You're gonna need a bigger boat !

[(RIP) Tunneruk]

I appreciate that BMW went through a period of pretty poor component finishing and this bike certainly seems to have fallen victim to that. However, if someone leaves a bike covered in British road shite for two years without cleaning it off then they can't really complain when it emerges from the shed covered in corrosion, that said, there are may other manufacturers who's bikes would have faired a whole lot better in the same circumstances.

If you don't at least 'try' to protect / look after it then you're asking for trouble.

The OP is right though, to do a decent job of bringing that back to a respectable condition it needs stripping right down and starting again, that's a bloody shame on an expensive 2011 bike

 

[doyle]

I appreciate that BMW went through a period of pretty poor component finishing and this bike certainly seems to have fallen victim to that. However, if someone leaves a bike covered in British road shite for two years without cleaning it off then they can't really complain when it emerges from the shed covered in corrosion, that said, there are may other manufacturers who's bikes would have faired a whole lot better in the same circumstances.

If you don't at least 'try' to protect / look after it then you're asking for trouble.

The OP is right though, to do a decent job of bringing that back to a respectable condition it needs stripping right down and starting again, that's a bloody shame on an expensive 2011 bike

I once went to buy a KTM 950 adv which had only done 3500 miles,a steal at the advertised price I thought. When I got there we couldn't even push the bike as the chain was so rusty,It had been put away for 6 months after being ridden on wet salty roads in winter. It was beyond cleaning

 

[(RIP) Tunneruk]

I once went to buy a KTM 950 adv which had only done 3500 miles,a steal at the advertised price I thought. When I got there we couldn't even push the bike as the chain was so rusty,It had been put away for 6 months after being ridden on wet salty roads in winter. It was beyond cleaning

That illustrates my point beautifully, my KTM 950 Adv is 11 years old with nearly 50k miles, gets ridden all year but doesn't have any corrosion at all (I'll refrain from posting up yet another photo of the gorgeous beast)
I do keep on top of keeping it clean but in fairness I don't work as hard as I'd have to if it was an R1200GS

 

[Davy F]

I'll refrain from posting up yet another photo of the gorgeous beast

Oh you must....you must..

 

[Davy F]

I'll refrain from posting up yet another photo of the gorgeous beast

Oh you must....you must..

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Apparently, He rode it through winter, then put it away for two years without washing it.
I think it's 2011.
Whatever one it is, still goes well.

I'm actually considering not taking this on, it's just so bad.

You can't polish a turd

 

[(RIP) Tunneruk]

Oh you must....you must..

Oh you must....you must..

You know I'm not talking about any part of my body don't you?

 

[Bendy toy]

I stripped mine down to the engine. Total cost for stripping and coating the frame parts, engine front cover, swing arm and FD case and a few other bits was about £300. A commercial coater such as CJ Ward in Burton on trent would be less. You will however need to chemically strip the aluminium. The paint is too hard to grit blast from aluminium without gouging the metal.

 

[Davy F]

You can't polish a turd

Well, I was talked into giving it a go. . So many hours work, but here it is all done. Honestly, it could be so much better as there was so much I couldn't remove for fear of landing myself in trouble. Just have the bashplate to sort out as the two rear rubber fixings have let go, but hopefully I'll have that sorted tomorrow, and then it's gone ASAP as a certain Africa Twin should be gracing my garage this week.

 

[JerseyNeil]

Looking good. Nearly as clean as mine

 

[Bumhead]

Wow what a difference

Well done you

 

[Bungy]

Impressive transformation. Did you remove stuff to be powder coated or dressed it in situ?

 

[Davy F]

Impressive transformation. Did you remove stuff to be powder coated or dressed it in situ?

Bit of both. Powder coated the head covers and stands, then scrubbed, cleaned and prepped everything I could in situ. Loads of masking, plenty of coats and more scrubbing and polishing. Tough job when access is limited.

 

[Bungy]

Bit of both. Powder coated the head covers and stands, then scrubbed, cleaned and prepped everything I could in situ. Loads of masking, plenty of coats and more scrubbing and polishing. Tough job when access is limited.

Even more impressive then knowing that. I tip my hat to you.

 

[Kneeslider916]

This thread shows exactly the reason i stopped buying GS's.

 

[tunnie]

Seriously? Why must the bikes always be so spotless? Just ride it, my 2006 vintage looks worse than pictured. It gets washed once a year if it's lucky, it's never gone wrong, nothing has ever broken on it, it rides really well, just get on and ride?

 

[Davy F]

Seriously? Why must the bikes always be so spotless? Just ride it, my 2006 vintage looks worse than pictured. It gets washed once a year if it's lucky, it's never gone wrong, nothing has ever broken on it, it rides really well, just get on and ride?

Good for you....I'm sure your bike is a credit to you.

 

[tunnie]

It's a credit to doing fak all and stop pishing about by trying to make something look spotless.

 

[Bendy toy]

The rusty hexhead is all fixable for about £500 at a powder coaters and some work stripping it down. Doing it manually looks great for a while but the rust will come back. Rust converters simply don't fully deal with pitted metal and rust always burns pits into the metal.

The front subframe on mine was pretty bad but not like the one here. My back subframe was also pretty rough. I had both done with a two stage powder coat process. Conductive zinc undercoat with 70% gloss black on top. Only one step down on galvanising. I had to strip the bike which looks horrendous, but its not really so bad. Just accept the strange assembly thinking at BMW and be careful to reassemble their way or you will be doing it again (and again).

This engine front cover clear proof the rot problem is electrolytic corrosion rather than stone chips. Get it coated and use lots of anti corrosion paste on the screws all the way up to the heads.

The BMW paint is very hard so alloy parts have to be chemical stripped. BioStrip dip tank works well.

Engine sides spot blast and paint with self etch primer and finish with whatever overcoat floats your boat. Brushing will be fine. Don't expect the blaster to shift much original paint it's mega hard.

The final drive tube only option is mechanical clean out, and powder coat or much better (due to poor access) zinc electro plate with coating over. For now clean it out teat the rust and hand paint. Get the full monty with the FD has to be rebuilt.

 

[Davy F]

Ultimately, all I could do was my best for the owner and his wishes/budget. He collected it today and was very happy with the results. He's happy, I'm happy.