When I bought this bike, it had 80,700 miles on it. It was my first BMW, and first fuel injected bike.
Test Ride: The first thing I noticed test riding this bike, is that it handled really well. The suspension was tight, cornering was easy, I could pull a 180 on a country road without practice. It didn't have the raw acceleration of the Venture, but it was plenty adequate. It was comfortable to sit on. I had new bike fever. I bought it!
Anyway, now that I have 14,000 miles on it, here are some things I've noticed.
Performance:
This bike corners better than any of the other 4 bikes I've owned. Of course, that includes 3 cruisers and a full dress tourer, and the RTP is essentially a sport tourer. But the suspension is special, with almost no dive on braking, solid feeling in the corners, and not much effort required to initiate a turn. It leans more than the Venture for the same radius turn, but it takes less push on the handlebar to get it to come around.
As for raw acceleration, well, the Venture would beat it, with the 1300cc liquid cooled VMax engine. In spite of the extra 100 lbs the Venture weighed. But the RTP has plenty of oomph for anything I do - I can get from 40-100 mph in the time it takes to pass a line of 4 cars. So that's all I really ask.
The anti-lock brakes probably work - I've never locked a wheel. I like that the hand brake is front and rear linked, and the foot brake is rear wheel only - that gives me the option of using the rear brake in turns if I come in a little hot.
The engine runs a little rough, especially below 4000 rpm. I think it's the fuel injection - hunting for it's set point continually. It will stall at idle when I start it after it's been sitting but is still warm - I need to let it idle with a little throttle. It was a little disconcerting at first, but I got used to it. The fuel injection is nice in that it is less maintenance, and it works even with the bike lying on its side (Don't ask how I know this).
Gas mileage for me is 40 to 45 mpg. With the 6.5 gallon tank, that's at least 250 miles per tank. I've never run out of gas, and never tried to get more than 250 miles out of a tank. 250 miles and I'm ready for a break, anyway.
Comfort, Convenience, and Features:
Ok, the turn signals. Left thumb for left, right thumb for right, that's different, but makes sense. Right thumb up to cancel, that's an unnatural movement for me, and just seems wrong. No flasher on this bike - I think I lost it when I lost all the police lights, but I can make an artificial flasher by holding both left and right signals down at the same time.
Clutch and brake levers are reasonable. Throttle cable is a little touchy compared to the other bikes I've owned. I use the Throttlemeister for long trips and occasionally to make the throttle a little less sensitive. It's not a big deal, just different.
The shifting - this bike is a clunky shifter. It wants to be quick shifted, and has a tendency to clash gears if you shift slowly when the bike isn't accelerating rapidly. I've heard this is due to BMW using standard gears instead of helical gears. It's a little embarassing if you're trying to be ultra smooth with a passneger and the gears grind when you shift. And if I'm not real assertive when I shift, it will sometimes hang out in neutral. This is something I do find annoying about this bike.
Saddle is comfortable. I've been told the passenger seat is comfy, but it vibrates a lot, especially at higher RPM. BTW, some people really like this... :)
Cases - I have two side cases, and the BMW system attaches solidly to the bike and is pretty logical. My only gripe is that if you have the case open, take the key out, and then try and close it, it's really easy to bend the lock tab, which is a major inconvenience, and must be fixed / bent back to shape before the case is usable again. My top case is a Givi, which has more room and a nice backrest for the passenger.
You can load up this bike pretty well. Here it is loaded up with enough stuff for a 10 day trip:
