The Official RT Thread

[bradatlarge]

Originally Posted by dpginc

It is no rocket ship or race bike. It is just well balanced, nice smooth power, and plenty of wind protection. Oh.....and the brakes are great. All this makes it hard to tell you are on a big bike.

I totally agree. I was 50,000 miles into my GS-ADV when I got my RT (03) and immediately fell out of love with my GS-ADV for anything resembling "long distance" as the RT just made such easy work of it.

[Waco]

Originally Posted by bradatlarge

I totally agree. I was 50,000 miles into my GS-ADV when I got my RT (03) and immediately fell out of love with my GS-ADV for anything resembling "long distance" as the RT just made such easy work of it.

I used to have an 1150GS. The 1150RT definitely has it beat for wind and weather protection and going 80 or 90 mph on the interestate seems effortless. A possible downside of the RT is that riding at a given speed is less entertaining because it seems like you are going slower than you are. Sometimes I miss the riding position of the GS. It was friendlier to my knees and I liked the leverage at the bars. It felt like it was designed for a guy my size.

[jbull]

i agree about the effortless speed that accompanies riding an RT. I often find myself 20-30mph OVER the speed limit. I have to constantly watch myself (and my speed). If not for fear of tickets I would ride 80+ mph all the time - it just seems happy there, and converserly 55mph on a rural 2 lane is almost painful.
On my other bike - a WR250R, 55mph is where it seems happy on the same rural 2 lane road.

[Waco]

Originally Posted by jbull

If not for fear of tickets I would ride 80+ mph all the time - it just seems happy there, and converserly 55mph on a rural 2 lane is almost painful.

One advantage of living in Texas is higher speed limits. Most 2 lane rural roads are 60 to 70 mph and you usually have to be going well over that to get a LEO's attention, unless you're close to a town.

[sonic578]

Lately I've been using the following therapy to save money...

"I love by GSA... I love my GSA..."

but I'm worried it doesn't seem to be working! Can anyone suggest some other techniques? I see a nice 07 RT in the shop, and need to stop by to pickup a couple of things, but fear the worst.

We're scheduled to take the BMW offroad course in a couple of weeks. Maybe if I can hold off just that long, I'll be ok for awhile?

Thanks for listening...

[cpallen]

Originally Posted by sonic578

Lately I've been using the following therapy to save money...

"I love by GSA... I love my GSA..."

but I'm worried it doesn't seem to be working! Can anyone suggest some other techniques? I see a nice 07 RT in the shop, and need to stop by to pickup a couple of things, but fear the worst.

We're scheduled to take the BMW offroad course in a couple of weeks. Maybe if I can hold off just that long, I'll be ok for awhile?

Thanks for listening...

About the only advice I can offer is no matter what else you might do....
DO NOT TEST RIDE AN R12RT
!

[rous44]

Three of us were planning a road trip last spring, so we all bought RTs. Unfortunately one of my friends died of a heart attack before we were scheduled to leave.
I bought an '05, he bought an '09. So now I'm thinking of selling my '05
(http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614934) and buying his '09 from his estate.
What differences am I going to find between the two bikes?





.

[ADK]

I'll bet that '09 is haunted!!

[spanker]

Originally Posted by cpallen

About the only advice I can offer is no matter what else you might do....
DO NOT TEST RIDE AN R12RT
!

mirrors, mirrors, tell me about the mirrors. Where did you get them? I sprung for the BMW-overpriced units because I didn't find anything else out there........do tell.

[cpallen]

Originally Posted by spanker

mirrors, mirrors, tell me about the mirrors. Where did you get them? I sprung for the BMW-overpriced units because I didn't find anything else out there........do tell.

Well, these were really not much cheaper but proves that there are options out there.



I got them here:
http://www.moto-science.com/product/...y-mirrors-pair

And had to visit a couple of hardware stores to assemble the parts to mount them to the RT's perch:



Henri may have put these together in a kit - the other BMW kit he sells doesn't work for the RT.

This is what it looks like when it's done:



They are classy, high quality, very adjustable (clears my Z-Technic screen in any position, and don't vibrate. One of these days I may paint the stalks black but they don't look bad as they are. I tipped the stock mirrors out so I have a broader side view and I feel so much better having a clear view of my six.

[beeper]

Originally Posted by rous44

Three of us were planning a road trip last spring, so we all bought RTs. Unfortunately one of my friends died of a heart attack before we were scheduled to leave.
I bought an '05, he bought an '09. So now I'm thinking of selling my '05
(http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614934) and buying his '09 from his estate.
What differences am I going to find between the two bikes?





.

One thing that comes to mind...no noisy servo brakes on the '09. :)

[Waco]

Originally Posted by beeper

One thing that comes to mind...no noisy servo brakes on the '09. :)

After a while, I stopped noticing the sound of the servos on my 04.

[ka5ysy]

Originally Posted by ADK

I'll bet that '09 is haunted!!

Ghost Rider on an RT. Wow !

[rous44]

Originally Posted by ADK

I'll bet that '09 is haunted!!

Let's hope.

It would be good to have my best friend riding with me again.





.

[Hondo]

I wanted a dashboard for my 2003 R1150RT and decided to make my own instead of buying one.

First I laid out the shape of the dash on cardboard -



Then I cut a few short lengths of steel for brackets, drilled mounting holes in them, then mounted the brackets to the fairing -



I then "eyeball marked" where I wanted the bend to be on the first bracket, squared it up in the vise and hammered it into the angle (took a few tries to get the angle correct) -



After I got the first bracket made I duplicated the angle for the 2nd one.



The brackets on the fairing -



I set the cardboard mockup on the brackets to do some more eyeball measurements -



I sat my Garmin 205 GPS on the mockup to see what angle would work best while seated -



I traced the cardboard template onto an aluminum sheet and cut out the dash. It took some time to file & smooth the edges.

Then I then made an aluminum mount (bent in the vise) to velcro the GPS to. I cut a notch for the power cord -



The I removed the mounts, drilled holes to mount the dash to, and countersunk the holes in the dash (the screws need to be flush with the dash so that a smooth surface is available for velcro mounting). I also secured the GPS mount plate to the dash. All hardware is stainless steel-



Then I painted it flat black and added the velcro to mount the GPS and radar detector. I mounted the radar detector on the left side at first but decided to move it to the right due to the power cord location on the unit -


Then I had to hard wire the GPS and the radar detector.

The Garmin 205 GPS requires a 5 volt power supply, and they normally achieve this by way of a small circuit inside the cigarette lighter power cord. So I ordered a cigarette lighter adapter cord off of eBay for $5.00 shipped (vs a "Hardwire cord" for $20) and used it.

What I had to do was to remove the circuit from the cigarette lighter housing and waterproof it. I did this using a hot glue gun, and then I wrapped it all in electrical tape.

The radar detector didn't have this requirement, though there was a resistor inside the cig lighter adapter (12v feed).

I found this pin in this connector had a switched 12 volt supply available (I spliced into the lower right wire) that I used as my 12v power supply (it's a lighting circuit).



For those that don't know what "switched hot" is, that means that 12 volts will only be available when the key is in the ON position.

here is a view of the dash with the units mounted, cables installed - I used rubber grommets to protect the cables) -



Here are a few pics of the completed project -







I also ordered a GlareStomper GPS shade to kill the glare on the Garmin.