No, not us two legged airheads- we're beyond hope! This is a tale of my wayward GS's extended rehab and release from "treatment", over at my blog- www.gearheadgrrrl.com
the GS platform makes for a fun side car rig..Ozzie of Ozzie's BMW in Chico has an R80G/S hack with a tall wheel that looks like it could climb any mountain or stream in the Sierras...and probably has. The list of failures is exceptionally long even if it was over 20 years...must have gotten a "Monday" bike.
Seems like BMW had a lot of quality problems for a few years after the wall fell. My other airheads are 1983 and 1984 miles.
Your list of bike issues is not that far away from my 92 R100GS's list of issues. New charging system replaced by BMW under warranty New main, ignition and right switch wiring harness replace Rebuilt tranny and C clip added (Main bearing went) Drive shaft rebuilt All relays replaced Headlight bracket replaced twice. (second time I shorted the springs and it's holding up just fine) And a whole mess of maintenance and wear items fixed. And like you it's a limited ride until I trust it. I've yet to fully trust it, but each ride is getting better. I don't think it was the wall, I think it's just the nature of the beast. My wife's R80 has given us very little problems, my R80ST has a list longer then the GS's but less expensive.
In the early 90s. I've hypothesisized two possible causes- a lot of newbie workers from East Germany after the wall fell, and BMW just didn't give a damn about the airheads anymore.
Turks....my German neighbor has other nationalities in his sights. Better now that his daughter married a Mexican. Hum...Bears too and so do the Polish neighbor. I have always wondered if the Polish workers who built my very shittily finished tranny on the K1200RS have as much fun on the production line as these Germanic workers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XuKmkeBK0g Nice rehabilitation Btw.....I'd like a pic of the sidecar, looks just like the pinkish color of the Dodge pickup truck my German neighbor just bought at 74, I can play with that.
As I recall from days gone by, BMW were proud of the Turkish `guest workers` who assembled their bikes and allowed the fact to be published in the BMW magazine.
You yanks and your circlip transmission issues. I can't for the life of me figure out what you do that the rest of the world doesn't. The only conclusion I can come to is that your too gentle on them.
