The Generation Game - How To Tell One R nineT From Another
By now, we’re sure that you would have heard myself and Rory referring to the various BMW R nineT ‘Generations’, from Gen1 to Gen3. Now, you may well be fully up to speed with what we are talking about, but if you aren’t or want to know exactly what we are referring to, here’s the explainer you’ve been waiting for. Grab a coffee and have a read.
Game layout
- Round 1: The basics; the models, the years and how we refer to them
- Round 2: The differences, and how to identify them
- Round 3: Build guidance. A brief guide as to what model to buy for style of build you want
- Round 4: Quick fire ‘non-crossovers’ and FAQs
Round 1
GEN1
- 2014 - 2016 R Nine T - Upside Down Gold forks (Roadster)
- 2017 - 2020 Roadster - Upside Down Gold forks
- 2016 - 2020 Scrambler - 19” Front, Conventional Forks with Gaiters, tubeless wheels
- 2017 - 2020 Pure - 17” Front Conventional Forks
- 2017 - 2020 Racer - 17” Front, Nose Fairing, Conventional forks
- 2017 - 2020 Urban GS - 19” Front, Conventional Forks with Gaiters & R80 style headlight fairing, tubeless wheels
- 2021 - 2023 Roadster - Upside Down Gold forks (tubeless wheel option)
- 2021 - 2023 Scrambler - 19” Front, Conventional Forks with Gaiters, tubeless wheels
- 2021 - 2023 Pure - 17” Front Conventional Forks (tubeless wheel option)
- 2021 - 2023 Urban GS - 19” Front, Conventional Forks with Gaiters & R80 style headlight fairing, tubeless wheels
Round 2
In our eyes, referring to the different generations as 1, 2 & 3 clarifies which parts are required for a customer, and ensures that there are no slip ups. For example; when it comes to buying a Gen3 2021+ Pier City Custom BMW R9T Air Intake Cover for your late registered Gen2 - an unfortunate mistake that makes the coffee go cold QUICK when you have been excitedly waiting for the delivery of your PCC package, only to find out it doesn’t fit.
I’m going to start by pointing out the main differences and the easy wins. I want this to be a basic, whistlestop tour, because everything here will relate to the ‘spec’ that the bike received in the factory. These are often the parts fitted that will not affect the customisation of a bike, but are useful to know when looking at donors.
Gen 1 vs. Gen 2.
The clocks, the final drive and master cylinders. Yep, it is that easy.
The Gen1 has two clocks both integrated into a cluster with an “info centre” in between, for all the info outside of Speed and RPM, keeping it as one unit. Whereas the Gen2 has two individual clocks with small “info centres” at the bottom of each clock, one for Speed with an “info centre” for mileage, trip, time etc and one for RPM and Gear Indicator.
If you have a Gen2 Scrambler or Pure, which has the single speedo, identical to the Gen2 Speedo below, you’ll notice you don’t have a gear indicator displayed - if that annoys you, don’t sweat it, we’ve got you, we’ve got a damn fine fix for that - the DEVmoto Gear Indicator
Gen1 Left, Gen2 Right
Next on the ‘spot the difference’ list are the final drives. This is an easy one; Gen1 is Grey, Gen2 is Black.
Next up; Master Cylinders. On the Gen1 the master cylinder for the front brake is cast metal, however, the clutch is a cast plastic body with a cast metal perch/mirror mount (the bit that secures it to the handlebar). In the past, we have seen these mounts over tightened (the perch bolts) and the cast plastic body of the clutch cracks. If this happens, then it's a new master cylinder - tread carefully when refitting these after any work. If you have bar end mirrors fitted to a Gen1, mirror deletes are harder to come across, hence most people you have seen turned theirs upside down.
The Gen2 on the other hand has cast metal master cylinders on both the brake and clutch side, and the Mirror deletes are an easy fix - we offer these OEM parts to clean up the lines of the handlebars and do away with the mirror stalks - Mirror Deletes (8Nm for torque setting T30 socket).
The last tip for spotting the difference, so you know you can be fully sure; the Gen1 has FOUR bolts holding the Master Cylinder Caps on and the Gen2 has THREE.
Gen 2 vs. Gen 3.
Biggest difference here, before we get onto the aesthetics, is the fact that there is an ‘E-throttle’/ ‘Fly-By-Wire’ throttle control. Yes, the throttle cable, along with the need to balance/synchronise the throttles has gone. BMW Motorrad has made the connection between your wrist and engine fully digital. This now opens a world of possibilities, and here at PCC we’ve been thoroughly exploring them - Pier City R nineT Electronics Packages.
Now that the idea of more power and more fun has you thoroughly excited, let's point out the main aesthetic differences, so you know you can be sure that; 1) the model you own is what you thought it was (or you now know what it is), and 2) the bike you keep going back to on the classifieds page is exactly the bike it's advertised as.
Aside from the throttle and throttle body changes, the main aesthetic differences to help you decipher at a glance are; headlight, cylinder head cover design and the addition of airbox covers.
The Gen1 and 2 share the same headlight, BMW didn’t see the need to update that, however, if you feel that the OE headlight on your Gen1 or 2 doesn’t give you good enough coverage at night and needs an upgrade, here you go - LED Headlight Upgrade
The Gen3 had a brand new headlight, with integrated control unit, similar to the R18. It’s easy to see the difference between the generations, but as promised, pictures below;Gen1 & 2 Left, Gen3 Right
The Gen1 and 2 cylinder head cover design stayed unchanged between 2014-2020 due to the throttle still being ‘analog’, whereas the bikes received an all new design for the Gen3, in order to accommodate the changes internally for the new ‘digital’ throttle network and EU-5 compliance.
You’ll also see the Air Box covers, a new feature on all the Gen3 models and one of your aesthetic generation ID markers. Gen1 & 2 Left, Gen3 Right;
Round 3
Penultimate round. Well done if you have made it this far and I hope you have found it insightful and your coffee is still warm.
In this round, I want to give some brief guidance on what generation and model is best for the style of build you are looking for. In the past, we have had a few customers, very excited customers, buy the donor bike for their build, then come to us, only for us to say “if you had given us a shout before you got that bike, we would have said ‘No bueno for that generation and model, get this one then you can do x,y,z far easier’”.
Midnight Series
To create the ultimate Midnight series bike, the Gen3 platform is the one to go for if you are starting from scratch. The main reason that we say this is due to the fantastic new prospects that come with the digital throttle on the Gen3. The PCC Electronics Package can only be fitted to the Gen3 models and these upgrades far surpass the performance and opportunities that the Gen1 & Gen2 allow.
However, with that said, all is not lost if you have a Gen1 or Gen2 machine and wish to enter the depth of Midnight. Our Everest build is a fully spec’d out bike without a doubt, but its donor was a sweet Gen2 Roadster. It features a PCC Airbox Removal paired with RB Evo, G&G Exhaust, Suspension, the whole nine yards - Everest build details
And let’s not forget that the OG PCC Midnight Series bike, the Midnight Racer, is a Gen1 Roadster. Yep, a Gen1.
You can see the DNA within the series, and that’s not by accident, we strive to give every build the high quality PCC Midnight finish. Rory has carefully detailed each and every build on Our Builds page so you can replicate a build yourself, or ping us an email to get on our workshop waiting list to have yours created.
Muscle Series
A series that started (we didn’t realise at the time) with one of our very first builds, the Pure Muscle. This later spawned many other Muscle inspired bikes, including the Tour Muscle;
If this is the build your heart desires, then there is one thing you’ll need to be mindful of. It has caught us out at the workshop once before, only once mind you, but it was a lot of head scratching to come up with a workable solution.
To get the fat tyre front end of a Muscle series bike, you’ll need a 140/80 17 front tyre - this means that you’ll need to purchase a Scrambler as the donor, and definitely not a Pure. Without going too deep and keeping it basic, the (approx) diameter of the 140/80 17 Muscle tyre is 655mm, compared to that of a standard front tyre on a Scrambler 120/70 19 which measures 650mm, 0.8% smaller than the Muscle tyre. This deficit is not enough to bother the sensitive ABS and ASC system. Once you have purchased a pair of 17” wheels off a 2017-2023 Roadster or a Pure and fitted the larger tyres, it is a plug and play mod.
The only caveat to this rule, is if, and only if, your Pure has switchgears that have GREY buttons. If this is the case with your bike, then you can crack on with the 140/80 17 without any further modifications. If your Pure has BLACK buttons on the switchgears, then it's a “No Bueno!” for the muscle front end and you’ll need to get your Pure up for sale and start hunting for a Scrambler. That’s it in a nutshell. Grab yourself another cup of the good stuff and have a good butchers at our build pages - this information will hopefully have inspired you to either fill your basket or draft us an email to get your ride looking as you want it to - Our Builds
Round 4
A quick guide to the ‘non crossovers’ and FAQ’s.
Exhausts.
The most popular compatibility question landing in our inbox refers to the exhaust. The flap delete, to be exact. One thing that crossed over from Gen1 to Gen2 is the ability to be able to swap out the exhaust Servo flap. A simple job of grabbing the following; Flap Delete, Servo Buddy, coffee, Rory’s impressive moustache and cracking on. However, this is NOT the case with a Gen3. The flap is now integrated into the headers. Yep, the headers and flap are now one piece. To get rid of your flap, you’ll now need; 2021+Headers, Servo Buddy, coffee and me looking like a Carhartt ambassador.
Airbox removal.
Whilst the basics in the Air Box Removal kits will crossover, the fuelling side of things need a different approach. With every air box removal we will carry out in the workshop, we also insist on a fuelling modification, the bike needs it because that extra airflow needs to be accounted for.
For our domestic Gen3 customer base; grab a PCC Electronics Package, and for all of our non-domestic Gen3 customers that are carrying out there ABR at home, we recommend the Rapid Bike SMART
New Blood
The all new R12 R nineT has introduced the ‘R12’ name to the Motorrad Heritage stable. The new R12 nineT. Watch this space, (and our socials and email subscription, oh and our YouTube channel!) for future updates on what the R12 will bring to the four walls of Pier City!
