Keweenaw once a year. The spot I go to has a 300 foot long stretch of rocky hill to descend and climb back up. On my Tracer I put on a skid plate and scratched it up a bit. I'm thinking the RT can probably handle it OK - I just checked while I was crawling around and the RT has 8 inches of clearance to the Tracer's 6. I think 2 extra inches will make it OK.
I think I may look for (or fabricate) a simple skid plate to go on the bottom though, I did hole the oil pan on the Tracer a couple of years ago and had to get some JB weld and a few quarts of oil to get out of the woods.

[Nataliedad98]

I'm also a Newbie from Nampa, ID. Welcome aboard.