BMW ownership does it make you worry ?

[sidestand]

Got 4 BMW's & never been let down by any of them to date

Like they say, it's only the bad things that people post up on forums, nobody's interested if your bike is doing what it should do

 

[diplomaticdanny]

30150 miles as of today, 2006 GSA one headlight bulb so far. Off through germany to the Alps and back through The Black Forest in May, not worried at all.

 

[Pablo1]

i too was like you , i bought an 09 gsa just beforexmas then joined this forum , 5 mins later i thought i'd made the worst buy of my life , reading all the doom and gloom on this forum nearly had me selling it straight away. only problem i've had is the fd bearing starting to go but that was replaced under warranty , no worse fault than the cush drive / wheel bearing replaced on my vstrom , injection fault on my triumph rs sprint , severe electrical problems on my fjr , if it breaks sort it they are no less reliable than jap bikes

Maybe its luck I dont know, I had an FJR 1300 not a thing wrong in 5 years of ownership from new and 20k miles, same with my K1200S , 15k miles in 2years, Im on my second GS and apart from a faulty fuel guage on the first one after 11kmiles and 2years Ive had no problems at all, had 2 jap bikes before this lot 1 Honda, 1Yam again no issues whatsoever, but then I only ever buy new or slightly used ????

 

[boatman]

onto the 4r th gs now none have let me down on the road
i have had a seal in the fd on one and the latest 2011 twincam needs a new fog light switch (13 k) is an average year for me.

 

[Yonkyo]

Its the luck of the draw.......

My mate has owned his Twin Cam GSA for two years and 13k miles.
He's had a few problems...

New final drive.
New rear shock.
Head bolt oil leak.
Two new batteries.
Oil pump pressure switch failure.
and a few other things i can't remember.



My 2009 GSA with 20k+ miles.

Absolutely 100% reliable (except for a new headlight bulb)

You pays your money and takes your chances.

 

[leftofcentre]

You pays your money and takes your chances.

I agree 100%

And i think good preventative maintenance goes a long way towards reliability.

Find out what the likely candidate for failures are and then either obtain some spares and carry them with you under the seat (FPC bypass, spare coil etc) or for larger items such as Final Drive - keep on top of it with regular fluid changes and a good visual inspection every service. If you can afford it, invest in a GS911 aswel.

Out of all the bikes ive ever had (Suzuki GSXs, Kawasaki ZZRs and even a BMW R1100S), i still think the GS has the best build quality in my personal opinion.

I absolutely love my bike and its my pride and joy.

 

[Nutty]

It's certainly not something that I ever intend to endure again

And you're on a GS website why?

 

[Stonker]

And you're on a GS website why?

Because I had a GS once and have stayed here. I also think that it's developed into other 'adventure' bikes. There is life after a 'Gay S'

 

[Nutty]

Because I had a GS once and have stayed here. I also think that it's developed into other 'adventure' bikes. There is life after a 'Gay S'

I don't understand why you are on a GS forum if you are so "anti" the GS. I am aware that there are many others on here as well who don't own a GS with the same mindset as you, and it baffles me as to why you are here.

 

[leftofcentre]

There is life after a 'Gay S'

So what's gay about the bike then?

 

[APE]

My advice to the OP is to give it a chance - you quite often have some teething problems with secondhand vehicles.

If it continues to play up, or anxiety prevents you from enjoying it, or you don't like the bike - just sell it.

 

[cookie]

So what's gay about the bike then?

isn't that how it's pronounced in german?

 

[Stonker]

isn't that how it's pronounced in german?

indeed

 

[leftofcentre]

isn't that how it's pronounced in german?

I dunno. Is it?

 

[jwpzx9r]

My advice to the OP is to give it a chance - you quite often have some teething problems with secondhand vehicles.

If it continues to play up, or anxiety prevents you from enjoying it, or you don't like the bike - just sell it.

I don't think I will be selling it ... its a great bike to ride from my limited experience of it. Love the handling,ride and power delivery
I think my issue is more, and I am not critisising, the manner in which major issues seem to be regarded as matter of fact to many of the correspondents on the forum. I used to be in a very well paid job and took a retirement option at 55...great more time from myself! But in doing so I have less cash so a grand for a FD is a big issue for me and, here's the rub, thats why I bought a BMW, its a quality product, I thought the shaft drive would be a bonus. Sorry about the life history bit but its relevant to me. As I say really love riding the bike and compared to my fireblade it really is a breath of fresh air... but the issues raised by many on this form would not IMO be tolerated by Honda for example. Anyway I will just be off to check the rear wheel for play

 

[Big Lee]

I bought my 12 new in sept `04 and jumped ship 2 years in May after my fd oil seal went, my gearbox casing cracked and after forking out all the cash to get it repaired was waiting for the fd bearing to land me with a £1k bill, saw a Tiger 1050 with all the extras and after I`d flogged the bling off the GS it was a straight swap for a newer less miles bike I liked the GS but it was a worry tbh. Hopefully the newer ones are more reliable

 

[slydog]

1k fd

sorry but where does this thousand pound come from . im sure there are enginers on here that offer a full rebuild for around the 300 quid mark . if ya mad enough to pay bmw prices then good luck

 

[st247]

sorry but where does this thousand pound come from . im sure there are enginers on here that offer a full rebuild for around the 300 quid mark . if ya mad enough to pay bmw prices then good luck

Had mine rebuilt, all new bearings, seals and reshimmed for £400 at a BMW main dealer (it was in France mind). The cost of repair seems to be exagerated with every post, usually by those who've not suffered a failure

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Had mine rebuilt, all new bearings, seals and reshimmed for £400 at a BMW main dealer (it was in France mind). The cost of repair seems to be exagerated with every post, usually by those who've not suffered a failure

Good point There is a lot of crap spoken about failures and the price of repairs that.s for sure.

Scrimmiger do a FD rebuild for about £400 including all the postage which is very acceptable. Mine is just about to be done even though there is no problem at 70k. Prevention is better than the cure

 

[MGJ]

Its the luck of the draw.......

My mate has owned his Twin Cam GSA for two years and 13k miles.
He's had a few problems...

New final drive.
New rear shock.
Head bolt oil leak.
Two new batteries.
Oil pump pressure switch failure.
and a few other things i can't remember.



My 2009 GSA with 20k+ miles.

Absolutely 100% reliable (except for a new headlight bulb)

You pays your money and takes your chances.

Re your mates bike, what would you call a lot of problems ? The 6 you state is like every 2100 miles