Should I be nervous about buying a BMW with 75,000miles on it?

[wile e]

I'm in the process of looking for and buying a used BMW r1100r or r1150r for a European road trip. I am looking at a '99 r1100r that's pretty clean and has 19,000miles on it. Problem is it needed clutch work. But the owner took a healthy amount off of the price to allow for the repairs.

Now the day before I go and check out this bike with a mechanic, I find a 2002 r1150r that is super clean, well maintained but has 75,000 miles on it. I haven't looked at it just yet, but it is supposedly very well maintained and the miles are all from touring miles. This is a turn key bike for a decent price. My problem is the mileage. No major work has been done to this oilhead, aside from the typical maintenance. Also the tires, brakes and shocks/springs have all been recently redone. Is this a bike I can ride worry free, given that it has been maintained well? Or with the general wear and tear of having such high mileage not be worth it? I've often seen posts about BMW's with well over 100,000 miles on them, but not sure how common it truly is? will I need to be doing an overhaul 5,000 miles into my trek?

any help would be appreciated, I will be making a decision by tomorrow so any help I can get sooner than later would be greatly appreciated.

[travelHK]

I had few BMW and to be honest with even if 75000 miles maynot seems too much it is still a lot, you have to see that even if the engine run great maybe the suspension,brake.. are going to be in the need of replacement or repairs.
I am a bit surprised that the other needed a clutch after only 19000 miles.

Good luck

[Martynbiker]

I have owned an R80RT with over 230,000miles on the clock
i dunno about the new r series but i wouldnt let a measly 75,000 put me off, I would change the oil, hop on and say" thanks for running it in old bean, smoke me a kipper i'll be home in time for breakfast!"

[Tony P]

I have no experiance of Rs but I have had a number of K series, 100s and 1100s, over the last 15 years or so. Although I have had a few unexpected and unpredictable failures (Rear shock, shaft spline, front fork seals, injector, temp sensor/cut out, etc) the main engine mechanical parts never failed - or even started using lots of oil. One was reading in excess of 130,000 miles when the clutch gave out. It has remained in my garden since, waiting for me to get the time and inclination to fix it after hich I feel sure the bike will continue for many more miles.

Based on those bikes and a F650 Dakar on which I have covered 17,000 miles since buying it in April this year, I have no doubts about the hardware. It is just the BMW marketing and service attitudes that gets up my nose.

As you are going to Europe remember BMW Motorrad has a greater coverage there than in UK where they make you travel quite large distances to find a (often unhelpful, yet consistantly expensive) dealer.

Roll on the European Court for Restrictive Practices's look at them!
They do make great machines though - but dont forget so do many others and they have dealers and skilled mechanics (authorised, affiliated or not) every few miles throughout the entire World - almost in every village.
RANT OVER!

Trust the machinery. Go. Enjoy.

[MikeS]

Why? My '01 1150GS has 100,000 miles on the clock and runs just great. I just did 37,000 miles on it over the last 10.5 months with barely a hitch. Well, ok I changed the steering bearing but thats because I was silly and slipped in the Copper Canyon. I also had to replace something called a pinion bearing seal in the shaft as it was apparenty leaking though there was no oil leak visible from the outside. And apart from changing oils, brake pads, doing the valves/throttle synch and more tires than I care to think about, thats about it.

[Lone Rider]

Kind of what KendiKaf said: Wonder what the 1100 needs a clutch, and does it really have that few of miles on it? If so, and it was well-maintained, it could be a good buy. The year model indicates that it should have a good tranny. I'd had somebody who knows these bikes look it over.

The 2002 is, IMO, the best model year, but even though she screams and puts out when you ask her to, there will come a time by 125-150k where she will need some works.
I have an '02 and loved/love the bike. She needed a new exhaust valve at 120k or so and kept running strong, but by 160k both of the plastic cam chain tensioner rails were broken. The left side broken means you need to split the cases.

If I were you, I'd supply a lot of to a good BMW friend and ask him to go over that 1100 in detail. That said, you should be able to find pre '03 1150's (the better years) with 30ish thousand miles. US model 1150 '03s and beyond had servo brakes.

[wile e]

*UPDATE*

Bought the 2002 with the 75,000 miles on it. I've never seen a bike as clean and well maintained. Went through it meticulously with my mechanic and as he said, if I don't buy it, he will.

So thank you everyone for your help and advice. You'll probably seeing a lot more of me now that I am the owner of a BMW R1150R.

Wile E

[Martynbiker]

Nice one fella!

niceley run in too.................

[mark manley]

don't be put off by mileage on a BM, I am currently touring Africa, Cape to Cairo and more on a 24 year old r80g/s that has done 150,000 miles
Mark