Has your GS1200 been reliable...or not?

reliable NOT

My 2005 GS has so far breen broken down from the Neutral and gear indicator switch and the fuel pump seizing, 2 major failures on a low KM bike, at about 21,000KM and 22000KM respectively.

I am not impressed and will not buy BMW again.
 
reliability

i have a 2004 1200GS, bought it 2 years ago with 12,000 on the clock, no previous faults recorded:augie, since done another 15,000 miles on it, been totally unreliable, i had to put a headlamp bulb in last year:eek:

seriously though, whatever vehicle you own you can get good and bad, don't listen to all the doom mongers, there are more happy owners than unhappy.
you gotta give it a chance and make your own mind up.
 
gs1200 04

the only bike i trust to go from athens to china
of course you need to know how to treat your bike if you want her to stay with you all the way.
 
dogman said:
I see a considerable amount of criticism regarding the reliablity of the GS1200 /GSA for various reasons, which can cause some alarm for many new or future GS owners who may be wondering when their bike will let them down. I have yet to see any survey completed on overall satisfaction with 1200 owners and I am interested to know roughly how many owners have viewed their 1200 to be a reliable bike..or not, as the case may be.
So has your GS 1200 / GSA been reliable overall?...or not?
If not please feel free to say why. This is of course subjective opinion and one persons view on reliability may differ from another, so an alternative question could be 'have you been happy overall with your GS1200'? Either will do.
I am hoping to be reassured by the replies as I'm sure other owners and future buyers will be!
1100 and 1150 owners need not tell us how wonderful their bikes are as we already know.
Cheers! :beer:
Click to expand...

Now that you bought one with the WRONG options ..

How is it going? Have you broken down yet?
 
So - they may break down occaisionally - but you have a blinding web site for back up and support:D
 
Check out this guy's blog. http://bmwr1200gsservicehistory.blogspot.com/

$15,000 in repair parts and labor, not counting scheduled maintenance, to accumulate 100,000 miles.

Also Google "R1200GS failures problems final drive". Literally hundreds of pages of reading material on the many different things that routinely fail on some of these bikes.

I've been researching these bikes for about a year now and have found them to be apparently the most problematic bikes built by any major manufacturer.

The "all mechanical things break" and "the internet amplifies problems because people don't take time to post that they haven't had problems" arguments appear on all of the GS forums in response to all of the complaints about these bikes. In reality, I just don't see the volume or scope of "stranded" stories permeating any other brand on any of the forums.

OK, flame away, but facts are facts! :)
 
dogman said:
Has your GS1200 been reliable...or not?
Click to expand...
My current one has left me stranded, as did the previous one. Both corroded quite badly (even worse than previous suzukis).

Still a cracking bike though :blast
 
jpooch00 said:
Check out this guy's blog. http://bmwr1200gsservicehistory.blogspot.com/

$15,000 in repair parts and labor, not counting scheduled maintenance, to accumulate 100,000 miles.

Also Google "R1200GS failures problems final drive". Literally hundreds of pages of reading material on the many different things that routinely fail on some of these bikes.

I've been researching these bikes for about a year now and have found them to be apparently the most problematic bikes built by any major manufacturer.

The "all mechanical things break" and "the internet amplifies problems because people don't take time to post that they haven't had problems" arguments appear on all of the GS forums in response to all of the complaints about these bikes. In reality, I just don't see the volume or scope of "stranded" stories permeating any other brand on any of the forums.

OK, flame away, but facts are facts! :)
Click to expand...

So you won't be getting the 2010 GSA after all?
 
Paul Wakefield said:
So you won't be getting the 2010 GSA after all?
Click to expand...

Nope.

It doesn't matter how much optimism I try to have about it, in the end I just can not make myself go through with it. Every time I get a little bit psyched, I go to the forums and find these stories over and over.

Now they're putting the dual-cam heads on the bikes and at first I thought that it was a good thing - then I realized that the basic engines were essentially the only component of these bikes that seems to be fairly problem free.

It seems to me that the Bemerco is just making it even more difficult for owners to do their own maintenance by going to a shimmed valve system when the old screw adjustment system worked just fine and most owners could do it themselves.

Also, as far as I can find out, there are no fairly high-mileage HP2 Sports around, so who knows how these heads will really hold up to long term use?

If, in fact, BMW has fixed a bunch of the "non-issues" with these bikes and if the new heads don't end up just adding a lot of new problems, then maybe I'll spend the $$,$$$ for one. Not this year though. This new design will need some guinea pigs to test it. That ain't me. :(

Best wishes and good luck,

John
 
2 posts and suddenly you are telling us our steeds are a load of shite:nenau

There is no doubt that BuMW have had some issues with the 1200 but the vast majority are riding around without having any problems. The unlucky few who have had issues shout very very loud and it skews the perception of the bike in my opinion. I've done 50k with only one issue which was dealt with promptly and efficiently and I'm a happy owner.

if anyone is green enough to think that other manufactureres are perfect and the grass is greener, you are diluded. I work in the truck industry and have known £100,000 trucks to be piles of shite but it doesn't mean they all are.

The 1200 is the best selling bike on the planet so perspective needs to be allowed here and of course, you don't have to buy one!
 
I have covered 124,000 miles over the last 5 years on 1200's and the first failure on any of the three I have owned was yesterday when the alternator of my current '08 1200GSA packed up . There have been some niggles with front engine cover corrosion and front brake disc warping , etc., but none of them have been show stoppers and I think these bikes are very reliable . Having said that the wide spread corrosion on the engine and gearbox of my current bike is no joke and BMW are not interested in doing anything about it which doesn't surprise me but does disappoint me . The build quality has seriously declined since I bought my first '04 1200GS . This is the only aspect of GSA ownership that may make me consider other options at the next bike renewal .
 
jpooch00 said:
......Now they're putting the dual-cam heads on the bikes and at first I thought that it was a good thing - then I realized that the basic engines were essentially the only component of these bikes that seems to be fairly problem free.

It seems to me that the Bemerco is just making it even more difficult for owners to do their own maintenance by going to a shimmed valve system when the old screw adjustment system worked just fine and most owners could do it themselves....
Click to expand...

Twin cam engines with bucket and shim valve clearance adjustment have been around for over 40 years now, so this is proven to be reliable technology. Shim adjustment is a bit more fiddly than the screw and locknut, but is still possible for DIYers and likely to give a more consistent and accurate valve clearance.

Suggesting that this will cause the engine to become unreliable is groundless and pointless:blagblah
 
Sgt Bilco said:
The 1200 is the best selling bike on the planet so perspective needs to be allowed here and of course, you don't have to buy one!
Click to expand...

I always thought this was the best selling bike on the planet???

c50-2.jpg
 
As always people state no failures, however my discs warped and I have big issues with engine case corrosion !!!!!!!!! try fixing the engine corrosion without bmw warrenty doing it ? And to answer the statement that shims have been around for a while blah blah well I suggest that shaft drives have been around probably even longer ? and again what has the number of posts got to do with peoples knowledge, reaserch and opinion ?
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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