New Bimmer: R1150-R

Just picked up the latest two-wheeler yesterday.

It’s a 2003 BMW R1150R that hails from New Mexico. The previous owner was nice enough to meet us in Elk City to make the exchange. I cruised home to Tulsa without incident, doing 75 mph at a leisurely 3500 RPM most of the way.

Pit stop at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton with the new R1150-R.

The only glitch was discovered while gassing up before we left Elk City. I made a quick check of the lights and the brake light didn’t work. Or, to be more precise, it always worked. Turned out it was always on– which explained a mysterious “dent” in the tail lamp… it had melted from the heat of the extra bright stop lamp!

I checked the stop lamp switches but both seemed to be working. Or at least I could hear the faint click of the microswitch— which means they were not out of adjustment, a semi-common problem on older BMWs. I unplugged the wire from the bulb connector to avoid further melting the lamp or lens. We decided to head on home with Jackie close behind in the Volvo chase vehicle playing the role of Brake Lights.

Riding a nekid bike for the first time in several years reminded me of two things:
1) You have to hang on.
2) Western Oklahoma is windy.
But it didn’t take long to get used to the extra “weather” I was experiencing. Body positioning is the key, and the seat allowed me enough room to assume a couple of different positions. But enough about me…

The bike runs great- much more responsive than my old GS. Tall gearing allows it to lope along in sixth with this airplane-like drone. The handling is nimble, it doesn’t feel like a 500 pound bike when you flick it around. But each time I passed a semi I was kinda’ glad that it does weigh 500 pounds! The riding position was pretty comfortable– a little short in the legroom department, but not bad. The seat had been “upgraded” by the original owner with some sort of fancy gel foam and it’s great. Jackie and I both found it very comfy.

We stopped briefly at BMW of Oklahoma in OKC to see if the shop might know one of those oh-they-all-do-that remedies for the brake light issue. Unfortunately the tech didn’t have any silver bullets of wisdom so we headed onward.

After a pleasant ride up Route 66 to Tulsa we pulled in the driveway. Average miles per gallon: 47.6.

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3 thoughts on “New Bimmer: R1150-R”

  1. I purchased it with 12,000 miles on it and the previous owner had just had the factory service done. There is a ticking sound at idle that is fairly loud. He swore it is the injectors. Have you any similar experienceThanksMike in OKC

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