Hi Peter, I've had a number of flat twins of the 'modern' era (1995 onwards) and found them to be remarkable handling bikes. R1100GS; R1150GS; R1100S; R1150R; & worst of all the R1100RT which was like a whale. All the others had confidence inspiring cornering and braking. One thing that takes a bit of getting used to is hard front braking - on ordinary bikes there is always a bit of brake dive in the front forks;with the BM Tele-lever front suspension there is NONE. Once acclimatised it is brilliant. Some peepstalk about the bike rocking from side to side on tick-over but really that's nonsense - the only time you notice anything like that is the initial take-off when you go from tick-over to powering away. They are great bikes but I stopped after the BM run I had because they are just a bit soul-less.
Hi biglad interesting comments you have made it was the R850RT I was looking at that time so maybe that is why I was getting conflicting reviews about handling I was also aware about engine torque upsetting low speed manoeuvring but interesting about front suspension was not aware of that one, I was told to avoid ABS version I had seen some had been converted away from ABS obviously expensive to repair, did not work correctly or problematic, anyway all in the past now.
I remember trying an 1150R with the servo abs brakes and thought at the time it was the best braking on a bike I'd ever experienced. Really hard braking from about 160KPH to 0kph and it was like a huge invisible hand in front of me had just absorbed the speed and energy. All totally fuss free due to that tele-lever front end. Awesome experience.
Had a C reg R80RT from new for 110,000 miles. Used every day for work, pleasure, etc. Never failed and only cost me the usual stuff, (brake pads, tyres, service costs etc) plus a pair of re-conn'd cylinder heads from Motor-Bins and some stainless front pipes. Fancied a GS but was too high for my shortish legs, same thing goes for Explorer.
A mate of mine had a Duke ST2 just for fun, his wife used it more than him. He preferred his Pan Euro but he was 'just a little bit biased', being a Motor Patrol Fed and got the chance to 'test' almost any big sports tourer at the tax payers expense as part of the day job.
Al little legs,Its stange to think you have to tailor yourself to a bike limits your choice I guess really like that bike will it fit me ? dam it does'nt
It's just that I like to get both feet flat on the ground and don't have to stand on tippy toes when I'm stopped. Also saves you looking like a really prat if you're struggling to hold the bike upright, (seen enough of those)
Yes Al I have seen them too bet they hate having to stop and even worse going backward must be impossible
Sure is, and even worse when you drop your pride and have to live down the embarrassment, (let alone the cost of repairs).
Had my Explorer for about 18 months now, fantastic bike. Running costs are a fraction of those for my BMW. Off to Southern Germany and Austia this summer.
