Hi from MKE

[Pyrrho]

Hello!

Commented on a YouTube video of Grumpy's, who replied and sent me here. So here I am.

55 year-old who's known nothing but BMW. First with an R80 I spent a summer and a lot of money restoring, then after a truly heart-wrenching crash (I was literally crying to the cop about it) a R1100RS. Mein leib, she was my daily companion and first true motorcycle love... until the day I was racing a 5-series back from Madison and realized I just "needed" something faster. Upgraded to a K1200RS and solved that problem.

Didn't have a car for about a decade of my life and rode nothing but RSes and my mountain bike, even in winter in Milwaukee and then Windsor, Ontario. With full Aerostich, electric vest and gloves I was good to go even in sub-zero temps as long as the roads weren't icy or snow-covered. I'd literally walk out to my driveway and feel the ground and if it was dry I was smiling.

Fast forward another decade and change of homes, jobs, and other life situations has found me without my motorcycles (still have that same mountain bike) but not without the passion to ride. For a period I swore if I hadn't have had an RS to hop on every day I'm not sure I'd be here today -- riding truly is the cheapest form of therapy.

I've looked at all kinds of bikes and was let down during what I consider the dark times after the end of the KRS when it looked like the RS was no more. I don't think there's any better all-round road bike ever made. Then in 2015 it's like the clouds parted and Berlin once again showered us faithful with a second coming of the RRS and it was a stunner, and the current generation with updated engine and even more farkles has gotten me to a point lately where I've been spending an embarrassing amount of time reading reviews, watching videos, and comparing options.

I'll likely lurk for a while and most definitely ask questions, because you're the ones to ask. You understand. We will always be family, and we know what it is to make life a ride.

[Grumpy Goat]

Craig - Welcome to the Forum Community and thank you for the wonderful introductory post.

Indeed you are a hard core rider, even riding in winter! I am sure that you will get lots of feedback on the RS here, and there is even one who is an avid cyclist (presently on some sort of bucket-list ride but checks in once in a while) sharing that passion with you as well.

[Pyrrho]

It's sometimes difficult to distinguish between hardcore and stupid. A point of pride/stupidity in my case was a day I was struggling with my RRS during a flash blizzard and a guy with a van pulled up along side me and offered to give me and my bike a ride home. I didn't accept the offer, because of course pride/stupidity.

There used to be a rounders biker forum where us weirdos hung out @ yearroundriders.com, but that closed down years ago and moved to Facebook, which I refuse to use, and since then the domain name was taken over by some dumb automotive site. Coldest I've ever ridden was -14F w/a wind chill of -29. Electric gloves & vest kept my hands and core warm, but at that point electric socks were needed and I didn't have them; I made it cross-town but my toes were frost-bitten. KRS on the other hand handled it like a champ!

Getting a new bike and trying to spend as much time on it as possible until I can't ride anymore is pushing me out of the midwest and looking to relocate more towards your neck of the woods, Grumpy. It's part of what's held me off buying something sooner; I've convinced myself I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and I don't know if could bear another winter here with a motorcycle key in my possession. Tennyson's poem could be considered profound, but ultimately flawed. Psychological studies have shown it's better to have never ridden than to have ridden and lost.

[Grumpy Goat]

Yes, I am looking forward to that time of year when others in the northern climes have to put their bikes to bed for the winter's nap. That is when I come out to play.

[Lee]

It's sometimes difficult to distinguish between hardcore and stupid.

When it's something you do, it's hardcore. When it's something another person does, it stupid

Welcome from a previous K1200RS owner.
Is yours a black 2002?

[Pyrrho]

When it's something you do, it's hardcore. When it's something another person does, it stupid

Welcome from a previous K1200RS owner.
Is yours a black 2002?

That reminds me of George Carlin's "Have you noticed their stuff is shit, and your shit is stuff?". My KRS was a black 2003.