For the record:

[Mr K]

43,000+ miles into the 1200 experience.

MY OE alarm functions perfectly i.e. It sounds if somebody moves or interferes with my bike. It doesn't false alarm.

My alloy wheels have not buckled or fractured despite being rattled around Romania and subjected to rocky trails in the UK and abroad.

My Vario panniers have not fallen off nor do they leak. The bike has tipped over a few times and not destroyed them.

The standard headlamp is adequate, if you care to adjust it correctly.

The oil level is easily checked without an LCD display by looking at the window in the side of the engine.

If you've any more heresay or myth you want cleared up, please reply to this thread.

 

[magpie]

43,000+ miles into the 1200 experience.

MY OE alarm functions perfectly i.e. It sounds if somebody moves or interferes with my bike. It doesn't false alarm.

My alloy wheels have not buckled or fractured despite being rattled around Romania and subjected to rocky trails in the UK and abroad.

My Vario panniers have not fallen off nor do they leak. The bike has tipped over a few times and not destroyed them.

The standard headlamp is adequate, if you care to adjust it correctly.

The oil level is easily checked without an LCD display by looking at the window in the side of the engine.


If you've any more heresay or myth you want cleared up, please reply to this thread.

nice one mate

 

[wilbjr21]

Good thread Chris. I think your experience over many years of real motorcycling as opposed to car driving shines through.

Some of the adventure motorcyclists who've posted on here don't want to carry spares on principle. The rational seems to be they don't with their cars .......... never been able to come to grips with that myself.

 

[Mr K]

Good thread Chris. I think your experience over many years of real motorcycling as opposed to car driving shines through.

Some of the adventureous motorcyclists who've posted on here don't want to carry spares on principle. The rational seems to be they don't with their cars .......... never been able to come to grips with that myself.

I just got a bit annoyed about posts stating the OE alarm was useless and all kinds of cock about alloy vs. spoked wheels..

 

[wilbjr21]

I know what you mean ............... get irritated myself over some peoples' inability to look further than the end of their nose. Then slag off things they haven't even bothered to understand or read about.

The thing that really worries me is how are tw*ts like these going to pay for my pension.

 

[Tricky]

Good thread

First 12 purchased Jan 2005. Did 30k on it without any mechanical dramas.

Liked it so much I bought another

Present bike 10k since Sept 07 and only EWS failure to moan about.

Its not the best thing since sliced bread and am not going to keep it for ever but (on the whole) the 1200 doesn’t deserve its slightly tarnished reliability record that some on here would have you believe.

 

[peepingtom]

First 12 purchased Jan 2005. Did 30k on it without any mechanical dramas.

Liked it so much I bought another

Present bike 10k since Sept 07 and only EWS failure to moan about.

Its not the best thing since sliced bread and am not going to keep it for ever but (on the whole) the 1200 doesn’t deserve its slightly tarnished reliability record that some on here would have you believe.

i agree i recently brought one with 53k and its had no breakdowns in 4 years except a dead battery......it really does still run like new road it back to back with my mates 9000 miler

 

[BeemerBaz]

43,000+ miles into the 1200 experience.

MY OE alarm functions perfectly i.e. It sounds if somebody moves or interferes with my bike. It doesn't false alarm.

My alloy wheels have not buckled or fractured despite being rattled around Romania and subjected to rocky trails in the UK and abroad.

My Vario panniers have not fallen off nor do they leak. The bike has tipped over a few times and not destroyed them.

The standard headlamp is adequate, if you care to adjust it correctly.

The oil level is easily checked without an LCD display by looking at the window in the side of the engine.

If you've any more heresay or myth you want cleared up, please reply to this thread.

I concur with all of the above

 

[haga lout]

no probs yet

nice to no some 1200 are still running got my 08 gsa only 4500 at presant no probs yet got mine after rideing my mates 04 gs with 16000 on and just 1 fuel pump change there seems to be a lot of doommungers on this site ive had jap bikes with recalls

 

[Wapping]

Hooray for good news.

On my second 1200.

First one vanilla, two years and 22,000 miles. No problems but I know the rear drive seal went about two weeks after I sold it.

Second, GSA, two years four months, 30,000 miles. One final drive fixed under warranty (22,000 miles) without any drama.

The alarm immobiliser works, when I ask it to.

The OE panniers on both bikes are fine.

I have had a 1000+ mile day and umpteen high speed / mileage trips, including two Moroccan dashes and the Turkey Trot. No problems.

I never worry too much about cleaning either bike but I always wash it down if I am out on salty roads in winter. No rust or grot.

I have the ring antenna and fuel pump gizmo's as spares and know how to fit them.

Bikes are garaged and sit on an Optimate 24/7/365. I have had no battery problems.

The oil sight gauge seems to work reliably and the engine doesn't expire with assorted oil grades, including some bodged up home brews.

Top indicated speed on the GSA. 142mph fully loaded, screen up, with a tail wind in France. On another day it wouldn't pull over 85mph, fully loaded, into a very strong headwind on a miles long, dead straight, Moroccan road.

Extras? A Sargent seat. Muffs. Zumo(off the head stock socket). Heated waistcoat (off the beak socket) and Autocom / Kenwood (piggybacked off the underseat power socket power supply). Sidestand foot plate. Nothing direct to the battery, except the Optimate. Mr Wassall's excellent HID's.

 

[Mr K]

....and I'm still on the original "crap" battery ..... (touches wood)

 

[Uinneag]

Oh no I hope you haven't put the dreaded Mungy on yourself

I seem to recall in a hazy drunken stuper a conversation on something along these lines.

Next thing I'm in Kyle and my phone goes

 

[Mr K]

Oh no I hope you haven't put the dreaded Mungy on yourself

I seem to recall in a hazy drunken stuper a conversation on something along these lines.

Next thing I'm in Kyle and my phone goes

Aye .... and only slightly delayed thanks to your intervention..



PS: We must do that again... only with a little more restraint.....

 

[Uinneag]

Aye .... and only slightly delayed thanks to your intervention..



PS: We must do that again... only with a little more restraint.....

Next day I was dead hadn't been that ill with drink in years
I've been practicing though

 

[Peter Imperfect]

R1200GS with 40,00 miles & no dramas.

Mine is running so well that I am reluctant to change it for an '08 model.

I don't have an alarm but do have luggage. Panniers are fine but only fitted when really needed.

The top box is another matter. I had one replaced under warranty when it developed a crack near the fixing apperture to the base plate.

The new one has now become loose on the base plate and rattles, really annoying.

I'm still on the original battery which is quick to "top up" on the Optimate but does seem to struggle to turn over the engine on the first start of the day on these cold mornings. It has always managed though and has never failed to start.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

The oil sight gauge seems to work reliably and the engine doesn't expire with assorted oil grades, including some bodged up home brews.

.

Glad it's not just me then

Andres

 

[madmax]

Bloody Hell! and I thought I was the only one with a 1200GSA with no problems, so they did make more than one.

My 06 hasn't had any problems, no leaks, no stutters or flat spots, runs great, handles well and stops just as good.

Must start up our own club, I'm sure there must be more of us out there somewhere, come on own up, who else has a tue/wed/thur bike.

 

[bettlejuice]

Likewise

My '08 GS is 9 months old and 8,000 miles including plenty off road in Greece and its perfect including the alarm , wheels everything.

And just for all those anti BMW folks my other bike an 11 year old, 40 K miles K12RS is also pretty much still perfect, starts with only looking at the starter button and does and never has leaked a drop, barely any corrosion to speak off and apart from one failed radiator fan has never missed a beat. So maybe beemers are not so bad

 

[NorthernBoy]

43,000+ miles into the 1200 experience.

MY OE alarm functions perfectly i.e. It sounds if somebody moves or interferes with my bike. It doesn't false alarm.

My alloy wheels have not buckled or fractured despite being rattled around Romania and subjected to rocky trails in the UK and abroad.

My Vario panniers have not fallen off nor do they leak. The bike has tipped over a few times and not destroyed them.

The standard headlamp is adequate, if you care to adjust it correctly.

The oil level is easily checked without an LCD display by looking at the window in the side of the engine.

If you've any more heresay or myth you want cleared up, please reply to this thread.

I know what you mean. My granda smoked forty a day for sixty years, and it never did any harm, so I can't be doing with the myth that it is bad for you. I am pretty sure that the correct way to counter evidence is with one man's story, so thanks for putting us right.

Same with your bike, really. Your anecdote clearly and simply disproves the "myths" posted by people who have had problems.

 

[Wapping]

I know what you mean. My granda smoked forty a day for sixty years, and it never did any harm, so I can't be doing with the myth that it is bad for you. I am pretty sure that the correct way to counter evidence is with one man's story, so thanks for putting us right.

Same with your bike, really. Your anecdote clearly and simply disproves the "myths" posted by people who have had problems.

....another 'happy' customer, it seems.

Go on, put us out of your misery. What's wrong with your bike?