2012 vs 2013 RSS

[Bulldogger]

Any reason to take one over the other if buying used? I know the dash cluster and front fender lights are different on the 2013. looking for thoughts on the matter. Thanks

[Bob Denman]

This is a real good question!
The 2013 gets the Brembo brakes, 15" wheels, the new parts that you described, AND the 991 series engine.

The 2012 is a proven commodity, with the 106 horsepower 990 series engine...

The '13 will out-handle and out-brake the '12: that's my guess...
The '12 will be faster than the '13: another guess!
What's the price differential?

[Bulldogger]

Not much of a price difference, being used numbers are all over the place. Didn't realize there was a change in the engine though, thought that was the same.

[Bob Denman]

Yup!
The 991 is the "Throttle by wire" engine, that was used in all of the RTs prior to 2014. It was tuned for more torque at lower rpm levels.
The 990 has a throttle cable; it's much more foolproof, but adding cruise control is a whole lot tougher.
Another plus of the 990 engine: the recommended fuel octane to use in it, is 87. (It's 91 octane for the 991 engine, due to the much higher compression ratio. )

[PistonBlown]

Bob's got it pretty much covered there.

The only things I'd add is that the front frame on the 2013 was changed to make the mounting points for the shocks slightly higher which improved handling a bit (you can get a converter for the 2012 from a site sponsor that will do the same thing, can't remember who though:-)). The Catalytic converter is separate from the exhaust on the 2013, for the 2012 and before they were one unit. This means if you swap the exhaust on a 2012 you remove the cat as well - that can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view:-)

[Bulldogger]

2012 also had fox shocks I believe. From doing some more research and info from Bob, I think I will try and find a 2012. The fewer electronics to cause issues the better.

[Chupaca]

Gotta say, I have the RS sm5 2012 and with almost 35,000 tourble free miles I am loving it. I do not like the fenders, pipe or guage set up of the 13 much less the loss of power.I slowly added the shock relocators from Pitt Bull, BajaRon swaybar and the Fox shocks (the 13's had the fox shocks) and it will out handle the newer models with ease...then there is all the rest I have done to her that makes me very fond of the RS the early years....

[Rockwall]

9,000 trouble free miles on my 2012 RS. I like the power in the engine and never knew why they would want to reduce it and add weight. Also wasn't there heat issues on the 2013?

[WA5VHU]

I love my 2013 RS. I wanted to be able to go on longer trips than just spending the evening ryding around town pretending to be a crotch rocket so, among other things, I added the switch and now have cruise control, plus I added handlebars off an RT so I could sit up straight. Now my back and shoulders don't hurt and my hands aren't numb after a half-hour on the motorcycle. You can't add those changes as easily on a pre-2013.

As for the 2012 being simpler, I haven't heard much in the way of failures on those things that make the 2013 different from the 2012.

Remember that folks will post here to help THEM support THEIR decision, not necessarily what might should be YOUR best decision. That includes myself too!

[bmccaffrey]

13 rs and loving it. 13000 0 issues
The little difference in hp un-noticable.

Electronics better combination. BRP has been runnung every since.

All in all all the rs are pretty much bullet proof