I didn't know I was going to buy this bike right up until I did. After all, I was very happy with the R1100RS I already owned. Sure, with 170,000 miles, give or take, it was getting a bit long in the tooth, but Voni Glaves has managed to get a lot more than that out of her R1100RS.

Anyway, I was down in LA and at the in-laws in Riverside over the Christmas holidays of 2001. Naturally, I stopped by West Valley, they were having a New Years open house at the shop. And Randy mentioned to me that they had a new 2002 R1150RS in back. (I guess he was just getting even with me for my having left my R90S with him — which caused him to go buy two airheads for himself and Patti.) Then Laurie chimed in, did I want to see it, maybe sit on it?

The 1150 was a nice upgrade to the 1100, and because the R1100RS sales, after starting out very well in 1993 and 1994, had slowed way down, it had not been clear that BMW would even do an upgrade to the new motor. The new motor had a lot of details improvements, things like throttle cable routing and dual plugging with variable timing; the bike itself had a few changes as well, a new 6 speed transmission and 17" rear tire and a new windscreen. Things that made the new bike a nice upgrade to the original.

So, I got my arm twisted. But how to get it home again? No problem, Randy and Patti rode back to Santa Cruz with me, Patti on the R1100RS and me on the 1150.

So, the 1100 went to Europe and the 1150 became my main ride. Like the 1100, the seat was not a good fit for me, but also like the 1100, there was a good fix, and I took the bike to Rick Mayer for a new seat. I put a Throttlemeister throttle lock on it. I also added the Bagster tank bra, and got a new Bagster tank bag while I was at it, since the ones I used with the 1100 went to Europe with it. Other than that, I rode it stock.

I don't have a lot to write here, check out my touring stories during the 2002-2006 timeframe to read about touring on it. The only bad news are these two items:

The bike suffered a final drive failure in the 50k mile range, well out of warranty, while on the way to the BMWMOA National Rally in Spokane. The good news is that Ozzie's BMW Center in Chico, CA, took me in right away, fixed the drive, replaced the rear tire and brake pads that had become oiled, and sent me on my way in just a few hours and with an under $500 bill. After a great rally, I returned home to find that there was a check for $90 that they had gotten out of BMW NA for goodwill.

Finally, I had a low speed, at-fault accident in stop and go traffic in Santa Cruz in August of 2006. I had been out to lunch, I was coming home, the traffic was slow and my attention wandered, and I ran into the back of a stopped car before I woke up and could brake to a stop. I was wearing all my gear, and I was fortunate to be unhurt. I rode the bike home and then over to Ted Porter's shop, and it seemed to handle ok. But there was something bent because when the bike was up on the centerstand, both tires were touching down. By this point I had accumulated over 86,000 miles on the bike and it was deemed a total by the insurance company.

A very sad end to an extremely pleasant and capable touring bike!