1200 Home Servicing?

[sproggy]

I know this is a bit of an open-ended....er.....can of worms......or something, but how easy/sensible is home servicing on the 1200 compared to the 1100/1150s? I've owned various 11** BMs and always serviced them myself but now 1200s are out of warranty and the price has come down I'm wondering whether there's anything fundamentally different about working on them?

Things like valve clearances, rocker end-float, TPS setting, throttle balancing - all the things that, if done properly (i.e. not by a dealer against the clock) make a good bike excellent. Does that all apply to the 1200 too or does every other job require it to be plugged into a diagnostic box?

And (accepting that anyone on this forum is probably biassed) is owning a 1200 without a warranty now a safe thing to do from a financial well-being point of view?

 

[JPB]

Check out Jim Von Baden's GS maintenance DVD.

 

[Slowdown]

Check out Jim Von Baden's GS maintenance DVD.

Most/All of it's on the web...

http://www.jimvonbaden.com/R1200_24K.html

http://www.jimvonbaden.com/R1200_Final_Drive.html


The brakes are dead straighforward - Jim's put up a new 'HOWTO' on ADVRider, but the fluid change is the same procedure as any 'normal' bike from the 80's onwards...

If you want to do Throttle balance, just follow Jims procedure on ADVRider and disconnect the stepper motor connectors - or buy a GS911

All the fluids are easy to get from somewhere like Opie Oils (with a nice discount if you're a subscriber) and odd various tools to make certain jobs a bit easier are easily found with quick searches.



All of the above is quoted from the notes I've found. As I'm doing the 24k service using them this weekend, I *may* have to eat some humble pie on Monday and will have that beautiful thing that is the benefit of hindsight

 

[Decster]

And (accepting that anyone on this forum is probably biassed) is owning a 1200 without a warranty now a safe thing to do from a financial well-being point of view?

A lot of guys on here with 2004 1200s. Chris Kelly has one and gives it the proper gs treatment, ie sits on it him being a tosser, nah just kidding Mr Kelly, but has roaded, laned and off roaded with it in the last 5 years


of course i may be wrong but he recently posted yesterday in the McN journo post about his bike...

 

[deaninkl]

Sproggy there is so much info out there home servicing is easy to even the most basic spanner monkey. As well as the DVD's look at this site: http://www.r1200gs.info/index.html
Avrider and this site are full of all you will ever need. I have a haynes manual (find it confusing as it combines to many models) and the reprom, but have never used either as everything on the web is so much easier to follow.

Mines just out of warranty so all future work will be at home. And everything I've dome so far on the GS has been easy, just get the correct tools.

 

[Slowdown]

.... just get the correct tools.

Any excuse for more tools, huh ???

 

[sproggy]

Thanks for the replies. So home servicing isn't really a problem - all I have to do is persuade myself that a 1200 is better for me than an 1150, because first time around (having owned one of each) that's not what I reckoned. But I know the 1200 is a better bike for me on paper...........

 

[swissrob]

be aware the brake bleeding is not a simple exercise - the reservior you see on the bars is only an activiatiing reservior for the abs unit and the abs unit has its own internal reservior.

if you try and bleed the system as a nrmal nn abs bike you will feck the abs pump.

its a tank off job and u need to make up some adaptors to do the job.

 

[cookie]

be aware the brake bleeding is not a simple exercise - the reservior you see on the bars is only an activiatiing reservior for the abs unit and the abs unit has its own internal reservior.

if you try and bleed the system as a nrmal nn abs bike you will feck the abs pump.

its a tank off job and u need to make up some adaptors to do the job.

not on the later, non servo, models i'm told. but i've not seen a manual that covers them yet.

 

[Steptoe]

Do not use dot 4 brake/clutch fluid in a 1200 clutch.

 

[Slowdown]

be aware the brake bleeding is not a simple exercise -

If you don't have servo assisted brakes ('07 onwards???) it is as simple as it gets

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461342

 

[sproggy]

I wouldn't buy a 1200 with servo brakes, simple as that. It limits my choices on the used market but I neither like nor trust the system. The '06 model 1200 I had a couple of years ago had normal brakes - I specified it that way against the dealer's recommendation because although I'd have been happy with ABS I didn't want the servo that came with it.

I know 1150s can be de-servo'd but I'm sure doing the same with a 1200 is near-impossible with the way the wiring works.

Interesting comment about not using DOT4 fluid in the clutch, though - why's that?

 

[st247]

Interesting comment about not using DOT4 fluid in the clutch, though - why's that?

It uses mineral oil. If you put brake fluid in it fcuks all the seals.

 

[sproggy]

Ah. Odd. Another item on the list of BM oddnesses (good word, huh?).

 

[Pukmeister]

Sorry Neil (Slowdown) but just read your earlier post, I would not recommend disconnecting the idle stepper motors in order to do a throttle synch because:

1) They fail set at whatever they were last at, not necessarily in the correct position for a perfect throttle balance at low RPM.

2) Disconnection will throw up a fault code in the ecu (resettable with a GS911 of course, but not everybody has access to one).

I used to use a Morgan carbtune 2, holding the throttle at 4000rpm to prevent the idle steppers affecting the readings. Havent done it since I bought my GS911 but I have reset the idle steppers using it to test the software in service mode.

 

[Slowdown]

.....I would not recommend disconnecting the idle stepper motors in order to do a throttle synch .....

http://www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.obxaszqugbllbuna&pageId=264844

YMMV......

 

[JPB]

Thanks for the replies. So home servicing isn't really a problem - all I have to do is persuade myself that a 1200 is better for me than an 1150, because first time around (having owned one of each) that's not what I reckoned. But I know the 1200 is a better bike for me on paper...........

More powerful, lighter, better-looking, what's not to prefer about a 1200?

Don't be put off by tales of ABS problems; the vast majority of owners have no issues at all and the claims that a good rider can do it better are delusional for all except a few really top professionals, IMHO!

 

[sproggy]

More powerful, lighter, better-looking, what's not to prefer about a 1200?

Their complete lack of character? That's the main issue for me. I rode a 3 month old one at the local dealer on Saturday - it was one of the worst bikes I've ever ridden. Rough as anything, incredibly snatchy delivery in traffic, awful surging on a light throttle. I know that it was set up badly and could have been a better bike by far, but it amazes me that dealers don't set up their demo bikes properly. Anyway, £9,600 for a bike like that? No thanks. I've decided to go for another 1150 as aside from the lack of character of the 1200 the riding position gives me back pain that I don't get on an 1150.