A year in the life of a 1200

Dellis

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So my 1200 is a year old and this is the story so far:

A Potted History

The bike has covered 18,900 miles all for pleasure :thumb lived in England and visited Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

The Running Costs

£1,811.00 Fuel
£97.34 600 mile service
£92.67 Rear Tourance @ 5,390 miles
£165.10 6,000 mile service
£47.90 Genuine rear pads
£146.95 Front & rear Tourances @ 11,018 miles
£183.20 12,000 mile service
£46.40 EBC front brake pads @ 14,750 miles (once bitten etc)
£72.85 Rear Tourance @ 15,833 miles
£178.61 18,000 mile service

£2,842.02 Total or 15.04 pence per mile excluding depreciation

I really don't want to start to add up the costs of the bolt on bits - lights, Autocom, GPS, Remus System etc etc

The Issues

Rear light assembly due to corrosion and a piss poor design
Pannier adjusting mechanism replaced
Rear disc due to warping (twice)
Front discs due to warping
Front engine cover due to corrosion
Both gearbox input shaft seals due to oil leaks however, I could not see any evidence of the leaking oil
Battery (let me down in Belgium)

Oil consumption

One litre every 10,000 miles ( next to knob all)

My Conclusions

Having ridden bikes for the last 27 years covering between 5,000 and 25,000 miles a year owning over 50 bikes including two 1150 GS's am I happy?

From a riding point of view I am over the moon, it's a better bike to ride than an 1150 and is a real world all round bike however the warranty issues have been a real pisser. What this bike should have been was the ride of a 1200 with the build quality of an 1150 sadly it lacks in the build quality stakes but I'm happy, it's better than owning a jap bike and still makes me laugh when I pass a power ranger while I'm two up and fully loaded with a weekends worth of camping gear :D

The 1200 is a corker and will be with me for a few more years and miles yet.

Dave :thumb
 
Great post Dave :thumb2 44 mpg average :eek: what was the best you got then, I`m no fast rider by any means, but I`m getting an average 54 mpg on me 1200 adventure with panniers.
 
GS`s are like a good women!

Dave

Great post and although the GS`s are never perfect, they are without doubt one of the best bikes on the planet for real world riding!!

And, aren`t the little problems and the ability to blow off steam on this site reason we love `em even more?

Bit like a good women really: not perfect, sometimes difficult to live with, can be expensive but they know how to but that huge smile on your face:D :D

Off to Mallory Park now to frighten some power rangers........ :thumb
 
Great post Dave :thumb2 44 mpg average :eek: what was the best you got then, I`m no fast rider by any means, but I`m getting an average 54 mpg on me 1200 adventure with panniers.

The cash figure for fuel is based on my usual litre for every ten miles which, as you say is around 44 mpg. However on a recent trip to the Alps I had two noteworthy tank fulls the first being my best ever 232 Miles and 19.26 litres giving 54.68 and the second my worst ever 163 miles 20.35 litres giving 36.36 mpg. The low figure is understandable as it is the last leg of an 870 mile day from Briancon to home in Cheshire and I just wanted to get to my bed!

Dave
 
The cash figure for fuel is based on my usual litre for every ten miles which, as you say is around 44 mpg. However on a recent trip to the Alps I had two noteworthy tank fulls the first being my best ever 232 Miles and 19.26 litres giving 54.68 and the second my worst ever 163 miles 20.35 litres giving 36.36 mpg. The low figure is understandable as it is the last leg of an 870 mile day from Briancon to home in Cheshire and I just wanted to get to my bed!

Dave

I have had similar MPG figures from my 1200GSA over the past year, based on 12,000 miles to date.

The bike is used mostly for touring in Europe and for days out in the UK, usually 200 miles +.

Mean average 44.5 mpg mostly on French N and D roads.

Best 56 mpg - a two day bimble down country lanes in France, hardly went aboove 5k rpm.

Worst low to mid 30's - bashing up the motorways on the return from the Steptoe Morocco jaunt.
 
Just to depress you a little - the fuel you bought would only have cost you $1,310 about 639 UK pounds!

I knew there had to be an advantage to living over here:thumb2
 
And looking at the pics from the Achill island do, what other bike is so good at long distance touring, back road razzing and can also do some pretty technical off-road.
Nowt else compares
 
Well...maybe a ktm :augie

Now that IS an ugly bike, I know beauty's in the eye of the beerholder but lets face it even a GS looks like Kate Moss next to one of those, I suppose there only salvation is the're not as bad as a Buell:augie (see the one in the new BIKE mag)PMSL!:jes
 


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