There will be no changing Rashers mind. Even though he readily admits to loving his bike, his glass half full disposition has persuaded him that he will end his days on the Autoroute when his FPC and FD disintergrate and he crashes and burns.
Bob is quite right that most of the doom and gloom comes from internet heresay. There is no doubt that there have been some issues with the FPC but it's cured now and although some FD's have been troublesome, it's by no means the common problem Rasher seems to think.
My 1200ADV has gone 66k with only one issue which was fixed under warranty no problem and has been perfect.
I took a group of 12 GS's across the US last year and we covered approx 75,000 miles between us in 4 weeks in everything from heavy rain to 50 degree heat and 12500ft altitude. They ranged from 04's to 2010's. Of the 10 1200's we had 2 batteries go, one faulty servo (fixed with a piece of wood
) and 2 outer FD seals which leaked a bit because they were overfull. Oh, Garfield had to have a new rear suspension unit but had 34k on the clock and his bike does take a hammering.
According to Rashers thinking, we should have had multiple failure of everything from rear bulbs to FD's but guess what, we didn't. Kind of blows Rashers presumptions out of the water. The bikes were flawless and the only show stopper was an 1150 with rear drive bearing failure
Next year, I will be doing 2 trips of 8000 miles each with 12 GS's on each trip and I can predict we won't have too many issues. I would rather be doing these trips on a GS than any other bike that's for sure because they all suffer from some kind of problem.
Rasher, FFS chill out, prep your bike properly and enjoy your trip around Europe in the summer.
