How's BMW reliability (thinking 650/800GS) and maintenance?

[Foot dragger]

Originally Posted by slide

The 650 is about the most boring bike available for sale. Every time I see one, I"m amazed that the owner is so easy to please. The DL1k is more exciting but mine had poor fueling and poor shifting which some do. The lunatic fringe Strom owners claim both can be sorted out with a lot of work and some money. I felt the Strom very comfortable and a great value, but I'd rather pay more and get more. So I did.

The little GS's are new so there is no reliability figures which are real, but the engines are Rotax which are plain terrific. My G-X Rotax is a single 650. I run it at 80 mph for hours at a time and it burns no oil. Also many guys use Rotax engines (different models!!) for their ultra light airplanes so they think they are reliable.

If I were looking for the one bike do it all, I'd look at the Kwak Versys and the new BMW GS series.

My DR650 will run at 80 mph all day and has never used a drop of oil or vibrated much or needed a service every 6,000 miles like some european bikes seem to need.Its so simple it should be criminal,dirt or street it works fine. 3,000 on craigs list and then 2,000 for setup on suspension and what not and its an off/on road touring bike. No panache what so ever but it works for me on an increasing number of road trips.

[Monkey_Boy]

Originally Posted by Global Rider

Prove otherwise.

I'm not the one making the claim. You are. And it sounds like you can't back it up.

Might want to revise the statement to reflect your opinion instead of a fact.

[Monkey_Boy]

Originally Posted by nachtflug

gee your website states you bought a 2nd 1150GS Adventure because they stopped making them. How many can you ride at the same time? Or are you afraid it won't last long?

which is it? tell us oh brainwashed one.

My buddy's 2005 LT with 24,000 miles started leaking oil at the tranny output shaft when we were in the middle of Nowhere, NM. We thought it was the final drive but it turned out to be the output shaft seal. Now me, on my 2002 Goldwing, I just looked at the oil leak and shrugged. What can you say? What a POS? No, and they did fix it under warranty. But still... WTF is up with that?

BMW koolaid drinkers, hey, have at it. I loved my 2003 1150GS, although the fuel gauge never worked right, and I always wondered if the final drive bearing would fail me out in the middle of BumFuckEgypt, Baja.... Own it for the love of it but don't delude yourself that it's the freakin' perfect machine and everyone is a dickwad for thinking otherwise. My first BMW was a 1992 K100. What a flaming piece of crap that was.

Until BMW gets its act together, owning a BMW is not worth it to me. YMMV.

[Foot dragger]

My 03 1150R only made it to 25,000 miles before it needed enough new electrical parts and labor that it would have been a 3500.00 repair had it not been under warranty,two under warranty fixes later and it was gone before the warranty quit.I couldnt imagine owning one of these bikes without a catch all warranty. True BMW riders dont worry about the cost and consider it the price of admission. 6,000 miles and then it needs a service?Even Ducati has gotten away from this,no wonder the local dealer is always buried in bikes to work on. They all need work all the time if you ride em much. Fun bikes to ride though.

[HighTechCoonass]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

My buddy's 2005 LT with 24,000 miles started leaking oil at the tranny output shaft when we were in the middle of Nowhere, NM. We thought it was the final drive but it turned out to be the output shaft seal. Now me, on my 2002 Goldwing, I just looked at the oil leak and shrugged. What can you say? What a POS? No, and they did fix it under warranty. But still... WTF is up with that?

BMW koolaid drinkers, hey, have at it. I loved my 2003 1150GS, although the fuel gauge never worked right, and I always wondered if the final drive bearing would fail me out in the middle of BumFuckEgypt, Baja.... Own it for the love of it but don't delude yourself that it's the freakin' perfect machine and everyone is a dickwad for thinking otherwise. My first BMW was a 1992 K100. What a flaming piece of crap that was.

Until BMW gets its act together, owning a BMW is not worth it to me. YMMV.

we found another BMW basher...have you nothing else to do.... OH dont forget to visit the Versys and the KTM thread....

[Monkey_Boy]

Originally Posted by HighTechCoonass

we found another BMW basher...have you nothing else to do....

I loved my 2003 1150GS,

Oh yeah, I'm such a basher. But you're right, at this moment I have nothing else to do. Oh wait. Think I'll pour me another Glenlivet.

[Big_John]

Originally Posted by Lopoetve

my only problem with the strom is just that they're, well, so soulless... :(

You know......I can understand that statement, as I own a DL650. That motor was not built to live at 3-4k RPM's....and feels very doggy. But if you keep it around 6-9k RPM's, it has all the spirit I want.

Now that statement isn't an endorsement for the bike in the dirt, but the Strom is still a lot of fun on fire roads, etc. And if you mount some TKC's and mount a smaller front sprocket, it gets around great at low speeds.

Anyway, I wouldn't trade my Strom for any bike under $10k.

If I had $15k burning a hole in my pocket.......Well, the only bike I would own would be a 1200GSA....and I would need another $5k.

[Lopoetve]

Originally Posted by slide

The 650 is about the most boring bike available for sale. Every time I see one, I"m amazed that the owner is so easy to please. The DL1k is more exciting but mine had poor fueling and poor shifting which some do. The lunatic fringe Strom owners claim both can be sorted out with a lot of work and some money. I felt the Strom very comfortable and a great value, but I'd rather pay more and get more. So I did.

The little GS's are new so there is no reliability figures which are real, but the engines are Rotax which are plain terrific. My G-X Rotax is a single 650. I run it at 80 mph for hours at a time and it burns no oil. Also many guys use Rotax engines (different models!!) for their ultra light airplanes so they think they are reliable.

If I were looking for the one bike do it all, I'd look at the Kwak Versys and the new BMW GS series.

i thought they'd been out overseas for some time?

[Lopoetve]

Originally Posted by jnoflane

You know......I can understand that statement, as I own a DL650. That motor was not built to live at 3-4k RPM's....and feels very doggy. But if you keep it around 6-9k RPM's, it has all the spirit I want.

Now that statement isn't an endorsement for the bike in the dirt, but the Strom is still a lot of fun on fire roads, etc. And if you mount some TKC's and mount a smaller front sprocket, it gets around great at low speeds.

Anyway, I wouldn't trade my Strom for any bike under $10k.

If I had $15k burning a hole in my pocket.......Well, the only bike I would own would be a 1200GSA....and I would need another $5k.

it's not that the rides aren't fun - its that the bike doesn't do anything for me. I don't look forward to riding it - I'll choose to ride almost anything else first. Yes, it's reliable, yes, it's capable.

So is a corolla. Neither does anything for me :(

[Wildman]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

Oh yeah, I'm such a basher...

Do you actually have an opinion on the F650GS or F800GS? One, to quote you, "based on fact".

[Uriel]

Originally Posted by Wildman

Hey, Uriel

Saw your pics of the panniers. Persuaded me to go for them too.

Got my 600 service next week. How much for yours (if you don't mind me asking)?

I don't know what the service is going to cost yet...my dealer has a habit of hiding the costs of things (including the bike itself!) until the very last minute...not exactly confidence inspiring. I'm dropping it off tomorrow and I'll ask them then. I let you know.

Congrats on the Zegas...can't go wrong, really :)

[eakins]

Originally Posted by are12c

So if a BMW lasts longer than a Japanese bike (and I understand that some last longer than others on both sides of this equation), how do you factor that in on cost?

i think that's an outdated notion dating back to airheads compared to the other offering at that time.

i used to own 2 bmws so i'll comment.
the german's over engineer/complexify things and as such seem to have issue with most bikes. granted they are built well with quality stuff, it's just the german engineering mindset that comes back and bites them in the ass with reliablity issues.

i've done my time with the germans and i'm back to dead reliable jap offerings.

[Desert Dave]

Regarding the original posters concern, I to am a bit leary of buying a BMW just because of the companys attitude of keeping you reliant on a dealer for every little thing. yes, you can do your own work, which I intend to, but after a fair amount of research and reading first hand reports from owners it seems I'll have an uphill battle. I think that's what worries me the most, is that many of the satisfied owners think issues aren't a problem because it's under warranty. I can't count the number of times I've read on the two other 800GS forums where the solution is to ride with a cell phone an the assurance of BMW roadside assistence to make everything better. I suppose if you never get far enough into the dirt where a tow truck can't go, an cell phones don't work this is an o.k. solution. And I ride alone in these places often.

The idea of scheduling a simple service seems rediculous to me, yet this is normal fair for what seems the average BMW rider. Again I have to chuckle at the amount of times I've seen guys wait for a service so the dealer can install things like handgaurds. Please don't take this as a knock on Beemer riders as I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to this, and I intend to be one to, but merely an observation from reading the forums.

Yeah, I've owned plenty of bikes with character and soul, mainly Harleys and some finicky sport bikes that were built on the edge of reliability, but all of those were easy to repair on the side of the road (an I have many times). I suppose over the last ten years or so I've got spoiled on the Japanese reliability an ease of ownership. Yeah, I'm a big fan of my Strom for street use, It does what I want it to do an when the day does come when it doesn't start or has an issue of some sort I will be honestly shocked. Of course that bike hasn't seen a dealer since I bought it, an the maintenance is simple and DESIGNED to be done with regular tools an a shop manual.

So why get a BMW at all? Because my Strom doesn't do dirt and most dirtbikes don't have enough balls on pavement for what I want. BMW simply offers a machine that currently doesn't have a Jap equivalent...or I'd buy it instead. There isn't another BMW out there that could convince me to get on board. If I was only riding asphalt or dirt there's plenty of better choices fror me. So I'll have to pay for the passion of this particular bike, while I hope that after getting it I'll carry on about what great fun it is I don't feel any need to defend it against people who don't feel the same passion, I also won't be a cheerleader for the aspects of ownership that are already a turn off before I even take delivery.

[HighTechCoonass]

Originally Posted by Desert Dave

Regarding the original posters concern, I to am a bit leary of buying a BMW just because of the companys attitude of keeping you reliant on a dealer for every little thing. yes, you can do your own work, which I intend to, but after a fair amount of research and reading first hand reports from owners it seems I'll have an uphill battle. I think that's what worries me the most, is that many of the satisfied owners think issues aren't a problem because it's under warranty. I can't count the number of times I've read on the two other 800GS forums where the solution is to ride with a cell phone an the assurance of BMW roadside assistence to make everything better. I suppose if you never get far enough into the dirt where a tow truck can't go, an cell phones don't work this is an o.k. solution. And I ride alone in these places often.

The idea of scheduling a simple service seems rediculous to me, yet this is normal fair for what seems the average BMW rider. Again I have to chuckle at the amount of times I've seen guys wait for a service so the dealer can install things like handgaurds. Please don't take this as a knock on Beemer riders as I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to this, and I intend to be one to, but merely an observation from reading the forums.

Yeah, I've owned plenty of bikes with character and soul, mainly Harleys and some finicky sport bikes that were built on the edge of reliability, but all of those were easy to repair on the side of the road (an I have many times). I suppose over the last ten years or so I've got spoiled on the Japanese reliability an ease of ownership. Yeah, I'm a big fan of my Strom for street use, It does what I want it to do an when the day does come when it doesn't start or has an issue of some sort I will be honestly shocked. Of course that bike hasn't seen a dealer since I bought it, an the maintenance is simple and DESIGNED to be done with regular tools an a shop manual.

So why get a BMW at all? Because my Strom doesn't do dirt and most dirtbikes don't have enough balls on pavement for what I want. BMW simply offers a machine that currently doesn't have a Jap equivalent...or I'd buy it instead. There isn't another BMW out there that could convince me to get on board. If I was only riding asphalt or dirt there's plenty of better choices fror me. So I'll have to pay for the passion of this particular bike, while I hope that after getting it I'll carry on about what great fun it is I don't feel any need to defend it against people who don't feel the same passion, I also won't be a cheerleader for the aspects of ownership that are already a turn off before I even take delivery.

Right on Dave. If the Japs built an equal bike to the F800gs I would buy it!!!

[JRWooden]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

Lots of variable there: retail price, depreciation, maintenance costs, miles ridden, resale value, etc. Yes?

I wonder how long the average person keeps his bike. Me, I don't think I've kept a bike more than 3 years max.

MB:

I guess I'm on the other end of the spectrum ... I am still riding the bike I bought new in 1982 ... if my F650GS ever gets here, there will be a cat fight in the garage I'm sure....

Jim