Vastly underrated motorcycle

For the life of me I don't understand. The bike should sell better. With a few mods ( bar raises / lower pegs) its one of the best

Z1000SX & Tracer 900 take the majority of sales in the sports tourer sector - a sector where most people have one bike and are very price sensitive. I owned a Tracer and rode the Z. They both have excellent engines but they have major flaws, mostly very cheap suspension and chain drive.

For those willing to pay BMW prices then you can choose from three bikes to use as a sports tourer - the RS obviously but more people opt for the S1000XR or GS. The GS is iconic and many people will want to own one at some stage so it is often the entry bike to the brand. When that itch is scratched I see more people change to the XR or leave BMW for KTM or Ducati. There is just so much choice nowadays with so many good bikes.

It is sad that the RS is overlooked but I quite like not having a popular bike. I do worry that BMW will drop the line as it has happened to the RS in the past as no RS model has been a big seller. I hope the current delay is due to some design technicality with a unique component that can be fixed rather than a decision by the accountants to phase out the model.
 
Did they not delay due to prioritising the 1250GS? They’re no different than any other company - driven by profits - so as by far the best seller by a long way it’s simply good business practice to manufacture something where there is very high demand. They’ve committed to making the 1250R and RS with much fanfare so it will appear - just not until September (and hopefully with better colour choices!)
Like many in this sub forum I like having the RS as it’s not a GS. I did have to add Helibars and SW Motech pegs set slightly lower to open up the riding position, but for me it’s a much more involving ride than a GS, which feels like sitting in an armchair, watching TV.
 
Did they not delay due to prioritising the 1250GS? They’re no different than any other company - driven by profits - so as by far the best seller by a long way it’s simply good business practice to manufacture something where there is very high demand. They’ve committed to making the 1250R and RS with much fanfare so it will appear - just not until September (and hopefully with better colour choices!)
Like many in this sub forum I like having the RS as it’s not a GS. I did have to add Helibars and SW Motech pegs set slightly lower to open up the riding position, but for me it’s a much more involving ride than a GS, which feels like sitting in an armchair, watching TV.

The RS is the only model in the range not available now. The GS was first to hit the showrooms and the R arrived a few weeks ago. As they took pre-orders for the RS at the end of 2018, you would think they would want to get those orders fulfilled. The R range is modular build and most production lines can cope with several variations being made at the same time using Just in Time component feed to the main line and sub assembly lines.
 
I get what you’re saying but as 80% of the RS is the same as the R, the only reason I can see for them putting off production is to fulfill the huge number of GS/GSA orders. Any production line has a capacity limit. Having launched it on their website it would be unheard-of to then withdraw it. It feels like a hard-nosed business choice driven by maximising profits. No idea why the R slipped through - perhaps they had already started manufacture when they made the decision?
 
I get what you’re saying but as 80% of the RS is the same as the R, the only reason I can see for them putting off production is to fulfill the huge number of GS/GSA orders. Any production line has a capacity limit. Having launched it on their website it would be unheard-of to then withdraw it. It feels like a hard-nosed business choice driven by maximising profits. No idea why the R slipped through - perhaps they had already started manufacture when they made the decision?

it only takes a supplier of one of the unique parts to have quality problems or for a design fault to show up - the fairing & light assembly is unique so maybe something does not work or a bike loaned to a magazine for a road test suffered some sort of handling problem at high speed caused by the fairing. A 6 month delay is a long time in the production run of a motorcycle.

Whatever the reason, I doubt they will divulge the actual reason.
 


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