BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I have had 2 pain issues that have been bugging me. Yeah, I am old but still enjoy riding. I suspect that they are due to my short legs. I have a 29" in seam.
The one that has been bothering me the longest is the hip pain. It is not bone but a soft tissue issue (tendon/ligament). Generally it happens when I am straddling my bike on an uneven surface, waiting for a ride to begin. Basically, I start off in gear and raise my leg to the foot peg. All of a sudden, I get a sharp pain/cramp in my leg near the hip joint. It will eventually go away if I start moving my leg in the air forward and back. It is quite disconcerting. The next is cramping on either leg in the inner thigh area. It usually happens when I have spent an hour or two in the twisties. Lean right and the left thigh hurts, lean left and the right thigh hurts. Major bummer when I am trying to have fun.
I asked my Doc, and she said that I shouldn't be riding at my age
Can anyone recommend any stretches, miracle salves, etc.?

Sounds a bit like the pain I was having regularly whilst riding, now very seldom.
I used to get a cramp like pain which would come on suddenly, in the very top of my legs, by my hips, which felt like someone had gripped a piece of rope and twisted it in opposite directions with both hands.
After enduring this for several years, I eventually consulted a physiotherapist.
She advised me to join a gym (which I did) and during every visit, use two machines as part of my routine, one by which you have your knees together and push outwards against a weight, the other the opposite, knees apart and pushing together against a weight.
When I first started doing this I was using 20kg weights on both machines, and now I can manage 70kg, with three sets of 12 repetitions.
It was not a quick process, but after about a year, the cramping pains whilst riding became fewer and less severe.
That was about 3 years ago, and now it is quite unusual for it to happen at all.
No idea whether this will help you, but it certainly helped me.

I have the same problem with my hips, the pain or cramp can start when mounting the bike or when putting my feet down at a turn or junction. This pain/ cramp doesn't happen all the time or every time I do find it happens more when I cock my leg over the bike than when I stand on the foot peg to mount the bike.If the pain comes on after stopping at a junction it's best to stop get off the bike and walk or squat at the side of the bike and then continue. I have heard of other Rt riders having similar problems ,as you asked about exercising,squats could be the answer to the problem ,if you ever watched Valentino Rossi he used to squat at the side of his bike before getting on its purely my take on why he did it, but squats has helped me .Good luck hope you find the answer to your problem.

My right side hip locks sometimes when mounting the bike. The only way to rid the pain is to stand up on the pegs. I put it down to old age

I went to the gym this morning and took note of the name (type of exercise) that was on the two machines that helped me to solve my hip pain - they were hip adduction and hip abduction if that's any help. Not a quick fix, but a fix (for me) nevertheless.

I've had leg problems for years. 99% of the time i use a stick. Getting to a gym would be a workout

A friend of mine had multiple fractures to his right leg after an accident, and had a lot of rods fitted to the outside of his leg after.

He rigged up a length of plastic waste pipe to his Rocket III just to transport his walking stick

I do experience similar with 32" inseam (if I remember correctly) on any bikes I ride, if I do not exercise on regular basis.
Currently, as base minimum and as a ritual, I do couple of squats while the bike is started on the stand and I am putting on my gloves (which is the last thing before I mount a bike).
I believe there is nothing wrong with you, just get "bike fit" ;-)

Hip flexor group - when we strain something, it sure hurts! You can strengthen as others have mentioned. One hip exercise that can be done in the home with no weights or machines:

Feel free to swing your arms a little as necessary as not to lose your balance; best if you can perform the exercise in a slow, controlled, deliberate fashion one movement at a time.

-Left foot raises by lifting left knee straight up in front of you, high as possible and carefully step forward on that leg as if you are stepping over an imaginary fence. Slide your ankles back together.

-Right foot raises by lifting Right knee straight up in front of you as high as possible and carefully step forward over the imaginary fence. Slide ankles back together.

-Left foot raises by lifting knee straight up in front of you as high as possible, now carefully step sideways to the left over that fence.

-Right foot, right knee, step really high over fence to the right.

Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.

Don’t overdo this. Quit when you start to feel any signs of fatigue and certainly before any discomfort. Monday. Wednesday and Friday, no more. Eventually work in more reps, and bring that other foot over the fence as opposed to just sliding ankles together.

I often had similar issues with our RT’s, to the extent that we still call it “RT hip”. I’m afraid to say that my only remedy was to return to GS Adventure (S). Best of luck.