Re: Was R1100RS valve chunking, now R1150RS question?

[Paul Cassel <pcassel2@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

rob wrote:

> All,
>
> I took an R1150RS for a ride from my local dealership who are more 
> than horny to sell
> this bike, being a leftover'04 demo. The color does not work for me at 
> all, but
> I have a few observations and questions:
>
> The first thing I noticed is at low speeds, it was noticeably LESS top 
> heavy, than my R1100RS.
> Especially  around town stop and go maneuvers. I've almost dropped my 
> bike many times
> and I'm 5'8" with a 30" inseam. Not too short, not too tall. I was 
> able to almost to slow roll
> the 11500 up to a stop in composure similar to my Airhead GS. Maybe 
> the change from an 18"
> rear to 17"? Seems doubtful. Anyone else notice this? Any geometry 
> changes?
>
> Also, the 1150 vibrated WAY more than my 1100. The vibration was felt 
> mainly through the bodywork,
> not the bars, nor the foot-pegs. I know the throttle bodies could be 
> off, but with only 168 miles,
> I would hope not that far off. The worst vibrations were around 
> 3500-RPM and up; Not knowing the
> break-in limit, I kept it to around 4kRPM max.
>
> The brakes were interesting; powerful for sure, but in a perhaps less 
> linear fashion
> than what I'm used to. I appreciated the initial pull, then a bit more 
> , and then woh.
> Very powerful. Wonder what power stops are like. I also had an 
> interesting fault reading
> from the brakes. I started the bike in the driveway, the brake failure 
> lamp came flashing on,
> and didn't go off. Turned the bike off, let it cycle through, no 
> power- still flashing
> it's warning. Did this three times and it finally went out. Is this 
> usual?
>
> Any other 1100 to 1150RS owners observations appreciated!
>
>
> Rob
>
> If it's the ABS warning, the failure light stems from an undercharged 
> battery - almost always. I've heard many owners complain about this 
> and never have heard of a  true fault. This system should be called 
> The Prince of False Postives. The signal is NOT brake failure, but 
> that the ABS isn't operative.

TB's can easily get out of synch just standing there. Consider: your 
bike was assembled in DE, shipped to wherever you are, then has sat for 
a year. Even if the dealer synched a year ago when the bike was setup, 
there have been temp and time to unsynch them. Also my and others' 
experiences on this engine is that they get smoother at roughly 12k and 
20k miles. My bike had a significant change at both mileages which I 
could feel. My bike wasn't particularly smooth when new, but is pleasent 
now.

These brakes would, I think, be the nuts in an emergency as lay folks 
almost always under apply brakes in that situation. However, I'm not 
happy about them in general and found them (and hideous surging) to be 
the worst part of a two week stint I had on a rented RT.

What color is it?

- -Paul

- -- 
paul DOT cassel aT 
gMail dot COM

It's well past the time the gene pool got a good dose of chlorine. 

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