Potential owner looking for advice

[sfarley111]

Hello all – I am currently in the market for a Second Gen K1200GT and hope to join the “owners club” soon. While looking, I stumbled across this site and had no idea that there was an Alabama BMW owners club. What a pleasant surprise!

I currently ride a 2003 VFR800A and am looking to upsize for my wife & me to tour on. I almost bought a 2004 K1200RS last summer, but did not due to some not-so-obvious mechanical problems. I did keep it for a long weekend and rode it to Blue Moon Cycle in Atlanta for a pre-purchase inspection (glad I did - long story), and have been hooked on getting a BMW ever since.

I have a couple of questions that maybe some of you could help with. They are:

1) Does anybody in the group have a Second Gen KGT that I could get some “real world” feedback on as to pros/cons things to look out for, etc.?
2) Second, how is Bogart’s to deal with from both a bike purchase and service perspective? Anyone dealt with BMW-Atlanta, Blue Moon or Millers in Tallahassee?

Thanks in advance for any inputs/advice.

Steve Farley
Montgomery

[dixieoutlaw]

Welcome to our web site. You will find we have a very active club and a spirited web site.

Lots of good folks in this club despite having a couple of old worn out CAV pilots and a coon a$$ as members.

Gary Williams has a new K1200GT. He says it is a wonderful bike. Not sure if he monitors the forums or not. I am sure someone here could put you in touch with him.. If no contact PM and I will give you his email after getting permission from him.

Gary

[dixieoutlaw]

Welcome to our web site. You will find we have a very active club and a spirited web site.

Lots of good folks in this club despite having a couple of old worn out CAV pilots and a coon a$$ as members.

Gary Williams has a new K1200GT. He says it is a wonderful bike. Not sure if he monitors the forums or not. I am sure someone here could put you in touch with him.. If no contact PM and I will give you his email after getting permission from him.

A lot of different experiences with Bogart's. Mostly , mine have been positive and I like to support them so they stay in business. Nice to have one somewhat close. Other folks speak well of Bobby over at BMW-Atlanta. No experience with Blue Moon.

Gary

[sfarley111]

Welcome to our web site. You will find we have a very active club and a spirited web site.

Lots of good folks in this club despite having a couple of old worn out CAV pilots and a coon a$$ as members.

Gary Williams has a new K1200GT. He says it is a wonderful bike. Not sure if he monitors the forums or not. I am sure someone here could put you in touch with him.. If no contact PM and I will give you his email after getting permission from him.

A lot of different experiences with Bogart's. Mostly , mine have been positive and I like to support them so they stay in business. Nice to have one somewhat close. Other folks speak well of Bobby over at BMW-Atlanta. No experience with Blue Moon.

Gary

Gary - if you, or someone else, could put me in touch w/ Gary Williams, that would be great.

Thanks

Steve

[SteveHebert]

Welcome to our web site. You will find we have a very active club and a spirited web site.

Lots of good folks in this club despite having a couple of old worn out CAV pilots and a coon a$$ as members.

Gary Williams has a new K1200GT. He says it is a wonderful bike. Not sure if he monitors the forums or not. I am sure someone here could put you in touch with him.. If no contact PM and I will give you his email after getting permission from him.

A lot of different experiences with Bogart's. Mostly , mine have been positive and I like to support them so they stay in business. Nice to have one somewhat close. Other folks speak well of Bobby over at BMW-Atlanta. No experience with Blue Moon.

Gary

Gary,

Cav pilots may be old and worn out (of course you must be tallking about Jim and Dudley (because I am young and handsome and have been temporarily excluded due to my recent Huey-ship status) nut atleast we are not senile and posts things twice!

Gator, Sorry you are being pulled into this endless spiral of bashing, but now at least our side is growning bigger for the Outlaw beatin ceremony!

Seriously though, Don Little has a K1200GT as well. I took a very long test ride about a month ago and spent all day and 160 miles on one down in the Tampa coastal area. Here are my cons:

I was constantly being pushed into the tank from the seat. The owner had a Rick Mayer seat on the bike so it is not just a stock seat issue. The transmission is very clunky, kind of like my /6. I could not get a perfect windscreen position for my so that it was quiet. There wasn't any buffeting though. Lastly, it is too fast and very powerful . That frickin machine flies!!!! I will probably get one when I get back.

Good luck,

Steve

[Gator]

Thanks for the compassion Steve. I haven't been posting much the last few days, been letting my wounds heal up and trying to gather words together in my old senile mind after my last round with Outlaw. Seriously though, we wish you a safe deployment to the red desert. Our thoughts and prayers go with you. Be safe and return quickly, I need all the help I can get with Outlaw.
Gator

[BeemerDude]

2006 k1200GT

Welcome Steve,
I bought a used ( with only 4 thousand miles ) 2006 K1200GT last August from Bogarts.
I love it!!!
I'm taking it to Bogarts this afternoon for the 12,000 mile service. One good thing about Bogarts is if you buy a bike new or used from them you can get a loaner bike while they service yours. Bogarts has
been a pleasure to deal with so far!
Bike cons: Like Steve Hebert said the factory seat is uncomfortable.
:the tranmission shifts rough! if I try to easeinto gear it will slip out sometimes so I have gotten used to just slamming it in gear and it stays in!

Pros : an awesome riding machine. A touring bike ride with sport bike like performance and handeling!!!

PS : If I had it to do over again I would buy it again! If I can be of any help I would be more than happy to talk withyou,, Just let me know.

Gary Williams

[dixieoutlaw]

Here comes the Cavalry

I guess it's just the injun blood in me that makes me laugh every time I hear the battle cry "Here comes the Cavalry." After watching our CAV members recruiting everybody from zoomies (Air Force pukes) to Coon A$$es to take on one littl' redneck with a dram of injun blood, no wonder Custer got his behind kicked at Little Big Horn. I'll bet those Sioux were selling Cav hats for a $1 a dozen.

Steve sorry to hijack your thread, but seriously you need to determine what type of riding you enjoy then find the bike that fits that need. If you like sport-touring I think your choices would narrow to the K1200GT or the R1200RT if you are looking at the lastest gen bikes. But saying that the GSes make a mighty fine touring bike. I just don't think I give up much with my GS.
You'll probably be happy with which ever BMW you choose.
Gary

[sfarley111]

I guess it's just the injun blood in me that makes me laugh every time I hear the battle cry "Here comes the Cavalry." After watching our CAV members recruiting everybody from zoomies (Air Force pukes) to Coon A$$es to take on one littl' redneck with a dram of injun blood, no wonder Custer got his behind kicked at Little Big Horn. I'll bet those Sioux were selling Cav hats for a $1 a dozen.

Steve sorry to hijack your thread, but seriously you need to determine what type of riding you enjoy then find the bike that fits that need. If you like sport-touring I think your choices would narrow to the K1200GT or the R1200RT if you are looking at the lastest gen bikes. But saying that the GSes make a mighty fine touring bike. I just don't think I give up much with my GS.
You'll probably be happy with which ever BMW you choose.
Gary

Gary - I did look at the RT, but am not sure I'm a Boxer fan. I like the feel and riding position of the RT, but I'm not sure I could get used to the vibes/buzziness of the Boxer. Also the GT has more power, so I don't think I would be into the gearbox as much riding two-up w/ loaded bags as with the RT.

Any additional thoughts on the GT vs. the RT (I'm sure that has never been debated before )

Thanks

[TomGilbert]

Hello all – I am currently in the market for a Second Gen K1200GT and hope to join the “owners club” soon. While looking, I stumbled across this site and had no idea that there was an Alabama BMW owners club. What a pleasant surprise!

I currently ride a 2003 VFR800A and am looking to upsize for my wife & me to tour on. I almost bought a 2004 K1200RS last summer, but did not due to some not-so-obvious mechanical problems. I did keep it for a long weekend and rode it to Blue Moon Cycle in Atlanta for a pre-purchase inspection (glad I did - long story), and have been hooked on getting a BMW ever since.

I have a couple of questions that maybe some of you could help with. They are:

1) Does anybody in the group have a Second Gen KGT that I could get some “real world” feedback on as to pros/cons things to look out for, etc.?
2) Second, how is Bogart’s to deal with from both a bike purchase and service perspective? Anyone dealt with BMW-Atlanta, Blue Moon or Millers in Tallahassee?

Thanks in advance for any inputs/advice.

Steve Farley
Montgomery

Go to YouTube. Search on Hitler,VRF,BMW. That should get it. It is hilarious. I would post the link here but it's kind of foul, but it is funny.

[sfarley111]

Go to YouTube. Search on Hitler,VRF,BMW. That should get it. It is hilarious. I would post the link here but it's kind of foul, but it is funny.

I just watched it - it's great

Maybe I should rethink selling the VFR - after all it is a V-4 with chain drive and gear driven cams - somebody really liked those features once upon a time!

Steve

[TomGilbert]

I just watched it - it's great

Maybe I should rethink selling the VFR - after all it is a V-4 with chain drive and gear driven cams - somebody really liked those features once upon a time!

Steve

Yeah I sent this to Gary yesterday. He rides a GS. When I saw VFR I couldn't resist. Tractor.....Ewan wanabe hahahahaha too funny!

[sfarley111]

I noticed there are other similar "episodes" with different themes (football, hockey) - anybody know what the real movie title is that these clips were taken from?

(Talk about getting off topic!)

Steve

[gsezrider]

<But saying that the GSes make a mighty fine touring bike.>

Steve,

I have to agree with Gary on this one. There is nothing you can do on a GT that you can't do on a GS. Well, with the possible excepting of running at 160 + mph. There are a lot of riding you can do with a GS that you can't do on a GT. A GS is much easier to sercive also.

Just my opinion of course.

Ron

[sfarley111]

<But saying that the GSes make a mighty fine touring bike.>

Steve,

I have to agree with Gary on this one. There is nothing you can do on a GT that you can't do on a GS. Well, with the possible excepting of running at 160 + mph. There are a lot of riding you can do with a GS that you can't do on a GT. A GS is much easier to sercive also.

Just my opinion of course.

Ron

OK...I'm going to expose my lack of full BMW-esque here, but are you referring to the R1200GS? If you are, I don't see that as much of a touring bike. If not, what model are you referring to? Be gentle.

Steve