without much active intervention from the rider. The system has the typical Rider, Rider + Luggage, and Rider + Passenger settings; at my weight and riding style, I found Rider + Luggage to be the best setting. I tried the Soft and Hard settings as well, but Normal gave me the best combination of comfort and feedback. Hard is truly hard, but it gives the feeling of being directly connected to the road through the hands, feet and seat. During tech- nical riding, especially on complex back roads, the com- bination of Dynamic, Hard, and Rider + Luggage was perfect. Out on the highway, Normal and Soft made for a plush ride that could last all day, with the only distraction being a little noticeable heat coming off the left side and blowing onto the rider’s leg. Thinking more comes from everything ancillary to the
operation of the go and stop controls. This is a highly computerized motorcycle, and changing any of the set- tings requires the use of the Menu button and the Won- der Wheel. Scrolling is obvious—toward the front to go up, the rear to go down—and selecting an option takes just a quick “click” to the right. “Clicking” the wheel to the left exits back through the nested menus. It is a little brain-taxing to have to navigate through the
menus to activate the heated grips (which work great) or heated seat (which is AMAZING on a cold morning!), but BMW provides a shortcut. If you navigate to a menu you want to access quickly, pushing up on the Menu switch and holding it saves that menu in memory. Then you can hit the diamond icon on the Menu switch (up), and it navigates straight to that menu. I set my “favorite” menu to the heated grips, which puts the heated seat menu just one press of the Menu button away. The nice thing about the heat for the grips and the seat is that there are six settings from low to high rather than the two we’re used to with the Lo-Hi switches on previous generations of BMWs. Still, it’s a lot of thinking to do while you’re riding and should be paying attention to the road. Some menus are unavailable while the bike is in
motion, and that’s a good thing. Riding mode, suspen- sion mode and other riding-specific settings are available on the move, but you don’t need to switch the clock from the 12-hour setting to the 24-hour at 45 miles per hour. The only computer control issue I encountered was acci- dentally bumping the Wonder Wheel and skipping a song on the stereo when reaching my thumb for the turn signal switch. I recommend reading the owner’s manual carefully and thoroughly to start with as deep an under- standing of the computer system as possible. I found the 2016 R 1200 RT to be a fantastic motorcycle
The sleek lines and easy-to-read dash hide all the technology that makes the RT such an enjoyable motorcycle to ride.
Special thanks to Sportland Motorsports in Urbana, Illinois, for the use of their 2016 R 1200 RT for photography.
August 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS
87
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