2002 1150 RT

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tandy:

It's me, Tom Brown.   I sold you your pants!!!

Anyway...

>I have an opportunity to buy a mint 2002 R1150RT with 6,500 miles on it for
>a fair price. I'm currently riding a 1996 R1100RT (37K) and enjoy the bike
>immensely.  I have someone in the wings ready to buy my bike and I think I
>can upgrade to the 2002 for about $3000. Is the 1150 a noticeably better
>bike than the 1100, enough so to justify the expense?  Are there any issues
>with the 2002 model of the R1150RT?

In my opinion, there are a lot more issues with a '96 RT than an '02.

You probably won't like the brakes on the new bike at first.   Go out on a
lonely road and use them hard from about 70 miles an hour and you see why they
did what they did...be careful not to fly over the handlebars.

The hydraulic clutch linkage doesn't have as good a feel as the cable, in my
opinion, but it's easier to use and will give long service...probably a better
system.   The suspension is sharper on the new bike and the stock shocks are
better.  The lighting on the new bike is much better.  The "fog lamps" are
great on a dark road for lighting up the shoulders.   They also break up the
sharp edge of the low beam when you're turning.  This sharp edge can be
disconcerting.

The '02 bike is not a twin-spark.   This bike is probably worth the $450 that
you'd spend if you got it "twin sparked" by your dealer and San Jose BMW.  SJ
does the machining and sends heads back to you, or your dealer, for $450 or
so.  Then you just reassemble and add the parts they include with the kit.

If the '02 doesn't surge, you don't need to do any of that, but it's availible
and it works...improves performance a bit as well.

The '96 is a good bike if the trans doesn't fail or the final drive and if the
bike doesn't surge..  This was a first year RT and had a different, and heavy
oil distribution system.  A lot of running changes were made to improve the
bike since '96.  Most of these were reliability improvements.   Some of the
potential problems are expensive to fix.   I like 1100s a lot, but they are
not cheap to keep sometimes.   1150 should provide some peace of mind over a
96 1100.

- -TB

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