Life expectancy

shready

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I've had my R1100GS for about 5 years now and I've done about 55,000 miles on it. It has done 59, 500 miles in total and was first registered in Germany in Jan 1999.

It's looked after and is serviced regularly and has the oil changed regularly, garaged and is used for daily commuting in the South East (mainly motorway in the last 12 months, before that it was through London).

I was wondering, in general terms, what life you can get out of these bikes, or more specifically, the engines. What mileages have people seen their GS's clock up before major work?

I've had a new clutch, rear bearings, fork seals and new discs.

I still love this bike to bits but I'm sure a day will come when major work could be needed.

Do I get my GS Adventure now or wait a bit?
 
I am sure the R1100GS will last a few more miles yet. I also am a member of the bmwsporttouring.com forum, and there are lots of riders on there who are well into 6 figure mileage. They even say they are not run in till they've done 24k miles. If you keep looking after it, there is no reason to think it will break down.
 
Geoff2 said:
I am sure the R1100GS will last a few more miles yet. I also am a member of the bmwsporttouring.com forum, and there are lots of riders on there who are well into 6 figure mileage. They even say they are not run in till they've done 24k miles. If you keep looking after it, there is no reason to think it will break down.

I hope so, mines on 56k and its coming up for a clutch change now...

Thats it by the way, touch wood....
 
There are a couple of S' I know of with over 110k on the clock - one used by a courier, the other used for the Nick Sanders around the world thing as well as commuting.

If the S can take this sort of abuse there's no reason why the GS can't. Expensive bits seem to be the clutch (done) shaft and gearbox. Plenty of life left yet I would think.

Adam :)
 
If it is well maintained there is no reason to worry. I saw a 1996 R1100GS last summer with over 210,000km on the clock - the owner told me had had no major work done on the engine at all just routine maintenance.
Mine is a '99 model and so far I am up to about 75,000km . So far so good .....here's hoping it stays that way. i have not desire to get rid of it and with regular oil changes and general care I hope to be riding it for years to come.
 
There was a Belgian (or Dutch, I forget) bloke's GS in a Dutch mag last year. It had done 300,000 km. And the engine was still in reasonable nick. So if you're nice, the engine should last, except for the "consumables" such as clutches...
 
I read this thread on the ADV rider site a while back, this guy at that stage had done 300 000 miles and going for 500k.

Here is the link <a href="http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37535">Trusty GS</a>

Good read :thumb
 


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