R 850 R ?

Been looking at a first bike after doing direct access. Thought about the
CBF600 and The New Bandit 650 but now I've started thinking slightly
bigger. Any good reviews of the BMW R850R out there? Would it be a better
bike for riding with pillion? What about the differences in engine
characteristics?

There's quite a price jump. I can get a new cbf600 for 4.2k but the bmw
seems around 7.5k with ABS.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Nicholas

 

I was loaned an R850R whilst my RT was in dock last week. I didn't
cover enough miles to provide an objective assesment - other than on
the handlebar-mounted mirrors which IMHO are abysmal and of use only
for checking that one's elbow protectors are still in situ. Reminded me
of late-1970s/early-1980s Japanese motorcycle mirrors, which I thought
we had progressed beyond (with the exception of pure sports bikes).

 

Nicholas emerged from their own little world to say

If you want a BMW then get a 1150. There's only a £500 difference and you
will appreciate the extra power & torque.

As I said in my reply to your last post, a large twin will be better than a
4 cylinder 600cc bike when riding with a pillion.

List price of a Yamaha TDM900 with ABS is £6499. This is a much better bike
than the R850R for a grand less.

 

Ok, Everybody seems to love 'em, but I hate the damn things, having ridden
one for two years solid as a courier, along with many others that went
through the revolving door known as Courier Systems. Here's what I don't
like:

Engine that could vibrate fillings out of the teeth of nearby car occupants.
This ties in nicely with the mirror thing, they are useless at most engine
speeds, vibrated into a cloudy mess.

Rev limiter that cuts in at the most inopportune moments - the thing has to
be driven like a car, there is no "extra reserve" at the top of the rev
range, only panic as the engine cuts out.

Anti dive forks that are at first unusual, and then sometimes frightening,
especially on speed ramps.

Humiliatingly rattly engine. The camshaft/valve setup is similar to that
found in a CX500. Nice for 1976, but not now imho.

Extremely heavy, so goes through consumables like lightning - BMW's are not
the cheapest bikes to service. Ok, they are probably the most expensive.

Dry clutch. Not fragile, but it only takes one hissy fit/abortive race and
that's it. The smell when this happens is vile, and the next time it
happens, it'll make you cry at the thought of the replacement cost.

However, it's good looking and has plenty of presence. The differences
between a twin and a four are radical, but straightforward: (Generally) a
four has less vibes and less low down grunt and a twin has low down grunt,
more vibes, but can be cheaper to run.

Sorry to poke my nose in, but I had one for ages

Neil

 

Are the motors on the 900s more reliable/tougher than the 850 of TRX fame?

Cheers,

Jon

 

I don't think I've heard of any major problems on the TDM/TRX 850.
Certainly my '92 TDM did 15000 miles without a hickup. Damn fine
motor, it was.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

I've come across too many people who've got tales of woe concerning the
old TRX/TDM850 lump, but the 900 ought to be better.

That said, I wouldn't touch a Japanese ABS bike (and maybe not a German
one either) because when they go wrong (and they do - the systems just
aren't as weatherproof as car systems) they cost a fucking *fortune* to
fix.

R850 is a nice bike, but again - until BMW get their reliability issues
sorted out, I'd think long and hard before buying a new one. Right now,
they're in exactly the same position as Mercedes, IMHO: trading an a
reputation for quality that, among the cognoscenti, is rather
tarnished.

If I were the OP, and looking for a decent value sit-up-and-beg type
bike, I'd look at a Triumph Tiger - maybe a bit big, though. I'd also
take a long look at a Honda Transalp, one of the most under-rated bikes
around.

Bearing in mind OP's newbie status, something like that or the CBF600
wouldn't be a bad bet at all.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Neil amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

You worked for them too?

You're not the Neil that did extra time as a controller in the evenings
were you?

 

Mine broke it's crank in two at 24k-ish miles.

Wouldn't have another bike with that lump.

 

Not at all, but it does seem from other comments that I might have
been somewhat, err, uninformed.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

As far as I can tell, it's a bike where you *don't* want a low-mileage
one! If it hasn't died by 30,000 miles it's not going to for another
50,000 or more. Probably. But they seemed to have a problem with big-ends
going at around 25,000 miles (give or take a few thousand).

The gearboxes were poor and although not inherently unreliable it was
pretty easy to make a *real* botch of fast up-shifts and chew up a cog or
so. Any sort of gearbox whine is not to be tolerated.

The only other problem I'm aware of is not strictly mechanical, but
concerns the front sub-frame. This is not amazingly sturdy, quite
expensive to purchase and a bitch to straighten. TDMs cope reasonably
well with a simple drop but anything more serious will bend the subframe.

But over 30k with a reasonably quiet gearbox and a straight fairing ought
to be OK.