2nd Hand 1150 - What to Look For

[ridersofthelosttrail]

Hi
I recently posted about the differences between 12, an the 1150. I have opted to try and get hold of a decent 1150, as primarily, they are easier to maintain, and secondly they are cheaper.
Are there any innate mechanical problems that I need to look out for, and are there any 'bad years', in terms of manufacture??
Thanks for all your help.

 

[oblertone]

Cue ...

... the ABS naysayers

 

[Udders]

Bulletproof mate! It seems you can lob them off bike lifts too without much damage!

 

[Ady00]

Generally looking at the owner will tell you most about the bike, had mine for seven years and no major problems in 57,000 miles they take mega abuse and as long as they are serviced which is all diy if your inclined to do your own they reward with good service in return, mine came with ABS and no problems there although I would'nt have had it given the choice but thats personal preference and mine's pre servo brakes which was BMW's solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place and if you can avoid servo brakes so much the better IMHO but then that could limit the choices out there for you. Good luck anyway they are cracking machines but I know one thats not for sale...............ever

 

[Boxergs]

Wot he says

As above,

Had mine for almost 8 yrs, 100,000m now, still love it.

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

... the ABS naysayers

He'd be better off without for his Spanish trail rides and it's one less thing to go wrong.

If you do buy one with ABS it can always be removed later and dependant upon how far you want to go look out for a GSA which should come with crash bars (you'll need them someday )and hopefully wide offroad footpegs. There's loads of bike with bling on them so look for bash plates, crud catchers and solid cylinder headguards (not the plastic BMW ones). You should be able to get very good, low mileage GSA with lots of bling (including hard luggage) for around £5K privately and significantly less for a standard R1150GS without any augmentation.

 

[ridersofthelosttrail]

Is there any real difference between the years???

 

[ridersofthelosttrail]

He'd be better off without for his Spanish trail rides and it's one less thing to go wrong.

If you do buy one with ABS it can always be removed later and dependant upon how far you want to go look out for a GSA which should come with crash bars (you'll need them someday )and hopefully wide offroad footpegs. There's loads of bike with bling on them so look for bash plates, crud catchers and solid cylinder headguards (not the plastic BMW ones). You should be able to get very good, low mileage GSA with lots of bling (including hard luggage) for around £5K privately and significantly less for a standard R1150GS without any augmentation.

Definitely don't want ABS. I teach others (admittedly on smaller trail bikes) how to handle skids, and how to use them to an advantage. ABS would drive me mad.

 

[ridersofthelosttrail]

What are the main differences between the standard 1150, and the Adventure??
Sorry for being ignorant!!

 

[Sleepy]

ABS would drive me mad.

You wouldn't know it was fitted, until you needed it...

 

[Jiffy176]

The abs can also be turned off. Before owning a GS i was a basic home mechanic oil filter etc. since owning the bike I've done valves floats timing belt fuel filter and a fair bit more. V easy to work on. Love mine great bike.

 

[Steptoe]

Definitely don't want ABS. I teach others (admittedly on smaller trail bikes) how to handle skids, and how to use them to an advantage. ABS would drive me mad.

You can turn the abs off.

The abs on abs only models is very reliable.
It's the servo that may cause problems on the servo/abs models.

 

[haydw]

Basic adv differences are 20mm taller suspension,option of larger 33 litre tank,single bench seat. Also think 1st gear is different? Condition is more important over mileage, there are the usual rot spots of the top yoke/ fork brace and bottom of forks an.d front engine cover. Service history a plus, but you will never see two exactly the same spec.

Have you been introduced to the wonders of a touratech catalogue yet?

 

[st1cks]

Like your thinking -
I bought a SORNed 2000 non servo ABS 1150GS 20k miles in need of TLC this time last year for £2900.

Bike was trailered round, I rebuilt the brakes as they were not serviceable, all nice and easy as already mentioned without the servo and generally checked (electrical and mechanical), cleaned and tidied things up before taking to the road and MOTing.

Needed new tyres as the compound was ageing and treated the bike to a dealer service after much debate as there had been several owners, there was a patchy service record and I had little confidence in what had been done before. (Looking to do my own in future).

Since then I've enjoyed over 10,000 faultless miles mostly around Scotland and the islands including 4,000 miles with Mrs St1cks from Shetland to Spain and back.

Oil consumption is minimal, still adding bits and pieces to get things as I like and I've nearly scrubbed this set of Tourances.

Only innate problem to report is you will have to beware of excessive build up of flies in your teeth but other than that enjoy the beast !!

 

[ridersofthelosttrail]

Is there any difference between a 2001 model, and say a 2004 model??

 

[cookie]

Is there any difference between a 2001 model, and say a 2004 model??

the 2004 will be a twin spark. if it has abs, it will have servos.

 

[DollyRocket]

On my bike (2003 originally with servo but now taken out), I have found that the more miles it has, the better the engine seems to run.

- not meaning that you should buy a rusty old nail though ! don't be put off by high mileages as the condition is more important. Key places to look :

1) Front Forks (Wheel mount - Look for corrosion)
2) Front Fork Brace (usually corroded due to salt)
3) Front engine cover (Gets road salt thrown up from front wheel)
4) Gearbox case (for corrosion or paint peeling)
5) Rear Chassis (look at welded joints & mounts to engine - The engine / gearbox is a stressed member - i.e. part of the chassis)
6) Final drive - Look for oil leaks from gaitor
7) ABS (if a servo model check lights extinguish on pull away, or listen for clunk)
8)

If you get the chance for a ride, check bike pulls strongly in all gears and doesn't drop a cog. - Check all the obvious spots too. The 1150 is a more reliable and more user-friendly (old school electrics - i.e. no canbus!) than the 1200.

 

[GSmiles]

Is there any difference between a 2001 model, and say a 2004 model??

Yes.

The paint was a different colour

There was also a gearbox revision from 2003 onwards, and the engine gets two spark plugs per cylinder. The gearbox deal was to prevent the occasional occurence of input shaft/clutch problems, even though many high mileage "early models" have had no problems, some bikes did suffer input shaft problems at low mileage. ( Bit like 1200GS final drive units- probably better not to do wheelies all the time...) The twin spark deal was to get past the surging that occurred in the higher horsepower versions (RT, RS) of the 1150 engine under certain steady throttle conditions. The GS used a less highly tuned version in its single spark variant and did not suffer from inherent surging. If you miss a service, either variant will end up surging - these bikes like regular valve adjustment and throttle synchronisation. Early or late model, both types last a long time- nobody ever seems to break an engine and people ask loads of dosh for bikes with 50000miles on board. Will you out-live your GS?

Looking at your earlier questions about 1200 vs 1150, I reckon the 1150 is easier to handle off-road despite its extra weight because it has better low-rev torque - it pulls from 1200 rpm ( vs 2000rpm for the 1200) and that just makes life so much easier as you only have to balance and steer through the nadgery bits, you don't have to slip the clutch at the same time - Its hard to multi-task (ask a girl).... The 1200 will win a race on the road though.

The 1150 was built, the 1200 is clipped together.

I've done 64000 miles on 1200GS, and only a few on the 1150 I got last summer, but the 1150 does seem to be very fine indeed.

However, some people say that the 1100 is the REAL one....

Whatever you get, enjoy the ride.

 

[Arsey]

Look no further

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

Definitely don't want ABS. I teach others (admittedly on smaller trail bikes) how to handle skids, and how to use them to an advantage. ABS would drive me mad.

You can just turn it off. They work as standard brakes too! Not a reason to avoid them!


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