The Best Motorcycle I’ve ever ridden, without a doubt!

I’ve been riding since I was a kid. I started in the dirt, moved to the street later in life. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that I’ve ridden a lot of different bikes, made by most of the major manufacturers.

Motorcycles are designed for specific purposes; some bikes are made for sport riding with maximum cornering and acceleration, others are made for comfort and long range riding, some are made for straight line acceleration, and sometimes, bikes are made only as beautiful pieces of parking lot art.

Last year I bought a 2016 BMW R1200RT, now 6500 miles later, I’m convinced that this is the most well-rounded bike I’ve ever experienced. It truly does everything well!

As a touring bike, it is extremely comfortable and has an impressive array of accessories (heated grips, heated seats, electronically adjustable windshield, satellite radio, USB ports for MP3s, Garmin NAV, electronically adjustable suspension, keyless ride, linked antilock brakes, hard cases in various sizes that can be pulled off in an instant.

If you want a sport bike, pull off the cases and the bike is well under 600lbs wet, and sports a strong 125HP boxer engine. It has an electronic shift assist for speed shifting and can make a 0-60 time of 3 secs according to http://www.zeroto60times.com/body-style/motorcycle/ The Metzler Z8 tires that came on mine stick like glue, and the short wheelbase allows for amazing cornering. I love this bike in the twisties.

If you just want a daily commuter, the RT is perfect for that as well. Easy to maneuver in parking lots, comfortable siting at a light, good gas mileage, and fun when you want it. With the bags on I have no problem buying all the weekly groceries. If you live in a hilly area, it has a great feature called “hill start” that locks the brake on for you (like parking brake) when you are sitting on hill. No more squeezing that brake for interminably long stop lights!

So, if you are in the market and you’ve never tried a BMW, you owe it to yourself to get on one. As I said in the opening, I’ve ridden a lot of bikes, but having now experienced the R1200RT, I’ll probably never buy anything but another BMW.

Photos on the road and mountains are from my recent trip to the Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway.