Back again to BMW.

[Grums3]

Hello to you all,

I'm returning to BMW after a pretty troubled 3 yrs with my Ducati Multistrada.

I test rode the GS Adventure LC from my local dealer back in early April and after the first few miles I knew it was going to be the bike for me. Then after 150 miles I went back and signed on the dotted line after some negotiations.
I've traded in my Multi already and this is the first time in years I've been without a bike and after having had some great weather these last few weeks it's been killing me not being able to get out and ride.
I've been told that my bike will be here in the next few weeks but lets just wait and see eh!!

I have ordered a GSA TE in Blue and added all boxes n inner bags, sat nav, akro exhaust and gear shift assist.

Nice to be coming back to the BMW community and look forward to sharing information about the bike and upcoming trips with you all.

 

[Georgeeboi]

Congrats enjoy! Take no notice of all the doom and gloom merchants on here.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[dave hendy]

Welcome back, hope you don't have to wait too long. I tested the Multistrada and was quite impressed but after thinking about the whole buying and owning process decided to stick with BMW and get the GS LC

 

[Eunuch]

Welcome back and have fun with the new bike.

A mate I ride with regularly has had a Mutley for 3 years and I was surprised coming back from a 10 day trip to Tuscany with him earlier this week to hear he's lined up a GS test ride this weekend. I've resisted offers to ride the Duke because I gather the engine is intoxicating and it's not too shabby on it's toes either, but he's had some trouble with the bike and it's been quite expensive to service.

 

[blues n twos]

Welcome back

I've ordered the exact same less Gear assist. I'm expecting delivery end June.

Where in the UK are you?

Jon

 

[Nutty]

Welcome back, hope you don't have to wait too long. I tested the Multistrada and was quite impressed but after thinking about the whole buying and owning process decided to stick with BMW and get the GS LC

Welcome back and have fun with the new bike.

A mate I ride with regularly has had a Mutley for 3 years and I was surprised coming back from a 10 day trip to Tuscany with him earlier this week to hear he's lined up a GS test ride this weekend. I've resisted offers to ride the Duke because I gather the engine is intoxicating and it's not too shabby on it's toes either, but he's had some trouble with the bike and it's been quite expensive to service.

Welcome back, OP. As much as I love the look of the Multi, I can't bring myself to buy one, for the reasons above. Which is a shame, as I'm sure it's a cracking bike, when it works.

 

[Skid06]

im seriously thinking about the pikes peak multi, my mates bikes have all been trouble free, go like stink and look and sound super cool, had nothing but trouble with my LC, clutch, clocks, battery, poor finish, just got back from TT and it sounds like the driveshafts on its way out

 

[Alex B]

It seems that although with the GS the bikes are "mainly OK" but with a fair few "bad 'uns" , with the Multistrada there are as many "bad uns" as "good 'uns" and it's the law of chance that determines which one you get. I've known people whose Multi's have been generally pretty good for the last 3-4 years and others with problems that bring a tear to the eye. Can't work out any rhyme or reason.

A friend of mine once said that you have to stay steely and "keep faith and keep repairing" until the day comes when the bike "comes good", but that'd take a lot of faith, money and time.

With the older boxers, I think you could do that, but the more there's fancy electronics, the more difficult the decision. The Multi looks gorgeous from most angles and much more aesthetic than the clunky chic of the GS, and there are a lot more GSs than Multi's, but I don't know. We need more Multi owners to chime in and tell us, people with good experiences as well as bad. It's often when the bikes goes wrong that we get to read a post, a well mannered bike's owner rarely posts anything, so the balance can't be tested on forums as well as it should be perhaps.

So come on Multistrada owners.... come talk to us and let the debate begin.

(ps: very pleased with my 2013 GS LC except for the occasionally clunky gearbox.......)

 

[DING-DONG]

, had nothing but trouble with my LC, clutch, clocks, battery, poor finish, just got back from TT and it sounds like the driveshafts on its way out

Steve, you're the only person i know whom genuinely deserves a replacement bike FOC you really do.

 

[B4bertie]

Congrats on the new bike....You'll love it. I had a multi for a year, traded in for a GSA TC 18 months ago and have now moved on to the GSA WC and have never regretted it for a moment

 

[Andrew Lodge]

I had a 1200GS a few years ago and still dip in here occasionally, the bike was great when it went but the gearbox was rubbish, the dealer wasn't interested and as it was coming up to running out of warranty the gearbox just seemed to be getting worse. Contary to just about everyone else the things I really liked were the servo brakes and the indicator switches.
To cut a long story short I moved it on and have had a few things in the meantime.

Now have a 1200 Multi and love it, it has not been trouble free, the side stand kill switch failed and was fixed under warranty and the exhaust valve seized and was replaced, otherwise it is great and I love it.

Overall I think it is personal taste, both are brilliant bikes. Most bikes will be trouble free, a few are lemons, a few are in between. Do you feel lucky? Overall I reckon the percentage of duff bikes is about the same between the two.

Buy whichever you prefer the look of, they both are much better than most of us, if you are really rich buy both and see which you take out most often, only then will you know which is for you.

 

[richardbd]

Congrats enjoy! Take no notice of all the doom and gloom merchants on here.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

even the ones who've just had their RTs grounded with no idea of when they might get them back!

 

[Alex B]

I think the comment by Mr Lodge has it right "Overall I think it is personal taste, both are brilliant bikes. Most bikes will be trouble free, a few are lemons, a few are in between. Do you feel lucky? Overall I reckon the percentage of duff bikes is about the same between the two".

My sense based on speaking to various owners of GSs and MTSs is consistent with that staement, perhaps with the MTS having just a few more issues numerically speaking, I guess.

MY GS LC is fairly good and the finish is good too, but having seen others with less-perfect finishes and seen/heard the woes of others, I'm wondering how solid the QC process is being managed at the factory. I believe that this is where the dealer really comes into their own. A good dealer will intervene and keep working with the customer until all issues are solved, a poor dealer will hedge, find excuses and generally leave the owner feeling short changed.

As for the new RT, I was concerned about the comments made in the recent BIKE magazine test ....no modern high-end tourer in this class should vibrate or even buzz below 100 mph and for me the front end aesthetics of the bike are all wrong no matter how perfect it performed in a wind tunnel. I really feel they could have made it nicer looking. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

 

[Eunuch]

It seems that although with the GS the bikes are "mainly OK" but with a fair few "bad 'uns" , with the Multistrada there are as many "bad uns" as "good 'uns" and it's the law of chance that determines which one you get. I've known people whose Multi's have been generally pretty good for the last 3-4 years and others with problems that bring a tear to the eye. Can't work out any rhyme or reason.

A friend of mine once said that you have to stay steely and "keep faith and keep repairing" until the day comes when the bike "comes good", but that'd take a lot of faith, money and time.

With the older boxers, I think you could do that, but the more there's fancy electronics, the more difficult the decision. The Multi looks gorgeous from most angles and much more aesthetic than the clunky chic of the GS, and there are a lot more GSs than Multi's, but I don't know. We need more Multi owners to chime in and tell us, people with good experiences as well as bad. It's often when the bikes goes wrong that we get to read a post, a well mannered bike's owner rarely posts anything, so the balance can't be tested on forums as well as it should be perhaps.

So come on Multistrada owners.... come talk to us and let the debate begin.

(ps: very pleased with my 2013 GS LC except for the occasionally clunky gearbox.......)

Pretty balanced and reflects my views entirely, incl the 2013 GS LC comment.

I'm sure I'd pretty pleased with a Mutley too and after a few years of either I wonder whether I'd simply just fancy a change just because I could. Resisting a testride just in case.

 

[bradders94]

I had a Multistrada sport touring for just over a year. Apart from issues like having no rear brake and the fuelling glitch that all the early bikes suffered from it was a fantastic bike. My dealer managed to get an ecu upgrade that Ducati UK had done unofficially put on the bike and after that it ran really well although it never really had any kind of a rear brake despite the constant upgrades from Ducati. I know people will say they never use the rear brake anyway, but you try coming down the Stelvio with a pillion and luggage on very wet roads when you can't balance out front and rear braking, its not fun!
To cut a long story short, it went in for a service at 8500 miles and came out with the worst fuelling of any bike I've ever ridden which they didn't seem to be able to fix, followed quickly by the suspension ECU failing, the radiator collapsing and shortly afterwards the front cylinder head gasket failing, all of which required recovery to the dealer and an early morning train journey to fetch it back, so it had to go.
I've spent 3 very happy years with a Kawasaki GTR1400 which has been utterly trouble free and now a 2014 GS TE, 6 months old now, 8500 miles and so far only really a few dealer issues which have been resolved. I could moan about some of the finish and it eats rear brake pads, even though I'm not heavy on them but to be honest I'm too busy hooning about with a big silly grin on my face to worry about it!

 

[eden warrior]

As braddears has said the multi rear brake is very poor fuelling low revs very lumpy but put a full termi on this improves it and the performance. Had two bmw 1200 05 to the adv 08 both top spec both had problems gear box seal fuel sender play on the rear wheel all sorted by bmw I loved the gs but got a bit disillusioned, tried several other bikes and ended up with a 2012 multi no electronics base model with heated grips mileage 12k 2 minor warranty recalls overall very pleased.will try the new wc next year when hopefully all the problems will be addressed !!!!

 

[Alex B]

These last three replies are very well made and I think capture the point almost perfectly. From the MTS that tested an owner's patience to breaking point (I felt bad reading that account for the owner; must've been galling to have so many issues), to those that owned or own a Multi and managed to get by on it, or are getting by on it.

Indeed, the last point about buying a Multi with no electronics is I think highly relevant, because if we can separate the bike itself from its electronics package, maybe we get a better ownership experience ? Could well be.

I think it's the same with the GSs and probably same with the new LC. I've been astonished at the postings from people who've had problems ranging from out of alignment components, broken gearboxes, poor casting or weld quality, and all manner of strange problems whether riding the 2013 model or even the newer 2014 model. Even if it's 0.5% or 0.05% of total, that is too many. I keep wondering how BMW could have let the bike out of their factory in that condition. If that happened in many other industries, would it be allowed ? Is there no Ombudsman for quality who can call the company to account ? Is anyone collecting data on quality outcomes ? (I know the answer is "no" and that we all rely one way or another on consumer law to protect us).

In a strange way, one can almost "excuse" Ducati more than BMW (not that any of them deserve excusing in any sense), as Ducati is a small company with less resources and tighter budgets compared to the BMW empire, so I find quality issues with BMWs marginally more "unacceptable" than perhaps with Ducati. After all, BMW trade on a reputation as a tough go-anywhere ultra-reliable brand, whereas Ducati trade on another vision of themselves altogether, maybe one based more on a sense of excitement, performance, adrenaline rush etc. They have apparently run MTSs round the world, or around some big continent, but you hear a bit less about that side of the image for the MTS. They want you to know it can theoretically go off road, and suspect you don't really believe them much, but they don't big it up as much as BMW for the GS.

My BMW GS LC is a great bike and has been a good to me all round, so I have no axes to grind. But for all those folks who post their woes on the site, I do feel genuine sympathy. With the Ducatis, I just think, ah yes, but it is a Ducati. Does anyone remember that saying about Italian motorbikes....


"Remember, Italian motorcycles are like Italian women, sometimes they stab you for no reason."

 

[bradders94]

Does anyone remember that saying about Italian motorbikes....


"Remember, Italian motorcycles are like Italian women, sometimes they stab you for no reason." [/QUOTE]

I've heard it but would never repeat it. My wife's Italian, good job she doesn't know where you live!!

 

[eden warrior]

Alex you hit the nail on the head multis definitely have the performance and looks but if my adv was reliable I would never have got rid,likewise the saying Italian bikes electrics etc had me questioning buying a Ducati !! But having owned two beemers thinking That I was buying reliable quality German engineering left me disappointed after all bikes to day are an expensive thing To have. Only last week I stopped to talk to a lc owner curious to know what he thought 2014 lc this was the 2nd lc after having so many problems with his first bmw replaced his original bike and gave him a sat nav fitted as a sweetener, I asked him if he had any advice he said he would not get a fully loaded model and wait till next year, which is fair comment he like me loves riding his bmw
But there always seems to be a but, I am pleased with my multi and like you I seem to have a good one you seem to pay Your money an take your chance you get a good one, which should not be the case

 

[r1happy]

Had a base model Multi for 2 years. Was back at dealers for 4 weeks after I had only had it 4 weeks. Battery went flat because of kill switch/starter fault. Killed all the electronics. Rear brake wouldn't last more than 2 weeks after bleeding it before it was useless. Bleed nipple was on the bottom!! Caliper was replaced but result was the same. Exhaust valve was replaced and was ready to fail again just before I sold it.

If you rode it like you stole it the bike was phenomenal. In the end just got worn down by the constant niggles and no back brake.

Got a GS TE last Mar and suffered rear pad wear initially and poor heated grips that were sorted at 1st service. Notwithstanding that it's the best bike I have had. That includes 4 R1's, Gixer 1000K5, ZZR1400, 990 SMT & the Multi. Got a Versys I have had 6 yrs and can see the GS lasting a similar time. Had it remapped at Hilltop and has as much power as I need. Have friends with MV F4, Z1000 with Supercharger & a ZX10 and GS tags along just fine. Comfortable too. Life is good.