2018 BMW RnineT Urban/GS 300kM REVIEW 

BJ TK Im getting used to the suspensions, the front is too stiff but otherwise its”ok” even if underwhelming for the price. I went for a long spirited ride this weekend on twisty roads with a friend that has a speed triple r. Hes done track days and I think he was surprised to see me in his mirrors on those knobby tires 🙂 And the sound when pushing it...very addictive!!

Thanks, glad you found it helpful! 👍

cuchullain1981 thanks for the comment, appreciated! And yes totally addictive, now that breakin period is over and temperature is slowly climbing...its even more challenging to be reasonable. It has plenty of go up to 180...which is 20km/h more then I need to lose my license on the highway hehe

You're welcome, and thanks! :)

Yeah I probably would have gone with the T7 had it been available, but it might not be for another year and not sure it would have been as good 2 up (looks smaller). The engine of the Africa Twin is pretty awesome too, but that boxer engine is hard to beat in terms of character...

CDCM CDCM youll love it!

Thanks Stephen, I ended up selling it to buy a buy more suited for 2up touring (Africa Twin). But it is one of the most fun bikes I've owned, and that boxer engine is absolutely brilliant. What I did for the handlebars was install a 2" Rox riser. It made a huge difference, and that's as much as you can go with stock cables. Wunderlich is a great company and an easy way to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on your bike :P Seriously though, if you can test ride one, you should. When I took it the last time to fill it up I hesitated not to sell it anymore, it just makes you smile every time. The guy who bought it from me is really thrilled with it too. He asked me what the weakest point of the bike was and to me it's the suspensions. For the price they sell them and the GS in the name, they should have given it more travel to allow serious offroading (Like Ducati did with their Desert Sled). You can obviously take it offroad, dirt and gravel roads are just fine, but if you want to hit bumps and small jumps, you'll want to upgrade the suspensions. It has about 5-5.5" of travel, my africa twin has around 9". Wunderlich and others offer great options, but again, you'll be spending 3-4000$ extra pretty quickly :)

kmphin hello from Canada :) you should average between 5-6 L/100km and the tank holds 17L. So a pretty decent range. As for luggage I have seen one with aluminum luggage but not sure if they custom made a bracket for it or bought it. There is quite a few options for soft luggage with quick release systems. I rented a 1200gs in Australia 2 years ago and went up mount buller, the great ocean road and black spurs, i loved it and would have loved it even more on the urban gs 😁

Unfortunately it looks more offroad capable than it really is. Suspensions are quite stiff in the front, soft at the back, not tons of travel...for gravel roads its great, but if you're looking for an offroad bike, there is definately much more capable options out there (like a Tenere 700 or Africa Twin for example).

I only kept it for 10000km. Really fun bike but wasnt ideal for two up riding and oil consumption was a bit disappointing for a modern bike (1L/10000km) and suspensions were quite basic. It’s a simple bike to work on (though valve check is every 10000km), tubeless tires, engine has loads of torque and character, stock exhaust sounds amazingly good, great handling, great brakes, theres a lot to love about it!

@@Speedytrip THANK YOU Sir. Planning to purchase one tomorrow morning, - IF all goes well. ( $$$ ) $22,350 (AUD) 'ride away', here in OZ. (Australia) I will know within 24 hrs if I will have one. Thank You Very Much. Hav a gd 1 !!!

@@tpv59 Let us know what you think of it once you've tried it. It's really a lot of fun :)

@@Speedytrip I ordered one this morning. I will receive it early July I believe. Looking Forward to it. Regards. ( 'OZ' Australia )

@@tpv59 Enjoy! Having done a motorcycle trip in Australia a few years ago, you definately have the roads to make the best of this bike :)

Sorry sold the bike :) Aside from the suspensions, really a an awesome, fun bike :)

@@Speedytrip Oh no! Thanks for your answer and the awesome video!!

ILIV I wouldnt worry about the driving shaft, its been used and heavily tested for many years on many models. Its not a lightweight dirt bike, but with proper tires its a blast off road. If theres anything Id want to improve for offroading, it would be the suspensions, but unless you’re planning on jumping tree trunks you should be fine :)

Speedytrip nothing like that :) What tires do you use? Assuming they’re knobby how good are they on asphalt?

ILIV It came with Continental TKC80s, but after 4200km they are completly done. Its ok on road but always somewhat of a compromise. Ill be replacing them with Avon Trail Riders. They are more road orriented, but can still handle dirt roads fine and will last twice as long ;)

Thanks for the answers and review. Glad to hear you're having fun too!

I usually just refer to what the manufacturer says. They have nothing to gain from requesting premium fuel if it runs the same on regular aside from maybe 1-2HP on the specs sheet. In the book it says 93 octane is recommended and that it can also run on 91 (which is convenient cause around here the 93/94 isn't available in many places). I'm sure it will still run on 89 but 91 is my personal limit (unless I was really stuck in the middle of nowhere then I'd use 89 for sure). A lot of science and engineering goes behind the timing and compression and I tend to go with what BMW recommends. There's no point in putting premium fuel in an engine designed to use regular (like my Triumph Scrambler), but assuming engines built for premium fuel will run the same, in the long term, on regular as with premium is not always true.

So far what have you been getting running from full to when the warning light comes on? I will do another test soon when I do a highway trip with octane on fuel economy and performance.

The bike now has about 13-1500km on it, and weather is still fairly cold (0-5C) so my numbers might not be representative of someone with 10000km+ engine riding in warmer weather. I usually get 185-210km before the light comes on, depending on how spirited the ride and how cold it is. Best you can do is talk to a qualified BMW mechanic. My friend is a VW mechanic and he specifically told me not to put regular fuel in my 2.0T Tiguan, that in the long run I'll have engine issues and he's seen it happen. It might not make a significant different on performance, economy or even emissions, but it might force the engine to perform in a less than optimal way. It's obviously not like putting Diesel in it and you most likely won't blow your engine...but on a bike this price, and the cost of maintaince, I'm not sure the savings on fuel is even worth considering. My 2 cents :)

I have 1532KM ( just checked) Ya I kept looking at what what the recommended fuel and was confused by the 95-98 RON...never heard of that before...

On the back cover (at least here in Canada) it says 98ROZ/RON which usually has no ethanol (93AKI equivalent, which is the number we usually see on the gas pump) or 95-98 ROZ/RON (equivalent to 90-93AKI). They say that will have a slight performance restriction and potentially higher consumption. Most importantly, max 10% ethanol (E10).