Ten reasons why the 2006 1200 GSA is a bag of shit

Oisin

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Had an 1150GS..great machine...know lots of folks with the 1100...they love em too.....

the 2006 GSA is a bag of crap because (in no particular order)

(ps I own one...and am sick to the teeth of it)

1) EWS fails!.... nuff said.... can happen any time anywhere.....for no reason....happened me on the border of Colombia and ecuador...thats it...600 bucks in a truck to Cali

2) Throttle position sensor location.... tourtech make a fortune making accessories for BMW because they've a crap design....

3) Vitamol for clutch fluid...and oh yeah if you put in dot3/4 the seals leak....now for the bike you can take anywhere supposedly...do you think you can get Vitamol anywhere? you can in your hole!!! Someone should find the gobshite who came up with this beaut and say to him...ok..now your in Mongolia...go find some vitamol (I happen to be in mongolia looking for vitamol!)

4) Final drive.... currently running at about 2000 bucks worth of repairs to my final drive...yep I'm a fat bastard so this may be my fault....

5) The poxy seat... unless your a leprechan your arse end dangles between the gap...and you have to keep WD40'ing the catch to get the seat off...what the hell was wrong with the old seat? one piece...came off handy pandy

6) The headlight...try and change it without breaking the assembly!... i dare ya.... I know guys who really know there stuff who've done this...another 250 bucks out of you sky rocket

7) The CANBUS... try and pump up the tires using the electric socket beyond 30psi...the canbus says screw you on account of the current load....

8) Add basically any electrical component, gps, etc...CANBUS kicks you in the nuts

9) Fuel gauge / Range monitor...about as good as a chocolate firegaurd....never work..not just on my bike others too....don't put em on there if they dont work

10) No dumb dumb switch on overheating....and they overheat like a whores bastard in a hot climate in a city

11) How the hell do you take off the hand spoilers? what tool is that? do you have one in your kit? like would you bring one with you to Mongolia?

12) Battery drops below 12V..the bike is fubar...totally fubar....stops working completely

13) No overvoltage protection to jump it off a car....none do...but this is the bike that supposed to go anywhere..what the hell do you do if you get a flat battery...(always park uphill?)

14) Piston head protection bars aren't worth a shite compared to the 1150

15) Just way too many specialized tools, electrics, etc....for a bike that will end up in remote conditions you can't fucking fix it.


WAS: BMW's are great, bikes built to take you anywhere; they'll never let you down = 1150/1100

IS: BMW's are overpriced bags of fuckstory; they will fuck you at your most vulneralbe = 1200


Yeah I know thats 15 reasons!.....

Comments on a postcard please.
 
Never a truer word said, Oisin

Steptoe would wholeheartedly agree with your epitaph to the 12GSA
 
Most of your points are not only applicable to 2006 models....however, as much as it grieves me to say...deep breath...this 1200 on a 17k mile trip last year had no issues and can be seen here playing in Mongolia...perhaps it was lucky, perhaps not:nenau

615848857_hPGvs-XL.jpg
 
Shep said:
Perhaps your just not ready for the 1200 yet?:augie:D
Click to expand...

Perhaps not :augie

JohnnyBoxer said:
Never a truer word said, Oisin

Steptoe would wholeheartedly agree with your epitaph to the 12GSA
Click to expand...

Entirely predictable....must try harder...zzzzzz

Timolgra said:
Most of your points are not only applicable to 2006 models....however, as much as it grieves me to say...deep breath...this 1200 on a 17k mile trip last year had no issues and can be seen here playing in Mongolia...perhaps it was lucky, perhaps not:nenau
Click to expand...

Didn't see that one coming, bravo-good effort :clap

tommygun said:
Yeah.....15k miles here and no issues....and no oil used. :comfort
Click to expand...

18k on my last 12ADV and now on my 2nd I concur (he says-whilst touching wood and clasping his lucky rabbit's foot, 4 leaf clover and sprig of lucky heather...... ) ;)

Oisin-poor rant-very poor, most of your gripes you could have researched and prepared for;

electrics-fit a stand alone fused panel for accessories and tyre inflator as many owners have done.

ditto the above regarding fitting a jump start system-many have done it.

The seat? endless threads on here regarding aftermarket seats, the standard seat doesn't suit you-so what, did you need to go to
Mongolia to discover that?

Tools? To remove the handguards I believe it's a Torx TX55, the bike has Torx fixings all over, buy a set and add them to your toolkit, it's not rocket science....

Headlight? I've changed bulbs on both my 12's and subsequently converted both to H.I.D. never broken anything-yet.....but I've seen threads where people have maybe I got lucky or maybe I headed the warnings of others :nenau

Fuel guage? Not great I agree but consistent so consistently bad, you do have a trip meter?

T.P.S. sensor, shit design-agreed and looks vulnerable, there are aftermarket protectors available for relatively little money though.

Final drives? I've heard the horror stories but have only experienced an oil seal failure on my previous bike, maybe they don't all fail......or maybe I change my bikes too early to find out :P

EWS? Never had a failure, obviously I have been lucky here but many carry a spare when travelling, the failure of this part is well documented.

Special clutch fluid? That's a new one on me :confused:

Cylinder protection? Never had an issue myself, the 1200ADV head protectors scratch easily as I found out but seem to bash out well, were the nylon protectors on the 11.. any better :nenau

It's sad you've had problems, good luck with your Tenere....1100/1150..... KTM....
 
I just traded my 06 Gsa for a '10 Gsa...

...and I was sorry to see it go :(
 
good one

Great comments below...and to be fair I've a sack of spare parts with me..but just as it happens not a bottle of vitamol or a rear shock which is why i'm stuck....

but if you take all the countermeasures below....and your right...you should do em all..... but bottom line your buttressing the bmw.... :-)

So what it should say is.... take this bike anywhere...... as long as...
you've got some vitamol, an EWS, a fuel pump controller, a stand alone fuse panel, blah blah....but apart from that what have the romans ever done for us!!

anyway.... if the bmw lad who decided to put vitamol into the clutch is about.... i hope you get rabies!




2 wheel humvee said:
Perhaps not :augie



Entirely predictable....must try harder...zzzzzz



Didn't see that one coming, bravo-good effort :clap



18k on my last 12ADV and now on my 2nd I concur (he says-whilst touching wood and clasping his lucky rabbit's foot, 4 leaf clover and sprig of lucky heather...... ) ;)

Oisin-poor rant-very poor, most of your gripes you could have researched and prepared for;

electrics-fit a stand alone fused panel for accessories and tyre inflator as many owners have done.

ditto the above regarding fitting a jump start system-many have done it.

The seat? endless threads on here regarding aftermarket seats, the standard seat doesn't suit you-so what, did you need to go to
Mongolia to discover that?

Tools? To remove the handguards I believe it's a Torx TX55, the bike has Torx fixings all over, buy a set and add them to your toolkit, it's not rocket science....

Headlight? I've changed bulbs on both my 12's and subsequently converted both to H.I.D. never broken anything-yet.....but I've seen threads where people have maybe I got lucky or maybe I headed the warnings of others :nenau

Fuel guage? Not great I agree but consistent so consistently bad, you do have a trip meter?

T.P.S. sensor, shit design-agreed and looks vulnerable, there are aftermarket protectors available for relatively little money though.

Final drives? I've heard the horror stories but have only experienced an oil seal failure on my previous bike, maybe they don't all fail......or maybe I change my bikes too early to find out :P

EWS? Never had a failure, obviously I have been lucky here but many carry a spare when travelling, the failure of this part is well documented.

Special clutch fluid? That's a new one on me :confused:

Cylinder protection? Never had an issue myself, the 1200ADV head protectors scratch easily as I found out but seem to bash out well, were the nylon protectors on the 11.. any better :nenau

It's sad you've had problems, good luck with your Tenere....1100/1150..... KTM....
Click to expand...
 
Smile

Well fella soon as you get your ride working again and blasting along you'll be smiling,and hey adds to your adventure,still think these bikes rock and come on you know you'll buy another one......cause we all come back to these babies......:Motomartin
 
So what it should say is.... take this bike anywhere...... as long as...
you've got some vitamol, an EWS, a fuel pump controller, a stand alone fuse panel, blah blah....but apart from that what have the romans ever done for us!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

Nice rant, couldn't do better if I tried:comfort

Free speech is good as long as you don't say anything bad about BWM it seems. :mad:
Next it will be a visit from the Spanish Inquisition for you my lad.:augie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldlyTjXk9A
 
Oisin said:
Great comments below...and to be fair I've a sack of spare parts with me..but just as it happens not a bottle of vitamol or a rear shock which is why i'm stuck....

but if you take all the countermeasures below....and your right...you should do em all..... but bottom line your buttressing the bmw.... :-)

So what it should say is.... take this bike anywhere...... as long as...
you've got some vitamol, an EWS, a fuel pump controller, a stand alone fuse panel, blah blah....but apart from that what have the romans ever done for us!!

anyway.... if the bmw lad who decided to put vitamol into the clutch is about.... i hope you get rabies!
Click to expand...

Didn't realise you were stuck at the moment-and you didn't metion the shock in your original post, good luck with finding a solution that will get you going as soon as possible :thumb2
As for vitamol boy-I've put a price on his head-you owe me ;)
 
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Vitamol is just Hydraulic Mineral Oil.
Loads of cars, trucks and plant use it.

Go to somewhere where they fix big stuff and ask em nicely.
If you can't find Vitamol itself, then use the lightest Hydraulic Mineral Oil you can find.

If I was really stuck then I would use the lightest mineral oil available e.g. fork oil or even light engine oil.

DO NOT USE BRAKE FLUID
 
No probs here :augie, I may have to add a 'yet' on the end of that but I ain't stupid enough to think that mechanical things don't break, oh and there's an old military saying that sums this rant up pretty well, 'Poor Preparation leads to PISS POOR performance':thumb2
 
Oisin said:
6) The headlight...try and change it without breaking the assembly!... i dare ya.... I know guys who really know there stuff who've done this...another 250 bucks out of you sky rocket

.
Click to expand...


I have had my headlight in and out a few times - no problem :nenau































:hide
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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