BMW, I wish.......

An awesome deal on tubeless rims for early purchasers that had no option available.

I agree on the tank size as it's an all too common problem on all too many bikes. I am less concerned knowing I can easily get to 180 miles(+) now w/MPGs consistently at 47-50. I was tempted by the bigger tank and better rear suspension on the bagger/touring models, but I was smitten with the R18 and R18 Classic overall.

A real front fender, another "way too often" trend I just don't get and again the one from the touring model will fit, but should have been in place to begin with.

Get their shit together on accessories.It hasn't impacted me, but for many in this target demographic it is a huge part of ownership to get every option and then some. I realize supply issues hit every OEM, but with their pricing and lack of availability a majority of these items should have been available by now given the lead time and multiple model years now being on the floor.

That's it for me. A great drivetrain and solid handling motorcycle that I ride for what she is rather what she is not. Very happy every time I start her up and roll out.
 
Front fender that actually protects against some water spray. The stock fender on classic & Base makes for a very dirty bike thru even the most mild wet weather. I do wish the stock bags on the Classic were a bit bigger, it's hard comparing to my GSA where the space in even the exhaust side bag is bigger than both my Classic bags combined.
 
Like others have said, more range. My low fuel warning comes on consistently at 110 miles.

A way to make the stock fish tail exhaust a little louder without going custom and cutting and welding.

A more comfortable seat. I have the "comfort" seat and my butt doesn't care for it for more than 40 minutes.

A kickstand that isn't a reach to pop up. It's a reach for me at 5'10 and for my sweetie who is short it's out of her reach.

A gauge that swaps the date for the temperature or something more useful. I have never been on a motorcycle and thought "Gee, I wish my speedo would tell me the date!". Where as engine or air temperature would be more useful.
 
A few things come to mind for my R18 Base FE.
I'll skip the ones mentioned already.

I wish...
...toggling through the menu wasn't unidirectional. Sometimes I miss the display I want and have to "scroll" through the entire menu again.
...that the paint wasn't so flippin' soft. I got the bike PPFed and Ceramic coated but you can only cover so much... can't cover the frame, can't cover some of the fork parts... I'm starting to see scratches everywhere... I know I'm nuts as no one else but me ever notices them (lol!!) but goodness... (I know they can only do so much with regulations these days but I still wish for it).
...BMW offered thinner clutch/brake levers that matched the FE chromed out look. Thick ones look great but they don't work too well with my hands.
...that the front brake bit sooner in the lever travel.

I'm sure there are a few that I'm not remembering off the bike...
It's a great bike but some little things bother me.
 
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Like others have said, more range. My low fuel warning comes on consistently at 110 miles.

A way to make the stock fish tail exhaust a little louder without going custom and cutting and welding.

A more comfortable seat. I have the "comfort" seat and my butt doesn't care for it for more than 40 minutes.

A kickstand that isn't a reach to pop up. It's a reach for me at 5'10 and for my sweetie who is short it's out of her reach.

A gauge that swaps the date for the temperature or something more useful. I have never been on a motorcycle and thought "Gee, I wish my speedo would tell me the date!". Where as engine or air temperature would be more useful.
Engine temperature is available in the menu. But you can also hide certain ones you don’t want so check if yours was hidden this way. I have date, engine temp, instant MPG & volts hidden, so it makes switching thru ones you do want easier. I do wish it had ambient temp. I have that on my GSA and love having it (I ride year round, so it is very useful).

I’ve not had my low fuel come on any earlier than ~130 miles & I almost exclusively ride back roads. 110 would suggest about 34MPG, which I wouldn’t expect unless it was a sidecar rig. Last weekend I did highway coming back from a day trip and was surprised I was still getting about 50MPG on the display when I got home as I refueled just before getting on the highway. I’m usually around 40-45 on the display depending on how heavy my throttle hand is, but measured at fuel fill ups have been about 42MPG overall. If I mostly did highway at 50MPG suggested on the display, I might not expect the low fuel light till 160 miles.
 
Engine temperature is available in the menu. But you can also hide certain ones you don’t want so check if yours was hidden this way. I have date, engine temp, instant MPG & volts hidden, so it makes switching thru ones you do want easier. I do wish it had ambient temp. I have that on my GSA and love having it (I ride year round, so it is very useful).

I’ve not had my low fuel come on any earlier than ~130 miles & I almost exclusively ride back roads. 110 would suggest about 34MPG, which I wouldn’t expect unless it was a sidecar rig. Last weekend I did highway coming back from a day trip and was surprised I was still getting about 50MPG on the display when I got home as I refueled just before getting on the highway. I’m usually around 40-45 on the display depending on how heavy my throttle hand is, but measured at fuel fill ups have been about 42MPG overall. If I mostly did highway at 50MPG suggested on the display, I might not expect the low fuel light till 160 miles.
I've never checked, but I've always assumed that you leave someplace between a quarter and a half gallon out if you fill up with the bike on its stand. That could easily account for 20 miles. I've also never really paid attention to miles between tanks or mileage in general other than what the display shows. The lean of the bike on its stand is pretty steep. Has anybody checked to see how much more you can get in the tank if you fill the bike up when it's completely vertical? I've been too lazy to straddle the bike and keep it upright while filling so far.
 
I've never checked, but I've always assumed that you leave someplace between a quarter and a half gallon out if you fill up with the bike on its stand. That could easily account for 20 miles. I've also never really paid attention to miles between tanks or mileage in general other than what the display shows. The lean of the bike on its stand is pretty steep. Has anybody checked to see how much more you can get in the tank if you fill the bike up when it's completely vertical? I've been too lazy to straddle the bike and keep it upright while filling so far.
That could do it. I straddle all my bikes when refueling to maximize fuel going in and to have consistent tracking across tanks. I also keep track of every tank on each bike in Fuelly, so I’ve got ~10 years of good data on mileage. Thus far, the R18’s displayed average tracks pretty closely to the measured at fill up mileage.

The fuel light comes on with 1 gallon left in the tank & it’s a 4.2 gallon tank. If we assume the 110 was at about 42MPG, that’d mean about 2.6 gallons burned, so if it was side stand filled, would work out to about 0.6 gallons of capacity missed out vs straddling it. That’s about 15% of the tank, so it’s not insignificant and might be worth straddling if concerned about range.
 
Engine temperature is available in the menu. But you can also hide certain ones you don’t want so check if yours was hidden this way. I have date, engine temp, instant MPG & volts hidden, so it makes switching thru ones you do want easier. I do wish it had ambient temp. I have that on my GSA and love having it (I ride year round, so it is very useful).

I’ve not had my low fuel come on any earlier than ~130 miles & I almost exclusively ride back roads. 110 would suggest about 34MPG, which I wouldn’t expect unless it was a sidecar rig. Last weekend I did highway coming back from a day trip and was surprised I was still getting about 50MPG on the display when I got home as I refueled just before getting on the highway. I’m usually around 40-45 on the display depending on how heavy my throttle hand is, but measured at fuel fill ups have been about 42MPG overall. If I mostly did highway at 50MPG suggested on the display, I might not expect the low fuel light till 160 miles.
Where is the engine temperature? How I get there? Thanks
 
"I straddle all my bikes when refueling to maximize fuel going in and to have consistent tracking across tanks."

Never really did this with my Road Glide as it has a bigger tank (6 gal) and a fuel gauge (gasp!) and it was heavy. I just started doing this on my Classic and you're pretty spot on. About 1/2 gallon however.... keep a keen eye out as it fills the neck really fast.
 
"I straddle all my bikes when refueling to maximize fuel going in and to have consistent tracking across tanks."

Never really did this with my Road Glide as it has a bigger tank (6 gal) and a fuel gauge (gasp!) and it was heavy. I just started doing this on my Classic and you're pretty spot on. About 1/2 gallon however.... keep a keen eye out as it fills the neck really fast.
I still do it on my GSA which is a 9 gallon tank! It can do 300 miles between refills, but honestly if a bike can do 100-150 miles per tank, I’m fine with it as that aligns with a good time to take a break anyway.

My best tank thus far on the R18 was 157 miles and I only put in 3.7 gallons. More sedate riding (or highway slab) would likely increase that range significantly. I assume 130 I should get fuel light and should probably expect to fill around 150, which is still a reasonable margin.
 
Where is the engine temperature? How I get there? Thanks
The FE doesn't have engine temp, Luis. Just a light if things get too hot. It's the source of considerable annoyance.


I wish....hmmmmm...I wish that the headlamp was lower and longer and that the speedometer was integrated into it. I wish that there was a way to change to GP shifting. I wish that there was a simple way to stop the various flashing lights on my dash.
 
The FE doesn't have engine temp, Luis. Just a light if things get too hot. It's the source of considerable annoyance.


I wish....hmmmmm...I wish that the headlamp was lower and longer and that the speedometer was integrated into it. I wish that there was a way to change to GP shifting. I wish that there was a simple way to stop the various flashing lights on my dash.
Now you made me double check. Both my PDF manual and the printed manual that came with the bike show the engine temperature as an option. I had assumed it was disabled on mine & since I'd didn't care about seeing it, didn't explore further, only disabling other things I didn't want.

I just went down to the garage & started the bike up and went thru the display settings to see if it was disabled. While I can see the instant MPG, date & volts are hidden, there isn't an option for engine temperature contradicting what both the printed and PDF manual says. Additionally, it seems I can't change the temp unit (C or F) either (which is also in the manual), likely since the temp display isn't available.

So both the manual & I were wrong in saying engine temperature is available to display.
 
Engine temperature is available in the menu. But you can also hide certain ones you don’t want so check if yours was hidden this way. I have date, engine temp, instant MPG & volts hidden, so it makes switching thru ones you do want easier. I do wish it had ambient temp. I have that on my GSA and love having it (I ride year round, so it is very useful).

I’ve not had my low fuel come on any earlier than ~130 miles & I almost exclusively ride back roads. 110 would suggest about 34MPG, which I wouldn’t expect unless it was a sidecar rig. Last weekend I did highway coming back from a day trip and was surprised I was still getting about 50MPG on the display when I got home as I refueled just before getting on the highway. I’m usually around 40-45 on the display depending on how heavy my throttle hand is, but measured at fuel fill ups have been about 42MPG overall. If I mostly did highway at 50MPG suggested on the display, I might not expect the low fuel light till 160 miles.
I had my R18 out on Saturday, and sure enough the low fuel light came on right at 110 miles. It's almost crazy how consistent it is. It wasn't convenient to stop, so I went another 25 miles before filling up and it took 3.5 gallons. That works out to 38.5 mpg, which is pretty close to the 39 mpg average my dash shows. Now I've only got 10 or 12 tanks through it so it may get better over time. Maybe mine burns more fuel because of my Bren tune. Of all my bikes, I ride the R18 the easiest. It's not a big deal, just notable.
 
I had my R18 out on Saturday, and sure enough the low fuel light came on right at 110 miles. It's almost crazy how consistent it is. It wasn't convenient to stop, so I went another 25 miles before filling up and it took 3.5 gallons. That works out to 38.5 mpg, which is pretty close to the 39 mpg average my dash shows. Now I've only got 10 or 12 tanks through it so it may get better over time. Maybe mine burns more fuel because of my Bren tune. Of all my bikes, I ride the R18 the easiest. It's not a big deal, just notable.
As tommymck pointed out above, if you are filling on the side stand, you could get an extra 1/2 gallon by straddling the bike when filling. Even at 38.5 MPG, that'd give roughly an extra 19 miles range.

I don't know if the tune affects MPG. I could see it going in either direction. If it gives more power for a given amount of fuel, you should get better mileage. If OTOH it creates more power by using more fuel or you are encouraged to do more WOT runs, you could get worse mileage.

In my experience the mileage varies a lot based on how aggressive you are with the throttle. My first few tanks I was quite aggressive and always in rock mode, with lots of big pulls to accelerate since the torque & sound with that is so addictive. I was consistently around 39-40MPG measured. I then tried being a bit less aggressive and have averaged about 42 overall. My last tank I tried using Roll mode and riding more sedate like a cruiser (the R18 is my first cruiser, and I'm still more used to sport-style riding). With that and a highway run set on cruise control, I was getting 50MPG.
 
Now you made me double check. Both my PDF manual and the printed manual that came with the bike show the engine temperature as an option. I had assumed it was disabled on mine & since I'd didn't care about seeing it, didn't explore further, only disabling other things I didn't want.

I just went down to the garage & started the bike up and went thru the display settings to see if it was disabled. While I can see the instant MPG, date & volts are hidden, there isn't an option for engine temperature contradicting what both the printed and PDF manual says. Additionally, it seems I can't change the temp unit (C or F) either (which is also in the manual), likely since the temp display isn't available.

So both the manual & I were wrong in saying engine temperature is available to display.

I keep hoping for a software upgrade to solve this. It’s like a blank button in a car. Infuriating.
 
The FE doesn't have engine temp, Luis. Just a light if things get too hot. It's the source of considerable annoyance.


I wish....hmmmmm...I wish that the headlamp was lower and longer and that the speedometer was integrated into it. I wish that there was a way to change to GP shifting. I wish that there was a simple way to stop the various flashing lights on my dash.
Thanks Todka, sadly I was 99% sure our R18 doesn't have it
 
Fuel Gauge ?
Alright Krate, we can all wish for the moon, man. Doesn't mean it's happening. Heck, it's human nature to want to push the boundaries of what's possible. To go into uncharted waters. To seek that which has eluded countless intrepid engineers. I get it. But a fuel gauge is crazy-talk! Such a thing has never been done! Never! Fuel goes in, the engine runs, that's all we know!
It's true that we've come a long way from riding until empty and then pillaging the nearest village. We're heads and shoulders above plunging a stick into the tank to check fuel depth. The confirmation by sight (rather than taste) seems truly quaint by modern standards. Leaving an unpainted stripe on the side of the tank was nothing short of a stroke of pure Italian genius, granted. But honestly, ever since Ambrose McDashlight---the esteemed inventor of the low fuel warning light---was imbued with near-devine inspiration, we, the motorcycling masses, have been more than content to ride until seeing the tell-tale amber illumination portending that the fuel is low. I dare say that it's comforting glow is akin to being nestled in a warm wooly blanket in front of a roaring fire. So steady. So reliable. For this immeasurable contribution, as I'm sure you're aware, Ambrose was knighted and enjoyed several years of celebrity until his untimely death at a maple syrup factory in Québec. Why he leaned so far over the railing, we'll never know. Only his monocle was recovered.
Anyhow, wish all you like for some sort of magical gauge that indicates fuel level, Krate. I'll be living in the real world where I ride patiently until the low fuel warning light (thank you Ambrose) illuminates and then stop to breathlessly check my phone for gas stations within about 25 mile while hoping that I have cellular reception, thinking about how to explain to my wife how to attach the trailer to the Land Rover, and wishing that it won't rain.
 
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