Paging the SOBoxeristi

Agreed and even on the softer R100RT (low comp model like mine).

At 6' 2" and with the +2" screen it all gets noisy / buffety much
above 70 in any case and as you say, not necessarily what old beemer
riding is all about.

Nope, likewise. Even two up, fully loaded, towing a trailer and going
up some pretty nasty hills in Cornwall, Scotland and Wales have I ever
felt it was struggling power wise. Brakes yes, power no. ;-)

At 50 the naked REB 350 was probably the quietest ride (wind noise /
buffeting), followed by the CB Two Fifty and 251 Saxon Tour. I've yet
to ride the Majesty 250 so can't comment on that yet.

Where the RT really comes into its own is in the shitty weather [1].
The Mrs on her XV750, a mate on an R100RS and me on the RT rode up to
Newmarket to one of the hog roast / cruiser things and it was a very
cold day. When there got there 'they' needed to thaw out and I was
fine. Didn't even use the heated grips (never have actually).

T i m


[1] Conversely it can be a fucker in the summer but luckily in the UK
that only lasts a day or two. I have even tried riding the RT without
the screen and just the lower fairing but it's still too warm.

 

I've never moaned about the performance - for a touring bike, it's fine.
It was just the gearing and fuel economy (or lack of) that irritated me,
when I rode them.

 

If fuel consumption is a reasonable indicator I should be able to
check that easily when I get the bike back on the road.

My MZ came back to me with 90K km on the clock and the PO said towards
the end he had lost about 50km per tankful. Hopefully the replacement
carb (fitted really to sort the tick over) should sort that out again.

Yeh, best to use someone else's for that sort of thing. ;-)

T i m

 

But weren't they typically better than many alternatives ... like the
Pan etc?

T i m

 

No.

Trouble with ShiteOldBoxers is that the older (heaby flywheel ones) were
quite fuel efficient. Then they started loading them with retrictive
pipes, carbs, exhausts etc to meet new emissions regs and fuel economy
went to ratshit, along with power.

Which is why the original R100RS was 10bhp more powerful, at least 10mph
faster and about 5mpg more economical than the last (monolever) one.

That said, it's relativel easy to improve the fuel efficiency and
performance of the later ones - Hog's the guru here, I think.

 

I'll sit back and await the Hog masterclass that advises me how to
improve the consumption on my 80RT.

 

<pushes beer over to Gyp and puts feet up>

Me too. ;-)

T i m

 

There are often as many opinions as postings on the Internet/usenet.
Some by potentially knowledgeable people pops up on the BMW clubs forum
now and then; for those who are registered users, this thread touches on
carb settings and fuel efficiency of SOBoxers - <turl.no/3ps>

 

Hog really, *really* knows his BMW shit.

 

Sorry I did not intend to draw Hog's kowledge in doubt, rather that some
advice posterd on Internet fora can be of variable quality. However, I
respect Mike Fishwick's advice.

 

Two things that go perfectly well together.

 

Objectively I'd say the Pan is the better bike compared to the SOBMWs,
but it's a far more modern bike that you can't fix by the side of the
road with a lump hammer and a broken screwdriver.

I've had both a Pan and several SOBoxers and if I wanted a thorough
efficient bike I'd probably buy a Pan, provided I could find a decent
1100.

 

Easy. Fit R100 barrels, pistons, heads and carbs. An extra 10mpg on
average, riding courier stylee. I was never quite sure what the CR of
the R100 kit I got was, but it was good enough. Combined with the
original R80RT/7 final drive, the torque was quite stump-pulling.

 

Hoh yuss.

Hog was a BMW franchised mechanic at some time, IIRC.

 

Those twin plugging mods also seem to be quite effective.

And I think that's what makes it a good trailer tug. The difference
between pulling away in my diesel Rover (on tickover) and her Ka. ;-)

T i m

 

While I think of it TOG, do you want to give the Wolf a crack at that
Amal carb, as we now have a working Bing back on the MZ?

While we are at please, would you have a spare side stand for our MZ.
I think I would like the 'one spring' self locking version that goes
on the back axle like a spacer. We have the two spring version on
there atm and not sure we trust it.

Cheers, T i m

 

Oh, I forgot all about that. Yeah, OK.

Sidestand - no joy, but keep scouting eBay.

 

Thanks for the offer though. If Wolfy doesn't want it and she starts
MZ racing I may well be back! ;-)

Ok, will do.

T i m