Budget GS?????

[Deletedmemberjdcxxx]

Hi All,

I passed my big bike test recently with the express purpose of buying a GS. I am a big fan of large traillies and an unashamed lover of long way round / down etc. My purchase has been delayed by a slightly unexpected, but very welcome house move, (nice garage for the bike!)

My question is how cheap is too cheap????

What I mean is buy cheaper sooner, or wait and save for a better bike? I've seen quite a few 1150s selling for around £4K, and dealers selling for £5 - 6K. I am on a bit of a budget so was wondering about an entry level 1150GS.

Any advice wold be very gratefully received.

Cheers,

John

 

[Pathologic]

Welcome

Hi John,

Go to have you on board. Lots of info here. Have a look at the 1150 section where you can see most of the issues with the older bikes. Many believe them to be indestructable. It depends what you want.

If you are thinking about saving up for a better bike just make sure that BMW Select is beyond your means. Could give you a new bike to ride now. just make sure you can afford it.

Hope you find what you want,


See you around,

Path.

 

[Doctorbiker]

I bought my 2002 GS for £3500 (non abs) 6 months ago in excellent condition. A good price but expect to pay up to £4000 for a nice one. Depends on what you want and how handy you are with a spanner and know what you are looking at. Dealer if nervous, but you will pay £1000 ott of private price but you will get a warrantee and a service for that.

There were some nice ones for a reasonable price on this site.

Sean

 

[ianboydsnr]

dont dicount a good late 1100, they are excellent bikes, find a minta and you will be well pleased

ps I have a 1150

 

[Bryn]

Hi All,

I passed my big bike test recently with the express purpose of buying a GS. I am a big fan of large traillies and an unashamed lover of long way round / down etc. My purchase has been delayed by a slightly unexpected, but very welcome house move, (nice garage for the bike!)

My question is how cheap is too cheap????

What I mean is buy cheaper sooner, or wait and save for a better bike? I've seen quite a few 1150s selling for around £4K, and dealers selling for £5 - 6K. I am on a bit of a budget so was wondering about an entry level 1150GS.

Any advice wold be very gratefully received.

Cheers,

John

Welcome to the site John

If you want to take full advantage of the site (For Sale and Wanted section especially) you could consider becoming a Subsrcriber


That could be the best £12 you can spend if you're looking for a good GS

My two penneth also... Consider a good 1100.... if its advertised on here there's a good chance its been well looked after

 

[VAL. H.]

dont dicount a good late 1100, they are excellent bikes, find a minta and you will be well pleased

ps I have a 1150

Welcome to the site John

If you want to take full advantage of the site (For Sale and Wanted section especially) you could consider becoming a Subsrcriber


That could be the best £12 you can spend if you're looking for a good GS

My two penneth also... Consider a good 1100.... if its advertised on here there's a good chance its been well looked after

I'm with these guys. It's got to be worth looking at the 1100s if you on a budget.
Also if you're avoiding the 1100 because of the uggerrly beeek. You might be reassured to know that it can apparently be changed for a more aesthetically prefect 1150 beak.

A note about BMW Select: This is worth looking at, it could be just up your street. However, when buying a bike through BW Select you should understand that you'll be obliged to have BW servicing done at the specified intervals throughout the full period. So you'll need to take this into account when considering it.

Hope this is of some use, and BTW; don't be put off by a well priced 1200gs. There are a hell of a lot more good ones out there than bad ones. I've had mine from new on a 54 plate. I've done 44500+ miles, use it every day and have never been let down (just defending us 1200 owners ).

It should also be said that there are some excellent Air Heads out there too

Val.

 

[The White Rabbit]

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160796

Looks a great one.

 

[sethmopp]

Just to add a note about BMW select, there is also a mileage limitation and a financial cost to exceeding it. This is why I won't consider it as a 6000mile per year limit is ridiculous. On a good tour, for me, that will use up my allowance

 

[buellzebub]

Hi John
Welcome from Burton on Trent (not too far away)
I paid £2700 for my fairly tidy 2k 1150GS with 35k miles and 12mths MOT, well below book price I know. But it had an intermittent starting fault when warm, I changed the battery (£90), starter motor (£110) and starter relay (£8) before I discovered it was the Datatool System 3 immobiliser playing up! 10mins searching on here and I found out how to disable it, take it apart and link out the offending circuit!
3 points to this post:
1. This site and the people on it are a gold mine of information, well worth subscribing.
2. I love my GS and even after spending the extra £200 I think I'm still 'quids in', so...
3. Don't dismiss a 'too cheap' GS until you've investigated it thoroughly. but obviously disregard anything that may be stolen/ringer.

The last point reminds me: If you text any vehicle's reg number to 88600 you get a mini HPI type check returned. It costs £1.50 I think and I found that on here too.

Hope that helps a bit

All the best,
Mick

 

[Flipfly]

Sold my GS with 62k on it for £3600 a while back. She had loads of kit on and ran beautifully.

£4k will buy you a really nice 1150 now if that's your budget.

Less will get you a higher mileage bike (but if it's well looked after they are good for big mileage) more will get you lower miles.

Choose your budget and stick to it. Haggle too, bikes are really tough to get rid of at the mo, so use your cash as the incentive to knock the price down. If the price is right and the bike is a bargain, don't be a plonker and try to haggle too hard. My RT is up for £3750, I have priced at this as it's cheap enough to be a good deal and I will not haggle.
Use your noggin, there are lots of bikes out there so don't be too hasty to spend the dough.

Personally wouldn't buy from a dealer, they take too much of a cut for my budget. This is a risk but you have to use your ability to hunt out the right bike. Luckily for me, I have never been caught out yet.

My GS cost me £400, in depreciation, to run for 2 years and 20k miles. The newer the bike and the more you pay, the more you will lose at sale time