Glad............

JohnnyBoxer

JohnnyBoxer

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jan 3, 2002
Messages
44,957
Reaction score
871
Location
North Yorkshire
that I didn't buy a 1200GS this year and bought another new 1150GS (servo ABS or not) instead, in March 2004.

3 friends in the locality who have them, have currently got them in at the dealers...........

1 on a trip to Scottish Highlands last weekend..............broke down with fuel pump (despite a full 6000 mile service last Fri) and had to take the train back to Lincolnshire.The bike is in Edinburgh............perhaps he's got rear drive failure to look forward to !!!!!!!

2 have got to have new final drives ................1 @ 1700 miles and 1 @ 3500 miles (approx).

3 out of 3...........100% breakdown rate............not good!!

Plus all 3 have had other problems along the way, so far.

Let's hope that BMW get it right in the future...........but some people in the bike press have doubts on K1200S, after trying at N/Ring
 
Glad.....or Happy??

My 1200 has arrived at Vines and I'll be getting it next week. As a consequence I've been reading this board a bit over the past month. Today I read the "Philip" - report at 2500 miles" and think "yee-ha" defo made the right decision and then read this post (and there have been others like them) saying how unreliable the bike is. It's popular to bash critics of a bike on its own discussion board but I would certainly listen to critics from other BMW owners (esp. GS) as opposed to non-BMW owners.

I'm too dim to figure it out but is there not a voting/poll facility on this board so that everyone who had this bike could say whether they have had problems with this bike or not?
 
1200gs breaking down!!

Any bike which have been in production for a while can have problems.
The 1200 may have problems and if it brakes down and can be repaired , under warranty so be it .
I've had quality cars with problems but once repaired they have not stopped me from enjoying the car and the ride.

In Germany last year my friends 1150RS packed up and was given a replacement bike for the trip.
He then bought a R1100s and has had his fair share of problems.
He's a traffic cop and has just ordered a 1200gs for delivery this Saturday

I,ve had an RT which packed in 5 days after purchase in 2002 and had to be towed into Rainbow Motor Cycles .
My current 1150 GS had electrical problems and was also recalled by the dealership this year for work on it.

The 1200 to me is still aswome and as long as the problems can be rectified whist under warranty its a small price to pay for 100% adrenaline and enjoyment.

Howie
 
Re: 1200gs breaking down!!

Howie said:
Any bike which have been in production for a while can have problems.
The 1200 may have problems and if it brakes down and can be repaired , under warranty so be it .
I've had quality cars with problems but once repaired they have not stopped me from enjoying the car and the ride.

In Germany last year my friends 1150RS packed up and was given a replacement bike for the trip.
He then bought a R1100s and has had his fair share of problems.
He's a traffic cop and has just ordered a 1200gs for delivery this Saturday

I,ve had an RT which packed in 5 days after purchase in 2002 and had to be towed into Rainbow Motor Cycles .
My current 1150 GS had electrical problems and was also recalled by the dealership this year for work on it.

The 1200 to me is still aswome and as long as the problems can be rectified whist under warranty its a small price to pay for 100% adrenaline and enjoyment.

Howie
Click to expand...

Good philosophy..............its sometimes more than inconvenient to break down but if thats the price to be paid for supreme enjoyment then what the hell. So long as you are dealt with properly by the dealer/BMW and all faults are rectified then it may not be a big price to pay. It shouldn't happen though really, should it?

I suppose if 100% reliability was everything then would we all drive something like a Nissan Micra or Toyota Corolla (which always seem to come top in the reliability surveys) and nobody would own a Noble , Lotus. TVR, Freelander, Discovery etc.
 
jonboy said:
That's not the point at all and you know it.


.
Click to expand...

No, Jon, I don't. JB was reporting the experience of the only 3 people in his circle who own this bike. Their experience is, at best, an extremely unfortunate coincidence - but, more likely I feel, supports the notion that BMW are continuing to use their customers as beta testers of their product, rather than doing the R&D themselves.

BMW promote themselves on a high degree of engineering excellence - the experience of JB's mates doesn't seem to support this, does it? Can you picture the situation if the same proportion of 3 series BMW cars were suffering final drive failures as GSes (both 1100, 1150 & 1200s) - to say nothing of LTs? The motoring press would slaughter them...

I'm no luddite - I'd welcome a 1200 if I needed a new bike and I'm not bashing the 1200 per se - but I do feel that BMW's apparent policy of releasing a bike before it has been fully reseached and developed is a sad indictment of a marque that used to be a benchmark for excellence.

I'd not plan to buy a BMW bike in the first year of production - too high a risk for a vehicle I'd want to rely on...

Mike:)
 
Mike O said:
Do you have 3 friends with 1200s? Please post their experience...

Mike:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yes..

1/ Georgia my wife.. Balance shaft oil seal at 100 miles, rough slow speed running.
All sorted, 8,000 miles since May.. running like a dream

2/ Panzer Patrol.. New rear sub frame due to pin hole in weld.
6,000 and he's well happy.

3/Charlie.. New rear shock.. 5,000 miles and he is also happy.

All of the above have owned 1150's which also had problems. They all think the 1200 is superb.
Get my 1200 on the 1st Sept.. had enough of the old GSA ;) :D
 
Get my 1200 on the 1st Sept.. had enough of the old GSA

Hang on a mo! I recall a thread a while back where you weighed all the pros and cons, took them out back to back and decided to stick with a GSA. What's happened?


Paul
 
Re: Get my 1200 on the 1st Sept.. had enough of the old GSA

Paul Wakefield said:
Hang on a mo! I recall a thread a while back where you weighed all the pros and cons, took them out back to back and decided to stick with a GSA. What's happened?


Paul
Click to expand...

Found during recent holidays that I was struggling with fully laden GSA... love the Bike but age & injuries catch up :(
We covered 4,000+ miles & 1200 always returned 20-25% better fuel consumption & I could manage it's weight without any issue.. got the chance of a cancelled order so the 1200 it is.
If I don't get on with it I can go back to a GSA.. just have too travel light;)
 
Have over ten thousand miles on mine and I couldn't be more thrilled with it. The most practical bike on the planet and the most fun I've had on two wheels. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers, change is difficult for some people.

cheers
 
feel that BMW's apparent policy of releasing a bike before it has been fully reseached and developed is a sad indictment of a marque that used to be a benchmark for excellence.
Click to expand...

I agree with Mike O, I have owned several BM.s and had 1 or 2 niggling probs but nothing more than you would expect.

But I am very suprised at the number of owners having problems with final drive etc is very suprising and potentialy very dangerous and most seem to have very little mileage which appears to mean 1 of 2 things poor testing or poor quality control when mass production started.

The 1100 GS & 1150GS had some problems when they were launched and it seems such a shame BMW haven't learned from this.

I'm not knocking the 1200 here as I have one on order myself. But I wonder how much damage BMW are doing to their past & Future image?.

John
 
Mike O said:
No, Jon, I don't.
Click to expand...

Well it's not exactly a fair sample group just three of your mates' bikes, is it?

Yes there are some problems but it appears that the GS12 is certainly no worse than the 1150 in this respect.

BMW promote themselves on a high degree of engineering excellence... ...but I do feel that BMW's apparent policy of releasing a bike before it has been fully reseached and developed is a sad indictment of a marque that used to be a benchmark for excellence.
Click to expand...

I happen to agree with you here. The bike division in no way mirrors that of the car division and BMW's reputation is certainly not what it used to be.

I'd not plan to buy a BMW bike in the first year of production - too high a risk for a vehicle I'd want to rely on...
Click to expand...

Me neither, one of the reason's I'm waiting a good year. ;)


.
 
jonboy said:
Yeah let's bash the GS12 again, why not?


.
Click to expand...

I was not being overly negative............just a truthful observation from 3 people I ride with..........which @ 100% failure rate and quite major things at that............seems pretty high.

All of them have had BMW's before and covered reasonable mileages, without any major problems, riding 1100RT's/1150RT's....1150GS/GSA and 1100S............until they get this new 1200GS model and they've all been hit with 'bike off road'.

Now combine this with other reports on this site (unrelated) to these chaps and the failure rate seems quite high..........with some people having bikes replaced seemingly FOC.............well doesn't this smack of a major problem..............
BMW wouldn't do this as a gesture of goodwill .............because they're just a 'nice' company,

Come on..........they're in business to produce a product and make money
 
Haggerstone, Metal Man, Jono, Rocket Robin - nice one guys :)

Mine is being delivered to me a week today, ready for the 01st.

Having weighed up the postings in recent months, and on reflection of owning an 1150, I'm totally convinced that I made the right choice of model for me personally.

I spoke to my dealer about drive problems because it seemed the only known consistent problem with the bike. They told me that they'd had one failure in the last two months..... and two with 1150's! If there is a single achilles heel with GS's it seems to be that, but that doesn't seem to be intrinsic to to the R1200GS only.

The dealers say they had a fuel remap from BMW and the clocks were sorted, but other than that no recalls and no other problems. In fact they went on to say how much better it seems reliability wise than the 1150 and in particular very good all-round for a new model BMW.

I don't think they told me this because I'm getting, another, new bike from them; because I'd already said it'll make no difference to my purchasing decision as I know BMW and my excellent dealer will rectify any problem I may get very quickly and efficiently; I'd just like to know the facts, so I know what to look out for etc.

The manager assured me any concerns weren't justified. He has always been very straight and honest with me over the years and I have no reason to disbelieve his word. In addition a friend who owns a number of prestige motorcycle shops including a solus BMW dealership told me there's no generic problem and to simply ride the damn thing and enjoy! Perhaps that's the best advise I can give anyone contemplating or waiting for their new AND SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED model R1200GS to arrive :)
 
1200GS is not only a very nice bike. It is also a BMW bike. It shares the same brand name and logo with my fully functional 30 years old r90/6...
BMW is a name that I can trust. If there is a problem, it will be fixed.

And I should get mine in a little bit less than 10 days :D
 
Only seen 3 or 4 at GS events this year..........
 
That's because, according to your location, you live in cloud cookoo land! :)
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Today's mystery...
Replies
11
Views
664
Riceburner
Riceburner
Ash700
New 1250 GSA - Value is too high!
Replies
4
Views
143
JohnnyBoxer
JohnnyBoxer
Continuing problems with connected ride app
Replies
17
Views
940
BlueRacer
Paul G (BHT)
Gmail not syncing across devices
Replies
18
Views
517
Mzokk
Mzokk
2008 GSA timing adjustment?
Replies
9
Views
605
magic dave


Back
Top Bottom