vikki
Member
Hi all
With bittersweet feelings, I am no longer a part of this special and small community of R18 riders. A few days ago, I traded in my R18 for an RT. I am happy with the RT, but I also miss the sheer beauty and visceral presence of the R18. Here are some points that will hopefully justify why I did what I did
Why I got an R18
Thanks for reading!
Vikki
With bittersweet feelings, I am no longer a part of this special and small community of R18 riders. A few days ago, I traded in my R18 for an RT. I am happy with the RT, but I also miss the sheer beauty and visceral presence of the R18. Here are some points that will hopefully justify why I did what I did
Why I got an R18
- Beautiful, unique, demands attention
- I came from an F900XR and needed something that could handle 80+ mph without screaming it's head off
- Got a good deal on a first edition
- I wanted to go on longer rides up the west coast and the XR just didn't seem like it was a good choice (turns out the R18 wasn't it for me either, but I didn't know this then)
- I commute to work everyday in moderate to heavy traffic about 25 miles round trip. I am 150lbs and 6' and I'm not super strong - come midweek, I was finding myself exhausted which would almost inevitably make me take my car to work. Basically, the R18 was just too much work for me in a commuting mindset. For a weekend experience where there isn't the typical added stress of work traffic, making meetings etc, it's great - but it just didn't step up for me as a vehicle to commute with; a result of my poor decision going into this a year ago.
- Height. Compared to the XR, and now the RT, even with a Corbin seat, the bike was way too low for me. Again, not an issue if I'm just using it to leisure cruise - constant legs up and down in work traffic got really tiresome really quick. Combined with this, medication I am on gives me muscle cramps easily, and every morning was a painful experience until I was 'acclimatized' for the day. Not an issue with the RT.
- Wind noise. I think this is self explanatory; even with a biggish Givi windscreen, it was loud. The RT is shockingly quiet in comparison.
- Weight. Like I said earlier, it was tiring me out.
- Luggage and accessories. I made the HUGE mistake of getting an R18 without cruise control. Coupled with commuting duty, this was a nightmare. Also, I needed more room to cart all my stuff - laptop, purse, work clothes etc, and I was able to make this work using the BMW saddlebags; but the lack of additional options, and the lack of being able to secure and lock my stuff was an irritant.
- Beautiful, unique, demands attention yes, this was a pro for me but got a little irksome pretty quick. Yes, I loved the conversations the bike would trigger...but...I'm not enough of a motorcycle enthusiast to drop everything else for said conversations all of the time; sometimes I just want to get my stuff and go. Also, some of these conversations seemed to turn away from motorcycles and towards a direction I'm not interested in so...yeah.
Thanks for reading!
Vikki
Last edited: