To commute comfortably the one time a week I need to cover the 110 miles between Fallbrook (San Diego County) and Los Angeles, yesterday I bought a 2008 1200RT with 19K miles on it.
Since moving to LA in 2018 I have been riding my 2016 C650 Sport which has been fantastic. But for the longer and faster 405 traffic I figured the RT would be more relaxed.
Being Dutch and having previously lived in Geneva, Switzerland for 7 Honda 300SHi ridden years, I have been surprised at how few motorcycles there are here. Must be due to the lack of traffic and the many, many cold, foggy and rainy days!
I do all my own maintenance and repairs and use the motoscan app. I look forward to learning and hopefully contributing here.
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Last edited by CaseyK on Wed Dec 13, 2023 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks all! Picking up the bike on Saturday. @tewatson my comment was tongue-in-cheek; compared to Geneva, London or Paris, SoCal weather is absolutely ideal for year-round riding and the traffic is very bad (not as bad as in say Jakarta or Dhaka, but still bad enough for my 110 mile commute to take upwards of 5.5 hours, rather than the 2 it should take) so a motorcycle is for me 'the only way'. But very few commuters choose to ride vs sit in their tin cans. My conclusion is that so few people ride motorcycles here because so few people ride motorcycles here, despite the conditions. People are after all 'herd animals' and so they 'follow the herd'.
Closing off my introduction thread, I've been doing short rides to get used to the RT, mostly twisty roads around where we live, and boy is this a comfortable and agile bike. Then, today I decided to for the first time twist the throttle almost all the way and pull to maybe 7K rpms in 2nd gear and wow what an explosion of power that was! Good to know it's there but won't probably do that again for a while.
In what is probably not a record time but perhaps close, I decided last weekend to sell the RT back to the person I bought it from only a few weeks ago. He texted me that he regretted selling the bike and asked whether I was still enjoying it. And although I was, I did my first 120 mile commute last Friday on it. Although it was for sure effortless on the part of the bike, I found I had three issues that I had never experienced on my C650 Sport maxi-scooter. Firstly, my backside became sore after only about an hour, secondly, once I got to LA, I was not comfortable riding between the cars (lane splitting) as the RT is appreciably wider than my scooter. And thirdly, the RT 'forces' you in a certain seating position, whereas on the scooter you can easily vary the position of your feet, thus staying more comfortable on longer rides. You sit more 'on' rather than 'in' the bike.
So after that little bit disappointing experience I found myself thinking - was getting the RT really such a good decision? Couldn't I just as easily make my commute trips on the C650? So when the previous owner texted me, after some inner debate (and consulting my better half) I decided to offer him the bike back at the same price he sold it to me for and that's what we agreed, he's picking it up Saturday. The State of California is the main winner, with 2x sales tax collected.
So the advantages, at least for me, of the C650 Sport are:
- no shifting, it's automatic
- much more flickable, especially around town
- lane splitting very easy and secure, also because no shifting but mostly due to relatively narrow width
- bit better fuel mileage (approx 55 mpg highway vs 47 mpg for the RT)
- more comfortable seating position, at least for me
- more storage than the RT (I had to remove the cavernous side panniers otherwise lane splitting would be even more difficult leaving only the rear/top case. The Sport has storage under the seat that is quite roomy and a top case can be added)
- the Sport seems to have a lower center of gravity than the RT, making it feel much lighter than the RT, even though in reality it also weighs a lot: 249 kg/549 lbs compared to the RT's 259 kg/ 570 lbs
Disadvantages:
- less power, 60 hp vs the RT's 110, so more effort to keep higher speeds (but still can do 110 mph easily. 0-60 time reportedly around 5.2 seconds against the RT's 4 seconds - but still plenty faster than most cars. How often do you ride any motorcycle 'flat out' and then how much power is still somewhat safe to unleash? I have never felt the C650 lacking in the power or acceleration department). More noisy at speed, but earplugs solve that
- no cruise control - so I ordered a Kaoko widget to address that
Rt do not suit all. I don't commute and would of thought a lighter bike would be better for the purpose. To get comfortable i had to fit bar raisers, lower the pegs and use an air seat cover. Now 4/5 hours are no problem.
I looked at a C650 but in the UK we can only buy the 400cc version now.
Sorry to lose you from the site and wish you all the best and many happy miles with the C650
Trust me I am a retired Doctor and lecturer at Oxford University of Structural and Mechanical/Electrical engineering.
If you bought the RT to do a job and you were finding that it was not working for you. Then IMO you have done the right thing.
I also think you were very very lucky to get your money back with a deal from the guy you bought it from, well done you sir.
