THE FIND

Searching

Looking for something that you really want can be so difficult.  I was searching for a used BMW R1200 RT or R1250 RT.  I could afford a new one, but the prospect of buying a brand new bike scared me, and I was hoping to save several thousand dollars.  A new bike would be fun and new and exciting, but I was in the market strictly for a used bike.

BMW did something I think is weird, though some people probably like it.  They made their base color for the model years 2018-2020 white.  What’s wrong with white, you might ask.  It stays cleaner looking and is probably cooler than a darker color.  To me however, it looks like a police motorcycle, which gives me anxiety and I think it’s ugly.  No disrespect to you if that’s what you’re driving or that is your color of choice, I just don’t like it.  Most of the few bikes I had found were, inevitably, white.  I had almost made a deal on one I found in Southern California, with all of the options I wanted, a low seat, navigation system, and a trunk, but the guy selling didn’t want to deal with someone so far from him, and, I’ll be honest here, I was a bit afraid to go to Southern California in the time of COVID-19.  The fact that the bike is white, gave me pause, but I still wanted to do it.  I mean, I’ve made up my mind, let’s get things going!  This deal also fell through and I was very discouraged.

A white BMW R1250 RT?

Despair

Increasing my despair, was that I had no luck selling Thelma.  I had listed her on Craigslist and Facebook, but only gotten scam calls and tire kickers, no serious interest.  If I couldn’t sell Thelma, it would be harder to buy a new bike.  I put the word out with everyone I know and every free listing I could find, but still she sat in the garage.  Finally, I rang my local bike shop that has cared for Thelma since I bought her and asked if they would be interested to buy her.  They were!  The shop gave me a fair bit less than I could have sold her for, but for all of the headaches of dealing with scammers and strangers, it was worth it.  I drove Thelma down to the shop and said my goodbye.  Now I was a step closer to something new, but also, for the first time in a lot of years, without a bike.

Bye Thelma.  Thanks for hanging out with me.

Checking it out

The same day I sold Thelma, my BFG said we should take a drive to our “local” BMW shop and see if I was even tall enough to comfortably ride one of the bikes I’m interested in.  I know what the seat height is on the R1200 RT and R1250 RT and I know what the seat height is on Thelma, so I know I can ride one, but, he was right, so we made the hour and a half drive to A&S Motorcycles in Roseville.   I was still searching for bikes on the way down and I found 2 in Oregon!  One was from a private seller and one was at a dealer.  I emailed both the private seller and the dealer on the way to A&S.  We pulled into the A&S dealership and they were loaded with bikes.  They sell BMW, Ducati, and Triumph.  While I was giving some serious eyeball to the Ducatis, I was there to see a particular model BMW.

Because it was the time of COVID-19, we didn’t really want to go in, though we were both wearing our masks.  They happened to have a used blue R1200 RT, what looked like a 2015 to me, right out front.  It is generally frowned upon to just climb on a bike without a salesperson, but there was no one around and I didn’t know what their protocol was.  I asked my BFG what he thought and he told me to go ahead and climb on.

It fit me perfectly!  I could almost flat foot the bike!  Not quite, but pretty close.  It wasn’t heavy to lift off the side stand and I didn’t feel like I was straddling a house.  Dang it was nice.  This might be the bike for me.   Finally a salesman came out, well I THOUGHT he was a salesman.  I jumped off the bike, but he wasn’t upset at all that I was on it.  He turned out to be the guy that takes the photos and puts the bikes on the internet, so he wasn’t who I wanted, but he was crazy knowledgeable and very helpful.  Turns out the bike I was sitting on was a 2015 with low mileage.  I thought this could be it and I could stop being on the hunt, which is time consuming and can be exhausting.  This particular bike though did not have the Shift Assist Pro, so I wasn’t interested.  They had some really nice new ones and a new white demo one they said they could make a good deal on, but as I said, I was looking for used.

Anything?

I checked my phone to see if either of the Oregon sellers have gotten back to me yet.  They both did and I was thrilled to death!  Then I read the messages.  The private seller already had an offer, but he thanked me for my interest.  The dealer sent an automated message saying they appreciated my interest and would get with me as soon as possible.  I ground my teeth with impatience and worry that this bike would also be sold before I could talk to anyone.  I decided to ring them up.

The phone was answered by a pleasant sounding guy who told me the salesperson I needed to speak to was busy, but he would be happy to take a message.  At this point, I was feeling quite eager and a little desperate so I told the guy I would give him my credit card number for a deposit on the bike I was interested in right now.  He asked me to please hold and I was finally feeling a bit more confident!  The ad on Cycletrader was for a 2019 R1250 RT, carbon black metallic with only 1840 miles on it.  Now we are talking!  My hands were actually a little sweaty and I was breathing a little faster, what had I just committed to?  The guy came back on the phone and told me Adam would ring me right back to take that deposit.  YES!  I was both relieved and scared.  I don’t like going into debt, and this bike, although a great deal, would give me some debt.

FINALLY!

About ten to fifteen minutes later, Adam rang me back and I gave him my credit card number.  I now owned a 2019 BMW R1250 RT!  I just had to figure out how to get to Oregon while a pandemic was going on, pick it up, and drive it home!

The new bike!  This is the photo Adam sent me when I gave him my credit card number.