BMW R1200C (1997 - 2005) Review

Great. Suspension, frame, comfort, brakes are all good today and really good for the day. The Telelever can be a little vague on a taller machines with ponderous c of g and ground clearance (I’m looking at you, R-GS) but on this bike which you sit “in”, nice and low with less ground clearance and low c of g, it doesn’t feel that bad because the bike feels very stable which means you are more inclined to “trust” it.

Rubbish. Folk compare it to a 1200 Sportster, but it lacks the low down grunt. In fact, the whole package feels…soft. They took the R1150 engine and stroked it to 1170cc with lesser compression and smaller valves - the result being a bike that feels strangled, (rather than a reduction in outright power for lower stomp). BMW would honestly have been better to give the bike the standard R1150 motor and left it alone! Full whack is 170kph - lacklustre even for a cruiser; with only 54bhp at the rear on the dyno which doesn’t feel like it chimes in until you are well into the midrange.Don’t know how Pierce Brosnan’s stuntman ever wheelied it!

The design annoys me. It is well built and executed but the design is fussy and overly complex. The EFI is the most complex I have seen in a 1997 made machine. And the exhaust has a pre expansion chamber box and mufflers all as one piece with a lambda probe. Why? And the battery is under the tank meaning you have to undo a pair of plastic fuel hose clamps and risk leaking fuel all over your garage just to charge it….! The paint and ally bits are nice, but some of the chrome bits are flaking despite only ever seeing sunny days and only 54k kms in 20 years.

Spares are a pain. A lot of stuff isn’t generic, be careful with the ABS maintenance, it burns a bit of oil on start up (it’s a flat twin with only a side stand), spares are pricey. Paid $6k NZD (about £3k) for mine which is…alright. It isn’t a Sportster equivalent, more a Guzzi Cali 1100 and it is similar money (but less good in every way).

Yeah OK. Cons: 1) where is the centre stand? Being a boxer twin if left on the side stand it burns a little oil on start up every time. Hence a centrestand is commonly found on other bikes of the ilk. Pros: 1) hard saddle bags as standard. (They are thinly covered in a veneer of leather which marks easily). 2) Heated grips as standard (which makes the throttle grip go soft with the heat?) 3) early ABS in conjunction with Brembo kit (which is megabucks when it stuffs up, and allegedly I’m on borrowed time for this). 4) cute wee passenger pad that flips up to be a backrest if you want (a trite thing. I have junked it for a comfortable passenger saddle).As you can see, even the Pros are mixed blessings!

Suspension and brakes are top notch. In other bikes with Telelever, I found the front a bit vague (looking at you, R-GS). But in a bike where you sit lower and with less ground clearance I found it tracks beautifully and though it lacks feel it works very, very well.

Gutless. It's not the later 1200, it's a stroked 1150 with a drop in compression (and valve size?). It doesn't have the instant low down oompha I expect from an 1170cc twin and you have to rev it to get the best out of it...which isn't what I bought this bike for. It's as though in retuning the bike for more low down torque they just strangled off all the performance instead. The bike would honestly have been better if they just stuck the standard R1150 in!!

Hey, it's a Beemer so it's basically good. Suspension is decently compliant and the bike tracks nicely. Brembo brakes are good, even today. There's annoying things like the standard panniers are hard construction with a thin leather covering that marks easily, the chrome(?) side covers pitt easily. Dumb BMW design ruins the bike, like a lack of thought regarding future servicing and accessibility of....anything, really. And that exhaust design is annoying as heck and the EFI for a 1997-released bike is more complex than any other I have encountered of the period. So yeah. Typical BMW. And the ABS means you have to buy BMW discs, which naturally are megabucks in comparison to a standard EBC or whathaveyou. Oh, there's no centrestand so you have to put it on the sidestand hence it burns a smidge of oil on startup - keep an eye on that oil level.

In New Zealand, we have banned post 1990 bikes without ABS. Which is super dumb, I know. (Pretty sure I can only think of the K100 having ABS in 1990). So...this bike is quite popular to import now. Right now, there are 8 for sale on TradeMe (that's a lot for a bike made 20 years ago in a country of only 5 million). So the price has tanked - you used to pay upto $12k (NZD. About 6k GBP) and you can pick them up now from $6k to $9k. Honestly....buy a Guzzi California. They're similar but better and more entertaining in every way.

Average. Don't expect much on a cruiser of this ilk. It has the flippy uppy passenger pad/backrest thingy which is neat. And panniers as standard on my bike. What more do you want? 17L tank is...alright.

Best on long trips. Break three hourly mostly.

Relentless. Very reliable.

No corrosion. Never broken down.

Other than the odd tyre, it costs little to maintain

I can ride this thing all day. Sharp cornering is out of the question, but it handles the road beautifully.

The Boxer is definitely different that the K! It surprised me how mellow it is, and how it pulls in high gear without downshifting. It looks GREAT, and it makes me feel "special". And all that for less than 4K!!

This thing is 20 years old, and looks, drives, and behaves, like it came out of the factory yesterday. There is NO corrosion anywhere. Gear shifter, and rear brake levers have peeling chrome (to be re-chromed in short order).

I service all my vehicles by myself, and I run Castrol Platinum Edge Synthetic in all of them. On this bike, five quarts of oil, and K&N oil filter, is all the maintenance I will be doing this season. When the snow starts to fly, I will tear this thing apart (except engine), and service EVERYTHING. This thing will be stored inside my house (in the "man cave"), and since I don't waste time on social media, I'll be listening to some classic Rock, and wrenching on the bike all winter long.

Mine had 40.000 miles and I had to spend a bit... nothing too bad but they are a classic so expect to spend.

Lots of pep on the low end makes it fun to ride. Top end power not impressive.

Oil filters available at O'Riley's.

enjoy much in inner city

no problems

low maintenance

windscreen takes adjustments at operator's discretion.