Parisian RT’s

[Jon T]

Just had a few days in Paris with the family. What’s interesting is just how many RT’s are around - they must be one of the most common big bikes. Whereas we view them mainly as a grand tourer, the French have them down as the ultimate city bike. I can kind of see why too, my commute has gone from 10 miles on a dual carriageway when I bought my R1200RT to 3 miles through town and I must say, it’s good at it. It’s wieldy, filters fine (without panniers), has great presence and weather protection. I was thinking I should sell it for something smaller, but at 83k miles it’s not worth much and if it’s good enough for Parisians it’s good enough for me!

Cheers!

 

[oddshapedballs]

Jon T - if you want city pannier lids for commuting I have an 'as new' set for sale.

 

[Boxed-in]

Why do folk worry about the width of the boxes, they are no wider than the engine, and definitely not wider than the mirrors, so if the mirrors go through the space, so does everything else.

 

[tanneman]

True but the panniers are lower than the mirrors and in the case of the GSA you can happily get the handlebars over a car mirror only for the panniers to whack it Narrow panniers allow the rider space to squeeze past when parking in a tight space. Just saying. Or just chuck stuff in a top box.

 

[bandytales]

Why do folk worry about the width of the boxes, they are no wider than the engine, and definitely not wider than the mirrors, so if the mirrors go through the space, so does everything else.

NOT TRUE
The Wethead panniers are significantly wider than the mirrors.

 

[bandytales]

I'm interested. Can you clarify which year bike they are for? Which brand are they?

 

[oddshapedballs]

I'm interested. Can you clarify which year bike they are for? Which brand are they?

Sold a couple of days ago - they were for the TC.

To clarify the whole 'if the mirrors go through the rest will' thing, this is largely true but what slimline pannier lids give you is the ability to cut into smaller gaps, let's be honest, when filtering, it not always in a straight line, and rarely do cars leave you enough space to roll into in a straight line before moving across, so it's often handy to have less width at the rear if you are able/willing to give up a little storage space.

 

[bandytales]

Well I can say that having the slim lids on my Wethead makes a huge difference in filtering. Excellent items.

 

[richardbd]

NOT TRUE
The Wethead panniers are significantly wider than the mirrors.

Oh no they aren't. Not even close.

The panniers are marginally wider than the cylinders, almost exactly the same width as the bars and quite a bit narrower than the mirrors.

Give Fritz some credit...

And if you don't believe me, check out the view from above here

https://rideapart.com/articles/bmws-big-boy-touring-bike-bmw-r-1200-rt-review