Hello from Dublin...

[Barry]

Hello all,
Stumbled accross this site and it didn't take me long to subscribe and part with £12!

I'm based in Ireland, a lifelong bike/car enthusiast but my biking to date has been all on sportsbikes, currently a Ducati 916 and Ducati 848.

For some reason this year I've been taken with the notion of biking through the winter (like a proper biker - usually the Duke hibernates Oct - Mar) and sampling a different type of biking experience.

Looked at a few options but I keep coming back to the BMW GS. Question now is what GS should I buy? Budget of approx £3,000 (if I buy in the UK), I'm thinking a 1150 GS. My daily route will be all country roads to and from the office - a little city riding occassionaly but not much and whatever I get up to at the weekends. Serious lack of space in the garage at present so it will have to live outdoors and I'll probably put approx 200 miles a week on it (assuming I'm hard enough for winter riding - I fully accept I'm a fair weather biker - up to this point!)

Anyway that's me, site looks great I'm sure I'll get a ton of useful info. Look forward to getting involved! All advice gratefully received!!
Barry

 

[Gundog]

Ullo Barry.......

 

[patzx12]

Hi Barry and welcome, You can knock a good 11 months of riding in Ireland with a GS.
Sunny day here in Galway the roads are full of bikers but it has to be really sunny. Wet day just the odd bike mostly BMW

 

[Aidan1150]

Howya Barry.

Welcome along to UKGSer. Be sure to check out the Ireland section too, there's usually something going on.

There's a great value 1150 for sale here.

 

[Barry]

Hi Barry and welcome, You can knock a good 11 months of riding in Ireland with a GS.
Sunny day here in Galway the roads are full of bikers but it has to be really sunny. Wet day just the odd bike mostly BMW

That's exactly what I'm thinking. A bike I can ride in everything but sub zero temperatures. At the moment I'm in the 'sunny day only' category!

 

[Barry]

There's a great value 1150 for sale here.

Certainly does look like good value...

Anyone care to tell me what kind of mileage a good GS will go for. Should I be worried about bikes with 40,000+ miles on them???

 

[Aidan1150]

Certainly does look like good value...

Anyone care to tell me what kind of mileage a good GS will go for. Should I be worried about bikes with 40,000+ miles on them???

My 2001 1150GS has over 72 thousand miles on her and is going great. Yes she has had a few wee problems, but not all of them were her own fault.

A well maintained, well kept GS be that an 1100, 1150 or 1200, is capable of clocking up huge miles.

 

[Mandylicious]

Hello Barry and welcome along

 

[essjay]

I wouldn't discount an 1100GS. If it's living outside an 1100 might hold up better.

I go from Crumlin to East Wall every day (in all weathers) on my 1100GS and it's a cracking bike. I like it so much I was thinking of buying a second just in case the other one needs something fixing at some stage.

I bought mine for around £2700 and it came with a huge amount of accessories. VRT was €140.

 

[Barry]

I wouldn't discount an 1100GS. If it's living outside an 1100 might hold up better.

Any particular reason? 1100 more resistant to the outdoors than an 1150 or 1200?

 

[Mr K]

Welcome aboard!

I likes Dublin.

 

[essjay]

Any particular reason? 1100 more resistant to the outdoors than an 1150 or 1200?

It seems that the BMW build quality started gong down hill a bit since the 1100's. I'm sure someone will be along to disagree soon. I've seen a mates 1200 rot when left out in the elements. On my old 1150 I noticed the alternator cover corrode a bit but on my 12 year old, 65000 mile 1100GS there is not a bit of rust or corrosion. I've left it outside for around 9 months now.