+ Click to Enlarge LONG DISTANCE CALL: BMW’s R1150RT will take you to the next town - or the next time zone.

July 9, 2001
By Dave Abrahams

Any motoring enthusiast will tell you I just spelled the “grande” in gran turismo wrong. The mistake was deliberate. Grande is the Italian word for big and BMW’s heavyweight boxer is not only big but also a superb long-distance machine – once you get used to its bulk

The bike is almost completely sheathed in acres of dark red plastic and hump-backed like a bison – the top of the fuel tank is higher than the screen on my 750cc sport bike – and the only visual clue that it is a boxer twin are the tappet covers poking through that sheathing. The rest of it has more in common with the K-series fours.

Even sadly emasculated by the Brussels Eurocracy, there’s no mistaking the flat, unmusical drone when the motor fire up. A BMW might be the only twin that doesn’t sing to you but it speaks gruffly of strength and longevity, qualities for which the marque is known best.

The bike is almost all parts-bin engineering…

The increase in capacity to 1130cc was obtained by combining the 101mm pistons from the 1200 Cruiser with the 70.5mm stroke of the 1100cc mill, the six-speed transmission came straight off the R1100S sportster - and the final drive was borrowed from the GS trailie. Most of the body panels were lifted from the R850P police bike.

Bosch Motronic MA 2.4 engine management, with overrun cut-off, helps the boxer punch out 70kW at 7250rpm and maximum torque of 100Nm at 5500. The torque curve is impressively flat with more than 80Nm available from 2000rpm to the bloodline at seven-five. That translates into allowing the rider to cruise in top gear at 60km/h then roll on the throttle without shifting down. There’s little vibration, just strong power-thudding below 4000rpm. Above that it will tolerate full welly and gather velocity quickly for such a heavy bike; like many big twins, its acceleration feels unspectacular until you look down at the clocks.

BMW claims a top speed of “over 200 km/h” for the RT. I was amused to note the accuracy of this statement: with the screen in its lowest position and the rider hunched over the huge fuel tank, it topped out at a corrected 201! The bike can be made to hustle through the gears in a most un-tourerlike fashion if the revs are kept between four and seven but the power falls off sharply after seven and there’s nothing but vibration to be gained by chasing the last 500 revs.

The dry clutch is standard BMW issue – by far the best in the business, with a wide engagement point that becomes a very positive take-up at the moment of truth and stays in the same place, hot or cold. The six-speed transmission is very nice by BMW standards, occasionally vocal but slick enough to permit clutchless upshifts, with a commendably short lever throw. Beem’s in-line gearboxes will never compete with conventional transverse transmissions (it’s generic, Cyril – neither will Guzzi) but they’re no longer the joke they were and I’ve never missed a shift on a boxer.

The final drive is vintage Berlin, taking up the built-in lash in its components with a clonk that can be felt as much as heard - and it could be heard in the heaviest traffic.

The front end rides on BMW’s well-known Telelever on which the fork sliders are just that - sliders. The actual suspension is handled by an A-arm pivoted on the front of the engine cases and a single central shock-absorber. It’s an inspired compromise between the conventional forks demanded by the market and far more rigid swing-arm front suspension and, because its geometry imparts a modicum of inherent anti-dive, it can be set up fairly soft for comfort and compliance without compromising stability under hard braking.

The system works; there’s no adjustment because it’s not needed, the big boxer steers accurately at anything above 40km/h (below that the high centre of gravity makes it unsteady in a straight line). It tracks true at any speed the bike can attain and is almost unaffected by viciously hard braking; it dives about a tenth as much as a conventional front end.

The very hefty double-jointed Paralever rear suspension is also unique to BMW. Granted, it’s probably the best geometry achievable with shaft drive and the only shaftie with true rising-rate rear suspension, but the unsprung mass is way too high and the rear suspension action is harsh because if it. The ride, while acceptable by sport bike standards, is not as plush as on other big tourers - even shaft-drives - but BMW riders put up with it because of the unexpectedly precise handling.

The RT might be a tourer but it’s not a Winnebago; in some ways it’s a real rider’s machine.

And so to the brakes - the reason for all the fuss about the 2002 BMWs. With hydraulic components by Brembo of Italy and electrickery by FTE Automotive of Germany, the Integral ABS Evo discs are the first power-assisted brakes to be fitted to a production motorcycle and they are ferocious. With the ABS switched off I locked up both wheels with just two fingers on the front brake lever.

Rather than the separate circuitry and multiple plumbing of Honda’s linked brakes, the FTE system has a central valve block that uses the same technology as the ABS to apportion braking pressure front and rear according to the bike’s attitude and weight distribution.

It even allows for the weight of a pillion rider by applying more rear brake than in solo mode. The distribution of braking effort is unaffected whether the rider uses hand or foot - and startling effects are available by using both.

The power assistance comes from a little electro-mechanical pump that you can hear whizzing away if you grab the brakes with the motor idling. Naturally, there is the tiniest delay while pressure builds; add Brembo’s long lever travel and you’ll understand why nothing happens when you gingerly apply the brakes; move the lever just a micron more and 262.5kg of motorcycle tries to stand on its nose as it brakes harder than anything this side of a GP bike.

There is zero feel at the lever for what is going on at the wheel – not surprising, given the remoteness of the layout – and the rider just has to learn the brakes by experience. Once trained, his fingertips will out-brake race-replicas on bumpy back roads and avoid rush-hour traffic hazards that would skittle most big tourers. However, if you are ever unlucky enough to be aboard one of these bikes in the rain and the ABS warning lights come on, my serious advice would be to park it and walk home.

Another downside of power brakes is that they don’t work with the engine off. Forgetting this, I used the usual two fingers, pulled the lever back until the other two were painfully trapped between it and the twist grip – and still needed a handy wall to halt the Beemer.

The bulky bodywork is neatly nipped just ahead of the saddle; this is one bike you sit in rather than on. The saddle is wide, flat and deeply padded, with plenty of space to bum-shuffle on a long ride, and the cast alloy pulled-back bars fall naturally to hand for cruising and round-towning though the grips are too far back when you’re pushing on.

Pillion accommodation is just as good, something only BMW seems to achieve with any regularity.

The mirrors are faired into the front indicators on ingenious knock-off mountings that should prevent breakage in a car-park spill but are below the handlebars and it takes a bit of learning to remember to look under your wrists to see what’s going on behind. Nevertheless, they are in fact at the widest point of the bike and give a superb field of view.

The standard hard panniers, while not faired in as on the range-topping K1200RT, are made for the bike and fit very neatly - though don’t carry chocolate in the left one because it’s over the tail pipe. The ignition key operates the pannier locks (bravo BMW!) and, once unlocked, the boxes can be opened on the bike or easily lifted off the frame and used as regular luggage.

The carrying handles double as latches, a little stiff to operate but firm and secure. The panniers are also bigger than they look; between them they hold 64 litres and there’s an optional top box that locks to the standard rack and boosts capacity to 125 litres - more, wisecrackers are fond of pointing out, than BMW’s Z3 coupe.

The fascia shows more of BMW’s parts-bin design philosophy. The two analogue gauges are shared with most of the range, I’ve seen the bank of warning icons on some Italian bikes as well as other BMWs, and only the 1200C doesn’t have the LCD panel that packs a clock, fuel and temperature gauges and gear position indicator into the neatest little package on two wheels.

These disparate items are laid out on the plain black fascia of the fully lined upper fairing, along with the speaker grilles for the (optional) sound system. There’s a neat lockable compartment in the top left of the fuel tank cover for the radio and tape deck – I used it to hold my cellphone and notebook.

The RT’s saddle, as on most current Beemers, is adjustable for height. I can’t understand why anyone would want to further compromise the centre of gravity of a motorcycle already too tall by raising the saddle above its lowest possible fitting but I concede that riders with very long legs might be more comfortable.

The electrically adjustable screen is very effective, once adjusted to cancel the vortex that can lightly but incessantly buffet the back of the rider’s head. A few minutes’ juggling with the toggle switch on the left handlebar had me floating along in absolute comfort, visor open and unbuffeted. Other comfort items are heatable hand grips (two settings - snug and toasty) and fascia-mounted knobs to adjust the headlight beam on the move.

General fit and finish are impeccable and everything works properly all the time.

There’s a wide range of accessories ranging from branded clothing to a theft alarm and a custom sound system, glass fibre-reinforced plastic crash guards for the tappet covers, luggage rolls and a tank bag. Everything you need to go to the next town - or the next time zone.

Thanks to Don Fullard at Trefco BMW of Bellville, Cape Town for the loan of the R1150RT. It costs R99 950.

SPECIFICATIONS

Motor: Air/oil-cooled four-stroke flat twin.
Capacity: 1130cc.
Bore x stroke: 101 x 70.5mm.
Valvegear: Four overhead valves per cylinder, pushrod operated.
Power: 70kW @ 7250rpm.
Torque: 100Nm @ 5500rpm.
Induction: Bosch Motronic MA 2.4 with overrun cut-off.
Starting: Electric.
Clutch: Hydraulically actuated single-plate dry clutch.
Transmission: 6-speed constant-mesh gearbox with shaft final drive.
Suspension: BMW Telelever telescopic forks with remote shock absorber at front, BMW Paralever with single shock absorber, adjustable for preload and rebound damping at rear.
Brakes: Twin 320mm discs with Brembo four-pot opposed piston callipers and ABS at front, single 276mm disc with Brembo twin-pot opposed piston calliper and ABS at rear.
Tyres: Front: 120/70-ZR17 tubeless. Rear: 170/60-ZR17 tubeless.
Seat height: 805/825/845mm.
Dry weight: 262.5kg.
Fuel capacity: 25.2 litres.
Price: R99 950

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