I'd recommend you take the XR out for a demo if not done so already and take a view. The "buzz" is significant (in my view) and would have soured my ownership experience and I'm used to in line 4s. If they fix that next year it's a good bike! More ugly the Nutley in my view though! The dvt is a great bike but like everything you pays your money you take your chance!"
Apparently a simple set of heavier weighted bar ends cut the vibes by as much as 90%. I am going to stick my neck out here and please don't cut my head off! I have ordered an XR! I had 2 test rides on 2 separate occasions and rode it for at least 3 and a half hours and yes there are vibes! But I was able to forget about them to be honest and it didn't worry me! I am on my second Mutley and have been riding them for 5 years covering 25000 miles and 11 countries and I love em! But I fancied a change! The deal I have got on the XR is fanastic. As far the looks go it's not as stylish as a Ducati but that is a personal thing and the bike can be improved! I remember the comments about the "beak" when the 1200 came out! I liked it but not everyone did! I'm a Ducati man I still have a 748 so I'm not leaving the brand completely and if things don't work out with The Beemer then i will be back on this forum! If you'll have me! On prices the XR is good value but that isn't why I bought it, if I could buy one I think I would like the KTM GT. I am slightly worried about the ongoing problems that Ducati haven't sorted (fuel sensor!) but I guess we won't hear of the problems on other brands because this a Ducati forum but there will be some, it's the way they get sorted like the rear brake that doesn't work! This is a safety thing! I'm waiting for Keffs99 to rip me to shreds because he knows me and he hates the BMW! Please be gentle Steve! Please don't get me wrong I'm not gloating about the MCN shootout and I haven't even read it yet, I will miss my Mutley but nothing is forever is it?
My XR did not buzz vibes anymore then any other bike, however my dislike was the harsh suspension (I'm a lightweight) the gizmos I feel help sell the XR, especially the shifter and autoblip, it really is different strokes for folks tho because I realised once I brought it, it's just a typical rev happy inline4, not my cup of tea normally but feck me it's fast and once you turn the taps off its really docile and super smooth, I'd happily buy another if the suspension was more compliant. The multi well it's quirky has bundles of character and as I walk away i always turn back to have a sneaky look however it lacks some quality over the XR, there ain't one stainless fastener on the multi the XR fairing fasteners are all stainless. I've brought a GT there's only 180 coming to the UK this year, only worry I have is dealer backup, we have a local BM dealer Pidcocks whom also operate a Ducati dealerships whom are really good, however the ktm dealers local are more enduro focused.
A couple of weeks ago MCN ran an enduro adventure bike shootout between those upright bikes which are actually designed to be ridden off-road. They had the Multi Enduro, I think both BMW GSs, the Honda Africa Twin, the KTM 1190 Adventure and I think something else as well. Thrown the paper away now so can't check. KTM make two 1190s. The Adventure, which is a purely road-going upright, and the Adventure R which has 19" wheels, knobbly tyres, a bigger tank, revised electronics and full protection and is designed as a serious off-roader. MCN tested the road-going version and placed it last, complaining that it was too much of a tarmac bike and wasn't very good off-road... Twats. Take everything they say with a pinch of salt.
It is a good bike no doubt and beauty is in the eye of the beholder! You're sticking with the brand and done your miles on Mutley so fully judged sure you'll the German thing!!
Similarly to Dave I didn't feel any specific vibration on my XR prior to fitting the heavier bar ends (£40), non more so than you'd expect from a L4 superbike engine vs a plodding V twin. Since the heavier bar ends I 'think' it's alleviated the vast majority of what was there in the first place. As for suspension I didn't go with the electronic version although many happy owners did, I prefer normal (more adjustable /upgradable) suspension and so went with the sports model. At the end of the day I still love vtwins, and i change my bike every 1-2 years anyway, but if it's a superbike in a tall comfortable chassis you're after with a few toys like a QS then the XR is a tough bike to beat. The bike is more frantic than the dvt, but if you ride an XR the dvt feels lazy in comparison. Horses for courses
Its the sheer girth of the XR that puts me off. When you've had nothing but twins for a while, fours feel impossibly fat and cumbersome. Even Triumph triples feel wide to me.
I honestly don't feel any difference when sitting on it, I guess the front seems wider, but from a riding point of view the seat feels better than the dvt for me especially in terms of position I've actually fitted the BMW HP higher seat as I'm long legged, the dvt even on high setting using those plastic spacers still didn't seem to gain me much.
It appears that the vibration is different from bike to bike as I've seen people report as such on the BMW forums, as I researched the issue pretty thoroughly before discounting the BMW as an option. Certainly the bike I rode had way more than I would expect, and I've owned mostly 4-cylinder bikes over my 30 years of biking. I've seen plenty of other shoot-outs that call the BMW out for the same issue, time and again. The consensus of the various reviews I've read is that the BMW is a much quicker bike, but the Ducati always seemed to be the easier bike to live with day-in-day-out. On that basis I made my choice and I have to say that I'm happy with the Multi and wouldn't change my mind until perhaps BMW have another crack at the XR and address the niggling issues. I know some folk say that they have either no vibrations or no more than any other bike, but if this wasn't an issue for so many you wouldn't read about it all over the place. With this amount of money spent on a bike you don't expect this type of thing and it's pretty fair to judge BMW on how they've dealt with the issue when it has arisen - which is absolutely nothing (as far as I know). You're not buying a CB500 here and the s1000xr forum has 31 pages and over 630 replies on the subject !!!! That alone tells me to steer clear. Changing bar end weights doesn't solve the problem, it only masks it - who knows what else is happening to that bike. I've already owned a Versys 1000 which had ball-tingling vibes through the seat and footrests which irritated countless owners. I tried to live with it but the vibrations actually broke the wing mirrors and eventually made the fairing rattle like crazy too. The bike was falling apart with less than 2,500 miles on it. I'm just not going there again. When my Multi developed the screen rattle very early on I thought "here we go again" but I'm delighted to say it's fixed and I'm vibe and rattle free. I can just ride the Multi and enjoy it for what it is (which is a heck of a lot of bike) and at 3,000 miles from new in February I have got nothing at all that's bugging me. I literally cannot think of anything beyond pure aesthetics that might want to improve. Auto-blip and quick shift? Really? Given the choice I'd rather have the full colour screen - at least you get continued benefit from it all the time because I can't see how much time quick-shift will either save from my daily commute, or how much less tired I'll be at the end of my journey because I don't have to use a clutch lever. BMW must thinking that all those clutch lever pulls must really be getting people down.
Hi Rainman, I would just like comment on some of your comments if I may. Every bike no matter what engine configuration it is has vibrations! Maybe that the higher frequency ones associated with il4 engines are more noticable. The screen rattles on the DVT, that is caused by vibration! You say that BMW haven't dealt with it at all and I agree they haven't but Ducati have also been guilty of that with the non-existent rear brake a safety related item! And fuel sensors that have had problems since the first 1200's. With regard to the quickshifter/autoblipper and to be fair to BMW they call it Shift assist pro which is a more accurate description in my mind because you don't need to be hooning around to use it, it's quite happy to change gear it all throttle openings and after I test rode the XR last year I had a quickshifter/autoblipper fitted to my Multistrada using the Tuneboy system but it's know where near as good because the BMW system doesn't need as much gear lever movement! It's half of the throw of a normal gearchange. So in my mind I would get more benefit from an assisted gearchange than a dash display that is very difficult to read when you are moving at pace! Not sure if the one you rode had shift assist fitted or not. Also on the the dash subject I wouldn't expect the dash to scratch so easily on a bike costing more than the XR! That could happen just trying to clean it! Sorry if you had a bad experience with a Japanese IL4 but that doesn't mean to say they are all bad! And if I have made a mistake by buying an XR I'll be the first to stick my hand up and say so!
I agree with your opinions there Rainman, especially regarding quick shifter and auto blipper. If gear changing is such a hassle why not get an automatic ?
And I'm agreeing with rotax. The list of multi problems are never ending. The XR has a vibration. Wow! I'll take a broken multi please [emoji23]. I've just been in the garage bodging my multi's side stand switch and bleeding the brakes with a bleed nipple I've now fit on the ABS unit. Just another night with the multi. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's not that gear changing is such a hassle, it's just an improvement. It's called progress. It was hardly a hassle typing a letter on a typewriter but... hello word processor [emoji6] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To a degree you're right and it's true many people have discussed or indeed complained about vibrations, having said that there's then multiple threads on no vibration, very little vibration and of course removed vibration after having simply fitted some heavier bar end weights. I could post links to them all but there's very little point. I can however safely say that there's a far broader range of complaints and issues listed on this very forum about the dvt than there is about the XR. Some of the vibration is even removed by simply adding the correct torque to the bar clamps would you believe. As though some bikes left the factory with incorrect settings.....That's a balls up, saying that so is shipping bikes with fairing gaps the size of the grand canyon The dvt vibrates, it just does it at a different frequency. Many people on various reviews have commented on the fact of vibration through the seat and pegs of the dvt, after 100's of test miles it was the overriding thoughts from my Mrs having come pillion with me, she simply tuned in to the vibration of the dvt and couldn't get it out her head. I personally didn't feel anything other than 'bike'......I kinda know they vibrate Surprisingly even mcn mention it again on the dvt in this very latest review, yet nothing of the bmw. Anyway, To me they're completely different bikes with different attitudes to the job in hand The XR reminds me more of the 1200 multistrada 2010-2014 than the dvt does, it's not to say that the Dvt isn't any good but I think mcn get it bang on by almost suggesting it's 'subtle'....... It's not set the world alight like the first 1200 multistrada did, I think that's a fair reflection on how it's been received, that 2nd album is always hard It's just not particularly sharp and so if it's the sportier side you're after I still stand by the XR being the bike that'll scratch that itch, it will sincerely give normal superbikes a run for their money and I'm sorry to say in the same hands it'd run rings round the Ducati. This whole thing on quick shifters / auto blippers being pointless......well let's just say if the dvt had one I'm fairly confident all owners would be singing a different tune With all that said if you prefer a more relaxed ride the dvt fills that spot nicely which is great as we're all different. I like all bikes and take the positives from them all, more importantly I'm never blinkered by Brand so I figured why not, get the beemer for a year or so then pick something else. Now if aprilia bring out a sports tourer with the v4 engine I'll probably give that a try....you just can't beat a v4
"Vibrations" and "who needs an auto blipper"... the arguments of people clutching at straws. Agree on the V4 Aprilia front. I'd be on that quicker than any other bike (so long as they did a half decent finish with stainless fastners like the XR). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's a good point, must nip out to the garage and see if I can induce some rust on my bike, it just doesn't feel right having something that's doesn't erode at 100 times the normal rate.....now where's that salt pot
