I'm just registered... F800GS blown up!

[jtw000]

This is such a pain in the arse. I came on here to find out if the 800 was any more reliable than my 1200 has turned out to be and within three threads find there are numerous ongoing problems with the one bike I really like. BMW suck.

 

[m0ng00se]

This is such a pain in the arse. I came on here to find out if the 800 was any more reliable than my 1200 has turned out to be and within three threads find there are numerous ongoing problems with the one bike I really like. BMW suck.

Although I do have problems, I know of many more people who doesn't have any problems at all, so I still think it is a great bike, I love it ...

I am leaving my bike with BMW for 2 weeks next month while I am away on holiday and looking forward to coming back to a hopefully happier sounding engine .. then the next trip will probably be down to Wales for the Touratech event ... can't wait !

 

[Micky]

This is such a pain in the arse. I came on here to find out if the 800 was any more reliable than my 1200 has turned out to be and within three threads find there are numerous ongoing problems with the one bike I really like. BMW suck.

You give up too easy

As said 36,000 miles on mine now, ridden down to Morocco, overland to Iran and Pakistan ... no probs

But then I know plenty people with megga mileage on their 1200's and no probs either

 

[good'oleboy]

Sorry to here the story. I think that there may have been a problem with wearing in the engine. I hit the rev limiter on a demo bike with only 78km on the clock. Bikes don't like that! No engine does till it had done at least 1000km, 2000km is better.

You will probably find that the manual had a guide as to running in the engine. 'keep it under 4K for the first 600 mile, 1000k under 5K'.

He got a demo bike, it would have been pushed, The second engine, did he push it??? (could be a factory fault) I know it should have not failed like that, just not have performed as well in the long run.

Truly I wish that a Jap producer had a bike that challenged the 800gs. The closest match is the V-storm (my opinion). I would buy the Jap over the German in a second. Knowing fault statistics (most important, i study it at university) and the price advantage.

a mate has just sold his Beemer for the V-strom and he reckons he feels he can travel without worring about it conking out. Sad to think that BMW are losing some customers to reliability issues.

 

[MattW]

This is such a pain in the arse. I came on here to find out if the 800 was any more reliable than my 1200 has turned out to be and within three threads find there are numerous ongoing problems with the one bike I really like. BMW suck.

Sheesh

People do not post on forums saying 'great bike, nothing has gone wrong'. If you base your opinion of a bike's reliability on what you read on a forum you'll end up with a very distorted view of reality. Try reading forums concerned with supposedly reliable marques (Honda, Mercedes, Toyota etc, etc) - you'll get just the same story.

That said, it's a machine and a pretty complex one at that - machines go wrong sometimes - it's not made with special German magic.

Buy it, ride it, and in the unlikely event that it breaks, get it fixed.

 

[Tim Cullis]

That's a very nice theory Matt, but if you go onto xt660.com you won't find people moaning about reliability problems with the Tenere.

Yes, some people (well, Micky at least ) haven't had problems, but many others have. It seems early adopters are being used as alpha testers and when problems develop (e.g. radiator hose, chain), BMW takes an inordinately long time to come up with a solution. I had my 2008 F650GS recovered FOUR times on the back of a recovery vehicle and my list of problems covered seven pages of A4.

In concept it's a really good bike--light, agile, brilliant rorty exhaust, fabulous fuel consumption--better than the 660cc Tenere. I am now riding a new 2009 F650GS partly funded by BMW and I am hoping this will be a lot more reliable.

 

[everywherevirtually]

I've just ridden to Austria on mine in temperatures of -3c. It's covered in Salt and hasn't given me any bother. It's up to 32,000 miles and I wouldn't swap it for anything else. A few niggles were sorted out early on but nothing that made me think I'd made a mistake.

The bike was fully loaded on this trip. It had 3 metal boxes, one large Ortlieb, 2 spare helmets and a pair of ski boots.

photos will follow shortly

 

[Richie3264]

This is such a pain in the arse. I came on here to find out if the 800 was any more reliable than my 1200 has turned out to be and within three threads find there are numerous ongoing problems with the one bike I really like. BMW suck.

I like you had doubts, I read the threads and it was a big decision to make. Now got a 09 bumble bee and the only thing that lets it down is the riders abilities or lack Its alot of bike for not alot of money - in the BMW world that is

Richie

 

[GS Biker]

I too have had problems with my bike. At the end of the day, I have had problems with all my past vehicle, but I still think the 800 is an awesome bike and don't intend on getting rid of it for another year at least!

 

[jtw000]

I keep seeing people writing that nobody posts when things go right. Well i did, I posted about how happy I was with my r1200gs. That was just before the battery died. Ok, consumables die so I replaced it. Then other bits died and were replaced and in the end it had to be recovered twice in a month. Everyone on the 1200 forum warned me that I was jumping the gun by saying good things about the 1200 and they were right. BMW do not deserve their reputation for reliability and although I want an 800 I can't see me buying one because they're simply not up to it.

 

[Mattd]

Mine too!!

Just another quick update. Video of my engine tappy/rattling/clonking whatever you wanna call it is here : http://bit.ly/7V0jw

BMW Battersea have just phoned me and now admits the engine does not sound healthy at all ... At least now they admit it. They seem to be unsure of what the problem is, so they called BMW technical services who requested they take the whole engine apart to start looking for the fault ... they can't tell me how long that will take.

Like I said, at least they admit there is something wrong, not happy that I'm without a bike for a few days, but happy they are now at least taking it seriously

Will let you know what the outcome is ...

Hi Mongoose. I am having exactly the same problem although you can heear it whether the engine is cold or hot. It is like a tapping/knocking to the engine when idle and moving up past 2k revs. Once the bike is up and running it feels pretty smooth but when idle it's knocking around all over the place. I bought a demo that had done 600 miles. I've only done 300 in it, riden it responsibly and now it rattles like a bike 28k plus. They are taking my bike overnight as i've already had the 'sounds fine to me'. I am still within my 30 days so am pretty tempted to exercise my consumder rights on this one. I just don;t want a headache. Please let me know how you get on and vice versa. Mine is at Battersea as well.

 

[m0ng00se]

Hi Mongoose. I am having exactly the same problem although you can heear it whether the engine is cold or hot. It is like a tapping/knocking to the engine when idle and moving up past 2k revs. Once the bike is up and running it feels pretty smooth but when idle it's knocking around all over the place. I bought a demo that had done 600 miles. I've only done 300 in it, riden it responsibly and now it rattles like a bike 28k plus. They are taking my bike overnight as i've already had the 'sounds fine to me'. I am still within my 30 days so am pretty tempted to exercise my consumder rights on this one. I just don;t want a headache. Please let me know how you get on and vice versa. Mine is at Battersea as well.

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update. I am on holiday in South Africa at the moment and I have left my F800GS with the dealership for 2 weeks. I have now received an email from them stating that it is worn pistons.

They have taken photos of the worn pistons and sent it to BMW Technical (assume this is in Germany) which gave the go-ahead to replace the pistons ...

I am flying back to the UK this Saturday so will go round the dealership on Monday to pick up my bike. Now I wonder, why does this happen in the first place, what makes the new pistons different to the previous ones, what is the chances of it happening again? possible that it's just a once off ... I have read of other guys with piston replacement, maybe a bad batch of engines?

Anyway, so that was the problem with my rattling/noisy engine. Hopefully on Monday I will have a nice clean sounding bike again

MattD ... What did they say about your bike ??

P.S. Sound clip of my the rattling noisy engine can be found in my previous posts within this thread.

 

[m0ng00se]

Quick and final update from me, soundclip of my "sick" engine before the fix - http://bit.ly/7V0jw

I have had my bike back now for probably about 2 weeks after they have found the problem with worn pistons, bearings and some other parts. They have replaced all that and my bike sounds healthy now.

I no longer feel the vibrations through my handlebars/foot pegs on tickover, the slappy/clappy whatever noise is gone, I think the exhaust note sounds better now as well, so I am now a happy chappy

Thanks to Veronika (she seems ruthless with the engineers) and Joe over at Battersea London for sorting it out and in the first place believing me, other dealerships (SBW and Vines) just told me it sounds normal

I asked Joe when I picked up the bike, will this bike take me down to Cape Town now, and he said, "I can't see why not" ... it better do, because we plan to leave in September for our trip down the east coast of Africa to Cape Town - http://bit.ly/London2CapeTown

Laters ...

 

[john_aero]

glad hear they sorted this for you. it is such a pitty as these bike look like the way to go with regards adv bikes.

just wish they had sorted the issues when the arrose in 2008 so all new bikes would not be affected. looks like with BMW, Honda and Toyota all suffering issues this may be the trend for newer bikes in the furure, lets hope not

enjoy the trip to SA

 

[Micky]

It's up to 32,000 miles and I wouldn't swap it for anything else. A few niggles were sorted out early on but nothing that made me think I'd made a mistake.

32,000 miles

I have 36,000 ... we have a duel on our hands

 

[everywherevirtually]

32,000 miles

I have 36,000 ... we have a duel on our hands

you got away from me with the Pakistan trip but then my winter expedition to Austria enabled me to catch you . The problem is I'm snow bound now. I'm not put of by ice/snow riding but metre deep snow is a problem for any bike.

So when the thaw comes the duel will begin

I'm flying in to be at the Ace cafe on Sunday the 21st if you are about. as are the other Sibirsky Extreme riders

 

[Micky]

you got away from me with the Pakistan trip but then my winter expedition to Austria enabled me to catch you . The problem is I'm snow bound now. I'm not put of by ice/snow riding but metre deep snow is a problem for any bike.

So when the thaw comes the duel will begin

I'm flying in to be at the Ace cafe on Sunday the 21st if you are about. as are the other Sibirsky Extreme riders

Excuses

I'll be across to the Emerald Isle weekend 21st, got some more miles to do on my 800 matie ... can't hang about at my age ya know

Have a great time

 

[santrix]

I cant believe this negative thread has gone to 6 pages and is probably the first thing someone sees when looking into buying one of these bikes. The original post was about a: bieng newly registered and b: having a mates bike desintegrate.... How about something positive?

 

[Dean]

im happy with my 800

I cant believe this negative thread has gone to 6 pages and is probably the first thing someone sees when looking into buying one of these bikes. The original post was about a: bieng newly registered and b: having a mates bike desintegrate.... How about something positive?

I like my bike its my pride and joy its a keeper

when asked at the service what BMW loan bike I wanted i chose the same,
F650GS

Dean

 

[Dean]

Happy Valentines Day to My Bike