Full specced BMW R1150rt tourer

This is my trusted long distance commuter. I have owned it for over 2. 5 years now. and it's the second I've owned. after having been assaulted by a white van man. the first was a write-off.  What I love about the BMW R1150RT:The RT is certainly a bike to trust for durability and general resistance to the bike-hostile UK winters. and you can't find a more comfortable ride for motorways. nor until recently. was it easy to find a touring bike that was so frugal. with it's tall overdrive 6th gear and torquey motor. you can notch it up into 6th early on. and cruise at 85mph for hours. My commute was Surrey - Leeds and back. at the beginning and end of each week. all year round.  Prior to buying an RT I had done my research based on my needs and riding in a non-excitable manner. I was almost able to make the journey in a single tank. almost. When my first RT bought the farm. there was a good reason why I went straight out and bought another with the insurance money. The reviews and statistics speak for themselves. but what I was not expecting before owning one. was the commanding presence that these have on the roads. especially in silver. The traffic often just moves out of the way for you. on the motorway. and it's always slightly amusing to see how drivers suddenly start behaving themselves when they notice you. nearby on this bike. My friends have commented more than once on the fact that they keep double-taking when we're riding in convoy and they catch me in their mirrors. That said. this is NOT an ex-police bike. nor an ex-blood bike. I've put the last 27. 00 miles on her myself - and I'm a civilian.  The fairing is the best I've ever experienced on a bike for weather protection. and riding all year round up and down the M1. this and the heated grips made it possible for me to make my commute when otherwise I feel it would have been a gruelling endurance test. That boxer twin 1150 is a peach. Positively agricultural feeling compared to my ultra-smooth Tron-like CB1000R before it. But you soon get into the swing of short-shifting and riding the torque wave. Even with the stock exhaust system the growl is lovely. Not offensively loud. but loud enough to remind you that you're actually having fun. even on a boring motorway commute. The Features:This RT came with the servo-assisted ABS brakes (much derided for being overkill at the time. and then expensive to replace if they go wrong). The common workaround is simply to disconnect the ABS when it eventually fails. and the brakes work as normal (unassisted) brakes. with no ABS. However. the brakes on this bike still work. so this has never been an issue. BMW factory fitted heated grips. Setting 1 gently warms your hands. Setting 2 will burn your hands through your gloves if you leave it on. but is great for a fast warm-up.  BMW factory fitted RDS cassette radio and fairing speakers. I've never really used this much. as the speakers are impossible to hear above 50mph from the usual wind buffeting and road noise. The tape deck is an auto-reverse one and I may even throw in the MP3 player adapter that I bought to pipe the tunes from my iPhone through the stereo system. The stereo is operable from the handlebars and there is an LCD display on the dashboard showing what station it's on. and other context sensitive menu options. Full BMW 3 piece hard luggage including the optional pillion backrest on the topbox and "city lids" for the panniers. The topbox lid was salvaged from my previous (written off) RT. because it was colour co-ordinated in silver as opposed to the black one that came with this bike. so it looks much smarter. but as a result. there are some small scuff marks on one side of the lid only - from the previous bike landing on it's ear. NB this bike has never been on it's ear. The paniers also have the colour-matched touring lids AND the silver colour-matched "city lids" for the panniers. which greatly reduce the width of the bike for filtering and are very useful if you don't have much to carry and like to "make progress" in heavy traffic. These are hard to find. these days. Electrically operated windscreen with a larger 'Cee Baileys' after-market touring screen. This greatly reduces the wind noise in your lid and when the screen is raised. you can cruise at motorway speeds with your visor open. This has a slight nick in the top of it. as it was a legacy from my previous RT and was brand new at the time. so I was loath to lose it to the breakers yard after having just paid £300+ for it. BMW full OEM Stainless steel exhaust system. Downpipes are slightly tarnished but would buff up if you were fussy about that. Fender extender on front mudguard. The RT is extremely resiliant to crappy UK weather anyway. but this helps a little. HID dipped headlight upgrade. Riding through the year. the original halogen bulb was inadequate on unlit A and B roads during dank. foggy winter mornings. The HID upgrade was the best single modification I've made to this bike. It's saved my bacon a few times. of that I am in no doubt. Even if you don't bid on my Beemer. I recommend you get a HID upgrade. The headlight aim is still adjustable from the big headlight adjuster knob on the dashboard. The 1150RT came with separate fog lights. BTW in case you didn't know. The 1100RTs did not. as far as I know. K&N Airfilter fitted. more because the tree-hugger in me hates throwing away paper filters. rather than any real need for extra grunt from the motor. 2x accessory DIN sockets with which the bike can also be hooked up to an battery charger. No need for extra cables or connectors attached to the battery. I have an Optimate adapter which I shall include in the sale. Original OEM toolkit under the pillion seat. Everything present and correct. Owners manual and all receipts from the lifetime of the bike. (there is a massive folder full of the bike's service history). Discreet reflective decals applied to the bodywork and panniers. I went out of my way to keep these as tasteful as possible. while maintaining maximum visibility. Obviously if these aren't to your liking. they can be peeled off without ruining the paintwork. 3 position adjustable rider seat. I have had a special optional low saddle on my previous RT. but it was slightly less padded than the standard one. and by the time I was on my second RT. I was completely used to the seat height. At the lowest setting. it's a little stretch for me at 5'8" but the room it gives your legs on a long motorway run is well worth being slightly on your toes at the lights. Like I said. I've got very used to it. Why am I getting rid of it?I don't know if you can tell or not. but I have a lot of love for this bike. I shall be very sorry to see it go. but having been made redundant from my job in Leeds. back in May. it's not been getting the use it deserves and it's just too big for a shorty (I prefer the description "average height") like me to use for the short local trips around Surrey in the stop/start traffic. It needs to get out on the open road. and I just don't do that anymore. I also have a Vespa. which is what I'm using all the time now that I don't have that monster commute to Yorkshire. but basically I am chopping both of these fairly specialised vehicles to finance buying a single all-rounder (in this case. probably a cheap to run maxi-scooter).  Anything else you should know?I've mentioned a couple of scratches in the listing above. The photographs show the scuff on the wing mirror (painted over) and the short scratch on the left hand fairing behind the stereo compartment lid. These are the only scratches on the bodywork of the bike itself. There is a protective adhesive film on the panniers which has bubbled slightly and where it has done so. dirt and rainwater has got underneath it. making a couple of black spots which I can't wash off unless I remove the film. I have chosen not to worry about it. but you can just about see these black marks on the left hand pannier lid in the front view photo. This is not damage to the pannier lid or the paintwork. just dirt. The tyres have plenty of wear left on them. It's on Bridgestone BT-021s. They're the only tyre I've ever had on this bike and they seem pretty good to me. The warning light on the dash sometimes stays on. I've had this checked out. but the diagnostic suggests that it's something to do with the rear light cluster. I have changed the bulbs but it still comes on intermittently. The ABS has it's own warning light. so it's nothing to do with that. It's been like this for a while now. but my mechanic seems to think that it's nothing that might cause a safety issue. Having done some reading on this. the 1150RT has a failsafe for if the brake light fails. which is to slightly dim the tail light and then brighten it when the brake is applied. effectively creating a secondary brake light out of the tail light. I have not conclusively discovered if this "feature" is somehow causing the problem. but both brake light bulb and tail light bulb are good. In any case. it has not caused an MOT failure since the lights work as they are supposed to. I've run out of ideas on this. but it doesn't seem to affect anything. albeit it is slightly annoying having the light come on every now and then. It drips oil occasionally. A very small amount. I only notice this because I park it in the same place in the driveway every time. The bike has been garaged for most of it's life. but for the last 6 months. it's been in the drive. but under a bike cover. Please feel free to come and inspect the bike in the evenings. I have exhaustively listed everything I know about the bike. and have left nothing out. I appreciate an honest listing like everyone else. and this is as honest as I can possibly be. Message me any questions you have. also. Full payment on collection. You can test ride it IF you can prove you are insured to ride it. AND if you leave the price in cash with me. when you take it out. It will stand up to any inspection as I have listed it. In Summary. the winner bidder will get:The bike including the full luggage set. The spare "city lids" for the panniers. The MP3 player adapter for the cassette/radio system (small jack input). Optimate battery charger connector for external BMW din plugs. (I shall obviously keep the Optimate battery charger itself). Depending on how I feel on the day. I may also include the internal and topbox bags. I use them off the bike. too. but I might be persuaded to part with them if the bike has raised enough money. Don't count on it though. They are dead handy. Please note that the mileage is correct at the time of listing. and although I am generally not using it anymore. if I need to before the listing ends. I may need to take it out. I'm not doing any big trips though.

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