People deserting Bmw..?

[Davy F]

Without doubt, my 12GS was probably the best bike I've ever owned for covering distance with ease and how it felt and handled on the road was astounding. It was immaculate after 25k miles (and a credit to me ) and the dealer experience was good as it was not totally reliable unfortunately. And then the trade-in price from said dealer was very disappointing and contrary to what they told me when I was buying it (rock solid residual blah blah), which was the end of our relationship. The way things seem to have spiralled downwards in poor quality of finish (my KTM 1190 was far superior) on the toilets and shoddy mechanics in gearbox design etc have not enhanced their reputation to me and although I admit that the GS still owns the accolade of being a superb road bike, the negatives of ownership that have been so well documented on here and other boards mean I'd never consider buying another. But what BMW Motorrad are superb at is selling a dream. What many end up buying is a myth. Unstoppable.

 

[PembsGSA]

I look at this all slightly differently.

I save up and buy my bikes outright. Do the best deal I can at the time and generally buy brand new, but always pay £150 deposit on my Credit Card.

I then service and maintain them myself.

I don't worry about Warranty because the Sales of Goods and Services Act, Section 75 Credit Act, and Buy with Confidence Scheme from Motorcycle Industry Association covers me.

'Warranty'.... in my opinion is nothing more than a good will gesture, but you have to pay them for the privilage and dance to their tune. Its nothing more than a smoke screen to fill your heart with fear of not complying with their 'insurance plan' - which you all pay for. and it's stalling tac-tics to move you away from your actual rights under UK Law.

I've brought two UK Manufacturers to Court refusing to comply with their 'warranty' and settled both in my favour. They shit themselves when you apply your actual rights, and not play their 'warranty' game.

In my experience with many different dealers

A) They do not understand UK Law and presume Warranty is the golden ticket. It isnt.

B) Workmanship is very expensive and shoddy in a lot of instances.

C) My bikes have come home more broken than when they went in... on some occasions (and that's before I pissed them off).

Resale value... ha

Dealers will rip you off as best they can. Bullshit reasons why your bike is worthless.

I remove all my farkles and sell seperatley before sale. Then sell privately.

Never had an issue with home servicing and people love the condition of my bikes.

Fuck the system, it's toxic, it's broke.

Love my bikes, love my riding, love my life. Take control, it isn't hard once you stop listening to the bullshit. Oh, and I don't have any hassle, still have a good relationship with most of my dealers when I need to use them.

Great Post.

One slight reservation however... system's not broke/toxic, its just designed like any other commercial enterprise.... to extract as much money out of the consumer as possible and wrapping it all up in "Living The Dream"

 

[snaponphil]

So, I’m guessing Bmw needs to set up a new department.?

LOYALTY SCHEME FOR EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Keep comments coming guys, you never know, maybe someone is listening

 

[Spitfire]

I don't worry about Warranty because the Sales of Goods and Services Act, Section 75 Credit Act, and Buy with Confidence Scheme from Motorcycle Industry Association covers me.
.

Great post thank you.

Im interested in this point above... Are you (for example) suggesting I buy a new GS and service it myself from the start. Then say the gearbox goes boom after a year, the dealer should still rectify this fault (due to the sale of goods act) even though they haven't serviced it?

If so how long can you apply this? Is it for their suggested warranty period?

 

[MaDPRoFF]

I think too many people are trying to single out BMW over what actually is a problem right across the board, not only with motorbikes. BMW have held the top spot for a while it was only a matter of time before the other needed to catch up, and Ducati and KTM have, Hondas Africa Twin is a great cheap alternative even for short people with the low seat is lower than the GS with low seat and frame.
I think all manufactures are trying to save money by using inferior parts not made to last like they were once, I see 1 year old Honda's with Rusty Bolts and parts of Frame, I have a Ducati that dealers are so busy they cannot carry out non urgent warranty work for 4 months, and have had quite a few recalls for minor things.
PCP is the down fall of 2nd hand values, and now talk of PCP being the cause of next financial crash.
I agree on the Youngsters who want to ride are put off over the whole getting a full License thing, I also agree that the older generation has made biking a pleasure sport that We do get ripped right off in every aspect, pricing out some people who would like to ride.
But every week even this late in the year I see so many Bikers out riding, something you never saw 5 / 6 years ago.

 

[MaDPRoFF]

Warranty by law is actually a very complicated thing, and you have quite a long time for warranty not just 2 years. BUT BUT the fact is you have to take them to court that is the only way to beat the system if a manufacture refuses to pay.
Regarding servicing I would say you have to prove you are competent to service your own bikes and use BMW spare parts, or have it serviced by an independent who again uses BMW Parts and you have to prove it.
The down side I assume of self serving you do not get ECU updates or minor recalls that are internal on the BMW network.

 

[burnsey66]

It can be as simple as the farkles which keep us with a brand, without which many may move.

We buy clothing and accessories costing thousands - who wants a BMW suit on a KTM?

My luggage, engine bars/protection, spare screen, sat nav, clothing (admittedly Klim, but could be BMW), probably totals five grand - it adds false loyalty to the brand.

Personally, I still like the GS, but change dealer at will - a good one seems rare.

 

[Stevey B]

Interesting set of questions by the O.P.
I bought a second hand GS LC. I've been riding bikes of various makes and sized for 30 years and have found my current ride to be the best one so far..
Would I buy another one, probably not. Issues with build quality, differing servicing costs and BMW back up put me off. An example being the debacle with the fork collars. To me it doesn't matter if the gap is 0.01mm to 3.0mm it's a VODS safety recall !. Two months later still waiting for the BMW bods in Germany to manufacture and supply the collars to dealerships and the reason for the lack of collars apparently, manufacturing in house to save money. If this is the case doesn't say much re the brand's commitment to customers safety, whether the perceived issue is real or not.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I agree.
As an aside I wonder what will happen to classic bike values on the back of diminishing enthusiasm in motorcycling.

They will fall, youngsters in their 20's aren't interested in bikes whatsoever and certainly won't want old 1960's Brit (except to hang on the wall of a trendy bar or coffee shop)

 

[Georgeeboi]

I'd never even seen one in the flesh before. Never sat on one, never rode one. But test rode it on YouTube, that was good enough to buy one for me.

Very happy

Me too!

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

 

[PembsGSA]

Like many forum members on here, over the years I've owned many bikes of differing manufacturers, prior to BMW.
I'm now on my second GSA (2014 LC) and for me the BMW dealer support/service/experience has been excellent, with running costs comparable to alternative manufacturers.

Prior owning the GSA's I owned:
Honda VFR (3 off),
Honda Blackbird (superb),
Honda Pan European (excellent but put off by poor ground clearance)
Aprilia Caponord (very underrated bike, good build quality)

For me, Honda (and Aprilia) build quality/reliability is generally slightly better than BMW (but not by the great margin some may claim). In my experience, Honda dealer support/servicing is generally more expensive and in 2 separate Honda dealer cases, appalling. The main reason I left Honda was due to shoddy dealer workmanship, and on one occasion whereby a routine service was not even carried out (but paid for in full). Following this experience, I lost all confidence/respect for this particular dealer and vowed I would never deal with them again (they have since lost their franchise).

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

But what BMW Motorrad are superb at is selling a dream.

What many end up buying is a myth.

Unstoppable.

Make Life a Ride

 

[yofi]

. But what BMW Motorrad are superb at is selling a dream. What many end up buying is a myth. Unstoppable.

Easy to be cynical, and in part there may be some truth in this. But if the GS (whatever its faults e.g. noisy engine, less than slick gearbox, lack of extra oomph etc) wasn't considered by a sizable number of purchasers to be the best all-rounder, then it wouldn't be the leader in the field year after year. It doesn't take 5 years since the launch of a refreshed bike to see through the Emperor's clothes.

I'm a back to biking biker , having moved to an address where I could be more assured that my bike wouldn't be nicked, like my last one.

Whilst I have a BMW car, I held no allegiances prior to buying my bike. I test rode (in no particular order)

s1000r (buzzy small bike with heavy clutch and wrist robbing bars)
multistrada 1200 (quite liked it, some really strong points)
tiger 800 (fab bike, just wanted more oomph)
tiger ex 1200 (good, but vs the bmw?...)
gs1200(twice)
s1000xr (twice) (ooh, this is tricky...nah, too low geared...and that clutch again)
Yam ST (bargain, but if I'm committing x amount of money, I can do better)
Africa twin (looks great, the best real world adventurer, but bit agricultural)

My last test ride was the second time I got on the GS. Bit trite, but it felt like coming home.

Confess I didn't get to try the orange, and that's partly down to the couldn't care less attitude of the two local dealers closest to me.

 

[Becksy]

There no problems with BMW. Their dealers are the best in the business. Often in the same building as car dealerships, and therefore premium brand levels of professionalism. A world of difference to the likes of Ducati, KTM etc.


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[Boxed-in]

It’s cyclic (if you forgive the pun), BMW’s we’re selling, so BMW start to push out more bikes, stack em’ high and sell them quick, based on their good reputation.

The quality suffers, folk leave the brand, and look for better value, better reputation.

BMW see sales fall over the next few years, workout that the quality was not up to spec, so up their game, and folk return to the brand, because Ducati or Truimph etc. are not as good quality as they were, as they are now selling more bikes etc.

 

[AHaywood]

Not me...brand loyal.
Nothing else comes close.

 

[Deleted account 200417001]

People deserting BMW.?

I’ve noticed a lot of people selling up recently
Is this because of ..?
1, dealers attitude.?
2, Quality issues with the bikes.?
3. Price & resale values..?
4, Better product out there..?
5, Generally leaving biking.?
6, Dealer service schedules & inconstant pricing.? Is every year too often given some guys don’t do many miles..

Thoughts guys..

Maybe a lesson for everyone

1. Dealers have always been amazing for me
2. R1200gs and HP4 have had no trouble with quality
3. Price is good for what you get.
4. There isnt any, even the KTM shit (engines are terrible)
5. Never
6. You should factor this in, if its too expensive go elsewhere, or buy a cheaper bike, like the rest of the peasants.

 

[snaponphil]

1. Dealers have always been amazing for me
2. R1200gs and HP4 have had no trouble with quality
3. Price is good for what you get.
4. There isnt any, even the KTM shit (engines are terrible)
5. Never
6. You should factor this in, if its too expensive go elsewhere, or buy a cheaper bike, like the rest of the peasants.

Great reply.. lmfao

 

[Boxed-in]

Not me...brand loyal.
Nothing else comes close.

To be fair, I have never had any complaints about the bikes (and I’ve had more than a few), and if there was a problem, it’s been fixed. Plenty of frustration with local dealers but that is a whole new story..........

 

[Dennis the Menace]

So, I’m guessing Bmw needs to set up a new department.?

LOYALTY SCHEME FOR EXISTING CUSTOMERS

....