But you have to admit, the brakes on the oilhead are quite impressive .
... and the suspension and the anti dive forks and the motor and the tubeless radial tires and... and... and...
I've got an '07 R1200ST. That is one great bike for touring and sporting and every day use. It has huge bags and the top case stays mounted on it all the time because it's so convenient. Press a button and the bike starts instantly, no choke or throttle to touch, the engine management does it all. It's a rev-happy motor that puts out 2 1/4 times as much HP as the R65, and yet it weighs only about 50 lbs. more. It will lean a lot further over in the turns because of the much greater clearance, and I will lean much further over in the turns because of the wide, grippy 60 series profile tire in back.
But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the R65 (or for that matter, any of my other 5 beemers). I have one from each decade BMW has been making bikes, except the 1930s, and I regularly ride them all, because I really enjoy riding them. They are each indicative of their time, and riding them allows me to enjoy something of that time, something that was the peak of quality for that era.
While I haven't put much mileage on the R65 yet -- still fettling it, really -- all of my bikes get ridden significant distances. I've put 21,000 miles on my 1961 R60/2 and even a couple thousand kilometers on my 1928 R52. My R90S has 43k miles I've put on it even though I could have been riding the ST.
And the R65 is a wonderful bike in its own right, as we all know. It is different from the other BMW boxers in how it handles and how you use the engine, but it still exudes the high quality that BMW is known for.
So, don't sell or trade your bike. Get a modern bike and then switch back and forth. You won't get bored, I promise you!
