General topics » 1200 rider get a go on a 1250

I needed to get my 1200 serviced and MOT’s earlier in the week and arranged a demo ride of a 1250RS

It was a blue one (but most of the time I rode it, it looked black).

So here are my mental notes and thoughts:
It felt physically lighter and quicker steering, it was running Metzlers, I run Michelins, and have read the Metzlers give a quicker turning feel, however I didn’t feel as confident on the Metzlers once leant over – but that’s probably all tyres and not the bike.

Selecting gears using the clutch or the quickshifter was certainly easier and smoother (mine is a 2015 gearbox on a 2017 engine).

The brakes had a better initial bite, but not anymore powerful – mine are 4 years and 23,0000 miles old (pads changed 6,000 ago).

The Engine was smoother and quieter at tick-over low revs and boy does it pull when you open it up – BUT and this will no-doubt raise some eyebrows – the initial twist of the throttle doesn’t create the same response as my 2017 engine with a Hilltop tune. I do recall my pre-hilltop bike having that same twist throttle wait a fraction of a second before there’s a response from the engine. To some this won’t even be an issue, to some the lag may be a good thing, it is what you get use too / prefer. Personally I do prefer more of a hair trigger / instant response, and it is only a fraction of a second.

Note I have my bike in Dynamic all the time, wet, dry, damp whatever (only road or rain if have pillion, which hasn’t happened in over 24 months). I had the demo in Dynamic and only found there was a Dynamic Pro option as I got within a mile of returning it and no chance to see if it made any difference. However once you get over that fractional delay the thing’s acceleration is stupendous.

I did a 2nd gear rolling on from closed throttle at a rolling 10mph the pin the throttle open, it goes and then there is a kick at around 6000 revs that got the rear wheel to break traction and the tractions control flashing like crazy (on a damp road), that I made me grin – so I turn the traction control off and did it again and got and even bigger grin, there is one monster load of torque around 6000 rpm.

The screen is no better, still noisy – I do think BMW really, really ought to have addressed that, yes it’s a sports tourer not a tourer, so okay reduce its size but do something to get rid of the noise, disappointing, but no different to the 1200, so could live with.

I like the TFT screen but it didn’t blow me away. The other minor / subtle improvements which I could live without but still liked were;
changing up with the quick-shift leaving the cruise control activated,
the fact the cruise control display showed the speed it was set at when de-activated and
the hill braking thing made a lot of sense when I realised it was there (having previously dismissed it as a gimmick).

I don’t like the colour, I got to see once it in bright sunshine and the gold flecks looked good until you got more than 3 feet away, when it looked just a dark blue the rest of the time it looked black and boring – the car I parked next to in Littlehampton was a more interesting blue.

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And now the biggy, something significant enough it would have stopped me buying a R1250RS if I was in the market for a new one – when cruising (i.e. constant throttle not accelerating) with the revs steady anywhere between 4500 and 6000, using cruise control or just holding the throttle in position manually, and in any gear in that rev window, there was a bloody awful buzzing vibration in the whole bike that made my hands numb in under 10 minutes. That rev range in top was around an indicated 80mph, my bike buzzes a bit in the same range but it doesn’t numb my hands.

I tried gripping less tightly (worse), gripping harder (reduced vibes but potential for hand ache/cramp instead), I could also feel it in the foot pegs and when gripping the tank with my knees. I tried different gears, different suspension settings (Road/ Dynamic), it was always there. I actually cut short my ride and returned to the dealer 2.5 hours earlier than arranged (around 2.5 hours after picking it up). A deal breaker. The demo had done 2,200 odd miles so probably needs a bit more bedding in but I couldn’t live with that – maybe a different bike wouldn’t do it?

The sales guy that set-up the demo ride asked if he could quote me for a trade-in on my 1200 against purchasing the same model as the demo ride, i.e. brand new 1250 (dark blue Exclusive(?)), which I agreed to before I set off. On my return I was told the sum I’d have to pay for the privilege to ‘swap’ was £10,000. Whilst I loved the performance of the engine, the gearbox improvements and all the little nice additions, in no way was it worth 10 grand to me, so I declined his offer.

My 1200 does everything I want of it, I can ride it for well over 12hrs a day without much discomfort. Yes more torque would be nice but I cannot think of any situation on the 620 mile trip I took last Saturday (which is typical of my bike use) where additional torque would have made any overtake safer or allowed me to make an overtake I rejected on the grounds of not enough ‘power’ – and all that is ignoring the numb hands of the 1250 I rode. Maybe once there are some used example on the forecourt I might take another look, 2 or 3 year time, but my brain’s kinda of saying for £10K you can easily keep the more than adequate 1200 running for 10 years and my heart is still loving the Lupin blue.

In summary 1250 nice motor, very little difference in the rest and I'm happy with what I have.

Jason

Thanks for that Jason.
I've not heard of vibration on any of the other reviews.

When we were buying ours, I tried the S1000XR and I had numb feet and hands after about 10 miles so took it back.

Zitat von Fugly im Beitrag #2

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Thanks for that Jason.
I've not heard of vibration on any of the other reviews.

When we were buying ours, I tried the S1000XR and I had numb feet and hands after about 10 miles so took it back.

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Interesting about that initial 'grunt' thing. I tried a 1250 GS, it didn't have it. My 2015 1200 does both before and after Hilltop. It's like the engine is less smooth but more 'visceral'. A good friend bought a nearly new 1200GSA with TFT, avoiding the 1250 mainly because of the lack of initial grunt.

Well one man's initial grunt is another man's overly abrupt on/off throttle. Having owned a 1200 GS (11000 miles) and then a 1250 (5000 miles), I found the 1250 much smoother in situations like heavy traffic where you are constantly on and off the throttle. The 1200 is more challenging to ride smoothly in these situations, and this was the thing I most disliked about the bike.

I think the softer cams allowed by the Shiftcam at lower loads/revs provide a more civilised low speed response, while there is abundent get up and go from any revs when you want it, with a response you would generally need to be a gear lower to get on the 1200.