09 gsa..........regrets?

[tatustu]

Hi ive just bought a 09 gsa, and maybe its just me and my OCD, but have i just bought a turkey. I was under the impression this bike was super reliable, able to go round the world with no worries about breakdowns and such, but after joining the forum and reading a few post, im a little concerned. Seems loads of faults and breakdowns occurring.
I know all bikes breakdown at some point, but is this bike really so unreliable. EWS failing, and the fuel pump controller unit issue, these worry me. I really dont want to be stuck in the middle of no where, with a goosed bike.
I know ill probably get shot down in flames by other die hard forum members, but it does worry me a little.

Stu

 

[Decster]

Hi ive just bought a 09 gsa, and maybe its just me and my OCD, but have i just bought a turkey. I was under the impression this bike was super reliable, able to go round the world with no worries about breakdowns and such, but after joining the forum and reading a few post, im a little concerned. Seems loads of faults and breakdowns occurring.
I know all bikes breakdown at some point, but is this bike really so unreliable. EWS failing, and the fuel pump controller unit issue, these worry me. I really dont want to be stuck in the middle of no where, with a goosed bike.
I know ill probably get shot down in flames by other die hard forum members, but it does worry me a little.

Stu

read the thread, search 'Oisin', he went around the word on a 12gsa.

Search 'Timolgra Mongolia' him and few lads went there and i think the 1200 had no probs but the 1150s did

and they all survived

 

[Robbo1200ADV]

Has yours got these faults or are you worried it will get them??? My advice get out ride it if a fault develops its fixable. I've had 5 GS's no bother .Spend your time riding not worrying

 

[Mightytharg]

I'm having a few niggles with my current GSA but I've had different BMs over the course the last 13 years with nothing but minor troubles despite doing more than average bike mileages.

Whilst you do get the odd fanboy on forum sites, a lot of people come looking for forums because they have a problem or issue that they want help with - this can distort your view of how reliable the bikes may be but you just need to remember that for every person who's posting a problem there may be numerous others who are having no trouble at all and just ride their bikes without ever feeling the need to post on a forum.

So don't panic just yet.

 

[Hax]

Hi, l've had my 10 gsa just over a year with zero! issues yet l've seen posts where same age/bike has had a fault.
As has been said before on here..for every post where a bike has a fault there will be many more! which dont. They just dont get posted about.
l've got a years warranty left, then l'll take the extended warranty issue for peace of mind. Enjoy it!!, best bike l've ever had bar none.

 

[karlp]

Has yours got these faults or are you worried it will get them??? My advice get out ride it if a fault develops its fixable. I've had 5 GS's no bother .Spend your time riding not worrying

exactly

 

[MickF]

I have a 09 GSA from new with no problems. I'm riding beemers for 12 years without any problems. I had a washer on an oil cooler pipe corrode and seep oil once! I've had five bmw's and have never had any of the apparantly common problems such as diff seal. The majority of users here would never had any issues either. Unfortunately some of the polls posted here give the wrong impression regaring dependability. With so many members and visitors using the site the polls can give a distorted view of reality. If I rode any bike that suffered numerous diff or final drive failures I would be moving on and going back to Honda! I've travelled most of Europe and South Africa without any issues with BMW's. I would not be regarded as being a sluggish rider either. I believe in using all the gee gees when appropriate!!

 

[Ian M]

My 2009 GS is now 18 months old and has done 11,000 miles - which means it's nicely run in and uses very little oil. So far, it's had 2 services (660 miles and 6,500 miles), worn out one set of tyres and had a headlight bulb blow. I'm not grumbling.

 

[Norm]

June 2010 - 11 bikes ridden (by dudes off this very site) across the USA -San Fransisco to Baltimore.
9 of them were 1200's GSA's and GS's I think the oldest was a a 54 reg and up to 09's.
4 weeks of riding 8 hours or so every day.
We did approx 6500 miles each (circa 58k miles), Thru deserts up mountains off road etc etc etc

The only major fault was with an 1150 final drive bearing

The 1200's well......
1 suffered a niggly brake slave cylinder problem on the morning of the ride thru death valley which was cured with a strategic knock
2 bikes had failed batteries.
1 suspension gave way but a right old Fat bastard had been riding it for the last 35,000 miles. The Spacehopper was his name

Nowt wrong wi um

 

[AberdeenAngus]

I don't think GS's are particularly unreliable.
Go onto any forum about any bike, or car, or whatever ....and there will be stories about failures.
Thing is, you don't see the stories from the thousands that havn't had a failure. Got to keep it in perspective.

I did a big trip on my 09 GSA last year. Neither mine nor any of the other 3 GS's had a single problem. The Africa twin with us blew a regulator and the XT had carb problems.....go figure

At the end of the day it's a big complex bike full of stuff you can't fix at the roadside.

Am I happy to travel round Europe and N.Africa on it - yes.

Would I use it to do the road of bones - no. I'd probably use something simpler (and feckin lighter).

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265052

 

[Rasher]

I was under the impression this bike was super reliable

Me too, and I think BMW play on a very out of date reputation, cost cutting and profiteering have obviously affected the brand badly (or not as they make a fortune on spares after the fortue they make with the premium charge for the supposedly quality bike)

I must admit I thought exactly the same as you (much to the annoyance of many a blinkered BMW fanatic) but asking around it seems they are not so bad and some of the problems have been ironed out, it certainly seems EWS and FPC failures are now quite rare.

The first batch of 1200's must have been breaking down before most owners got them home, and I think some people probably had a terrible time with repeated FPC / EWS / FD etc.

Later bikes should be better, and earlier ones recalled for the electrical gremlins to be sorted, at which point they are probably not much worse than most other bikes - just no better than the Japanese bikes (which tend to be considerably cheaper to buy and maintain.

I had visions (delusions?) of routine maintenance taking me to 100,000 miles with few problems, the reality is at some point I will probably have to spend £1500 on a final drive, this may happen at 10k, it may last until 50k, as for the other faults I am now starting to think they are pretty isolated considering the number of GS's out there, although no other bike I know of has as many potentially expensive "common" failures.

I think you woud be unlucky to have the whole lot go on one bike, just don't blame me if your bike drops a valve and the dealer then tells you the FD is on its way out and the ABS controller is shot and presents you with a £6k estimate - that can be worked around with an insurance policy and very deep lake - probably a fair few GS's waiting to be discovered by Scuba divers all over the world.

 

[Dainese Brave]

I think there must be loads of threads like this... 'i've bought a Gs, but reading on here I'm now convinced it's going to decompose in the garage overnight!!'

The Gs is a brilliant bike..but not a faultless bike.

It has faults, but it also has character. But like any bike it can go wrong. Keep in mind that there are a lot of Gs's sold, so a run of faults can be a small percentage of production.

There is also the thought that people only moan when there's something wrong, and not as eager to praise......but in fairness to the Gs range, there are a lot of positive feelings expressed by owners.

I'm sure there are horror stories on other forums for other manufacturers and their models!

I think sometimes there is a type of buyer drawn to the Gs, who are drawn from other 'stables'.

Someone who's been buying Hondas all his life might be startled at the vibration/oil use/tractor engine performance...maybe even new owners who've come from a BMW touring bike background.

I've never really had such an issue with some of those that seem earth shattering for others. However I also don't agree with shoddy build quality, or final drives that have a shorter lifespan than the tyres!!

Overall the Gs is a great bike. I would just enjoy your bike, and deal with any issues if you have any. They are great touring machines, look in the travel section for insperation..and mine have certainly always been brilliant touring tools for me.

Relax...and enjoy.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

EWS and Fuel pump controller doesn't apply to the 09 bikes as it has the newer parts and or is designed differently. The The EPC doesn't sit in a pool of water like the early bikes for a start. FD failure is still possible but would appear to be more limited. There are no other common failures really. You will hear about dropping valves and the like but they are fairly rare.
You really have 3 choices here.
1 Get on with it and enjoy a good bike and forget about the problems you read on here. You only hear of problems on forums, its the nature of them and don't forget BMW have sold thousands of these bikes so there are a lot around.
2 As above but take out a warranty to cover costs if anything does go wrong. Its costs a fair bit when you factor in having to pay for servicing and the like but hey its peace of mind if your that way inclined. If you cant do your own servicing then its only another £300 a year.
3 Sell up now and you never need to worry about it again. Go buy another bike which you perceive to be more reliable. If you do this then save yourself some hassle and read forums on what you fancy before buying the bike so you are well warned beforehand.

Its really up to you now what direction you take and good luck to you whichever way you choose.

PS just so you know, there are a few punters on here who do no end of grumbling about how garbage these bikes are but they still have a 1200 and still spend a fortune adding a whole manner of bling onto the bikes.

 

[Pip_UK]

Hi Stu, understand your concerns about being stranded, but this concern can be a positive if it encourages you to keep your phone charged and to let a friend know your itinerary and ETAs, which is good practice anyway if you're going out into the sticks.

Other than that, the more great rides you have on your bike, the better you'll feel about it, so go out, have some adventures and make some memories.

My 1200's been through some horrible riding conditions without any fuss at all, and sometimes it feels more like the bike's looking after me than the other way round.

 

[diplomaticdanny]

Hi Stu, have an 06 GSA with servo ABS (supposedly a nightmare), have covered 24000 trouble free miles, bought it second hand with 2300 miles at nearly two years old. Bike is an absolute pleasure to own, ride and look at in the garage.

 

[Big Nick]

The GS'er forum is easily the most heavily subscribed to owners site I've been on so it stands to reason they'll be more talk of problems as people don't tend to post when their bike is running fine.

As already said just ride the thing and if you're unlucky enough to have a problem the warranty will sort it, if not get it fixed and ride it some more!!

For the record I've done nearly 14000 miles on 1200's without a problem (yet!!)

 

[Rasher]

PS just so you know, there are a few punters on here who do no end of grumbling about how garbage these bikes are but they still have a 1200 and still spend a fortune adding a whole manner of bling onto the bikes.

That's me that is...

Thought it had everything I needed, then quickly added the best part of £2k to the damn thing, hoping it proves reliable as it is a joy to ride.

At least when you perceive it is gonna break down every few hundred yards it repeatedly exceeds all your expectations, 2500 miles on and it still ain't gone wrong!

 

[tatustu]

Thanks everyone, i feel a wee bit better now......f**k it,just gonna ride the damn thing and have fun. It rides great, puts a big grin across ma chops.

 

[Tuono1961]

Two things :-

1. Theres bloody millions of GS's every where. So the total number of problems is going to be a lot higher.

2. Look at the milages these bikes are doing. Yer average Jap plastic projectile is advertised for sale with low miles when it's under 5k. A low milage GS is more like 24k. People come on here complaining that something or other has packed up "and it's only done 48k miles". Most rice rockets are stuck in a hedge and written off way before they ever cover that distance.These bikes aren't bought as garage queens to only be ridden down to Box Hill once a month when the sun is shinning. They're bought by people who want to go places, usually very far away.

Mind you it's easy to say that when one owns an 18k bike that's had virtually no issues. I wouldn't be saying the same if I was on my 3rd final drive