Introduction

[Thw Hobbt]

Hi
My Name is Barry, and I currently ride a Bonneville Black. I have been lurking around this forum for a couple of months as I am very interested in buying another bike to use for work and longer distance in Bad weather.
I am an IT Manager in the professional services arena, and commute about 100 miles each day.

I am incredibly lucky in having a wife who is a great fan of ridding with me and adores my current ride, but she would like to be able to travel with a bit more luggage.

I first rode a GS in November and was very impressed in every way, but looking at this board, I came to the conclusion that these bike must be one of the most unreliable bike currently on sale. Because of this, I patiently waited for the Triumph Tiger 800 to arrive convinced that I wold instantly fall in love with one and buy it: Unfortunately after a test ride I came to the conclusion that although they are great bikes, I was not in love.

Is the GS really as bad as this forum paints? Rear drive failures in every other bike, fuel pumps that don't pump, engines that blow up every other year and use more oil than petrol, together with a company that don't care!

I spoke to my local dealer (Balderstone) about it, and not surprisingly they claim to have never seen any of these faults!
Have any of you out there had problems with a Balderstone bike?

Thanks for listening, and despite my brain informing me that only a mug would spend 10k ish on a very well specked 2 year old GS that will probably bake down on my fist trip to work< i can defiantly feel the blood rising!!

Barry

 

[tunnie]

but looking at this board, I came to the conclusion that these bike must be one of the most unreliable bike currently on sale.

Its by far the best selling bike above 1,000 cc there are fair few around.

I've had no issues on mine, now on 34k

Think about why these forums get posts, people join because they have issues. Not many just join a forum and post "my bike has been totally reliable". People only post when they have issues!

Just buy one and ride it!

 

[Shep]

Firstly may I congratulate you on your English, not easy when it's not your native language

If you want one, go and buy one, you can always sell it if it proves to be a problem, I think it will make your commute seem much shorter especially if you choose the adv version.

Shep

 

[Pip_UK]

I first rode a GS in November and was very impressed in every way, but looking at this board, I came to the conclusion that these bike must be one of the most unreliable bike currently on sale.

Hi Barry, if you pick any enthusiast's bike/car at random and browse their owner forum, there'll be reams of posts in the form of: "My [vehicle make & model] is only [recent year] but the [expletive]+[expensive component] is [expletive]'ed!"

Have a good old browse around the forum, especially in the travel section, and see if you feel generally that GSs enhance people's live's like nothing else can, or if their spirits are irreparably damaged because their bike broke down.

If you like it, go for it. Then one day you can tell your grandkids the story about how you took gran on a motorcycle road trip, instead of the story about how you wisely steered clear of buying an awesome motorcycle because of potential reliability issues.

The most unreliable motorcycle I ever had was an original F650GS, but what I remember most about it, was riding to the Alps and back.

Go for it - you may regret it, but there's statistically a much greater chance that your only regret will be that you didn't do it years ago.

HTH

 

[Spike]

Every make of bike, car van or lorry will have their own special gremlins.

I just bought my 07 GSA and love it to pieces, reading the full service history I got with mine nothing major had gone wrong with it, he had the rear bearing done in the final frive but thats as major as it got, Mine has done 40K and I have just replaced the clutch, now speak to many others on here and they are up to 60-70-80K and never replaced a clutch, so again it was down to the rider not the bike.

Go buy one and enjoy it, ride it and love it.

spike

 

[Gremlin Serbia]

Every make of bike, car van or lorry will have their own special gremlins.

I just bought my 07 GSA and love it to pieces, reading the full service history I got with mine nothing major had gone wrong with it, he had the rear bearing done in the final frive but thats as major as it got, Mine has done 40K and I have just replaced the clutch, now speak to many others on here and they are up to 60-70-80K and never replaced a clutch, so again it was down to the rider not the bike.

Go buy one and enjoy it, ride it and love it.

spike

Somebody looking for me ?

Well, I got also 2007 GSA, and had just one problem of dis-fixed reflector inside headlamp case.

FPC and EWS were changed free of charge, as a a part of BMW recall program.

I can just say corrosion protection could be much better for that expensive bike.

 

[(RIP) Johno23]

Iv'e had my GS from new only for about a year 11k miles later I have to say it is the best bike i've had, rides well handles great, huge road presence Etc No problems so far, i have a number of mates with Gs's 6 i think,none have had any major issues, buy one and you will love it.It has a character that no other bike today has, you will love it.

 

[Pukmeister]

I've owned 2x1200's since 2005. Both have had some faults. All problems handled courteously by my BMW dealer and repaired under warranty at no expense to myself. I changed the fuel pump controller myself when it failed outside warranty at 4 years old and after 32,000 miles for less than £70.

People tend to post about the negatives on this forum (I include myself in this), not many happy owners take the time to post about the positives.

If anything happened to my current GSA I would be heartbroken, and would replace it with another immediately.

If you buy a bike from a dealer you should get a 12 month used bike warranty which is pretty comprehensive, plus you have consumer rights under the sale of goods act so why worry.

Ride and enjoy.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Panzerkinder]

If you want reliability with style and good looks then the only option has to be a 1150GSA

 

[grasmith0149]

Barry, go and buy a 1200GS, You WILL NOT regret it. I've been messing about on bikes for longer than I care to mention and have had a good few bikes over the years. I changed to a GS 4 years ago and now wouldn't want too ride anything else. As someone has already said, buy from a BMW dealer and you should get a 12 month warrenty anyway

 

[Bikerjim]

Hi Barry

Ive been riding GS1200s for the past three years and only had one final drive and one knackerd battery in 30k (final drive under waranty)

I have just parted with a bit of cash on my new 09 plate GS so know how it is (i dont hink you will regret it)

Balderstones is a good dealer (that where mine came from) Where are you in the fens ? if you not far we can meet for more info.

Jim

 

[Thw Hobbt]

Thanks you all for the feedback and kind thoughts.

I understand that this bikes very successfully and many have been sold, But Looking at all of the other Bike, car forums I am on I do not see the repeated complaints around what must be known problems.
Having said that, I stopped by at Balderstones yesterday and things are progressing nicely.

Jim
I live between Peterborough and Wisbeach.

Regards
Barry

 

[Stretchamus]

Welcome to the Forum and good luck with the GS search