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R9T, can it be ridden in heavy rain?

6K views 38 replies 21 participants last post by  blbace 
#1 ·
How "water proof" is our flat twin?
Can it be ridden in heavy rains (as in the attached pic)?
BTW, the pic (taken yesterday) is a normal day in the monsoon season.


"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
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#4 ·
In water-logged conditions, my worry is that since the cylinders are low down and so exposed, water will short circuit the plug wires or somehow gain entry to the motor/crankcase.
The thought struck me that since this design of motor was in service in harsh weather conditions during WW 2, then my worry is pointless.
What do you think?

"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#10 ·
-Propaganda poster: that is what I thought, BeeEm flat twin's were "go anywhere" bikes or why would they have been selected for army duty.
- High pipe? ...I have the standard R9T Pure exhaust. The outlet is higher than that of the car in the pic. Was told that in water, as long as the motor is revved to maintain exhaust pressure, then there is no fear of water entry from there.

"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#15 ·
It's not a monsoon but have driven through some pretty heinous weather communting in the UK in winter and never had any problems (bike is parked outside at work to add even more damp).

Mine's a scrambler so the high exhaust might help but I've also driven through the odd flooded road without an issue - be warned once the cylinder heads are submerged theres a hell of a lot of drag...
 
#16 ·
Thanks to all for their input.
From the responses, the R9T appears to be immune to dousings, so it is not just a good-looker!
(Tho' in a recent comparison test of four retro-moderns, Cycle World labelled the R9T as "agricultural").
One thing I was not aware of, is the drag factor coming from riding with the cylinder heads under water. Thank you Mr. Anderson for that observation.

"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#17 ·
Thanks to all for their input.
From the responses, the R9T appears to be immune to dousings, so it is not just a good-looker!
(Tho' in a recent comparison test of four retro-moderns, Cycle World labelled the R9T as "agricultural").
One thing I was not aware of, is the drag factor coming from riding with the cylinder heads under water. Thank you Mr. Anderson for that observation.

"be free from the gravity of expectation"
Gotta agree with Cycle World.....my Pure is agricultural.
Was talking to 3 seasoned BMW (Fancy models) riders outside a dealer store last year and asked which engine Oil (I was there to buy oil) they used....one said ‘well, these are agricultural engines you know, so if it’s the right grade put any oil you want in, it will work fine’, and the other 2 agreed with him.
Doesn’t mean they were right though.
Ken.
 
#19 ·
I commute to work 1hr each way (well, until covid) on my urbangs and have ridden in many heavy downpours. I have not owned a more capable 2-wheeled machine in the rain. She's heavy enough to push through standing water at reasonable speeds without planing and the intake has never taken on water to the point it caused any hiccups. The ACS and abs have been super handy in rain as well as a summer hail storm once. I was quickly sold on both having never previously had either.

I'm sure someone's prob had a bad time with their's, but mine can go for hours easily in heavy rain. Visibility cuts out way before the bike ever will...
 
#22 ·
LOL, I like the comparison!
(Tho' being on a non-sugar diet, I have not seen those little blocks of sweetner for some time)
Glad to see all the affirmations of the R9T being an all-weather bike... ride on!

"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#23 ·
As mentioned earlier by others - the Turban can be ridden through creeks and puddles or in torrential rainfalls, for hours on end. You will not encounter engine trouble.
On the other hand you will discover what disgarding generations of experience in traditional motorcycle construction means for ample dirt accumulation on your bike and yourself. This is my bike number 56 and I never ever had a ride which got as filthy as the Turban. She rides absolutely fine in all kinds of weather, but looks an absolute swamp rat after just 15 minutes on wet roads. At the same time she manages to make you and your gear look like you just made it out of a mudwrestling pit.
The watertightness of headlight and cockpit is something which makes you want to consider to push small bamboo splinters under the fingernails of engineers, suppliers and accounters at BMW, on the other hand :-(
They suck in humidity like there is no tommorrow. We can get people to outer space and back and had watertight clocks in the 70'ies already - but BMW doesn't seem to want to address that issue properly.
Here in the german service desert BMW will actually tell you it is normal for humidity to collect in the headlight and fog it up - comment from the factory - just ride for 10 minutes more and the heat of the bulb will have burned the internal fog away. I was close to murder that day......
The indicators and rear light like to collect moisture too, by the way.
As for the switchgear it remains to be seen how well that lasts in terms of corrosion and such. It looks flimsy but so far no issues.
As long as it all works its not really worth to get too uptight about it, but one wonders never-the-less sometimes, why it is always the smaller annoying details that get willfully overlooked by the big manufacturers.
ride on and enjoy your r9t safely in any weather and conditions you may encounter. She'll get you home in one piece if you let her (and are willing to put in the cleaning effort ;-P
Bernhard
 
#37 ·
....This is my bike number 56 and I never ever had a ride which got as filthy as the Turban. She rides absolutely fine in all kinds of weather, but looks an absolute swamp rat after just 15 minutes on wet roads...’Bernhard
Welcome to the club, Bernhard. It’s that damn vortex:
 
#24 ·
If you guys have travelled in deep water, I would suggest doing a Final Drive service.
That would be the Bevel Gear Oil change and the Universal Shaft Spline lubrication.
The Universal Joint boot is not that waterproof.

Manyakus has posted some excellent How To's on this forum.
 
#25 ·
Re: "it is normal for humidity to collect in the headlight and fog it up - comment from the factory - just ride for 10 minutes more and the heat of the bulb will have burned the internal fog away"

I have the same issue and was given exactly the same solution.
Very disappointing QC for that component from BMW.
Made in Japan, India, Korea, bikes costing much less can be ridden in a downpour with zero moisture accumulation in their headlamps.

That is one part of the "heritage" piece that should not have been included!



"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#27 ·
Re: "If you guys have travelled in deep water, I would suggest doing a Final Drive service"

Such an essential point, thanks for bringing it up.
My previous shaft drive bike (of Japanese manufacture) had the same issue. Fortunately, there was after-market availability of a plastic cover that fitted over the final drive housing at the wheel, where the water leak would have occurred.

The design of the BMW paralever makes such a solution a different proposition.
At first thought, a fork boot slid over the (already with a rubber boot) joint seems the easiest (but ugly!) solution.
Ideas, anyone?



"be free from the gravity of expectation"
 
#28 ·
In Japan we also suffer from an annual rainy season (monsoon), and in the five years I've been riding my R9T I've never had an issue with the rain or flooded roads, other than the splatter up the back of my jacket. For around six or seven weeks of the year, I've got a permanent strip of crud embedded in it. As for the paralever seal, I slapped heaps of white silicone grease on that a couple of years back and it is still tacky and doing its job. Though, a re-grease of the spline is on my to-do list. As an aside, over here there are two schools of thought on re-greasing the spline at the end of the drive shaft. One, is to go with Honda's Moly Assembly Paste M-77 (different name and number here) and the other is to use Honda's Moly Assembly paste (an almost regular grease colored liquid which turns sticky in seconds) from a spray can. Interestingly, the mechanic at my local BMW dealer only uses the BMW stuff on customer's bikes, and recommends the Honda stuff for all DIYers.
 
#33 ·
Initial thoughts are that the bike behaves rather well on flooded Motorways in the UK. Rather like the blend of weight, balance, tyres and brakes on the R9T. Not so keen on all the nooks and crannies that require a deep clean afterwards - the bike looked awful on the morning after the night before.
 
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