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2014 BMW R1200RT

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BMW Motorrad USA has finished the books on 2014, and the American subsidiary is able to report one of its best sales years in the past decade. Up 5.4% over 2013’s sales figures, BMW Motorrad USA saw strong sales from is S-Series of bikes (S1000RR and S1000R), which were up 80% with 254 units.

The R-Series was another strong performer, up 17% with 477 units sold. The 2014 BMW R1200RT was BMW Motorrad USA’s best-selling motorcycle as well, despite the tourer’s suspension issues, which kept the bikes sidelined for several months.

It was only a few months ago, June 6th to be precise, that BMW Motorrad advised owners of the new liquid-cooled BMW R1200RT, who had the optional Dynamic ESA suspension package equipped, to stop riding their motorcycles until a solution to a collapsing rear shock defect could be found.

Ultimately, BMW and its parts supplier decided to replace the rear shock entirely, recalling all the 8,000 units worldwide (950 of which are in the United States) — they made that announcement just a month ago, though have been giving R1200RT owners a varying number of other options as well.

For those R1200RT that elected not to have BMW Motorrad buyback their machines, riding should commence sometime this month. BMW Motorcycle Magazine is reporting that BMW Motorcycle dealers should have replacement shock absorbers in two weeks’ time, and thus be able to begin fixing affected machines.

A reports by BMW Motorcycle Magazine has described what BMW Motorrad USA is offering owners who were affected by the “Do Not Ride” order regarding the BMW R1200RT.

For those that don’t remember BMW Motorrad issued a worldwide statement regarding the 2014 BMW R1200RT, saying that models of the touring bike that were equipped with the Dynamic ESA suspension should not be ridden, as a BMW supplier alerted the German brand that the rear suspension had a defect, which could cause catastrophic failure.

BMW Motorrad hasn’t intimated when a solution could be coming for the affected R1200RT owners, though rumors are a date in August or September. To compensate American riders for this downtime, BMW Motorrad USA has put together three options for RT owners.

BMW Motorrad has released a worldwide notification about a potentially dangerous suspension situation, which affects the 2014 BMW R1200RT.

Concerned about the safety regarding the Dynamic ESA electronic suspension package, BMW Motorrad says that there is a potential defect with the system’s rear spring strut.

Since the German motorcycle manufacturer cannot rule that the piston rod could potentially break, BMW Motorrad is advising 2014 R1200RT owners not to ride their motorcycles until further notice.

BMW Motorrad insists that this is a precautionary measure, which the comopany is making in the interests of customer safety, and based on a supplier report.

A big announcement at EICMA that we have seen coming down the pipe since the latest generation of the BMW R1200GS broke cover, the 2014 BMW R1200RT is the next logical step of progression in BMW Motorrad’s push to bring a “precision-cooled” water-cooled boxer-twin to its R-series of motorbike.

The new BMW R1200RT uses a basic formula for its philosophy: take BMW’s already proven touring package, and update it with the company’s latest technologies, while giving a mild facelift in the process. In many ways the 2014 BMW R1200RT feels like previous generations, and in many ways it is not.

News that BMW will be coming out with a water-cooled replacement of its current R1200RT is really nothing new. Since the debut of the new BMW R1200GS, and its precision water-cooled motor, it has seemed like only a matter of time before the BMW’s next-generation boxer engine made its way into the German company’s other models.

We have already seen the 2014 BMW R1200RT strutting its stuff in camouflage before, but those photos were small and blurry — really just enough to give us an idea of what we were looking at, and nothing more. This is not the case today however, as a German blogger has been fortunate enough to catch what he calls the BMW R1200GTt out in the wild, and has included a 1080p walk-around to prove it.

With the water-cooled BMW R1200GS official debuted and soon to be released for the 2013 model year, it was only a matter of time before we saw the same “precision liquid-cooled” version of the BMW R1200RT make its spy shot debut.

Coming to us in a very blurry form, a blogger at the french publication MotoMag caught the 2014 BMW R1200RT out for a spring time jaunt in the South of France.

Heavily disguised in camouflage, it is hard to understand how far zie Germans have strayed from the old model’s lines, though we hope that the touring machine gets as much of an overhaul as the Gelände Straße.

To our eyes, the fairings look physically much larger, and it looks like the headlights could be borrowed from the KT1600GT platform. More photos after the jump, call out any other changes you might see.