BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

i am getting ready to buy either a rockster or an 1150rt and one of the issues i've been reading about is the vibration issues with the 1150 motored bikes. can anyone here who also owns and ride vintage bikes (the old sohc cb750 in particular) tell me what theyre like in comparison for vibrations? i plan on doing alot of long distance touring and i wonder if i just need to wait another year for the r1200's to drop in price some more? as a former bmw tech i never rode one more than 10 or 12 miles total after either uncrating or doing a repair and that just isnt enough seat time to evaluate.

Short answer as I owned a cb 750, unfortunately that was so many moons ago that I couldn't offer a valid comparo. I can say that the R1150R, from my perspective, has some minor vibration, they never bothered me as the vibrations are directly proportinal to the state of tune and specially to the TB's (throttle bodies) sync.

I will suggest you find a dealer that will rent you one and make a seat of the pants evaluation..........

Welcome and good luck.

As someone who now just has taken delivery of a newer japanese inline four (2006 FJR), I can provide some insight (not sure how valuable). I don't notice any vibrations on the FJR. Literally, I can't tell if the motor is on at 80 mph. Not so with the Rockster. It does not slow me down with touring. I put 700 miles on it in one day this summer. Today I put about 250 miles today, all in the rain, with lots of vibes and no issues. I guess the key word is "different". Some like like the difference, some don't.

And I can tell you after today's trip the Rockster crashes well. 200 miles into today's trip I lowsided at 30-40 mph. Despite a tweaked left ankle, I got home issue-free. So far I can only see two areas of road rash. It may have even fixed a low-speed brake squeal. This may sound weird, but I felt even more connected to the bike after I slid.

Anyway, not sure if any of this is helpful for you. Certainly ask more questions if you like.

You can feel that the bike is running - but it's not a vibration that creates a "tingle" in your hands.

It's not like a big single...

so nothing like the hands going numb after 10 miles at 75-80 like on my k4 750. i figured it was something like that but i needed to be sure before spending the most money i've ever spent on a vehicle in my entire life

Rent one......my CB 750 never numbed my hands at spirited speeds.....we all have different sensory tolerance.