GS reliability

samsgs

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hi

been going through the site and its seems the bmw are not the paragons of reliability I expected. So how reliable are they in reality and how expensive is the servcing?

cheers
sam
 
'98, 1100, 46 000miles, owned from new and serviced by myself. Never let me down and the only faults that spring to mimd are:-

Faulty oil presure switch - Replaced - £8
Broken seat lock - Repaired.

People tend to post with problems.
 
2001 r1150gs No major problems in 18k miles, not using a deal of oil now& getting better all the time.this bike just seams to get faster & nicer to ride the more miles go on it. Can't comment on any others as this is my first BMW
 
samsgs said:
hi

been going through the site and its seems the bmw are not the paragons of reliability I expected. So how reliable are they in reality and how expensive is the servcing?

cheers
sam

My previous GS1150 covered 35,000 miles and I had one indicator bulb blow. Covered over 100,000 miles on R's and GS's and had no prob's other than issues caused by poor servicing. Service prices vary depending on Dealer but are around £170 for 6,000 & £220 for 12,000. Once out of warranty you can do it yourself for approx £50.
 
Paragon said:
Just a rumour

Never had a problem with my ADV - never let me down - never a hiccup - always starts on the button - used no oil - never had it serviced - no rust - not a scratch on the windscreen - tyres hardly worn - in fact only filled the tank up four times



................................









................................

1458 trouble free miles





Para

My experience has been nothing like that, I have done about 3000km and I actually have a small scratch on the windscreen and a larger one on the beak.
 
As metal man says - either DIY or find the guys who know what they are doing and more importantly give a shit! I can only tell you who not to go to in Barcelona!

Why not get and airehad they are much more straightforward?

cheers mate
 
Paragon said:
Just a rumour

Never had a problem with my ADV - never let me down - never a hiccup - always starts on the button - used no oil - never had it serviced - no rust - not a scratch on the windscreen - tyres hardly worn - in fact only filled the tank up four times



................................









................................

1458 trouble free miles





Para
You really are not one with that bike are you - if it weren't for the residuals on the balance sheet you'd probaly ditch it tomorrow :D
 
My GS Adv has done..

6000+ miles since October, never missed a beat, drank oil for the first 4000 miles though, which is about the same as the RT I had before, biggest problem is keeping off the bloody thing!:D
 
23000 Miles in 14 months. 1 blown bulb, 1 slight petrol leak ( fixed by me for about £1) and a final drive oil seal leak fixed under warranty by Bath Rd MC- oh and loads of smiles courtesy of Remus!!:D :D :D
 
samsgs said:
hi

been going through the site and its seems the bmw are not the paragons of reliability I expected. So how reliable are they in reality and how expensive is the servcing?

cheers
sam

IMHO I think it would be accurate to say, the bike has been engineered with reasonably large tolerances in mind. ergo some people refer to them as tractors. It has been a slow evolution of a tried and tested concept that has avoided the bleeding edge, so it's an evolution of improvements rather than technology leaps. As for it's reliability all one can safely say is apart from it's idiosyncracies it has no real design flaws, but at the end of the day it's reliability is directly proportional to the amount of manufacturers recommended care and attention you give it.
Which is true of any machine really.

As for the posts about oil consumption when new, that's to be expected until the piston and oil ring bed in. Large tolerance = large gap. I read somewhere that it can take conciderably more than 600 mile to break an oilhead in, with some claiming extravagant figures between 10 and 20 k. Personally I think they are taking the p122, but the bike has been designed to last....and last. It was in this that the legend of reliability was born. Take a look at how many airheads are still going strong and then ask the owner if he wants to sell.... That should tell you all you need to know.
 
Is the new 1200GS considered an 'evolution' of the GS species?

Should I regard it as 'all' new and give it a while to settle down?

Kind regards,
Banana
 
banana said:
Is the new 1200GS considered an 'evolution' of the GS species?

Should I regard it as 'all' new and give it a while to settle down?

Kind regards,
Banana

Of Course, No and No. Everytime B*W release a new GS you hear the luddite diehard brigade humming and ahhing and running it down, and before you know it they have one. When I ordered my 02 adventure in June 01 the debate was already raging and continued until 03 when suddenly it seemed as though everyone had one. Personally I am still waiting for doomsday when...

i) my big ugly tank to prove useless and affect handling
ii)my longer suspension travel to cause excessive wallowing and general bad handling.
iii) My knobbly tires to slip and trash my pride and joy
etc etc

If you want one get one, if there is any manufacturing problems / callbacks, B*W are normally very good in rectifying the issue
 
My 1150 has 20k on the clock. The gear box bearing failed setting me back £955. However, with new(ish) gearbox and brand new Metzeler Tourences she feels like a new bike.
 
Bloody hell flaps bet you were well chuffed Good these bm's arent they & there was me asking in another thread what mile age can you expect from a gs gearbox as had heard of a few failures.
Must be an awful lot of pissed off x vfr owners then. I do like the idea of one dont know if I could live with the reliability issue though.
I suppose I've been spoilt with the vfr .I'll keep reading while I try & decide :beerjug: :beerjug:
 


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